Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
An early Tuesday morning start. Real early. My usual old-age pattern is to wake at about 5:00, but on days like this it happens even earlier for no particular reason, except perhaps thinking about the situation in America. I think we oscillate between long-term hopeful and short-term helpless as our demented president is guided by his evil minions. Anyway, I was up early enough to go get 17 kilowatt-hours for Carla. She was happy.
After a quiet morning, we headed out on a repeat of an excursion we had made in July: The Altadena burn zone and, for contrast and dinner, Descanso Gardens.
Altadena remains a sobering space, even if rebuilding is starting on a few of the burned-out and cleared lots. It is exactly one year since fire devastated parts of Southern California and cleanup started. The amount of rebuilding is a tribute to the strength of locals. Utilities are still being restored. Foundations are appearing among the temporary-housing RVs. Some schools have reopened and some remain closed because of either fire damage or simply because too many school kids have moved away. But restoration of communities is still years away.
Salvaged timber and unsalvageable jeep.
Foundation and temporary home.
217 Terrace, the childhood home of friend Beverly.
Progress since July 2025.
Seeing struggle had made us hungry, so Bonny drove us over to Descanso Gardens, a favorite lunch and after-meal-walk park. This third day's drive reminded us of just how huge the settled Los Angeles area is. We were seeing only a small part, but still we passed through community after community, some uber-wealthy and some not. High costs, fire, and earthquakes have not kept folks away.
Our Red Barn patio lunch started with cocktails, nonalcoholic of course. The food was excellent too, far better than one normally finds in city parks.
After eating, we strolled through the gardens, slowly to sample winter-challanged flowers. The sunlight was almost gone, but good enough. Too many pictures I know, but we do need to keep seeing what is around us and smell the roses while we can.
Back home, we had evening coffee, watched TV news, and reviewed our day. A comfortable end of the day.
Tomorrow, we head into the desert to meet up with friends Nancy and Steve.
Stay Tuned.
John and Marianne