Saturday, May 9, 2009
Deja Vu
We are evacuated for the second time this year due to wildfire. It is surreal. It was surreal the first time, but re-living it is somewhat worse. Although we are under mandatory evacuation, I'm not that worried about our home. I'm worried about a community that was just healing from the November fire. It's just too soon and we're not ready for this trauma upon a trauma. My heart goes out to this city...to all the people (30,000) who are displaced. Everything has been cancelled, on hold, and yet some things continue...very bizarre. We're in a hotel and the girls are having fun...too young to really get the impact of what's going on. We watch a little news and they've seen images, but they feel safe. Plus they get to stay up late and watch Sesame Street in the morning and hang out by the pool. There was a benefit scheduled tonight to raise money for a beloved monastic community that lost their home in the last fire. The irony is deep and all around. I'm trying to stay positive. I just hate not being able to go home. I'm trying to think of it as a forced vacation, but it's hard. I know all will be well. But we just had our house painted on the inside to get the smoke smell out from the last fire. Hmmm...maybe it's time to move from this beautiful place that is just too fire prone.
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5 comments:
I too am worried for all of you...we live a wild fire prone area and they say it could be a bad summer. So, praying for you and all...
I have been thinking and praying for you and your community. How is everything now?
We are fine and back in our home, but the threat of another evacuation is still alive...so far so good, just waiting to see what the winds do. Keeps me a bit on edge. The fire personnel are amazing though and I feel safe.
GT - prayers for you all through this dry season - we had glimpses of that in our part of the world in Holy Week. thanks be that we finally got some rain.
the travel knit stuff i'm taking to iona is not something i would usually wear at home - it's not particularly flattering but it is impossible to wrinkle so it is easy to squash and pack. i think it's also called jersey knit - it has kind of a shiny sheen and tends to be loose fitting. it's also pretty thin, so i'm taking tights to wear under the pants (i hope they will also help in smoothing out the lines). in tx we can usually find pieces at belks or kohls - sometimes target or walmart. hope this is helpful.
I read Urban Iona a few months ago - written by an Episcopal priest from Portland or Seattle. I liked it but it wasn't helpful historically. The two required readings for us are Columba: Pilgrim & Penitent and Chasing the Wild Goose. I have read the latter - it's a great history of Iona. I hope to read Columba on the plane over - I think I'm out of time at this late date. The other required reading is The Celtic Way of Evangelism, which I read when I took evangelism - it's a great book! Hope this is helpful. BTW, the Columba book and the Chasing book are both published by Wild Goose Publishing, which is Iona's publishing house and they are not easy to come by - I ordered mine thru third party sellers on Amazon. Have fun getting ready!! I'll keep a list of things I wish I would've taken & let you know when I get back!!
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