This morning, like yesterday morning, was so smokey it looked foggy outside when I got up this morning…but enough of the odor crept inside that I knew better. It has cleared somewhat since then, but it’s still very smokey, and whenever there’s a slight breeze there’s a swirl of ash in the air.

Around 10 AM I went out in the car to have a look at things. We live in a valley, so there’s no end of places with a good view that are completely out of the way, being on the other side. From what I could tell, the fire is at its worst in the Arroyo Seco behind JPL, and is creeping up the slopes of the San Gabriels on the northeast, toward Altadena. (I saw isolated smoke and the occasional flame way up at the ridge line on that side.) I also saw what looked like a couple of isolated small plumes to the west of Angeles Crest Highway. I gather the areas there near the top of Alta Canyada were evacuated, and I think that’s where the plumes were.

There appears to be no fire moving toward La Crescenta at the present time; as I understand it, the west edge of the fire is already past, moving west down Big Tujunga Canyon behind Mt. Lukens. However, all of the smoke and ash from the Arroyo Seco is wafting gently in our direction, turning the sunlight red and making it rather unpleasant around here.

The air is much better not very far down the hill; but that’s a relative statement. It’s like a really bad smog day all over Los Angeles. We’d like to take the kids somewhere, but we’re kind of at a loss. We spent most of the last week in museums, and you can hang out at the mall only so long.

Update: It occurs to me that I haven’t mentioned the constant drone of helicopters and airplanes fighting the fire…but we like those, yes we do. They are not a problem.