June 26, 2011
June 26, 2011
The above pictures of last year’s Las Conchas fire were taken from our porch down here. The following two pictures show our trees going up in flame as Andy escaped the fire.
June 26, 2011
June 26, 2011
The following pictures were taken last Friday:
June 22, 2012
June 22, 2012
It’s been quite a year here. What was your year like?
Cheerful Monk: I look at the huge clouds of smoke and think of the terror that must have abounded; my year seems so small, yet I have leaned a lot about myself and life.
My Dad passed away, leaving my parents’ home to me. It was bittersweet signing the papers, yet I felt joy at the same time. My childhood home and all the beauty that surrounded it fed my soul.
The weekend I was to move in, my husband stated he was leaving me for another woman. I suppose I could have been upset, but I felt happy for him. He had watched over me for 15 years, as I was diagnosed disabled. I had begun praying he’d find happiness. I’ve no regrets.
Ironically I don’t if it might have been the older home I lived in, or the husband that left, but I began to feel pretty good! Returning to my parents’ home has given me a sense of well-being I haven’t experienced in many years. I’m still disabled but now I experience no guilt knowing someone else is not losing out on their own enjoyment of living.
Sending good thoughts your way 🙂
OMG where do you find all those wonderful feelings? However I kinda see how that would happen except for wishing the fleeing husband well. Maybe your childhood home was elsewhere & he didn’t want to move. I find satisfying reasons & believe them even when they aren’t true. There’s a place for you in heaven.
It looks nature is rejuvenating itself quite rapidly….
My year has been good. Fortunately the recession has not dealt us any major blows as yet. Some people are having a very tough time of it, and the Cameron government is only making things worse.
About this time last year, I finally finished my BA majoring in Asian Studies (not languages) and Art History. I had expected to be entering the workforce but that was not to happen so I spent around 4 months deciding how best to go forward.
In mid November I had enrolled to return to University to do Graduate Studies which I began in March of this year. Studying part time seemed to be the best bet and the Diploma would take two years with 2 papers a Semester…
But last week, a huge blip occurred and of yesterday I have withdrawn from the Diploma until at least the end of this year whilst I revise/regroup where/why/how I might go forth. If I can’t work through the issues, I will stop studying in 2013…
Also last year, I finally dropped my primary care doctor and changed to a new medical centre. In some ways that has been good but in other ways; my health issues expanded and in more recent months something else hit the fan although apparently it has been argued that possibly this is “just me” and not anything that really needs addressing other than regular specialised blood tests in case there is a change!
What will happen over the next year at this point is a little like the forest fire that happened to you – in what seems an instant everything that was is no more, but regrowth will reappear somehow 🙂
A year of ups and downs. Both of my parents have had health crises (not life threatening ones) that my partner and I have needed to manage.
A couple of other crises, now thankfully in the past.
Still no clue about making a good living from blogging really. I have a couple more ideas to try.
dcrelief,
I’m so glad you can live in your childhood home and that your shoulder has recovered so fast. You’ve been through more than enough without being in a sling for weeks more and having to go through the torture of physical therapy.
Now that your husband is gone do you have the help you need? In one of your posts it sounded as if a lot of people rely on you for emotional support. As you mentioned, that’s not what you need right now. Bless you!
bikehikebabe,
I can understand why one would wish him well. If my caregiver were feeling burdened it would make me feel even worse. If I had other options I would take them.
Nick,
I’m glad you escaped the recession so far. Hope the whole world economy doesn’t collapse. But no sense worrying since we have no say in the matter.
Cathy,
I’m sorry things aren’t going smoothly, both with your studies and your health problems. As always I’m rooting for you.
Evan,
I’m glad the crises are over for now and wish you luck in finding a way to make a living doing something you love.
Those first three pictures – whoa.
>It’s been quite a year here.
– I’ll say.
>What was your year like?
– Nothing as terrifying or draining as compared to what you and Andy experienced with this. (Thank you, God!)
Thank goodness you both escaped physically unscathed!
Kate
Oops, I meant ‘Nowhere as terrifying…’ above.
Kate
My last year, commencing from July last year has been as eventful as any ever. I was grounded awaiting end September to undergo revision to a hip joint, went through that, recovered at home till end December and though I have been quite active since then, final clearance came last week when the surgeon said that both prostheses are well set and I just have to manage the muscular discomfort with medication for a while. I started off the new freedom by an overnight week end jaunt last week end and hope to do many more henceforth.
Kate,
Thank you! My main reaction to the evacuation here and our house and trees being destroyed was relief that at least Andy was all right.
Rummuser,
I’m happy for you.
Hi Jean,
Things are bad over there. Have you been evacuated?
Wishing your neighbourhood the best.
Off to watch the match between Italia and Germany.
Cheers
another summer of record heat and drought.
every year i say this is the last!
at least we’re not on fire like so much of our beloved west.
there are always a few folks who disregard the law and shoot off their fireworks… coming up next week. scary.
other than a small tornado… this year has been a year of recovery of grief and loss. but plodding along! life is good.
Max,
We should be fairly safe this year because we evacuated last year and mostly have a good firebreak down here. Up in the mountains the firebreak is miles wide. Thank you for asking.
Colorado is having a bad time right now. One report says tens of thousands of people have had to evacuate. My heart goes out to them.
tammy,
If you move where would you go? Am I remembering correctly that you have a brother here in New Mexico?
i have a nephew stationed at kirkland afb in albuquerque.
he’s my brother’s son. my brother lives here in my town. it’s his wife we lost to cancer. we both are cool weather… pine forest people… and yet wound up in this hot flat dry land!!!
don’t know what the future will hold now that we’re both widowed. it’s too soon for him to move. all i know is… the older i get the harder the extreme heat is on me! so maybe it’s not a matter of locale… just of age! lol.
dearest monk..
i have a question (maybe foolish) what becomes of the acres and acres of dead trees. i know the undergrowth flourishes but such large surfaces of dead trees… they evenutally just fall? guess i should google it. duh!
good lord. please excuse the typos in spelling…
kirtland afb! eventually! a c- for tammy on this comment!
tammy,
I don’t notice typos like that so don’t worry about them. I read for meaning.
About the dead trees–yes, they eventually fall down and rot, but that’s a slow process when there is so little moisture.
It sounds as if you won’t move until your brother does. I’m so glad you at least have one another. How did you wind up in the same town? Is that where you were raised? Or did you move there because he was there, or?
We too like the relatively cool higher-altitude forests, but now may not be the best time to live in them!
My Foodnerd friend moved further up the mountain where there’s more snow & fires. Her mother said she’d wait to visit when there weren’t snow storms or forest fires.
And when would that be?
bikehikebabe,
The fall is nice. Spring is dicey. Andy’s brother and family came to visit over Memorial Day weekend years ago, and we had a picnic up on the land. It was chilly with some snowflakes. They were not impressed.
i do love seasons. all four of them!
it seems our state now has only two… high summer that starts at the end of may and lasts until late november. and then the ice storms of the winter. (sorry! i sound cynical!)
i do love my little cottage. it’s just my size. and very pretty.
i always thought i’d love the pacific northwest. i’m a rain lover.
one of those disgusting people that are still enjoying it a week after it’s still raining.
but… as the years go by… probably need to simply bloom where i’m now planted. i think my chances of leaving are slim.
my brother and i grew up in many states … new york, virginia, minnesota, colorado, oklahoma.
came back to this state when my dad died… we were 14 and 17. his family was from here. i married an oklahoma boy. my brother married an oklahoma girl and the rest is history as they say. it’s a fine state really. cost of living amazingly low compared to the rest of the country.
thanks for telling me about the poor trees. i revere trees!
hard to see them all dead.
but nature renews itself always.
tammy,
Thanks for letting us get to know you better. Yes, nature renews itself in time. It does just fine, it’s just individuals and species that take it on the chin. We certainly won’t have any big trees up there again in our lifetime. The hills down here are still a lot more bare than they were before the 2000 fire.