THE BEAUTY AND DESTRUCTION OF NATURE

Air Thick With Smoke

Nature is amazing in its power and destruction.

On the 3rd day of May, this is what it looked like most of the afternoon and evening at my house.

With the early arrival of the Santa Ana Winds, along with their high velocity, an instant of calm can cause the fires to plume with billowy smoke, ash, and embers.

The day of the fires, it was an unbearable 95 degrees with 5% humidity.

The Camarillo Fire, along with the various other fires that were close by, affected the entire area in every direction. It has been a misery for every itchy-eye and allergy “nose”!

As the crow flies, we live about 10 miles from PCH and the ocean. As the fires travel toward the ocean, even though the fires are as close as they are – we are not in their current path of danger.

The Santa Ana Winds blow HOT, strong, and unpredictably. The winds can shift in an instant, changing direction, and turning into new paths of destruction. Suddenly they become a “who knows what can happen” proposition in the fraction of a second.

Throughout the day, the sky was eerie and smoked-filled as the fires continued to grow larger. It is difficult to breathe – especially for those allergy sufferers. Drug stores are selling out of every bottle of Zyrtec, filled with their white magical and glorious nose-drying-up pills.

Our Beautiful Birch
Felled By The Santa Ana Winds

At our house, we lost a very large portion of our beautiful Birch tree. Ours was a tri-trunk stunner before it was felled by the furious winds of the night before. Birch trees are prized and bragged on for their outstanding white color barks and their graceful delicate foliage.

Everything in nature is a marvel. It is astonishing in its simplicity. It is immeasurably incomparable in its ability to wreak havoc, its miracle healing spirit, and its remarkable renewal and readiness to start again.

Nature is a source of our great respect.