FIRE!!!

Happy Monday morning to all of you!  It has been a sad weekend here in Washington State and around the entire northwest US.  At least two people have died as a result of the horrendous fires here.  We've been here 23 years and I've never seen a fire season so bad. 

We had planned to have friends out to the lake Friday night for dinner, but the smoke and wind were so bad we decided to relocate the dinner to our house.  I am so glad we did.  When we arrived at the trailer Saturday morning, chairs were blown over.  The tablecloth pinned to the table was gone, gone, gone and flowers were blown completely away!  I'm happy to have missed that particular storm.  But all of that wind didn't help the fires any.  At one point we couldn't even see across the street at home because of smoke.  What minor trials these are though, compared to the people in the paths of these fires.

Saturday Dennis and I decided to drive north from the lake to Colville, WA to visit the farmers market and have lunch.  There was lots of smoke and haze, but not too bad. We had no idea that we were driving right towards one of the bigger fires until we saw this as we rounded a curve in the road....

Sorry for the blurry pictures.  All were taken with my iphone as we drove down the highway.  See the column of smoke?

It just kept getting worse...

We went past Addy, WA where the fire was burning right outside of the town.  A few miles further down the road we found this little store with fresh produce and antiques.  I bought peaches and sweet corn and then browsed a bit.  The older lady who owns the store said her son and his wife actually discovered the fire burning outside of Addy in the picture above.  He is a firefighter and thought if they had found it even 5 minutes earlier they may have been able to put it out, just the two of them.  With the wind though, it was a lost cause.  The fire was about 1/2 mile behind this store when we were there and burning steadily towards it.  I sure hope it survived the weekend.  It was so cute and full of treasures.

Lots of vintage needlework.

A pile of suitcases.  I think I would have been packing everything into these cases and running out the door if I owned the store.  The lady was remarkably calm though.

So much pyrex.  I have several of these pieces that were received as wedding presents.

We tried to keep going toward Colville but finally gave up and turned around because the smoke was so bad Dennis could barely see the road.  This was the scene when we turned around.

I used no telephoto lens on this.  No zoom.  This is how close the flames were to us.  I was ready to go back to my little trailer.

The fire covered several mountains by the time we drove back through Addy.  It is all so sad.  On the news this morning they said there are are no more firefighters available in Washington.  They are trying to bring in more from around the country but Idaho, Oregon and California are also vying for the resources available.  It's all SO sad.

Here is an old fire tower just outside of Chewelah.  I don't think it's used anymore.

We saw horse trailers and utility trailers everywhere from people evacuating their homes and bringing their animals with them.  Emergency shelters are popping up everywhere.

On a lighter note, does anyone know what this would be used for?  We saw it in a field by the highway just outside of Chewelah as we drove by.  It appears to be some sort of oven.

Sunset last night.

The red glow is from the smoke particles in the air.

On a much brighter note, this is a shawl I started yesterday for a Christmas swap I'm in for a book club on Ravelry.  I'm enjoying it as it is a pattern I've made before and has easy repeats.

Tomorrow I go to the electrophysician, who put in the pacemaker, for my 6 week check.  They will "interrogate" my pacemaker and make sure all of the settings are working well.  Hopefully he will release me to my own cardiologist then.  I'm still tired easily and my left arm doesn't work as well as my right, but I'm getting there.  I can raise it above my head a little now which is great progress.  I so appreciate all of your sweet comments, prayers and love you've shown me throughout this strange time of my life.  I truly love you all.

Mandy and Piper are flying in tomorrow for two weeks.  Yippee!!!  The fun we will have.  It's sad that our air is so nasty, (even being deemed in the "unhealthy" range), because of the smoke.  It makes being outside for very long difficult.  I know we'll have fun anyway.

Have a wonderful day my friends and enjoy your week!

This verse reminds me of the firefighters who are out there on the front lines fighting all of these terrible fires.

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters."  1 John 3:16

They are laying down their lives for complete strangers every fire they respond to.  Thank you to all of these brave men and women.

Blessings,
Betsy