Sad and Happy

 Friend and I got out early yesterday morning to go for a walk in The Wetlands - yes, we wanted to see how much damage the fire did. We took masks with us, glad we did. Smell was strong and wind was blowing ash all around. The fire burned 34 acres and was started by a human. It is so depressing to see. This is the biggest fire since we've lived here. And it is in an area we always walk in. This is right near where it started. Some of the bigger trees might make it. I hope. 

So much destruction. This used to be completely covered in reeds and brush. 

No idea this little creek was there, couldn't see it before. 

Here is the starting point. The Nature Center building is in the background. Luckily wind was blowing away from it. The burned part looked like the brush in the back of it. 

No idea if these can come back or not. It is spring and there has been some rain, so maybe there is hope for them.

A big old tree. 

This was completely covered in brush. 

This area was where the owls nested last year. These are cottonwoods. Hopefully, again, they will recover. 

This is the same area as above picture, took it last week. See the cross on the tree in both pictures. 

Every thing is gone here. 

I have taken many pictures here, see the bridge in the background. 

Stopped taking pictures here as I got a text from our son he was on the way to the house to take us to breakfast. Had a very quick walk the rest of the way home. We did do two miles though in one hour with lots of stops for picture taking. Very depressing.

Have my March decorations up. Easter theme of course. The only thing new are the pillow covers. 

Made these place mats a long time ago. No Easter theme but spring colors. 

This picture didn't turn out very good, too much light coming in behind it. Notice the bottom embroidery, the hat, is upside down. Oh well. 

And of course sun catchers, have had them for a long time too. 

I also try to find a dish towel with the proper design to hang under my rooster. 

That is all for this time. 

Dull Days and Exciting Days

We are not sad to see the end of March - I don't remember what it came in as but it went out like a Lion. We had lows of 45 and highs of 91 and lots of wind all month. Winds yesterday were sustained at 30/40 with gusts at 60/65. We really haven't been doing much since I last wrote. But yesterday morning I contacted our gardener to ask him to come over to check the watering system. Figured we would hear from him today. So we got ready to go out - YES GO OUT. Bill wanted to go to Lowes and I thought I'd check out JoAnn's to see if they had any thing I wanted. (No they didn't) I did complete and frame another diamond painting. They are hard to take good pictures of. The colors are brighter than this looks. It is a really bad picture but you get the idea. 

No blog is complete without some Sphere pictures. Sometimes he even has a coffee cup in the morning. 

But back to yesterday. Just as we were getting ready the gardener texted that he was in area and would be at our house soon. When he came we walked around the house checking things out. Sure glad he came as you will see. When we were in side yard I happened to look at the Wetlands. OH NO FIRE!

I grabbed my cell phone and dialed 911. When she answered guess she saw the address and asked "Is this about the fire in the Wetlands?" I said yes and she told me fire trucks were already on their way. Whew. Also the the wind was blowing straight north which kept it from traveling towards our homes. When we first saw it, one big plume of smoke. 

With the strong winds it didn't take long for it to spread. It took about 10 minutes before we heard the fire trucks. Seemed longer than that. Lots of trucks though. 

Continued to spread quickly. 

More fire trucks coming down the access road behind our wall. They went down quite a ways then turned into the park. 

Finally some white smoke from the water. 

Thank goodness the wind was blowing straight north. I'd hate for all that smoke to be coming our way, not to say the fire...

We didn't leave for errands until it was pretty much contained. It burned 34 acres right where we always walk. This is from the TV this morning.  We walk on both of those paths. The path to the right goes right through the Cottonwood grove (the first two pictures of artists I put in last blog were in that area.) Also it is where the owls nested last year. I think the trees are pretty much destroyed. The park is closed today for "mopping up" and making sure no embers get going again. 

You can see the big cottonwood trees in this one. Maybe they made it. Hope so. 

Today the winds are down to into the high teens and a cold front is moving through. I'll get out there when I can. 

Bill has an appointment for testing with the  neurologist tech the first of May then with the actual doctor the second week of May. The days are passing slowly. By later in the day his eye is usually completely closed. Frustrates him.

More from Art Day in Wetlands

 Not doing much since walking so thought I'd show you some of the painters and their paintings. Interesting how different the paintings of the same area are from artist to artist. This is the Cotton Grove area, last year the owls were nesting here. There were two men working on their art here. How different their paintings were.  He is painting the tree with the cross. 

He is looking out towards the trail and the vegetation. He said he likes bold colors. Yep he does. 

We walked further to the Vern's Island area. And found three more artists busy at work. They were all doing some version of this interesting tree and the pond behind it. 

The three of them. 

Her version. Interesting choice of colors. Of course every one still had a lot to do. 

They all were using different mediums. 

He was quite far along. He said he was using an ? oil chalk? I like the tree. 

Further along a site at a different area - This is Vern's Pond. The view they were drawing. 

Three here also.

This belongs to the lady in the above picture who is standing up and talking to the other artists.

This was the lady with the mask on. I really like it. Interesting to watch her add shading that completely changed the looks.

She said she was doing an abstract. Okay. 

Back at the nature center, some kind of class in the lounge. 

Outside, finger painting in bright colors for small children; the guy on the right is trying to get a glob of blue paint off the bottom of his shoe. And the

lady bending over is mopping up paint from the cement. 

I thought this was interesting for older children. A blank pure white puzzle. Then they got to paint their picture and had a puzzle to take home. The volunteer was warning them to NOT TAKE the puzzle apart before they painted it and before they got it home. Good advice. 

Even music available. I'm sure there were a lot more painters but we didn't go back through the park looking for them. By now we were getting tired and it was still a mile to get home.

There were also watercolor classes for adults for a fee and food trucks. All in all quite an event. I am so glad we live right next to it. Haven't walked since. Monday morning I had to get my taxes done and today the food pantry truck comes in the community for the people who live here and want to take advantage of it and my walking friend volunteers with it. 

Haven't heard from the neurologist for Bill's eye yet. They said by the end of the week someone should call us. Sure hope so. Yesterday it was 88 here and today supposed to be over 90. Then back down into the high 60's in a few days.