Monday, August 03, 2009

Heat & smoke...

...but no fire yet. My Portland/Seattle friends have graciously sent their heatwave my direction. I think we may have hit 100 over the weekend - anything in the high 90's gets uncomfortable for me. Fortunately, we cool down at night so if you can just make it through the afternoon, (perchance with a dip in the lake), chances are the house will cool down by bedtime for a decent night's sleep. I found a cool spot on the front porch yesterday to finish my latest Picasso copy, "Portrait of Jaime Sebartes". I thought his glum listless look might be echoed by many in this heat, but I'm not beaten down yet.


I noticed how hazy it was all day - thick enough to think it might be smoke from a fire. - it's very dry and red flag warnings are out everywhere. Although a few small fires had popped up around nearby Spokane, the real culprit for our current smokiness is the Terrace Mountain fire in British Columbia that's been burning for 3 weeks now. The latest news says it was nearly contained but broke out of its corral when high winds kicked up, and several thousand people have been evacuated. I believe I heard something like 17,000 acres have burned. This area is Northwest of us - not close in terms of the fire moving in on us, but downwind as it were as the weather usually travels. As the sun went down and the moon came up over the lake yesterday, I tried to capture the intensity of the haze. Doesn't show well, but the moon was picking up an orange tint from it. Looks like we'll be living with this for awhile, which is nothing compared to what the people living in the path of the fire are living with right now.

1 comment:

Margaret Cooter said...

Hi from Pitt Meadows, BC - no fires nearby but the mountains, usually so clear (on non-rainy days!) are obscured by haze, melting blue-ly into the sky...