Jess Can't Breathe

We took a beautiful vacation to the state of Washington a few weeks ago. Good timing too. Because as you may have heard the entire state of California where we reside is on fire. It has been for almost a month. We had the good fortune to leave right when they started.
When we drove back in the mighty Flying Eggplant (Ford Ranger) we passed Mt. Shasta. Here is a picture of both the mountain ans the Flying Eggplant:


Yay. Isn't California a scenic beauty? Everything is so dramatic and breathtaking. Speaking of here's what awaited us on the other side of the mountain:

That was taken just off of the bridge across Mt. Shasta. We still had about a two hour drive down into the valley before we got home. As we drove the air got thicker and thicker with smoke. Looking to the west it looked like a regular light gray fog. To the east it looked like what it was, smoke. There was no sky. There had been not sky for about a week and a half (that was two weeks ago). There was only smoke. The air when we got home was acrid and choking. We were lucky to be gone.
Last week it looked like it was going to clear up. The 4th was gorgeous and the sky blue. Things were looking up. And then the fire it got worse. An overnight change of the winds lead to the fires in Butte County exploding in size. On Tuesday morning I went out side to feed the cats and it was raining ash.
Morning glory with ash replacing morning dew. Lovely.
And that orange hue? Not some photography trick but the natural light outside. The whole sky was orange all day and it still is three days later.
Now I am not complaining, just describing how it's been. A lot of people have lost homes and the worst thing I have is some ashy flowers (and some smoke particles that we have been told will never leave our bodies since there is no way to expectorate such particulate matter - that was complaining).