“Within yourself is a stillness, a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.” Hermann Hesse
A quick update on the Cameron Peak fire. On Tuesday night winds picked up gusting to 65 mph and caused the fire to make a 15-17 mile run in a easterly direction in about 12 hours. Several mandatory evacuations to the east and south were issued. The city of Fort Collins was socked in with smoke. It looked like 6:00 pm all day while smoke, ash and soot fell like snow. Everyone was wearing a mask due to the poor air quality. Had a friend over for lunch and made him smoked pasta with smoked marinara sauce and a smoked caesar salad. I have not heard but I’m pretty sure some homes were lost in that run yesterday. The fire now has become the largest in Colorado history with 167,000 acres. Not a record we want to boast about. The high winds brought in a cold front, dropping temperatures and we will have a good freeze tonight. Today has been much better with air quality and even given us some blue sky with sunshine to enjoy. We also have another fire that started yesterday afternoon, the East Troublesome Fire, west of Boulder. It has already grown to 3,700 acres due to the winds. We are so dry out here.
Many of us have had to look for that stillness, that sanctuary within because the external sanctuaries are not accessible and in some cases gone.
6 Comments
Earl
Sad news about the Cameron Peak Fire and the new East Troublesome Fire. Thanks for the update, Monte. We see minimal reporting on news about the western fires these days because of reporting on the pandemic and the upcoming presidential election. Here’s hoping for cooler temperatures and some moisture for you guys. Best wishes for a good weekend!
Monte Stevens
Thanks, Earl! It’s cooler for sure this morning as it’s 26 degrees on my walk to the coffee shop. We have clear skies, but see the smoke in the mountains. Hope you also have a good weekend 😊
Tom Dills
‘Troublesome’ is an unfortunately appropriate name for a fire. Poor news about all the fires and smoke, but I did have a laugh at your expense about the smoked lunch menu.
Earl, I fear that the lack of news coverage of the Colorado fires may be as much about the fact that it is “only” Colorado and not the very newsworthy Napa Valley and California in general. 🙁
Monte Stevens
Actually the smoked lunch was pretty good and not as smoky as I lead you to believe. My sister let me know they heard about our fires on the national news, whatever channel that was. This morning is much nicer, a lot like yesterday. It was cold and frosty this morning which will help in subduing the fires. All the fires are in higher elevations so it’s even colder.
Mark
I often wonder how easily accessible that stillness is for some. After all, it takes years and years of practice in meditation to truly embrace such stillness, being truly in a moment.
Love the milkweed pod! Thanks for keeping us up to date on the fire situation out there. Just an awful year for the west.
Monte Stevens
I’ve had to learn to not set expectation of what that stillness looks like but over the time with practice sessions we come to know what it is in our lives. And, there is no way to define or express what that is to others. I do believe that some find it easier to practice than others. Seems for me the stillness may only be for a second or two and that’s enough.