Fire photos

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/09/wildfires_in_southern_californ.html

http://www.mtwilson.edu/FirePhotos.php -- firefighting planes in action around Mount Wilson, taken by a master photographer.

http://www.chara.gsu.edu/CHARA/MWO/CrestPhotos1.php -- pictures of the devastation on the way up to Mount Wilson, taken by the director's wife on a grocery run.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/penner42/3898269166/ -- view from a plane of an impressive smoke column, apparently taken today. Out on the northeast corner, out of sight even from the Mount Wilson camera, the fire is still burning and spreading.

The view from the Towercam has been pretty serene today; early in the morning there was a sheet of silvery smoke or fog lying in the valley, eerily beautiful. The planned firing of the prepared firebreak line didn't happen today, due to the fire flaring up elsewhere, but it will probably happen tomorrow.

(no subject)

Daylight hides the fires on the distant mountains, but as dusk falls they emerge, little spots and flags of orange against the dun of the shadowed slopes. They aren't as many, or as bright, or as close, as they were last night and the night before, but they're there.

Sigh

According to two of the weather sites I consulted, the high temperatures in Stanford this week are going to be well into the 90s on some days -- not a whole lot cooler than Tucson, and without Tucson-strength a/c, presumably. The other sites put it at high-80s. Maybe I need to start over with the packing, or at least throw in a lightweight dress on top of the slightly heavier skirts I was hoping to get a chance to show off. As usual at this time of year, I'm getting rather weary of living in lightweight dresses all the time. (Well, skirt and short-sleeved top today, but I've barely been out except for trapeseing over to the laundry room.)