august will be the last month of the sky is big in pasadena.
i have accepted a position at salford mennonite church in harleysville, pennsylvania. we will be moving in september, so august will be my farewell month to the city of pasadena. when we moved here from virginia i posted a list of the ten things i would miss most about harrisonburg. i figured that would be a good way to end our time here, so each day i will be doing one final rundown of life in this great city. i have prepared two lists - ten things i won't be sad to leave behind, and twenty of my absolute favorite things about pasadena. i am going to start with ten positives and ten negatives, alternating back and forth each day. concluding with my top ten things about life in pasadena.
#6 negative - fire season
this one needs little explanation. this photo was from 2009 during the awful station fire that destroyed much of the san gabriel mountain range just north of pasadena (coincidentally, one of the highest visitor totals of any photo i've ever put up). fire season fills the air with smoke, rains ash down across the city, and sparks fear in the lives of people who live near the the burn zones. i will have no problem leaving this part of pasadena behind.
6 comments:
The habitat wasn't destroyed. Fire is a natural and necessary contributor to the habitat's vitality and renewal; it is beneficial to our natural environment. People who choose to live near burn zones need to understand this and take appropriate precautions.
The problem is that after many years of fighting fires and not letting them burn, the underbrush was so thick that it burned hotter and harder than usual. This fire (in my understanding) was way more than nature ever intended and burned many of the plants and trees that usually recover.
I agree, it is a choice to live near this, but our "management" of fires throughout history has been put in to question by some. The scared hills then lead to mudslides during rainy weather which is a whole other thing I won't miss.
...and you're both right.
What, you don't like fire season? It's my fave.
I'll never see these hills the way they were before that dreadful week. not in my lifetime. so many old growth trees gone
I hate the fires - they take away the scenery that I love, the forest that sustains me here. I can't believe that in just a few years, a large of the San Gabriels I fell in love with has been destroyed by the Curve fire, the Williamson fire, and the Station fire. You should be safe from fires in PA, Ben.
On an unrelated note, I would highly recommend the bar in the picture on the left side of the road, the Altadena Alehouse (aka Beer the Pub).
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