Sima stood looking toward the airport in Kabul. All around the tarmac was a wall of bodies pushing forward. People pressed together in a crush of human anguish. Inside Sima, grief was raging. Her hands twitched, searching for something beyond her reach. She was in search of freedom, of something Read more
It was gone. All of it – gone. The fire left nothing but memories and rubble Dee’s stomach sank into the pit of her toes as she stood looking down upon what was left of her home. Her entire life was in wisps of ashes and dust. There were tiny Read more
I couldn’t believe my eyes. What I saw in front of me stunned me to the core. The mountain was lit up with an eerie red glow. Over the hills in front of us, we could see raging fire fill the sky. It filled my stomach with a queasy feeling. Read more
Dan leaned on his shovel and watched the flames burn the slope on the other side of the highway. The fire threatened everything Dan had, it scorched his world and all he knew. The massive forest fire raged toward the town of Monte Lake and the Paxton Valley nestled in Read more
I awoke to the acrid smell of smoke-filled skies. The air was thicker with ashes and smoke from the forest fires than it has been all year. The Okanagan Valley looked as if it was filled with a fog that smelled like a campfire. Only this fog stung the eyes. Read more
A magical sound entered my slumber. Was I dreaming? Or was it the musical drumming of rain battering my roof and filling my eardrums with hope? It was a wonderful sound. Rain fell and soaked our drought-ridden valley. I had a sense of relief hearing the drumbeat of water falling. Read more
The fuel dock was in sight. I throttled up and steered Serendipity toward the boathouse at the Eldorado marina. I was coming in hot. The fuel gauge read 0 percent. Suddenly the motor sputtered and then quit and I was forced to drift in faster than I wanted to. I Read more
I read it on facebook and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It’s facebook, so it couldn’t be real… could it? Cases have climbed in the Okanagan and the BC CDC announced new restrictions for the Central Okanagan. More cases of Covid 19 have infected our piece of paradise and Read more
Days have melted together in the summer heat. I have not had a day off in over a month. It’s like when I used to run my window cleaning business. I get hours off instead of days. I shouldn’t complain about the first-world problem of being busy on a boat. Read more
Fire burned the tinder-dry forests all around us. Ashes coated my car and I could see it falling like warm snowflakes in the sky. Smoke has descended back into the valley so thick I could taste it as I breathed in the air. The weather has remained hot and dry Read more