The air

The sun has just set, a flaming red ball in a smoke haze, which makes the trees across the street look hazy. I rode my bike up Alpine Road to Portola Valley Road after lunch and the smoke was worse up there. Can't even see the hills that separate us from the coast. People are advised to stay indoors with closed windows.

Talked to my daughter up on St Juan Island in Washington, just opposite Victoria. There are fires in British Columbia too, whose smoke was so bad yesterday that no planes could take off or land from their island. Couldn't see across the valley, she said. It was like walking in fog. Talked to a friend further up the coast of Vancouver Island, who said the same thing. She's a friend of my mother and is in a senior place. The last few days they've been advised to stay indoors with their windows shut. Rainy Vancouver is also having a drought--no rain all summer. Paris friends who were planning to visit Sooke, near Victoria, are wondering if they should cancel their trip.