Day Without Light

 

All over the Bay Area and beyond, we woke up Wednesday morning to the strangest sky I have ever seen, even during hurricanes and tornadoes.

It was shockingly, uniformly, suffocatingly pale dull orange, coating everything like a giant blanket stretching north to south, east to west. From under that blanket, we peered out, blinked, and huddled together like dinosaurs after a meteor strike.

The air quality index was a tad better than on some recent mornings, so there was not so much of a smoky smell, according to my granddaughters. But outside everything was coated with ash.

Over Twitter, novelist Amy Tan captured the scene by video from her place in Marin. My granddaughters checked the baby quail, Puffball. It seemed fine, surviving best as it can in its post-apocalypse universe out back.

There was no sunrise. The dawn yielded to night. We proceeded as if it were day, but gingerly.  I don't wish to sound cynical but I did speak out loud to myself: 

"Great. Just as I get my eyesight back, there is nothing left to see."

For one day at least, the world disappeared.

***

Alas, the news did not disappear, just coated the world with ash.

* Gov. Newsom said that 7,606 fires have burned 2.3 million acres in California this year. That’s a record in modern history. This time last year, just 118,000 acres had burned in 4,027 fires. (NYT)

* Sturgis Motorcycle Rally could account for 266,000 coronavirus cases, study says (WashPo) * 20 Years Later, ‘Almost Famous’ Is The Best Kind Of Feel-Good Movie -- Cameron Crowe’s ode to ‘70s rock, starring Patrick Fugit and Kate Hudson, remains as smart as it is sentimental. (HuffPost) I love this movie. (DW) * Gov. Cuomo: Trump is actively trying to kill New York City (CNN) * More than half of households in 4 largest U.S. cities struggled financially during pandemic, poll shows (The Week) * Amazon currently has 33,000 job openings for corporate and tech roles and says it will share "thousands of additional hourly roles in Amazon's Operations network" soon. All of the new employees for these roles will be paid at least minimum wage at $15 per hour with up to 20 weeks of parental leave. The employees who fill the corporate and tech roles will receive an average pay of $150,000, including salary, stock-based compensation and benefits, an Amazon spokesperson said.  (CNN)  *** Night and day, you are the one Only you beneath the moon and under the sun Whether near me or far It's no matter, darling, where you are I think of you night and day, day and night -- Cole Porter -30-