when Mark and I got married, we spent the night just down the block from where this photo was taken, in downtown Montecito ... after our wedding the next day, in a Park in Santa Barbara, we returned to Montecito for a celebratory dinner at San Ysidro Ranch with Pastor Ricky Ryan, his wife Linda, and our dear friends Jeff & Dianna Keough, who stood up for us that day ... SEEING THE TEA FIRE BLAZING within sight of main street Montecito ... saddens me ... Growing up in So Cal, I didn't get to "know" the Four Seasons ... well, not the calendar-related ones, anyway {although Frankie Valli and THOSE Four Seasons were quite well known - to me, and to all}.
So I always relished in the Fall, as we knew it, here ... maybe some cooler weather, calling for a drive to Julian and the opportunity, if I was lucky, to wear a SWEATER ...
I love rain - I love wind. What I don't much care for, though, now that I'm older and realize just how devastating the HIGH wind speeds can be, are THOSE HIGH WINDS. They frighten me.
Our San Diego County fires of thirteen months ago ... had us trapped in our home for days, with all the windows shut up tight and living off a meagerly stocked refrigerator {it caught us off guard, as we had been out of town - in Summerland, as a matter of fact - and had let the fresh food dwindle ...}.
BUT HERE WE ARE AGAIN, with Santa Ana winds here in San Diego ... and that terrible fire in Montecito, known as the TEA FIRE, has already claimed, at last check of the news online, around 100 homes.
Here is one story link off the 'net:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sbfire14-2008nov14,0,2370726.story
And what makes the wildfires in the Santa Barbara area SO devastating is an effect known as 'Sundowner' winds -- here's the scoop on those terrors of the neighborhood:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/11/dangerous-sundo.html
Our hearts go out to those who have lost their homes, and to all who are suffering in any way from this most recent natural catastrophe.
It sure makes a quote that used to appeal to me ... more frightening than anything else, any more:
TO WAKE TO CREAKING TREES,
TO FALL ASLEEP TO WIND.
Those would not be comforting sounds here in California, not during fire season.
When Mark and I go to stay with the Keoughs in early December, to begin our Christmas Celebration in fine fashion, by listening to their daughter's High School MADRIGALS annual performance {hopefully at the Mission again}, we will find time, I am sure, to drive through neighborhoods we have driven dozens of times, soaking in all the beautiful wild natural settings, and we will be just heartsick for all that live in this beautiful community.
BE SAFE, all.
-- D.
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