Tag: Ventura County

The Lonely Road

Corona virus and social isolation! In Northern California, 6 or 7 counties around San Francisco have issued “stay in place” orders. The only exceptions are to go grocery shopping and for medical appointments. Maybe some exercise. And, of course, keep your distance. It could be a crime if you get busted.

Where I live, there are similar, though not as draconian, edicts. Starting today, a few stores are offering special hours for those over 65, pregnant, or disabled, which can help those who might have a problem getting things. The rules here in Ventura County are that anyone 75 or older must stay home. People 70 and older must stay home if they have special health issues which put them more at risk. I am not in any of these categories, but can creep in for special hours!

So, for social distancing, going for a hike is a great option. Peaceful. People won’t be out so much. I went a few days ago, X100V in hand, and tried it out in various ways. One thing I did end up with were a lot of blurry pictures. Realizing that, I upped the iso and dropped the f/stop a tad. Little things like that are all part of learning a camera. And the 23mm focal length – equivalent to 35mm – is a bit of a learning curve, too.

Photography is a great way to get out of the house and enjoy the isolation!

Burning

Today we went up to the Reagan Library to view the Thomas Fire from afar.  Here, you can see it from the hills around Santa Paula, California, past Ventura on the coast, moving toward Carpinteria in Santa Barbara County.  Nearly 200,000 acres have burned in 8 days through rough back country.  Valiant efforts by fire fighters from around the country are helping, but here and elsewhere in Southern California houses and animals and people are all suffering.

Strange Week

Altogether, this has been a strange week.  The air is filled with ash and smoke throughout the area surrounding me, but we are a small oasis which is (currently) not hit by the voracious wildfires burning throughout Southern California and air filled with ash and particulate matter.  We have had our share, but nothing like most of our locale.

I live in Ventura County, and the Thomas Fire forced my in-laws to flee, with very little and a lot to lose, in the middle of the night.  That was last Monday when they showed up on our doorstep at 1:00 a.m.  Today they left after driving to their home town, lucky to find their house standing, the evacuation order rescinded, and ash covering everything.  The ongoing winds have moved the soot and ash, along with the fires, further east and west and out to sea.  Others have not been so lucky.  Blocks of houses are no longer there.  While the Santa Ana winds have moved out the sooty air, they are still roaring around, sometimes up to 60-80 miles per hour.  Not pleasant, I assure you, in either cold or hot weather (today we had 80F  – fake news – there is no global warming).

We are so glad to have been able to take in my in-laws.   They were gracious and pleasant, and we actually had a lot of fun, even if their sleeping conditions were air mattresses on the floor and an old twin bed in the office my husband works from.  I guess it is sort of like a hurricane party – clustering together for comfort and safety and riding out the storm outside.  At some point, we may have to call upon them if our area goes up in smoke, because almost all of California has been suffering from a massive years-long drought.  We have too many trees on our property, but it costs thousands to take them all out at once, so we are sort of stuck – maybe take a few out at a time.  Having visitors is a bit disruptive of daily life patterns but reminds us of how important family and friends and community are.

Along Potrero Trail

I’ve been rather busy painting and drawing, and keep meaning to get out the camera along with the pen and ink and colors and paper.  As well as that, I keep looking for things to draw, and this is where having about 20 years of digital photos is pretty nice – and rather overwhelming!  Looking for things to draw prompted me to look through my work.  Some is good, some is bad, as in any creative hobby!  Success varies and ideas of success vary with the time of viewing.