Under an orange moon

San Diego is burning.

Well, not San Diego proper, but parts of San Diego county. Still, the whole of San Diego is covered in clouds of smoke, and tiny flecks of ash are falling from the sky. Having lived through the Cedar Fire and residing at the foot of a hill that has already caught fire this year, the smell of smoke that is filling the air just makes me anxious. I think the rest of San Diego is feeling it, too. The freeways were moving very quickly and had fewer cars on them this afternoon, as if people didn't want to leave their homes and were being driven by a sense of urgency to get wherever they were going.

The blowing Santa Ana winds are not helping the firefighters. While watching an episode of "Heroes" a gust of wind suddenly rattled the vertical blinds in the kitchen. We all stepped outside to see one of the pine trees arcing over the gazebo out back, though none of us could remember if it had been like that before. By the smoke-filtered light of the moon, it looked quite foreboding.