Watercolor and pen in travel sketchbook

We’re living under a smoky haze these days in northern California. The sun rises, a bright red glowing ember in the sky. Wildfires burning out of control in a hundred different locations, sparked by lightning last weekend. Too many to put out, some will burn for weeks. A rosy glow in eery contrast to nature’s capricious destructive forces. I was reminded of the night years ago when I was driving back from the Mediteranean beaches to our rented home in Soreze, France. It was 12:30am and we drove past a conflagration right outside of “our” little town (comprised of 16th century wooden buildings!) and right across the street from a gas station! It was a lumber yard on fire, with of course lots of fuel to keep it going. Yet there was a dismaying lack of rescue personel or equipment. I “slept” that night fully clothed, with eyes open, and passport, money and keys in my pocket, watching for red in the sky outside my window and wondering how I would know to evacuate with my minimal comprehension of French! Next day, crisis averted, I sketched this in my book from memory. And in fact now my memory of the scene is a watercolor painting, not whatever my senses took in that night.

If you want to explore possible philosophical explanations of this phenomenon and see some more cool images, check out my husband Bob’s blog.