Today was Marie's birthday, and there were a couple of surprises in store for her. First of all, our friend Janet from Maryland sent her a beautiful bouquet of tulips.
And, in an attempt to top that, I bought her a dozen gourmet cupcakes from The Little Cupcake Shop here in Santa Fe.
Marie requested a quiet day for her birthday - no running around. We were going to go out to dinner, but both of us felt a bit under the weather, so we had Marie's famous homemade pizza - and cupcakes, of course.
Not sure if smoke from the Las Conchas fire contributed to our malaise, but it continues to be the big story out here. By the time tomorrow dawns, it will be the largest fire in New Mexico history at over 100,000 acres, and only about 5% contained. Sadly, most of the growth today was into the Santa Clara Pueblo, threatening their watershed and burning sacred and ceremonial grounds. If you read between the lines, it would seem that the focus on saving Los Alamos and the Los Alamos National (Nuclear) Laboratory allowed the fire to race northward into the Pueblo. Los Alamos still isn't out of the woods - nor are the residents allowed back home yet - but it's safe so far.
As happens so often with fires and volcanic eruptions, the sunsets are quite beautiful, as was the case tonight.
Looking to the left of the sunset, though, the light had a sickly look.
There are fires raging all over New Mexico, with new ones starting every day. Only rain will bring an end to this, and we had some spotty thundershowers today. Unfortunately, this early in the monsoon season, the air is so dry that much of the rain evaporates before hitting the ground, leaving lightning and wind the byproducts of the storms. One can start fires, the other pushes them along. Scary times right now.
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