Santa Cruz Mountains in trouble

The week has gone by like in a fog.
I did not work until today and was lucky that I could still add figures without
messing up.
The reality of our loss has yet to hit us.
We function to a certain degree.
Make pancakes, walk the dogs, plant some more lobelias and sit in a chair outside just staring at birds and squirrels not really thinking.
I forget about the work needed inside the house.
I forget to write that important insurance check.
I just think about how the people in my life are leaving.
But a young person's loss seems so much harder to take.

Had a call from Santa Cruz, my Paradise from the late sixties, the Santa Cruz Mountains are on fire. I lived there 7 years and how I loved the small villages, Boulder Creek,
Ben Lomond, Brookdale ................
Of all the decades that I lived in the US that part of the world is paradise.
I no longer have my friends there, Mary, Kathy, Georgina, April, all gone to a better place,
two of them had breast cancer.
Where has the time gone when we walked along Highway 9 from village to village.
The house we lived in had been eaten up by fire 3 decades ago and now the mountains
are being eaten up by fire. I think there still is only one road out of there and that is 9
to Felton.
No one to call anymore "Hey are you ok?"
How many of the gorgeous red wood trees will be gone and when will nature take over again and sprout some new ones.?
I do not think I ever worried about a fire back then but had my share of fear of the earth quakes. The slightest rumble made the dishes rattle and before I knew which way to get out of the house it would be over. St Andreas vault.
I dont think I will get back there again.
Paradise has changed , you need to be very wealthy to afford to live there.

Now I wish I could get some sleep, I work this week end but look forward to a flower festival in town. Lets see what plant I absolutely need and a MUST HAVE.