Since the den has been my ‘home’ for the past several days, I’m looking at it with fresh eyes. It’s cozy and quirky. I really love it in here.
I’m feeling better. By mid-afternoon yesterday, I felt a change coming on and, though I’m still coughing, it’s nothing like it was. I’m not one to run to the doctor for meds when I’m dealing with something that just needs to take its course. I think there’s too much overmedicating going on as it is. Luckily, I didn’t need to be anywhere, wasn’t working on a show, and had the luxury of time. And Don, of course.
All iPhone photos because I’m too lazy to get up and get my big girl camera.
My new ringtone on my phone is the theme from Sherlock. It makes me happy. It also makes me not want to answer the phone because I want to listen to the whole thing! I just wanted something different from the same sounds I hear coming from every phone, everywhere. Don’s is Sweet Home Alabama.
But not the Alabama of Roy Moore, let’s be clear on that.
In honor of Benedict Cumberbatch, we watched Dr. Strange last night on Netflix. It’s based on one of the Marvel superhero characters and it was a lot of fun; special effects driven, because that’s what fuels all those movies. Benedict was sporting an American dialect and I missed his deep and dulcet British tones. Hey, I’m an American and I coach dialects for a living so I appreciate our sounds, but I will admit to being a sucker for a British accent. Especially when uttered by Benedict Cumberbatch.
That dracaena that sits on the floor next to the dollhouse is about 14 or 15 years old. I bought it in a grocery store when we first moved out East. I moved it downstairs because I kept forgetting to water it. The pot is Bauer pottery from California. I bought it many years ago when I lived there.
The other Zz plant, which sits on the table next to the sofa.
Don says he’s going to take me for a drive today. Doctor Don’s orders.
Happy Friday.
I love your cozy den; it looks like a good place to recover. Glad you are on the mend!
Me too! Thank you, Carolyn Marie!
Enjoy your drive! It will be good to get out and about for a bit. It is rainy here and we were hoping for a little snow, but alas did not get any. I’m snuggled with Annie and don’t plan to move much farther then the couch today. Happy to hear you are feeling better. Hugs!
I see that parts of the South did get snow. None here yet! xo
Glad you are feeling better. I’m with you – no need to go to the doctor or go on prescription meds when you have a virus. It’s something that just needs to run its course. Antibiotics only work on bacterial infections. There’s dangers in taking too many antibiotics, especially when your body doesn’t need them. Many doctors won’t just hand them out anymore for viruses anymore either; Big Pharma be damned! ;-)
I’m a sucker for a British accent, too. When my friend from England first visited us 18 years ago, I told him to do all the talking…that I’d just sit and listen!
I think a drive will do you good today…the fresh air and just being out and about a little bit. Enjoy!
Ended up taking AC units out of the windows and rearranging the shed. So I got outside, just not for something fun! Snow is coming tomorrow.
So glad you are feeling better today! Enjoy your drive. The fresh air will go you good. It is good for everyone. And I am with you. Love a British accent. It would be so interesting to watch you work with actors on their accents. The business end of learning an accent.
Fresh air came in the form of taking the AC units out of the windows and putting them in the shed!
Out for a drive…with your favorite guy? Sounds like a great prescription. It will do you good…although it may be hard to leave your snuggly den. Glad you are feeling better! ;)
Better, but I tire easily, so I’m going to pace myself.
So glad you are starting to feel better. And I love your cozy den. Matter of fact I love your whole house. Thanks for the wonderful pictures to brighten my day. Hope your drive with Dr. Don is wonderful!
Thank you so much, Maureen!
I like my draecena because somewhere along the way, it formed into three “trunks” and I like the way that looks. It’s confined to the wide legs in my shower like most of my other plants because of the cats. Hope you have a beautiful drive with Don, Claudia. Wear your coziest coat to bundle up. Maybe hit a favorite cafe for a hot beverage?
We ended up removing AC units because it’s going to snow tomorrow. Lots of moving things in and out of the shed. That’s my ‘ride’ for today.
Oh no! Hope there’s a “Sunday drive” in the near future!
xo
Perfect prescription!! Be sure to take your water bottle to stay hydrated. It helps so much when dealing with a cold. Aren’t you just tired of all of us “helping” you??
Hope you have a lovely drive and a wonderful Friday!!
Drinking water as I write this, Chris!
So glad you’re feeling better. But it’s FREEZING out there, so be sure to bundle up VERY well for your drive, young lady! Maybe that lovely new coat would like to go for a ride too? And maybe you should stop somewhere for something warming – and a cupcake or two – while you’re out? Lest you grow dizzy, of course – LOL. Peace. 🍰
#Resist
PS – to be honest, I can’t EVER tell the difference between your iPhone & your big girl camera photos. People who know about these things probably can tell, but I can’t. AT ALL. All look pretty darn good to me.
We ended up removing AC units from the windows in anticipation of snow tomorrow – 90% chance of it. As that involved going up and down the stairs and in and out of the shed, that was my ride. I’m too tired at the moment to do anything else!
glad you are feeling better.
and that you took your window air conditioners out (don’t know how you made it until december)! that is a big job so hope you take it easy and won’t relapse. and can enjoy a nice drive soon enough, with or without some snow. :)
kathy in iowa
Had to leave it until now. Couldn’t do it on my own, needed Don here.
I noticed your Robertson Davies book. The Deptford Trilogy is a favorite , along with Rebel Angels and the rest of that trilogy, though I think the firsts in the series are the best! Others are good, too, except I couldn’t make it through The Cunning Man. The sexual violence just alienated me.
So glad to hear you’re feeling better!
He’s one of my favorite authors. I’ve been meaning to reread all his books.
Glad you are feeling better. Unfortunately we are in for some snow tomorrow here,too.
Mariyn
I sort of look forward to the first snow fall. It’s just the rest of them that can drive me crazy!
good seeing your dollhouse again!
any chance you’re getting it ready for Christmas?!
Not in the mood yet. We’ll see…
Claudia, sorry you haven’t been feeling well.
Listening right now to the helicopter bucket drops on the wildfire east of me. And then west of me. And now south of me…and, oh, forgot to say north of me. Yep, surrounded by fire. That’s where we are Friday in Ventura County of Southern California. At the moment, I feel like I’m in a cloud because I am; an hour ago, I couldn’t see the house six doors down from me because we are in such a haze of smoke although, strangely, there’s sun (weird sunlight, altered by smoke; sort of orange-y light). I have been packed for evacuation since Monday night and I now know what the gates of Hell look like. How my neighborhood has been spared in this inferno is a miracle. How my TOWN has been spared is a miracle. (I’ll probably overuse the word miracle at the loss for any other good word for it.)
I’m losing track of the days now, but I think it was Tues nite, the fire burned just five blocks from us. I went out today in the car by myself before the smoke got worse because I am going stir-crazy being inside; even the dogs have masks on, along with little kids/babies, seniors, UPS drivers, USPS letter carriers; anybody. I run the a/c inside the house to filter the smoke and I did it in the car but then hurried back home. Too hard to breathe with my asthma.
I swear I have never seen so many fire trucks in one place in my life – they’re from Riverside, Pasadena, Anaheim (cities as much as 3 hrs away, i.e. they’re a long way from home to help our towns from burning up; yesterday, my husband saw fire trucks from Arizona here, God Bless ’em). When I made a looky-lou loop before driving home just now, I stopped to talk to 3 firefighters in a truck under a tree, just one street up from our family’s ancestral cottage (it now belongs to someone else and I’ve been so worried about it); the guys were taking a short break in the shade, wearing full fire-protection gear and it’s warm here now (in the 80s, and still with wind although nothing of the hurricane-force winds we had on Monday night which started this whole nightmare) and, upon seeing these guys up close and personal, I burst into tears of gratitude (they looked so weary and hot), blubbering and thanking them for saving the hillside houses and our town when, for awhile there, it looked like the fire would wipe us off the map; it truly coulda/woulda happened if not for them. I offered to come back with food and drink but they said they were good.
Down the hill on the backside, another fire crew (I think it’s “Cal Fire”/state crews [forestry and fire protection]) had chain saws and were cutting down trees and brush away from homes, actually repelling on ropes in steep terrain; they are ALL our indefatigable heroes. The Red Cross is set up two-tenths of a mile from my door and there were so many people there that they needed a traffic cop. There were huge stacks and crates, taller than a 6′ person, as far as I could see, of water, supplies, food; God Bless The Red Cross. In the school ground’s empty parking lot (there are 27 school districts closed in the county; they were closed on Tuesday), the insurance agencies were set up in tents (like Allstate) so that homeowners who’ve lost property could get ready help; it’s really been something to see, the level of response to help victims.
Emotions? Running the gamut. Towering flames of angry orange fire that you can see, hear and smell are very, very scary when it’s five blocks from your front porch. Yesterday, I was just mad, as in furious, thinking of how unfair all of this is, but I think it was a defense of getting too blue. To be on edge hour after hour, on red alert, no sleep (my husband and I have alternated sleep hours so that one of us is always awake throughout the nite, on fire watch; most people I know are doing the same) – – well, it’s exhausting. You can’t sustain it. Last night, I was so tired and fed up of being anxious and scared that I bitterly said to my husband, “Fine. Just let the (f-word) fire burn us all up; get it over with; I can’t take this any longer; I just don’t care anymore.” Isn’t that awful, that I’d sink that low and say such a thing? Where does hope go, especially when there have been many miracles all around us – – so, of course, I had to quickly get back to that and get sane.
I’ve talked to several people over the past few days and none of us can concentrate or focus on anything but fire, fright & flight, can’t get anything done, cricks in our neck from constantly looking up at the sky and the hillsides; life on hold.
But the worst is the loss. I was physically ill when I got out a little today to see the blackened hills which burned right up to people’s backyards (I mean, right up to the patio; right up to their outdoor furniture). And, let it be known, not everybody has a hillside home. Embers were carried in that hellacious wind, MILES down the mountain; homes have burned which aren’t in burn areas, and it’s so random, making no sense of what burned and what didn’t. My childhood friends, one in the city of Ventura and another in the city of Santa Paula, have both lost their homes; burned to the ground; only enough time to get out pets and cars to flee, nothing but the clothes on their back; no warning. Patrick’s house was built in 1962; it has never been heretofore threatened to my knowledge. Bill, yes, his ranch is in the canyon where the fire started; it was always wildfire risk.
But it’s hard to know so far, especially in Ventura, what has burned and what hasn’t because people have been evac’d for days, the streets (SO many streets) are blocked off; fire crews haven’t been able to assess yet. Although I’m holding out hope, I do have two other friends, each of whose houses are in the hills which burned, and I’ve heard unofficially that both of those homes are gone as I’d feared. There will be no one in Ventura County who won’t know someone who has lost a home by the time this is all over, if it’s ever over (fire officials are saying this could last til Christmas – and, by the way, how can anyone think about Christmas at a time like this, which is why at night, all the enthusiasm is gone and hardly anyone in my neighborhood is even bothering to turn on their exterior holiday lights now and, like with me, I really don’t even know what’s going on in the rest of the world right now except that I understand Trump is doing his usual stupid things; I’ll get caught up eventually).
Someone ‘official’ said yesterday that we were 3X the severity of the Napa fires in scope and level of destruction, which is hard to imagine. When the smoke clears in Ventura, the beach, Ojai, Santa Paula, Fillmore and the Santa Barbara County line, it will NOT be so hard to imagine because the devastation will be right there before our eyes.
It’s true, we Californians; we choose to live here in drought, Santa Ana winds, hillside communities; wildfire. So we get what we get, right? Well, this is more than anyone deserves and you come across one person after another, fire official or not, who agree that we’ve never seen anything like this ever, not even us natives (‘older folks’). Which is why between power failures in some wee hour over the past 3 days, I found myself googling “best places to live in the U.S. with the lowest risk of natural disasters”.
We’re not out of the woods; the Thomas fire (my area) is only 10% contained and is burning fiercely. I’m on a valley floor; in the ‘flats’ and I’m sure glad of it although I’ll always miss our beloved hillside cottage from before. Many people in Ventura and environs are having to boil water and respect a curfew. 132,000 acres have been burned here as of 1:30pm.
I wanted to thank readers Kathy, Grace, Nancy and also you, Claudia (hope I’m not forgetting anybody), for your well wishes/prayers earlier in the week here on the blog when I was nervously dumping; all the good thoughts are comforting. So far, I’m so much luckier than most; my husband and I were/are prepared to lose our home if it happens but we may have dodged a bullet although there’s not even a hint of an all-clear to perhaps Sunday, so we’ll remain packed for evacuation and it’ll be a week I can never get back in my life but we’ve learned a lot from the danger, like in how much better prepared we should have been (me and my husband, personally; our emergency stash/plans were sloppy and inadequate).
And then maybe I’ll eventually be able to get out of my mind all the stories here of farm animals and wildlife who perished, all the while remembering also that, for the most part, what did NOT perish was people; humans. Which is the greatest miracle of all.
I am so glad to hear the you are ok Vicki…physically ok anyhow…I can only imagine how you feel mentally…surrounded by fire?…how scary that must be…You have been on my mind this entire week since we haven’t heard from you…I don’t know what to say except keep hanging in there…keep holding on to each other and get the heck out of there if they tell you to!…Nancy
Thank you. It’s 8:30 pm and we haven’t had another alert to evac like we did around 5:15pm which was an error.
At the moment, I am just heartsick, beyond the beyond. I finally, finally, FINALLY got hold, just now, of my friend Shirley in Ventura whose house was likely in peril Monday night. They evacuated under no power, with flashlights, and slept in her husband’s office that night. They were allowed back in Tuesday at daybreak on a fluke, just to see if their house was still there…and it was; but three other houses on her street burned to the ground. She only just got electrical power back up today and is having to boil water (in her multi-million dollar home – but it’s only multi-million dollar because of house values increasing; she and her husband are just ‘regular’ people like me, not wealthy). There’s been no land line service, no cell service; contact/communication has been spotty. She’d been trying to call ME but couldn’t get thru. She has a gas cooktop so could boil the water even when they’ve had no electricity once they could get back in their house. Lost all the contents of the frig/freezer of course.
Anyway, we had a good cry together. And then she told me what I feared. Our friend, Cheri, age 66 and single/divorced, living in the same house for over 40 years, did lose her house; I’d heard this, figured it was true, wasn’t entirely sure but then now Shirley confirmed it. Cheri stayed in the lobby of the Holiday Inn on Monday night; they gave her a blanket. There were no rooms; already all booked with evacuees. She got out with her little dog and her car; that’s it. She’s staying in a hotel now in Oxnard, trying to get her bearings. She hasn’t seen the rubble yet; hasn’t been allowed in; says she can’t ever live there again, not after this terror and loss. Says she won’t rebuild. It was a lovely view home; beautiful ocean views. We all have so many memories of it. Every single home on the cross street burned, too.
Shirley and I counted up between us and we have – and this is preliminary- eleven mutual friends/acquaintances who we know of, so far, who have lost their homes to the fire. Eleven homes. Utter disbelief. I don’t even know THAT many people, so this is staggering. I know the numbers are only going to get worse. I’m just thankful that everyone is alive. But we’re all senior-aged and it’s so hard to start over.
I am so, so sorry. To lose everything at any age is tragic, but to be a senior and suddenly have no home…I can’t take that in. xoxo
I can’t take it in either. I lived in that house with her for a few months before I got married. I’ve known the house since I was age 21. I keep going over it room by room. It’s like I have to see it gone in my mind; own it; accept it. We need to be strong for her. I can’t fall apart; that won’t help her at all. She is a very capable woman. But everybody has a breaking point. Thanks for your kindness and empathy, Claudia.
And there is only so much one can take. Your friend is in our thoughts.
Oh, Vicki, it’s so good to hear from you. You’ve been on my mind constantly. I cannot imagine what you’re dealing with on a daily – hourly – basis. First of all, I’m glad you’re safe and that your home is safe. I know it’s not over and the tension you and everyone around you is feeling must be exhausting. Worry – every second. Thank you for checking in with us. Feel free to comment as much as you want and need to. That’s what we’re here for. Much love to you and your husband and pets and to your community as well.
I’m reading this in the wee hours Monday, just trying to catch up. I’m still uneasy; I’ve still got the blinds and drapes open so I can keep a watch out the windows to the sky; it’s become this THING to firewatch but I fear I’ve become obsessed. Just when I start feeling more safe, the emergency operations website sounds so dire; they update frequently. A lot of the evac orders have been lifted where I am and the Red Cross deactivated I’m sure to go up to Santa Barbara. I should take this as a sign now that they wouldn’t have pulled out if they thought things would get worse here where I am. My husband HAS to go to work tomorrow, so I need to put on my Big Girl shoes and my Be Brave hat. Two people who are NOT going to work later this morning are my new neighbors, both of whom work in Santa Barbara. The 101 freeway north from here is not a place to be when it’s clogged with evacuees and rescue vehicles. The neighbor across the street from us works in Carpinteria; he won’t be going to work this morning either.
As in so many of these disasters, the timing – the Christmas season – is especially heartbreaking.
Oh Vicki, that sounds horrible! I wish you well will be thinking of you and all others living through that nightmare. I can’t think of anything scarier.
I’m sorry if I caused alarm by writing what I have about the wildfire; yes, I’m still scared, I’ll admit it, but this is Monday now and I’m safe, my house didn’t burn; my town survived. Thank you for thinking of me and for your well wishes. I really appreciate it, Carolyn Marie.
I was going to comment on your wonderful room. the exquisite doll house. that I’m glady you’re finally feeling better! that I too adore Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock… or anything really!
and the English accent… and ANYTHING English! I’ve been an anglophile since I was about 7 years old!
then I always read all your comments. because I like your community here.
and when I came to Vicki’s and read hers . . . I found myself literally holding my breath while I read it. it’s almost as if I was there. but I’m not. I’m safe in my little apartment. my little measley woes or worries are NOTHING.
nothing compares to what is happening in that ferocious holocaust.
we have tornadoes that are devastating. but they are NOTHING compared to fire.
I read that people are being told to bring in their animals especially at night. and to try to put out buckets of water if they can for panicked wildlife animals that are fleeing for their lives and are thirsty and don’t know what they’re doing except running. it is tragic on every level.
AND if they find out that it was a HUMAN that started that conflagration… I would buy a plane ticket to watch that excuse for a human to be hung in a public square.
God be with you and your beloved California Vicki.
tammy j, what a dear you are and, again, I’m so appreciative of Claudia letting people leave comments on me and everybody/anybody else suffering through these horrific wildfires in Southern California…thank you for your kind words above…AND, well…
…we thought we were holding steady but my husband stormed in the door somewhat wild-eyed about an hour ago (this is Friday night about 6:30pm PST) and said something to the effect of ‘how close are you’ and I said, ‘what, what???’ and he said, ‘the evacuating, how close are you; we need to leave RIGHT NOW, didn’t you get the alert; I rushed home as quickly as I could’ and I said, ‘I’ve been sitting right here and I’ve heard nothing; I thought we were okay, are you SERIOUS??!!’ and this was while I was write here commenting on the blog, so I about hit the floor (like in passing out) and then we just as quickly got the alert that said our evac order was lifted – – so, say what? It must have been an error, but there are a lot of sirens in the past hour and it’s the most-dense smoke yet outside; we have nearly zero percent visibility, which is just eerie.
SO, back to the sleepless night; the 5th sleepless night as we wait out this fire but we’ve remained alert, packed and ready to go; we won’t be stupid. I will tell you, though, and I’m now ‘old’ – a veteran of California wildfires – but there has never, never, EVER been a fire like this Thomas Fire in Ventura County which is now spreading to Santa Barbara County and no one here can be the same after this experience. One of my friends who lost his house is being benefited now by a GoFundMe page and they already got a $1000 in five hours from his classmates (me included; I gave what I could). There are over 400 homes gutted here in our county; the stories break your heart. It’s so terrifying for children especially; adults forget and talk fearfully amongst themselves not realizing that a little one’s ears are perked up to the conversation, so you have to exercise some discretion. People got out with their lives and nothing else; it happened so quickly and, now, doesn’t seem to want to let go, this monster fire.
Oh and yes, you are so right; the wildlife is suffering terribly. Deer, rabbits, coyotes, raccoons, possums, birds – running around (flying around) in a daze. Something came and ate my feral cat food last night because I’ve been leaving the food dishes full and out overnight (I usually bring in the food at dusk to not attract other creatures that could hurt the cats, so it’s a risk, but…). This is because my asthma can’t take the smoke (it hangs especially heavy in the night; I can’t go back out there to pick up the food as night comes on) and also in case I have to evacuate, not knowing when I can get back, and the cats depend on me for food and water, so I’m double feeding. The dishes were overturned, so it was something bigger than my wild kitties. I can’t evac the cats; can’t round them up; they’re, again, WILD, and I’m so overwrought about it but at least they’re free and can run (but they’re elderly cats; again, I have been worried about this from the beginning but I’m helpless to help them; they won’t get near a trap; all I can do is make sure we get out okay with our dog). But I have three birdbaths full of water, a big bucket of water, other bowls of water for whomever wants to come drink in the night hours or even day hours. I’m still in an area where our water isn’t tainted; not having to yet boil water, thankfully.
You might have seen the viral video of the young man in a hoodie trying to save a rabbit out of the fire up in our beach area of Ventura County called La Conchita (Rincon; Faria Beach; that’s the general vicinity on the way to Santa Barbara from Ventura, up the 101 freeway north; we’ve burned all the way to the ocean now from high up in the mountains 25 miles away). He’s gotten flack for disturbing the wildlife by catching this rabbit who’d run into the flames. I know in my heart (just watch his body language) that he was just trying to save the little thing; he had a HEART, acting on emotion. Fire is the scariest, most-deadly thing. The flack on this poor kid with the wild rabbit comes from so-called ‘experts’ who say he should have let Mother Nature do its thing and take its course because the rabbit might have had babies in burrows she needed to get back to – – but that brush area was raging fire, so I don’t see how the rabbit could have gotten very far into it, running directly into those flames, without dying. Anyway, the kid cradled it and I’m sure found a way to get it to a shelter (the Ventura County Fairgrounds are somewhat nearby and they are taking in all animals although I heard they’re at full capacity) and someone would have known how to get the rabbit to a wildlife sanctuary, I’m sure, because there would be Animal Regulation staff at the fairgrounds for all the horses and other farm animals being brought in.
Thank you again. I write a lot when I get nervous.
We just this second got an emergency alert apologizing for the error of telling us we had to mandatory evacuate some 90 minutes ago. I think you can see why I get nervous!!
So unnerving!
I know. Vicki’s comments really put things in perspective, don’t they? I can’t even wrap my mind around what they are dealing with every second of the day.
So hard to read this and to know so many are going through this and worse! I would love to read her blog can you tell me the name of it? Thanks and God Bless you Vicki!
She doesn’t have a blog, Linda.
Thank you, Linda. I abuse Claudia’s blog by commenting ad nauseum. And she and all of you are remarkably patient with me. I’m sure somebody lurks who tells Claudia to shut me up.
I’m happy to hear that your feeling better Claudia!…We’re not expecting snow here until Sunday although we did have some flurries last evening…time will tell…
Still waiting for it to start here, but it’s coming!
Loving the house plants – they look wonderful – especially the Zz plant. Don’t know that one but am going to check it out. The doll house looks fantastic – can we see the other side?
I’ve written extensively about the dollhouse. If you want to see the inside, just go up to the navigation bar and click on dollhouses!
speechless.
praying. hoping. feeling futile and small.
love.
xo♥
…are you kidding, dearest tammy j; praying and hopeful thoughts are everything and it’s a big deal to people who are going thru a bad time to know that someone else is doing that for them, thinking of them, pulling for them; it’s wonderful that you can do this; it’s a circle of love…God Bless you for being so compassionate!
Vicki, I am so happy that you and your community are safe!