Before heading out to celebrate my beau, Larry’s, birthday last night, a massive plume of smoke moved in from the west over The City Different (that would be Santa Fe). We were sipping scotch whisky out on the patio, taking our time before heading out to celebrate his birthday, and I kept pointing at the sky and saying, “Wow! Look at the color of the sky, it’s all peachy!” Followed by, “Wow! It’s totally changing, now it’s PINK!”

Shot facing eastward just as we got in the car to go to Larry’s birthday dinner.

Over the course of only 30 minutes, the entire sky was transformed into an eerie wonderland scene – and then it hit: the choking smell of what smelled like campfire smoke. You’d have thought the fire was just down the road, but no, another plume from Arizona had swept in from 400 miles away. It was utterly amazing, folks! I could almost hear the witches from the opening scene of Macbeth cackling in the distance, “By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes!”

When we returned from the Thai restaurant (most awesome wonton soup ever!) the crescent moon was a deep shade of orange, and turning redder by the minute.

Today, weather reports indicate the smoke will continue to intensify (if this is possible) over the next 2-3 days. With all the dust in the air, there’s sure to be some wild sunsets in the cards this week.

My heart goes out to all the beings suffering so much loss out there. Nature has her ways, doesn’t she?