FIRE

Evacuated! Once from home and once from up at the Rancho. On Monday we woke up to roaring winds and all the patio furniture blown hither and yon. Like a blast from a furnace, the hot winds raged on and soon we saw a blob of smoke coming up from behind the hills. Thus started the murderous Rice Canyon fire here in Fallbrook. When it was all over, we lost 206 homes here, most of them in Lina's mobile home park. Sadly, Lina was among those who lost their homes.

For two nights, while we were evacuated to the rancho we ate with our neighbor Gail. Sharon left and stayed up in Corona with her daughter. Gail was holding down the fort. First night, he had some grilled chicken that Sharon had prepared for house guests, now gone. We made a salad out of his leftover greens, the chicken and our carrots. He made us delicious ice cream sundaes from their sundae bar. Next day, we snuck into Fallbrook and went back to the house to collect some clothes for upcoming travel to Washington DC. A stop at Major Market was eerie because of the absence of people and dwindling supplies. We bought a chicken for Richard to twirl, some red potatoes, salad greens, green snap peas and a bottle of wine. Gail added some of his apricot brandy, home made, which was excellent. The recipe for the brandy was a legacy from his sister.

We didn't suffer any losses in this fire and were very grateful to find our house still standing when the evacuation order was lifted.