Fire

2 a.m fire through our window.

Yesterday morning's paper had an article about a wild fire burning at the Hanford Nuclear Facility in Washington. My old home.  If my Dad was still alive, he'd be out there fighting it. Yeah, that reminded me of Dad.  You never get over missing your parents when they've passed on.

Sunrise reveals the charred hillside / from our back porch.

Then, about 1:50 this morning, I was tired of being hot, tossing and turning, so I got up to adjust the air conditioning. Noticed the fire on the hillside through our bedroom window.  Woke The Husband and we spent the next hour out on the trail behind our house watching the fire race down the hillside toward the houses just east of us.  This morning brought the news that about 50 acres were burned. No houses were lost though 39 of them were evacuated.  It's been a few years since that hillside last burned, it's covered with cheat grass and scrub oak. How grateful I am that it appears no one was injured or lost their home.  Cause has yet to be determined.

And yesterday's trip to the grocery yielded a couple of noticeable things.  The first was the mailbox. Not your usual mailbox attached to a post of some kind, regulation height and distance from street. This one was out by the curb on a patio table.  Just sitting on the table.  I've been wondering at the reliability of their mail delivery. (And I was driving, wasn't able to stop for a picture.)

Yummy tomatoe-lets

And really, I'm not fond of parents who call their kids names - especially in public.  The roughly 9 year old had a mishap with the cart he was pushing.  And frankly, mishap is probably an overstatement, it was honestly nothing.  Had the Dad been watching instead of walking along lost in his head, he'd have averted it with just a reaching out of his hand.  Next thing I hear is the poor little guy being called a dumb jackass.  It leaves me speechless.

Cute water.

The tomatoes are beginning to be edible!  I brought in these few teensy ones - they are a taste explosion in my mouth!

And the water?  I haven't seen that particular display of water at the grocery before and it somehow just struck my fancy.  I like simple.  Especially when it's cute.

And was asked the other day - what are the perks of being 65.  I'm not sure there really are any true perks.  I mostly am feeling more aware of how short life can be, especially when you're not done having fun yet.

I'm grateful for those who work hard to save the homes of citizens.  I'm grateful for kind visiting teachers who are out of town but hear about the fire and call to make sure we're ok here. (She had been misinformed about evacuations on our street.  I imagine that until everyone got up and saw the morning news that most of the people around us slept through the whole drama.) I'm grateful for thoughtfulness.  For laughter.  For the advent of e-readers and plenty of books to fill them. And I'm grateful for brownies.