Some of you may have seen this today, put out by CPOA, but for those who did not, I am reproducing it in its entirety. An evening in Monterey is hard for South Coast folks, but any North Coast folks might be interested. For others, who cannot attend, but would like to donate, the BSVFB makes it easy. Click on their link to the right, and when you get to their home page, there is a donate button that goes through paypal. Takes just a few minutes, or seconds, depending on your internet speed. (Sorry, the pictures did not come through in the copy & paste.)

It’s a Happening!

It’s been a year since the Basin Complex Fire.
Tom and I wanted to do something
so we’re organizing a benefit for the
Big Sur Volunteer Fire Brigade
5PM – 7:30PM
Thursday, August 6th
at Wave Street Studios

774 Wave Street, Monterey

It’s a reading and an interview

and an art show

and a celebration

Gary is pouring wine (Pinsoni Vineyards & Winery)

and Tom and Nepenthe

are cooking up lots of treats.

Bubbly will flow courtesy of McIntyre Vineyards

Hospitality and service will be provided by Big Sur Food & Wine Festival

You won’t want to miss it!

Tickets are $50 per person.
Make your check payable to Big Sur Volunteer Fire Brigade.
30% of all art sales go directly to the Brigade, too.
Space is very limited.
Call 831/646-9000 now to make a reservation or to sponsor the event

P.S if you have to miss it, catch it on line at livenetworks.tv from 6PM-7PM.
P.P.S Call Wave Street at 831/ 655-2010 for directions.

Journal excerpt, August 2, 1972

” Yesterday there was big fire at Jack Flat’s. It burned most of it up. It leapt the road and landed on the trees and started up the hill. It burned 3,000 acres. The Rangers say that by the time it stops 10,000 acres will be burned. Today it burned all the Pfeiffer Falls area. About 1,000 people had to be evacuated out of the park itself. Now it is going fast into the mountains where no human lives are in danger. I don’t know but there must be at least thousands of dead animals out there. At Nepenthe Restaurant, thousands of ashes flew on to the terrace. The ashes are gone but its pretty dusty! They have closed off the highway so the equipment can go through. Overhead I can hear the air tankers (planes, jets.) A few days ago we went to a flea market in Moss Landing. I got a doll-flower bowl. Holly got a surprise.”

Well, I was not yet 9 years old when I recorded these first impressions of the 1972 Molera Fire. What I remember now is sitting in the Hopkins pool on Partington Ridge watching the smoke billow up before we knew what was going on. Later that winter, there were terrible mudslides. The river rose up and cars were washed downstream below River Inn. I was in third or fourth grade. I remember we went down to Big Creek and planted trees to replace the ones that had burned. It seemed like they would never grow back.

During the Basin Complex Fire last summer, we talked about how things would be later, when the fire was out, when we were home again. But talking about the way it would be after the fire while the fire was still raging was eerie and unsettling. Would we be able to go home again? Not everybody did. What would we see when we made that drive south for the first time? I know I cried from Molera to Nepenthe the first time I made that drive home, after the mandatory evacuation had finally been lifted.

During that intense period of fire and aftermath, I felt incredibly grateful to the men and women who were fighting the fire. I wanted to do something to thank them. But most of my energies went into getting my life back on track, working on getting my studio up and running in Monterey, Chi’s wedding, helping Emily find a new apartment in Santa Barbara, and finally closing my studio and coming home again. Time passed, life went on.

Now it’s been a year. It’s time.

Please join me in thanking all the men and women of the Big Sur Volunteer Fire Brigade and Auxiliary by attending our upcoming fundraiser for the Brigade at Wave Street Studio August 6th. Come for the reading, the wine, the cause. Stay for the conversation, the connecting, the community-building.

It will be an evening to remember.

Erin
831/646-9000 or 667-2454
CPOA Board
info@cpoabigsur.org