Wildfires (and violence in politics)

This morning after Mass I remarked on what a very warm day it was for November, and Yoka added that the sky was incredibly blue, and Mery said it must be the Santa Ana winds. They blow in from the desert, over the Santa Ana mountains, and down into the Los Angeles valley, where they blow all the smog away and give us hot, clear weather.

A few hours later I suddenly realized that the crystal blue sky had turned hazy as all get-out. Outside the air smelled very strongly of smoke, and I could see white ash floating by and settling on our balconies. I wondered if folks were rioting in LA-- perhaps the anti-Prop-8 protesters I heard of, or else Obama might have been assassinated... but I checked the internet and thank goodness it's no riot, but another fire up in the mountains somewhere.

(It occurrs to me that I've never feared riots from people who were against Obama or for Prop 8 and that's mainly because when I see or hear of marches or protests involving abortion or gay rights, the police always seem to be facing the other side.)

This exact same wildfire thing happened a year ago and I blogged it then too. I also blogged about how daringly irreverent my mom and I were about it all. But it turns out we were mere amateurs at that kind of thing.

For the record: God forbid Obama should be assassinated. We should all be praying for him, as St. Paul commanded (and Nero was Caesar when he wrote that.) Just look what happened when St. Stephen prayed for Saul. :)

A friend of mine who's close to one of the fires just called to ask if she can crash here should it be necessary. Thanks be to God our own place isn't threatened!