Now Normal

 Here we are - the air is still and oppressive - it is hot.  When I look at the sunsets the sun is briefly blood red, then swiftly vanishes and all is a hazy wash of grey-ish pink-ish mauve-ish pastels.  

Tiny particles of ash cover everything like a blanket of snow. My eyes sting, I cough.

I sit inside, my air purifier sighs in the background, a diffuser emits a fine mist of eucalyptus, silver fir, peppermint, lemon eucalyptus supposedly cleansing the purified air.

This is now the 4th year of California summers, each year the season of smoke and fires begins earlier than the previous year.  Each year has me more prepared - I have the diffusers and purifiers on hand now. This is the second year of the pandemic.  Unfortunately the masks for fires are not allowed outside for pandemics.  

One copes, does what one must, this is now normal.

My Latest

 Here's my latest piece of art.

Here We Are

 Strange title, but no stranger than our present times.  

Since my last post I went on a small adventure.  A dear friend who lives on the East Coast sent me a ticket to visit. We decided that if there are non stop flights to the airport nearby I would go, 

So - a long flight from San Francisco to the East Coast - red eye - (particularly appropriate in my case). The flight was delayed by 2 1/12 hours so everyone slept!  It was full, no misbehavior, everyone masked, BUT it simply didn't feel very good. The return flight was the same - well behaved passengers, all masked - I sat next to a mother of one year old twin daughters!  Not much chance to sleep.  Nevertheless I decided to go for a covid test. Today I received the results - negative, but couched in medical terminology that makes it difficult to comprehend.  A simple negative or positive would suffice!

The green of the woods, and the bubbling, gurgling, blissful sounds of a rushing river felt so nourishing.  BUT - it is quite clear that our world is different.  There is no going back to what was.  I feel like after 9/11 - flying will never be like it was before - strict security is now the manner in which we move about the world.  Never again.will we simply board planes.

Now we have gotten over the shock of a pandemic, but the changes it has wrought are here to stay. Between the virus, and the shocking reality of climate change, and all the deaths and the uprisings, the despair, and the joy, and the beauty - all of these drift around and underneath and above us.  Things will never go back to what they were - such a short while ago.  We have no idea of where the changes are going, everything  ebbs and flows.  All we can do, I feel is to enjoy the good moments and not to fight the difficult times.  It is hard to plan ahead, but we can, knowing that any plans may change at any time.

This is our new reality.