After nearly a month, the fires in Big Sur are nearly contained.
Fire officials have apparently won the war against the blazes, but apparently many locals believe a significant number of public relations battles were badly botched by fire management personnel.
Many stories have come out of the event, some sad, some heroic.
Big Sur’s tourism is reeling. The weeks immediately before and after July 4th usually bring in over a quarter of the yearly income for some businesses, but the fire has hamstrung the local economy. If you’re within driving (or otherwise) distance, travel to Big Sur and spend some money and time there soon.
Thanks very much to Xasáuan Today blog (the word “heroic” seems faint praise, here) and many others, including my friend Andy who fed me many great links throughout the past month or so.
Let us do our best, even if it gets us nowhere. In the midst of darkness, there is light. “I am the light of the world” said Jesus. He said a mouthful. Light, more light! –Henry Miller, “Notice To Visitors,” Big Sur
This is the California that men dreamed of years ago, this is the Pacific that Balboa looked out on from the Peak of Darien, this is the face of the earth as the Creator intended it to look. –Henry Miller, Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch, 1957
July 18th, 8:30am. Huddart Park.
Sometimes the combination of fog and sunlight in the morning can be magical.
Around a week ago I unpacked my last box and went back to work at the office in San Francisco after five days off to move and regroup. I spent this week trying to get caught up at work and came home every night and appreciated my new surroundings.
Tomorrow I meet Beautiful Housecleaners (yes, that’s their name) at my old residence and root for them to help get most of my damage deposit back.
The photo shows my Monday telecommute setting at the new pad. Mosquitos can be voracious once the sun sets, hence the citronella candles. A small price to pay.
And on the 12th day, the cat claimed half the lower tier of the greenhouse window.
And it was good.
It’s also really good to have friendly, open, trustworthy landlords who are sincerely happy that I’m happy. Praise be.
As Harry Shearer says, F is for FEMA.
Neil Young isn’t very good at being coy.
I’m moving about 90 seconds south of where I currently live. As is my wont, I’ll be packing, loading and unloading a pickup truck daily/nightly over the next couple weeks, just to spread out the pain. And when I say “spread out”, I mean “prolong,” of course. Due to the relocation/siege I may not be updating this thing as often as usual (notwithstanding my continuing obsession with the Big Sur fire).
Also: the amount of comments spam directed at this blog is more alarming than ever. I’m trying to figure out how Movable Type filters approved comments but have met with no success thus far, so I need to approve (or delete) all comments manually. This involves scrolling through hundreds of spam messages regarding Viagra, Vicodin and all manner of pr0n URLs. Good times.
As a result, legit comments from friends are getting caught in spam filter limbo. I apologize. If you submit a comment, you might want to drop a line to my non-blog address (you have it, don’t you? Of course you do) asking “what the hell happened to my comment?” and I’ll weed through the spam and approve it.
As ever, thank for reading and– more than ever– thanks for just being you.
[update 11:41pm: you now have to register with TypeKey to comment. K?]
[update 7.5.08: Movable Type's commenter configuration sux. Don't bother trying to register (for now); stay tuned...]
The image at left is a screen capture from the Nepenthe Restaurant deck webcam showing a helicopter dropping water as the fire descended the ridge towards the Henry Miller Library on June 25th. Here’s a larger, more detailed photo. An update on the situation at the library (and Henry Miller’s former residence, nearby) is here.
Compilation of webcam screencaps from KUSP’s site
Current Nepenthe webcam image is [not] at lower left. A combination of smoke and marine layer fog has socked in the coast.
[update 7.7.08: apparently the webcam was turned off on July 6th, but you can still find it here].
