what is wrong with california??

cribbed this shot from the net

like clockwork, southern california is ablaze this weekend, and in particular, the small community of sylmar, ca. sylmar, which is located in the san fernando valley, has a long history of olive growing thanks to father iballa at the mission san fernando rey de espana, who at some point in the early 19th century introduced spanish olive seedlings to the region. interesting, no? it is also known for having a climate ideal for healing respiratory ailments, though sadly, not for supporting medical centers associated with these ailments: what is now the olive view-ucla medical center, for example, essentially began in the 20s as a tuberculosis center (which was destroyed in a 1962 fire) then had a brief stint as a different medical center (which was razed by an earthquake in 1971, a mere month after construction). wow...

but most recently, sylmar, ca. has become home to an entire apartment's worth of our stuff. yep, to save a few bucks, knox and i chose to store our wedding loot, guitar collection, viet nam photos, grand dad's bar ware, and portrait of bob (books, clothes, and a craigslist sofa too, but whatever) at the "keep-it-safe" storage facility on foothill boulevard, at the junction of the 5 and the 210, in what we now refer to as "fire town". 

if you click on the link above, it will take you to a satellite map of sylmar. you see that big red, purple area dotted with flames? keep-it-safe is across the street. not kidding.

those two big, red lines that cross right under the blue area (which means evacuation!!) are the 5 and the 210. that's us. the mobile home community just down the street is already gone. GONE. so, in addition to feeling awful for the 500 families who just lost their homes and working on detaching ourselves from all things material so that we might lead a more enlightened, freer existence, we are FREAKING OUT over here. fingers crossed, y'all. this does not look good.