Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

And throat, and lungs, and hair.

So, while it is vastly improved, the air, that is, over on our side of the bay, it's apparently still gnarly out there. I took the girls for a walk about 4:30 today and got an incredible view of the eastern foothills with a thick yellowish haze sitting on top like a rancid meringue - then beautiful, intense, summery blue sky. I didn't think much beyond 'oh wow - that's the first I've seen it that clearly delineated this whole time with the fires', until I ran into an older gentleman also out for a walk and we got to talking about how bad it had been. I'm not entirely sure it wasn't just fog this morning, but I was raised to not argue with my elders, so. However, on the downhill slope to home I realized I was having difficulty breathing, and I could actually taste the acrid smoke of burning flora - not the taste you'd like to have in your or your children's mouths, let me assure you. My chest is still a bit tight and painful, and I'm having to occasionally think about taking a deep breath, but it's just astonishing to me how it can still be this bad with no obvious overlay of smoke. My heart goes out to the people in East Bay and up north - attach yourselves to air conditioners or similar, and stay safe.

And it's only June, folks. Welcome to California in the summer.