Smoke in all our eyes

Yeh. It really is. I went to the beach about dusk to get some shots of the Gap fire from the pier (great panorama of the mountains), but rats- my camera batteries had croaked AND I had no new ones with me. I tried taking a shot or two with my cell phone, but talk about the wrong tool. I'm not posting those.

I walked out on the pier, despite all the floating ash, and found it busy with fishing folks and lots of others, more so than usual. Most were staring at the hills in awe. The fire seems to have doubled since last night, and active flaring was going on. It was impressive.

Frustrated, I spotted a guy with a camera and asked if he had any extra batteries. Nope, he didn't, but I asked if I could take ONE shot please on his batteries. Fortunately his were the same size as mine, and I got my one shot. Sadly, it was hurried, so it blurred. I'll have to process it and post it tomorrow. Power was off again when I got home. I read by candle lantern until power came back on.

Spent the rest of the evening digging out family photos and placing the boxes next to the back door just in case -- a further evacuation area is only a mile and a half away. Even with a freeway in the way, I'm getting prepared. These things can move very fast.

Tomorrow, I hope I'll have photo. And that I still have power. If you're a praying person, please pray for poor old Goleta, and blessings on you.

The pelicans were fishing tonight. The sky was quite dark with smoke, but there they were, cruising above the water like ghosts of the smoke, white patches on their heads gleaming in the grayness. I always enjoy watching them dive- they simply jacknife into the water and come up with fish. Tonight, the fire was omnipresent over my shoulder and the smoke kept reminding me of it. Somehow, I couldn't enjoy the pelicans as much as usual, so I went home.