So Much For Wishes

I woke up this morning just before total sunrise and noticed my cat Ernie sitting in the window beside me intently watching something outside. If you've lived with a cat long enough you can recognize when they are casually looking out the window or not. So, I, too, looked out the window and saw what Ernie was so interested in. A small animal was walking up the driveway like he owned the place. It was a skunk.
Now I think I know that the wish I expressed in the email i wrote to my daughters 10 days ago didn't come true:

"Dear...............
I opened the front door to call for the cats, Ernie and Rocko, to come in last night and the first thing I notice are two splayed out tails sticking up in the air just to the left of the door like they are looking under the green cabinet that is there and I think, "Oh, they must be after that mouse/rat that I've seen hanging around outside" and I start to talk to them and telling them it's time to come in. They didn't flinch which is no surprise when they are "on" to something. Then I look closer and see that both tails have white on them and think that's strange because only Rocko has white on his tail.

Then I notice that the white is in the middle of both tails - a wide swath of white down the length of the tails and realize.......

SKUNKS!!!!!!

There were two skunks there...........

They had broken into the bag of trash I had set there earlier because it was getting dark and I didn't feel like taking it all the way to the trash cans in the dark.



Just then Rocko came running up and wanted IN fast, before the skunks took note of him. I opened the door for him and called for Ernie but he didn't come. Dad came and started yelling at the skunks and they left.

I repacked the bag they had broken into and put it inside to be taken out this morning because I knew they would come back for more if given half a chance. About a half hour later I called for Ernie and he came right in.
I have a feeling that he was there all along but didn't want to chance the skunks.


I sure hope the skunks were just passing through.........."

So, dear readers, you have a glimpse of my real life. It's not what most people imagine when they hear that I live in Santa Barbara, California. Oh, and about my garbage. There's no garbage man that comes and gets mine. I have to make trips to the dump, myself for that. The only good thing about that is that I pay a lot less for trash disposal. But if you were to include my time and effort, then maybe I'm not getting that good of a deal, after all. (sigh)

LOVE and FIRE!!!!!!!!

It is now the 4th day of fire where I live. What a week this has been. On Thursday, April 30th, my youngest daughter, Jane, got married on the Santa Barbara Courthouse lawn. It was a lovely, immediate family only, wedding on an absolutely picturesque day in Santa Barbara.

From left to right: Best friend, Tracy, sister Helen, Jane, James, sister, Anne.



Jane and James's picked this date because it is the day between both of their birthdays. Jane's birthday is April 29th and James' birthday is May 1st. It was a wonderful day.


It was another "first" for me in that Jane asked me do make all the bouquets for her wedding. I admit I had a moment of panic , but I did a "trial" run the weekend before and felt confident enough after that to make them.





Jane walked down the isle to the Rolling Stones' song, "Lady Jane". Jane and I had always thought this would be a unique and beautiful song for her wedding because it is such a melodic song with a harpsichord playing and the words included not only her name but that of her older sister, Anne. Part of their service included a surprise for everyone. Both James' mother and myself were called up front and handed an envelope. When we opened them, we discovered ultrasound pictures of their baby with the news, "It's a Boy"!

After the service Jane and James walked out to the tune, "Sweet Child of Mine" as a tribute to our late son, Ben.


Later that day, Jane told me that they were planning on naming their baby, Benjamin Chance", and call him "Chance".


We had a wonderful weekend with both the Gilmore and Martin families. Then, my oldest daughters and families went to Palm Springs and Jane and James went home to begin their married life together. My husband and I went to Palm Springs, also. The weather there was hot and beautiful.








On our way home to Santa Barbara we were stuck in traffic in Los Angeles and turned on the radio for the traffic report when we heard the "Breaking News", "Fire in Santa Barbara". I immediately called my nearest neighbor and was reassured that for the moment, we were not in the path of the fire. Since we arrived home, we have been monitoring the fire and it has been absolutely crazy. Our weather is all over the place. It's over 100 degrees Fahrenheit wherever the fire is at it's peak, but not where I live just a few miles from it's eastern boundary. But we have had high winds for days, switching directions constantly. We have also had intermittent power outages and go to bed not knowing what will happen with the fire at night. We woke up this morning (May 8th) to the news that one end of the fire is creeping towards us. I shouldn't really say, "creeping" because when it moves, it moves fast, driven by the winds. This morning the winds are toward us. We are hoping that they will shift as the day goes on. The last fire, we had to pack everything near and dear to us and were ready to flee at a moment's notice. I truly do no want to do that again. But I have learned the bitter lesson that life does what it does, with no matter to my wishes.



This is a picture of the fire in the mountains near where I live. There is a lot of dry underbrush to feed this fire. If you add wind to the mix, then the possibility of it spreading gets much higher. We have our SUV parked facing out in case we need to load up the cats and what is most important and leave quickly. To where, I do not know.........

It's been an indescribable past 11 months. First, the birth of our granddaughter, Annabel, the unexpected death of our oldest child and only son, Ben, three major fires, one of which we are in the midst of now, the wedding of our youngest daughter, and the news of a new grandson on his way. Life is whirling around me, with my emotions being pulled in opposite directions. I am but a witness to it all.