October 27, 1993
Part 2
We did finally get out of town and the children and I did not have to run into the ocean.
We stayed a week in a friends rental till we found one of our own.
Halloween was 4 days after the fire. A friend had us over for Trick and Treating at her neighborhood. But it was so hot that I ended up holding the costumes.
Christmas was coming up fast. We found a rental and tried to settled in.
We had nothing, no beds to sleep in, tables and chairs to have dinners on, no where to do homework let alone supplies and no clothes or shoes. Nothing to cook with or even eat the dinner on.
Setting up a home for 5 people as fast as one can is surreal and IKEA became my new best friend.
I was trying to find more photos of the fire but while looking for them, I found fabulous photos of the children running , laughing and have fun.
Maybe the Gods were trying to tell me something.
What is very strange, funny or weird is still to this day, after 20 years, I will reach for or go looking for something I know I have and then remember, goodness
I lost that in the fire.
.
.
What is strange (?) is that when the fire devoured my home it stopped.
My back yard, and the canyon didn't burn, while others did.
The Fire Department said later that the only reason the fire didn't burn down the city (although it burned to the back of the Fire Department) was the winds.
The winds dropped long enough to let the ocean breeze come back in and let the firefighters make a stand.
The gate I designed for the entry garden.
It is hanging on the pool equipment house in my back yard.
........................
Question...
What do you do when you have nothing and need everything ?
Well if your me you take your daughter and find a Scottie Puppy.
Life is better when you have small bundle of love.
We named her Kirby after the vacuum cleaner, because everything on the floor was hers.
She became our first Little Square Black Dog.
Part 2
We did finally get out of town and the children and I did not have to run into the ocean.
We stayed a week in a friends rental till we found one of our own.
Halloween was 4 days after the fire. A friend had us over for Trick and Treating at her neighborhood. But it was so hot that I ended up holding the costumes.
Christmas was coming up fast. We found a rental and tried to settled in.
We had nothing, no beds to sleep in, tables and chairs to have dinners on, no where to do homework let alone supplies and no clothes or shoes. Nothing to cook with or even eat the dinner on.
Setting up a home for 5 people as fast as one can is surreal and IKEA became my new best friend.
I was trying to find more photos of the fire but while looking for them, I found fabulous photos of the children running , laughing and have fun.
Maybe the Gods were trying to tell me something.
What is very strange, funny or weird is still to this day, after 20 years, I will reach for or go looking for something I know I have and then remember, goodness
I lost that in the fire.
.
My back yard, and the canyon didn't burn, while others did.
The Fire Department said later that the only reason the fire didn't burn down the city (although it burned to the back of the Fire Department) was the winds.
The winds dropped long enough to let the ocean breeze come back in and let the firefighters make a stand.
It is hanging on the pool equipment house in my back yard.
........................
Question...
What do you do when you have nothing and need everything ?
Well if your me you take your daughter and find a Scottie Puppy.
Life is better when you have small bundle of love.
We named her Kirby after the vacuum cleaner, because everything on the floor was hers.
She became our first Little Square Black Dog.
We loved her and she loved us back !
Life is indeed lovely.
vacuum. . . parsnip
music. . . Breathe, Alexi Murdoch
It is hard to imagine until it happens. All our family's possessions were destroyed in a fire, but they were in storage at the time, so the house was not affected. I too think sometimes about things that are lost and can hardly believe it.
ReplyDeleteI think I remember a post when you mentioned the fire ? I am sorry about that.
DeleteYes I know it is mostly stuff but I miss the few keepsakes from my Mum, Grandparents and great Aunt. Especially the family Christening Gown.
I can't imagine your loss Parsnip and you're so right about dogs - they change your life for the better. x
ReplyDeleteShe was the best gud dug ever
DeleteA horrendous amount of damage. I can't imagine...
ReplyDeletesurreal comes to mind
DeleteWow. After reading both of your posts about the fire, all I can say is... wow.
ReplyDeleteEven after twenty years, your memories of the fire must be very vivid. How horrifying to think that so much damage and pain was caused by a horrid heartless person. Thank goodness for your kids and your little square dogs.
Little Black Square Dogs fix everything.
DeleteWow
ReplyDeleteOMG ! comes to mind too !
Delete«Louis» didn't know this about you! It was 20 years ago last week that the Oakland Hills fire burned some 3,000 homes and some 25 (+) people lost their lives in the inferno.
ReplyDeleteAlthough he lived some five miles away, «Louis» could feel the heat of the fire as he looked across to the hills from his apartment, even at night. The fire raged for three days.
So your photos and story certainly brought that to mind and he certainly has great empathy for you and your loss in the fire!
I think you and your family are quite heroic.
ReplyDeletep, I'm crying and covered in goose flesh. I don't even know how to respond to this intense post except to say I've read it and thank you so much for taking all of us down this road to know and understand just a sliver of what happened.
ReplyDelete