First Week Home
... and our first brief walks in our neighborhood
The weeks after we evacuated were a blur - a week in a hotel taking our dog Skye every where we went (the lawn at City Hall was a favorite spot to relieve herself); a week in Monterey with family during my mom’s final days in hospice care before she passed away (more on that another time); and another week in an Airbnb, working a little and trying to get the smoke and wind damage cleaned up by our insurance company. Our brains were still foggy - I remember getting coffee one morning, opening a number of cream containers and dumping them directly into the garbage instead of my coffee cup, and not noticing until the fourth time. That fogginess lingered.
Nancy and I love to walk together. Our standard on Saturday morning was a long hike in Eaton Canyon and the Altadena Crest Trail, then popping out into Altadena and grabbing coffee at Cafe de Leche and arepas at the Sus Arepas food truck outside. Now Eaton Canyon is closed indefinitely and Cafe de Leche burned down (though you can still get coffee beans delivered!), like so many businesses around it.
That first week we were still getting our bearings. Was it safe for us and our dog Skye to walk the streets in our neighborhood? We didn’t venture far. The shot above is from the middle entrance to Eaton Canyon, a few blocks from our house. The National Guard was still present at major intersections though no longer blocking access to our neighborhood, and there was lots of wind damage along with burned homes.
Our dear friend Kathy’s mom Diane lost her home near Altadena Golf Course, and we ventured by on one of our walks. This is where we started to see the things that have become commonplace now - burned out vehicles and so many burned homes, their chimneys often the only things left standing.
We were lucky to get back into our house so quickly - it took some friends and neighbors months before coming home. Those first weeks, it was striking how empty the streets were, and it was rare to encounter another walker while we were out. Oof.
Some quick gear notes. In December I sold my Sony camera and lenses to switch to Fujifilm, and I took most of the photos these first few weeks on an X-E4 (I’ve since sold that for an XT-5) with the 18mm f2 lens. Together those made an awesome little package.