Welcome to the Monkey House

November 24, 2019

I wandered deep into Topanga on Saturday and emerged, at days end, a different person.…

Black Smoke. White Smoke.

November 18, 2019

Two key questions: are the Santa Ana’s blowing and what color is the smoke? If…

Fret Not

November 3, 2019

Was at an orchestra concert the other day watching my favorite cellist and noticed that…

Thirteen

October 24, 2019

Backpack half zipped on the kitchen table,Beat up paperback Fahrenheit 451 in the side pocket,Simpsons…

Deadicated 6.16.18

June 25, 2018

FADE IN Citi Field.  General Admission. Three rows back from the stage. The crowd dances,…

Divine Intervention

June 20, 2018

So here I am driving down the road, reeling from an earlier conversation, trying to…

Luggage or leverage?

June 3, 2018

One step back…WTF? These freaking voices in my head… So, the other day, I am…

Year of the Rabbit

May 1, 2018

"What year?" Vince asks. "1963." I say with a certain amount of pride. "Huh, year…

Oh, my…

April 15, 2018

Went to Supercuts on Saturday: to the usual one over on 18th and Wilshire.  All…

Learning to fly

March 18, 2018

  Took flight again today at Pranayama Breathe Class on a Sunday afternoon. I visited…

Squeak!

February 24, 2018

Squeak. Step. Squeak. Step. Squeak. Pause. Stop. Pause. Step. Squeak. Humph… My favorite shoes are…

#leftearrightear

February 14, 2018

  FADE IN. EXT: DAD comes into focus, a big guy, burley, mid-thirties, Oklahoma t-shirt,…

Have and Have Nots

February 6, 2018

I am struggling a bit.   A few days ago I woke up pre-dawn, made a…

I don’t know, it just

January 15, 2018

drives me crazy that people don’t really greet each other anymore. I’m not sure why…

Turn the tables

August 31, 2017

I have a coach that helps me navigate the training regime for all of these…

385 in dog years…

August 6, 2017

I am getting old. I’m almost 385 in dog years. Humph… The other day I…

And he lives in Nashville. Went there recently to reconnect and discovered a whole new…

Owling

July 24, 2017

Went owling with Vince the other night. We have a big tree in the backyard…

Coco and Adele

July 23, 2017

One afternoon in the Marais (how cool is that for an opening line?) Teri and…

Merci Madame Killelay

July 19, 2017

One of my favorite teachers, Madame Killlelay, taught high school French. I think she tops…

Nice is nice (PG13)

July 13, 2017

Was a hot day in Nice. I had some down time before the flight back…

Comrades in arms…

July 10, 2017

And legs. And mind, body and spirit. Just whisper “Kowies, Fields, Bothas, Inchanga or Polly…

Triple death by…

July 7, 2017

Seriously? It’s Saturday morning. I mean what kind of message is that suppose to send…

Wump-Wump-Wump

July 6, 2017

Thursday afternoon Dad via text: “send a pic people here want to see” Dad’s internal…

La Decima

July 5, 2017

He’s a god, a modern day god, like Zeus with a tennis racket. And we…

Two key questions: are the Santa Ana’s blowing and what color is the smoke? If the answer to the first is yes, move on to the second. Its Fire season again. We go from “gloomy marine layer,” then on to, “hot” for a bit, then to “hotter” for longer, transition through “perfect” for a week and half, then “Fire Season” (seemingly endless), and finally back to “gloomy marine layer.” No more Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall for us. We have our own ebb and flow, living in paradise and all.

Black smoke is serious shit. Big stuff burns, stuff that matters.

White smoke is less so. Smaller stuff that doesn’t necessarily touch the day to day.

This Fire Season is epic. One to tell the kids about. It’s raging all around us, on multiple fronts, simultaneously. We are sitting in the middle of a ring of fire. Our little canyon has not burned in forever and we all know that its overdue. Just a matter of time.

But due for what I wonder? For white smoke? A slow burn? A cleansing of the debris that has built up over the years? A mere clearing out the underbrush leaving things singed around the edges. Or, will it be black smoke? A raging inferno causing total annihilation: complete and utter destruction? Leaving a small pile of ashes in its wake. Is one better, one worse?

Sometimes, I think, black smoke is best: it’s a cleaner break. With white you are left with residue that settles in and you can’t wash away the scent. Life remains, but its sort of half-baked, the scars never really heal.

It will burn. Time will tell. Best to set our intentions.

Que David Byrne, “Watch out you might get what you’re after”

Onward->

Tagged with:
 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Set your Twitter account name in your settings to use the TwitterBar Section.
PageLines