“Within yourself is a stillness, a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.”

Hermann Hesse

A quick update on the Cameron Peak fire. On Tuesday night winds picked up gusting to 65 mph and caused the fire to make a 15-17 mile run in a easterly direction in about 12 hours. Several mandatory evacuations to the east and south were issued. The city of Fort Collins was socked in with smoke. It looked like 6:00 pm all day while smoke, ash and soot fell like snow. Everyone was wearing a mask due to the poor air quality. Had a friend over for lunch and made him smoked pasta with smoked marinara sauce and a smoked caesar salad. I have not heard but I’m pretty sure some homes were lost in that run yesterday. The fire now has become the largest in Colorado history with 167,000 acres. Not a record we want to boast about. The high winds brought in a cold front, dropping temperatures and we will have a good freeze tonight. Today has been much better with air quality and even given us some blue sky with sunshine to enjoy. We also have another fire that started yesterday afternoon, the East Troublesome Fire, west of Boulder. It has already grown to 3,700 acres due to the winds. We are so dry out here.

Many of us have had to look for that stillness, that sanctuary within because the external sanctuaries are not accessible and in some cases gone.