The Santa Ana’s are here and we (to the east and west) are burning up. Welcome to the Towering Inferno. Welcome to the time of year when palm fronds catch the wind and become flying projectiles. Welcome to the very location that I watched our mountains (in tandem with the Malibu fires) burn in 1978. It was at night and it was horrifically beautiful. That’s how Shiva likes it.
……..
Raymond Chandler
“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Ana’s that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.”
……..
Is that movie taken from the top of the art building at PCC?
The air is vetty thick here this afternoon.
We didn’t start the fire.
Over here Burbank adjacent I want out 9′ish this morning to photograph a little and everything was fine. By noon the air was thick with smoke. I keep the doors and windows shut and running the air purifier.
@Vonda: Same experience here in Pasadena! Around 11am we stuck our head in a Cafe w/o any noticeable smokey smell. An hour-1/2 later came out to air thick with it!
My 1st thought was maybe the fire had next paid a visit to the foothills of Sierra Madre or Altadena! Or, just a change in the winds.
I hope PA de Palm didn’t get lit up! PA are you still around??
I remember having the same feeling about a later Malibu fire (1993?) as we watched it across the bay from the upper section of our complex. Did you ever read (I know, there she goes again) the essay on San Gabriel Mountains in The Control of Nature by John McPhee. The article talks about the debris basins but also about the natural cycle of fires/flash floods/rock & mud slides in the local mountains. I’d quote a bit of it, but I can’t find my copy. (good video, & video technique – steady & no breathing/wind noise)
It has smelled like a campfire here since yesterday. But even Saturday we could see the smoke from Hahamongna. Now the air is thick with it.
I love the fifth floor picture. It looks like you managed to get the shot while the elevator doors were opening (or closing?). I do like that the institution has posted a giant 5. I get confused so easily and frequently get off on the wrong floor.
All clear in Altadena today. Yesterday smelled like burnt toast. Drove on 21o thru Glendale yesterday — life the inside of a chimney.
Hope your area is safe, all over the news here about the fires. Overcast and cold in IL today with a high of 38. Thankfully, the only fires we have going are in our furnaces, minus the occasional house fire. All you S Cal denizens will find it amazing that some of our local municipalities allow residents to burn leaves at this time of year (if there is no wind). Not good for asthmatics or the environment. We good citizens bag them in biodegradable sacks and the city collects and delivers them to a monster mulch mountain to eventually become topsoil. I could write a book about dealing with oak leaves and acorns and the year-round debris they drop. Love-hate relationship.
I started wheezing after going out yesterday. I can’t ever remember this much smoke in the air. Seems better today, though.
I just love that first photo. 5 is my favorite number.
And what a great Chandler quote.
The video is funny. Yup no fire here!
Yet on the sound track, we hear what could be a Wildfire Mountain Crew
preparing with calisthenics to meet the crises. “The Fire Crew Warms Up”
Is it okay to address other blog readers? If so, by the way Tash, it is not always considered
problematic for artist video to be unsteady or to reflect the breathing of the artist in the wind.
Personally, I use a tripod and avoid the wind, but in artist video, all elements open toward the meditation.
__and D, I love it,I want to read about the “good citizen’s” love hate relationship with the oak tree.
P.A. what happened to Palm Axis?
Stir the pot! Kisses.
I’m feeling the knives edge but it feels more like it’s lodged in my sinus’. These are the worst kind of Santa Ana’s, all heat and no wind. No need to loose your fronds over it, after all “we didn’t start the fire”.
It was clear as a bell when I headed off to ceramics Saturday morning. Many class members come to our class from other areas. Classmate Cathy took off early because the winds during the night were so fierce in her La Cresenta neighborhood she felt uncomfortable being away. Merv would call his wife on occasion to make sure all was well, (he’s under the shadow of John Browns grave) let Palm Axis tell you all about it….
http://www.palmaxis.com/search?updated-max=2008-04-14T14%3A18%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=5
The Santa Clarita folks stayed home.
As for myself, I exchanged ghost stories via e-mail with Ms Havisham on Jack Parson. He’s connected to my first Pasadena Adjacent post about Devils Gate Dam and the Thelma’s. My first commenter Marcial, (date to my senior prom) bares a striking resemblance to the late Mr. Parson. Marcial was over at the protests last Saturday (trying to get married). Did I mention Ms Havisham managed to dig up the FBI paper work on Jack Parson? thats what the Santa Ana’s will do to you. Ah, the circle of life.
http://pasadenaadjacent.com/2008/03/07/life-on-the-edge-of-pasadenafollow-me/
CEO Palm Axis is currently on sabbatical. I’m in charge of running the corporation until further notice. Palm A has been in legal disputes not only with the cat lady but with Huell Howser over the telling of local lore. I’ve been faxed CEO Palm’s poetic musings and will be given clearance on a appropriate time to post them. Until then it’s rumored that a purple shoulder bag imported from India carries several stories that await release. Two blogs are not easier then one.
CO: as the old Arabic saying goes “feet in water head on fire”
Tash: I like your reading recommendations. I’m not a
purist and like the check dams. They’ve softened with age.
D: oaks have protected status here.
Laurie: I went in search of meaning connected to the number Five and it seems that threes and sevens get all the symbolism. Five is neglected.
Walter: You can respond. I see you picked up on the sounds of construction. When the fellows work weekends you know the project is over budgeted and behind schedule. I have a upcoming video where my breathing is the main element. I won’t be stirring the pot today. I have responsibilities!