scary day

thanks to everyone who has called me today, our green valley lake cabin is safe as i write this... i can't believe i saw it on our local news today during a random news report! but the threat is not over. this is scarier than the last fire, which was miles and miles away. 20 homes have burned in green valley lake, actual houses. i can't tell you how much turmoil i have been in all day. i took the week off to attend a painting workshop, at the beach with fumes of smoke and ash flying through the air. my cell phone ringing off the hook with news that my cabin may be burning to the ground. what a strange day, so scary, so surreal. emotions whirling in all directions. i kept thinking about what i have left there, my belongings (my cabin itself is so amazing, a work of art). then worrying about my neighbors, people who live there year round. maybe everything they hold dear burning up.

i know if i read about someone's "vacation" home burning up i might think, well who cares about her? she has a real home and this is just a second home. i know, i know... i actually feel the same way sometimes (those celebrity's in malibu??) but let me tell you humbly, i don't take my cabin for granted. i know it is a luxury, i can't take a vacation because of it (granted i can visit it instead) and i have a way to "get away" from this claustrophobic city. i work weekends and overtime to pay for it, i cry over bills and worry many sleepless nights. for me, it is more than what meets the eye. it is a place to take my girls that is laid back, full of nature and has a feeling that reminds me of my own upbringing. it is a close knit community and quaint, something i love and am grateful for... i am so scared for all my womens club members who live there year round, neighbors who live and breath green valley lake. listening to the police scanner tonight ... hearing things like "need to abandon", "not enough help", "fire running rampant".... my stomach hurts! if my cabin survives this, i don't know how i will be able to thank my lucky stars enough.

so as i watch the news and worry worry worry... here is how day one of my workshop went:

on the way to the workshop, smoke rolling in

demonstration

stages

done!

lunch break...

my first attempt

gvl