A big fire!

 These are in reverse order of how I saw the action!

I went out this afternoon to mail my "O" cards. I'd missed the mail carrier so I thought "I'll go to the mail box by the hospital where there's a 5 pm pick up. Easy and quick.

I went out my back gate, down the alley to Davis Ave. and took a left onto Grove. I noticed flashing lights, then a smokey look up ahead. Whoa, some yellow police tape.

Looking east on Grove

Looking west on Grove

Channel 12's truck on Grove

I saw Adrianna, Sage, their mom and friends coming towards me. They'd seen the smoke and went to investigate. They filled me in about what they'd seen. They smelled smokey.

There was no way that I could get to the mail box, nor would the postal workers be able to make the 5 p.m. pick up with the street closed.
I decided to walk around the hospital on Floyd Ave, parallel to Grove, to a post box on Grove and the Boulevard. Lots of fire trucks, police cars, the streets blocked. Lots of smoke. I was able to get really close to the action from this direction.   There were lots of fire companies involved in this.

I didn't realize how many of our fire fighters are women. I think in one of these photos you can actually see one of them.




I just heard the news on Channel 12 that firefighters are still on the scene as they investigate how the fire started. The owner and his dog got out safely but the man lost a lot including his computer. He said that he wished he'd had off computer back up. Good idea! Glad I have my photos on Flickr and this blog.

Oh yes, they said that it was a 3 alarm fire.


Such excitement in the neighborhood. And it took my mind off of what had been bothering me. Along with 2 pieces of mail art, I was mailing copies of the death certificate of my friend to businesses. I was feeling sad about that. I'm still in surprise about her death. I suppose that's how it goes.

St. Andrews' community fair

Last Saturday, our friends Susan and John told us about a community fair and invited us to join them on Sunday to see it. "They're going to have homemade pickles," they said. Wow! Who could resist homemade pickles! Sunday noon found us at the fair. There was a tiny pen with livestock, a burro, a llama (or alpaca, ) a few little goats, a pony. There was an even tinier pen with two bunnies and a piglet. A small fire truck was great fun for kids.


There was a grill, a plant and bulb sale, and lots of great books for only 50¢ each. There were police officers on horses. And pickles, homemade bread and butter pickles. We came home with pickles and books.