I've been posting on the Chit-chat section about the awful fires in Santa Barbara, CA and my daughter's home and business being in danger. Now, I'm putting it here because it hit me that this situation actually is related to quilting.

She is in Chicago at a conference. Her landlord called to say the house may indeed catch fire, that if he can get to it, he will save one possession each for her and her housemate, a woman who is also in another state right now. So, if possible, he will save the housemate's cat and my Vanessa's violin. I told her I'm still alive, I can make more quilts. Her little dog is being cared for by a friend who loves him and babysits him frequently and this friend had asked to borrow her car, so that is saved too. So, if the worst happens, all she will have is her dog, her car, and whatever is in her suitcase for her business conference. She will lose all her photos, souvenirs, gifts of childhood-college friends and travels (we can duplicate family photos but not those) and her collection of musical instruments and music. She's been composing on the piano which is from my husband's childhood(sentimental), the folk harp handmade by a dear musical friend who died of cancer(sentimental), her sister's flute, and others that she also plays and enjoys. I sure hope the landlord can save her violin that is hugely sentimental and needed for her parttime job in the Santa Barbara Orchestra. She's also heartsick at the prospect of losing the quilt projects I've made for her over the years... I am too. But, she enjoyed them a lot when she had them and I can make her more.

Her business partner, also in his twenties, may be losing him home right now too. He lives with his wealthy grandpa so won't need to worry about where to live -ever. But still, he must also have special possessions. Hopefully, both their houses are spared. Vanessa has asthma so will need to have meds and inhaler handy when she steps off the plane tomorrow. She was advised to stay away for her health, but she's worried about her dog, her things, her business offices full of files and equipment (at risk, but not in imminent danger). She said for us to not come because there is no place for us... she will be staying in a tiny back room at her friend's yet that house is at the edge of mandatory evacuation and all motels are booked with the area's residents. There is a tent shelter place set up somewhere, but not for family visiting.

So, I am here now, telling you about this potential tragedy we are fearing, to ask you to pray that the fire doesn't reach her house or somehow magically skips over it.

Also, I strongly advise you all to do what I always do... take a photo of every quilt project you give away! If my daughter does lose everything, I will be able to print & frame a photo of her 2 bed quilts, special pillows, quillow, framed landscape, I'm not sure what else, I've made for her since I learned to quilt about 8years ago. It will make an artsy collection for the wall in her next home. I have already begun the Pioneeer '09 BOM so if she does lose her quilts, I will be making a sampler quilt of those blocks for her for Christmas.

I'll update you tomorrow.
Cathy

I sure hope her home makes is through. I'm sure that she will be able to find a place to stay. I am 40 mi south of there in Camarillo. If she can't find another place to stay, I have a couple empty bedrooms. Fortunately because the wind is not blowing this direction we do not have the smoke and ash problem we had when the last Santa Barbara fire occured. We have had some awesome sunsets the last 2 days because of the fire.

I am so sorry that your daughter is having to go thru this . It is awful all the property damage and mementos that are irreplaceable that are being destroyed. Please keep us posted and hoping all works out for your daughter and everyone else in harms way {{{{{{HUGS}}}}}
Sharon

Prayers are going out to her and to all that are in the wake of that fire.

Praying that all the worrying will be for naught, and the fire will be under control and no more damage will done!

I know everyone says "it's JUST possessions, but we do get attached to our stuff." I hope her house will be spared.

Back to that saying though - as long as your daugher and her roommate and the dog are safe - in the end THAT IS ALL THAT MATTERS.

Hugs to the Bay Area.

I pray that your daughter's home is spared! Jim's Gem, how kind you are!

K x

So sorry. Hopefully the winds will change and things will return to normal.

Prayers for safety and strength from the SF Bay Area.
If this turns out to be arson, then :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: to the sub-human creature that did it!!!

I found this link to the Santa Barbara County website, re: the Jususita Fire, as this one has been named.

http://www.countyofsb.org/ceo/dept0.aspx

The link has good info., time of updates, and most importantly, maps showing mandatory and potential evacuation areas.

Also, you can get to this same link via the CalFire web page:
http://www.fire.ca.gov/index_incidents_jesusita.php

The Santa Barbara area, while beautiful and sometimes call the American Riviera (same vegetation, geology, and geography as the Northern Mediterranean, i.e. Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, the "Rivera"), like its European counterpart, is a terrifying place when the wildfires hit. The dry vegetation combined with wind and just one spark, turns into massive loss and destcruction. The canyons are steep. The mountains are rugged.

In addition to all the victims (current and potential) of this fire, we also need to send prayers for the safety and well-being of those heroes who look those wildfires in the face and say, "No way!". They put their lives on the line every time they face down one of those firey beasts.

Godspeed to all.

m.

I hope her house is spared. It's an empty feeling to lose everything. I don't understand why the landlord can only get one item for each. My goodness if he can look for certain item take a big trash bag and using common sense start putting items in the bag, once through the house and out of there. Finding the cat may be a chore, they sure like to hid when a upset.

Thank you everybody for not only your prayers and well wishes but for your understanding and support.
--Gayle, your offer to let my daughter stay with you is so kind, but I doubt she'll take you up on it. 40miles is too far away and she does have that friend to stay with, unless that street gets evacuated too. She can come and stay with us if she needs to, but we are even farther away.

I like the fury against an arsonist (if there was one) and knowing that we do get attached to our possessions, especially those full of memories. I only have the family photos, not her college years, month visit in Russia, 10 months living in a small basque town in Spain and everywhere where I was not there. She didn't have a digital camera until recently.

I hope my telling her to not worry about the quilts helps quash any guilt she may have in my behalf. I put in long hours making them, but I had fun doing that and she enjoyed them for years. and hey... I'm still alive... I can make more!

--M, thanks for the sites. I could've used those yesterday. I finally managed to get to them on my own this morning. I went through the local newspaper there; Santa Barbara News-Press where they had buttons to click for the most update info. Honestly, they must have somebody stationed at their info site at all times; it is updated constantly. I didn't like the latest reports.

I'm so sorry about this frightening situation you and your daughter have to deal with! Just pray your butt off--that's my solution for everything scary, difficult and challenging. It works for me. I'll pray that the fire passes over her home.

Your advice about photographing every quilt is good. I sure hope she doesn't lose her house. She must feel so helpless stuck away in Chicago while all hell is breaking loose at home. She's in my thoughts!

Prayers said....

Oh, Cathy I am so sorry you're all going through this. It's been on our news, and is a terrible thing. I'll be praying and thikning of your daughter.

I'm so sorry to hear this! I've been wondering how the fires are doing. I have a 2nd cousin that lives in downtown Santa Barbara...I believe she is okay (except for breathing).

I had a kitchen fire a lot of years ago...I lost everything in the kitchen, but managed to save family pictures. I learned a lesson...ALL pictures I cherish are now on computer disk, scanned those I didn't take myself, and I have a disk stored in our safe deposit box. As for cherished items......it's hard to lose some things that had family history. I AM much more careful in the kitchen now!

Best of luck and prayers for everyone in the fire's path.

Any updates??

I hope that they get that fire under control quickly... prayers being sent to that area

Cahty, still saying prayers for everyone. It is really scarry.

We have high fire warnings and winds today in Castaic and it is really hot.

I also hope and pray everything works out for your daughters home it looked real bad on tv tonight on the news.

Isn't there someway at least they would be able to save her instruments.
I sure hope so and at least some of your quilts.

Do keep us posted.

bigsky

The situation there is still grim.

The news reported a few hours ago, the estimate: 75 homes lost and 3,500 homes and 100 businesses are in immediate jeopardy. Also that more than 30,000 area residents were ordered to leave their homes and 23,000 more are to be ready to go. That amounts to half of the area's population. The fire chief said that this is effecting everyone in the community, that those who have not been evacuated are housing those who have been. The fire front has extended to five miles.

Such a grim situation...
I am praying for everyone involved...
Kirsten

I hope her home is spared. She is in my prayers.

You are all being so wonderful to me; I sure wish my poor daughter had this much support! She's probably freaking out after seeing the news and the local report. Evacuation zones have been extended even farther now.

No phone call from her since this morning after her landlord scared her.

Oh, and I too was wondering why he offered to get only one thing for each. Maybe, he has things there he wanted to save for himself, though I don't know what, since he doesn't live there. Anyway, I hope he got to go in and at least get the cat--yikes! Vanessa has been fighting with her housemate, a woman 15yrs her senior, to make arrangements for her cat when she leaves because she, Vanessa, does that for her little dog and can't be responsible for the cat. Not only that, Vanessa has asthma and is allergic to the cat! Maybe now the woman will love her cat enough and be considerate enough to Vanessa to take responsibility. But the amazing cluelessness of this never-lived-with-anybody-before woman is a whole other story! OK, I just have to give another example of this; one day, Vanessa came home to find her housemate had put a bunch of clothes into her(Vanessa's) closet in her own bedroom. The woman was truly baffled why this was inappropriate. She said her own closet was already full and Vanessa had plenty of room! --ha! There's more, but I'll put those on non-quilting Chit-Chat someday in the future.

Again, thank you and I'll keep you posted.

Prayers for Vanessa and when this is all over, hopefully she can find a better roommate. At any rate, keep us posted -

i sure hope her house makes it with no fire...

Praying for everyone in the path of these fires...hope it stops soon

no news since yesterday from daughter... arghhh

Will keep on with the prayers and hugs to you and family.

Oh this whole situation down there is so heartwrenching! Prays have been going out for all of the residents of that terrible fire area.

I am just glad she is alright. That is the most important thing.

I don't think the NYC news broadcasts have covered this story, or at any rate I haven't seen anything about it. PLEASE give follow-up here as well as the general chit-chat board. Many people will be anxious to see how they fared. Praying it all works out ---

OK, I'll update you here.... if my daughter ever takes 2 minutes to call her worried mom and update me!

As of 4 hrs ago, they say the fire is 30% contained and many of the 30,000 people that were evacuated can start to return home!!!!!

Still praying!!!

I can't even imagine the fear and desperation....my prayers are with everyone in the path of this thing. last I heard over 100 homes down, just to sad!

Just heard (finally) a story on the NY news about the fires, and it sounds like good news. Supposedly evacuation orders have been lifted. Hope that's true and all will be able to return to their homes safely. When she calls pls let us know.

the latest....
My daughter finally checked in with us. Unfortunately, I don't have answers to all my questions because she called her dad at work this afternoon knowing I was probably asleep for my daily long nap. What he did get though, is that she is ok. Her business is still there, but vandalized already; their brand new, classy, very expensive sign was stolen. Why would someone want a business sign? I hope she took a photo of it before she left for her conference. Sadly, she is not allowed anywhere near her home so she's still scared about it's outcome. She is staying with her friend who had her dog and car. There's no room for us there or at any motel but we can stay at my cousin's about 2hrs away if she wants us to come help clean up or something. I barely clean my own house these days but there are probably small tasks I can do. She said she will call us on Monday; hopefully she will know everything by then. DH didn't think to ask about her asthma in the smoke-filled air.

The temperature is more mild and the winds are less which are helping the firefighters.
Although improving from the 10% containment to 30% now, it still is very bad. The official guess is this won't be considered controlled until May 13th. Hopefully, her house is safe and continues to remain so.

I will update you again on Monday. Maybe Vanessa will call me tomorrow, if in all the chaos she remembers it is Mother's Day. I sure understand if she doesn't, except that knowing her, she will be so upset with herself later.

Thank you again for all your prayers and concern,

Thanks for the update . I for the life of me can't figure out why disasters bring out the mean and evil in people. Stealing her sign ? Like you said Why ??? But if that is the worst it can be dealt with . Still praying her house is ok.
Sharon

update....
Vanessa, back in Santa Barbara, was finally allowed to go see her house. It took over 2 hours to go the 15min drive because for fear of rock slides (no foliage left to hold them up on the hill), authorities are escorting only 10 cars at a time. Vanessa and her neighbors passed devastation, but their houses are OK! They were told to gather as much as they can in case rock slides do happen and they cannot return for awhile. So, she grabbed her violin, quilt, and clothes and returned to her friend's. As far as her business, that sign was stolen and graffitti painted but it's ok inside. They will decide by tomorrow pm whether or not to cancel the open house even though it will cost them to do so. The party was to be set up in the parking lot which is covered with ash now and she doesn't want people to have to wear masks. Like my husband (as I eat humble pie), I too forgot to ask about her own health; is her asthma acting up. I hope to remember on tomorrow night's phone call.

The fire is 55% contained now. Improving. Evacuation is lifted for many neighborhoods. Animal shelters are full, fairgrounds full of farm animals.

Bellaboo-- I asked her why her landlord said he'd try to get only one item from the house. She said it was because he was mainly going to try to rescue her housemate's cat and as he lives next door, he was frantic about his own wife, 3 kids and pets.

I'll report more in a couple days, as things hopefully wind down there.
Cathy

It is good to hear that her home and business are ok!!! I hope they get the fire contained as planned if not sooner!!!

Oh, am so glad her house is ok, and that she managed to grab some of her cherished belongings. They said on the news here that the fires were easing up. Have been worried, thinking about your daughter and her husband and everyone else that is suffering. These fires are so devastating. Fingers crossed that all is back to normal soon