Cinnabon

Nothing like the power of  the crop tool in your photo processing software.  This is a pretty bad sketch, but it was part of a lot of sketches done at the local mall.  On the original page it is all lost in space, but with a square crop, it turned out okay – just okay – but much more presentable.

This morning, I met up with a friend and we went up to one of my favorite local places, the botanical garden a few miles from my house.  Before you knew it, 2.5 hours had passed, filled with sketching, painting, chit-chat, and coffee.  Not a bad way to spend a sunny morning!

30 Miles or More

Yesterday’s image is on the left side of this panorama.  On the right, you can see smouldering hillsides.  The distance from right to left is easily 30 miles / 50 km.  Beyond the towering smoke clouds the fire is moving into wilder territory which is harder to control and into Santa Barbara County.  For reference purposes, Ventura County is the coastal county directly north of Los Angeles County.

To date, 230,000 acres burned, 1000 buildings destroyed.  Here in Ventura County, there is a real concern that much of the economy is being destroyed as there are large swaths of orchards, citrus and avocados, which have been destroyed.

The 8th Day

Today we went to see how the sky looked after 8 days of wildfires in our area.  Earlier, the smoke was piled high into the sky, looking like an atom bomb had exploded nearby – a mushroom-shaped cloud on the horizon.  The air is brown and hazy.  Now, the wind has picked up, again with 60-80 mph gusts, and the clouds have flattened out.  This is the view from behind the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, looking west toward the cities of Ventura and further into Santa Barbara County where the coastal town of Carpinteria is being threatened.  While my in-laws are now home, friends elsewhere are in danger.  We await our turn . . . we have been lucky so far.