Morning Beauty

Lately it's been raining - thank goodness, because we need it. It's been less than 3 months since we had the fires burn and ravage thousands of miles in San Diego and Southern CA last October (see some of my blogs on it here and here). Since then, one of morning rituals is to get up and say my morning prayers and ask to be blessed in the coming day in front of the window that faces Mt. San Miguel and Sweetwater - where fires came dangerously close (within 8 miles of my home) forcing me to pack up Jordy-the-cat and leave at 2am.

In the morning the mountain and view is always beautiful - sometimes it is shrouded with fog, sometimes the sky is cloudy with gray texture and other times it's already blue with the promise of a clear day. But my greatest curiosity and joy is that every single day I see green grass and nature beginning to sprout through all the charred blackness. It truly makes me smile and I always give it some mental encouragement. With the rains this week, the green growth has rapidly spread and increased - and with it so does my strength and belief in myself and my little problems and worries that, no matter what, as long as I have Faith in God and myself - Life goes on and new beauty is born and will always continue to grow... :)

San Diego Fires: The Aftermath

The view of Mt. Miguel taken from the bedroom window of my 2-story house. When I decided to leave at 2am last night the entire hillside in the background was a wave of flame working its way down the mountain - I could feel the heat.

 

Let me clarify, please - - the fires in North County and east of me are still very much out of control and dangerous. This blog is only about the Harris Fire on Mt. Miguel that was affecting me in Rancho San Diego, 2 siblings and their families in Rolling Hills/Eastlake area as well as my parents' home in Bonita.

After a very long night I allowed myself 1.5 hours around 7 this morning to sleep after evacuating to my boyfriend Patrick's condo in central San Diego. By God's good grace the winds this morning in the Southbay were not as strong as they expected and firefighters were at last able to contain the fire.

At 4pm I brought Jordy-the-cat back home and took pictures from my house of the 3 smoldering spots at the foot of the eastern side of Mt. Miguel which, last night had engulfed the mountain in one giant wave of flames that led me to leave voluntarily and others imperatively.

The following picture shows a close-up of the biggest last hint of active smoke from the previous night and morning at the bottom of Mt. Miguel probably less than 10 miles away from me.

 

The newish housing community of "The Pointe" off Jamacha were mandatory evacuated. They sit below me and are separated by a canyon that leads directly to my back yard. That is why I knew if they were leaving, I needed to be careful. At the time this picture was taken - they still hadn't been allowed back in.

 

A shot of my small backyard which stops at about 10 feet embankment of ice plant (great for helping deter fires!) and then opens out to a large canyon (refer to the top picture).

 

A little after me, my brother Ben and his family received the good news that they also could return to their home. The visibility is bad, my eyes are stinging something awful but I am much more relaxed tonite and plan to sleep now that my family is out of danger. That said - there are still several fires burning out of control this evening and 1000 homes lost so far. My prayers are with my community. God Bless each and every one of us.
A very red, eerily beautiful sun shown late afternoon....

Fire Evacuation

It is almost 7am now on Tuesday (Day 3 of the San Diego Fires) - I left with my cat, Jordy, last night around 2:30am and am at Patrick's condo in North Park. As previously mentioned, I was alone in my cul de sac last night packing my tiny Scion XA car with as much as I could. I missed my family and was planning to stay up all night - alternating watching the News and surfing the Net.
As if reading my mind, I was just standing up to stretch and turn the news on again, when my mom called at 1:42am. I knew something was wrong immediately for her to call that late and my first thought was that they had to evacuate as well in Bonita (meaning this affected not only my brother Ben's family who already had headed to my mom's that afternoon, but also my sister Sara and her family in East Lake). As I answered, "Mom..." I simultaneously turned to look out the window in the small bedroom that has a view of Mt. Miguel and the Sweetwater Reservoir. I couldn't believe it - within 1.5 hours of last looking out the window, the fire (a new one, I believe) had taken over and had come alreadyhalf-way down the north side of the mountain heading directly towards my area of Rancho San Diego and Spring Valley! I was aware already that for hours it was on fire on the southeast side of it heading west with the winds towards Otay, Eastlake and eventually my childhood home in Bonita... which was bad enough - but I really had felt that I would be okay since I was close, but just northeast of those communities. I mean: I almost had had people stay at MY house because I felt I would be safe there.

Well, there was no doubt it was time to go. Between me and the fire was just dry brush of the rest of Mt. Miguel, then the small, but welcome, Sweetwater Springs Reservoir body of water, then the small 2-way but main road of Jamacha - which the fire would easily jump across - - leaving a small housing community of about 50 houses before it would reach the dry canyon that literally ends at my backyard.

Time to go.

Jordy was not happy - he hates his cat carrier and I usually need 2 people to get him in there. I could hear people down the street honking and getting in their cars, as I finally pushed his head down and zipped him up in the soft bag.

As I left my street and headed towards the stoplight next to Monte Vista High School, I gasped to see how close and large it really was. I hadn't expected it! I knew the Santa Ana winds were blowing to the West - I still don't understand why a new one started my way.

There were definitely people on the road and leaving my area but the freeway 94 heading west to downtown was just fine at that time. I got to P's around 2:30am and have been watching for news of my area as well as the Harris fire right next to mine that was endangering my brother Ben, sister Sara and their families and pets as well as my parents in Bonita.

My mom had informed me that they all were simultaneously evacuating and heading to different places - my brother Gabe's large house in Point Loma (the coast) and my dad's CPA office in Chula Vista.

My mom, God Bless her - informed me that she had gone in my old room and didn't know what to grab but packed a couple of my photo albums - I have many and had already packed most of mine at my own house. But she didn't need to do that. "Mom - I have all that I need here, just go!" I fought back the tears at her unnecessary thoughtfulness when she and my father certainly had enough to remember.

** Before I had left with Jordy I ran back one last time to my house - I glanced at my beautifully decorated house and beloved piano - so proud of what I had achieved on my meager salary. I ran upstairs and grabbed from my jewelry 3 necklaces and put them on - the silver Irish pendant my beloved had gifted me last Xmas, the Cross my father had bought in Spain for "all the women in his family" also gifted last Xmas, and lastly: my gold small cross that my mother had gifted me at 18 to keep me safe when I entered college. I had worn that cross daily for 14 years...

I paused at the gorgeous larger engraved cross that my mom had bought through an Art museum catalog a few years back. I always had loved that cross and had tied it with a beautiful purple ribbon and hung it up in my house. I reflected that although I love it: I'd leave it behind, along with my stain glass portrait of The Virgin Mary I placed both at the glass door facing the fire to bless my home and keep it safe.