I spent most of the last half of December chasing light in some fashion, whether decorating boats or counting birds (I did not one, but three Christmas Bird Counts this year) making art or food or home improvements.
How lucky I am, I remind myself at nearly every turn or when I’m feeling generally cranky. ‘Generally cranky’ being a luxury, and not to be confused with the the anxiety that was coming up a lot in early December or the trepidation I feel as we approach the third week in January, or the horror I feel now, as I sit under blue skies in the Bay Area while Southern California is burning. It’s a lot to fathom.
Last night, it was relatively windy here and I lay in bed away for an hour, listening to the clatter and creak of branches and stray garbage bins being knocked about. Eventually I fell back asleep but I couldn’t imagine what it was like in Los Angeles.
Despite my Northern California bonafides, I’ve always appreciated LA, at least in short doses. Its positivity, showbizzy aspirationalness and generally sunny vibe provide a welcome contrast to tech and fog. At certain times in my life, I’ve thought it might be a place for me to move.
Because Kwame works in Pasadena regularly, it became one of our “places” early on in our relationship. If I can swing it, I’ll go down there for a few days when he’s working. For several years, meeting him in Pasadenia was an opportunity for me to practice yoga with a favorite teacher who used to be based there. Sometimes we’d book an appearance or two at one of the local songwriter showcases or visit McCables. If time allows, I like to spend an afternoon at the Huntington Gardens or shop at the Crossroads Trading on Colorado Boulevard for deals. During the yoga excursions, I’d head to Sunset Junction after practice, to have coffee or a smoothie and read and write. There were a few interesting clothing stores I liked there, including Matrushka, and another vintage place that sold mostly furniture but had a small rack in the back that occasionally had something of interest. I think I’ve shopped as much in LA as I have here at home!
And LA has fun birds: Yellow-chevroned Parakeets and Red-whiskered Bulbols, Swainson’s Hawks and a fun variety of hummingbirds, I even figured out where to find the local Peregrine Falcons on the former AT&T building.
My heart goes out to everybody who is there now.
And to all of us who are seeing this as the climate disaster it is and what it portends.
As it’s the new year, I’ve been getting a lot of emails containing prompts and talk of goals and resolutions, or full of predictions about all the ways to make this new year better, different, more realized. I’m all for using prompts to get my writing motor going. And all the steps toward completing projects are my handholds for moving through life and right now I’ve plenty to do regarding my projects and shows. Same goes with self-improvement. But despite all that, I’m seeing, feeling and choosing real-time, in-the-world connections, awkward, imperfect though they may be, over mediated experience. The time, more pressing than ever, is now, to show up.
Meanwhile, I’ve seen several lists of how to help fire victims and am reposting some of those here:
Southern California Salvation Army
Plus how to track wildfires: Watch Duty