Day 308: Wildfire Free

(For Monday June 30)

This is a Gratitude Attitude I never really thought about until our city experienced 2 devastating wildfires less than a year apart and claimed the lives of 3 people (I think), destroyed over 800 homes, and burned up hundreds (thousands?) of acres of forest. The first one was bad enough, horrible actually, and when the second fire raged our collective disbelief rendered us speechless. It really knocked our community on its behind. Now we all walk around on high alert. Any hint of wildfire smoke in the air or a haze over our lovely mountain and people start looking around, trolling news sites for info, hearts beat a little faster, fear sets in just a wee bit until we know where that smoke is from and why. It happened a couple of weeks ago. The second I opened my eyes I smelled wildfire smoke and my heart beat just a tad faster. I looked out the window and saw to the west a smoky haze. And I went searching to find out what and why and where. Once I knew I could breathe a little easier. So this year we've had more moisture, cooler temps, and no fires. By this time in both 2012 and 2013 we had already wracked up the damages I spoke of above. So today, every day really, I am beyond grateful that we are wildfire free this summer.

My friend Kari took this picture recently.
It's of a burned area but you can see the life coming back.
I love that we are promised beauty from ashes.

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April 5, 2015

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