Quilts and Fires

I don't know how to even open this part of my blog this morning, it is just so painful to watch all these homes in California being destroyed, but it is more than homes being destroyed, it is lives. People have their entire lives going up in flames.

I think of the quilt my mom just sent me and told me to sell and I think about how her and my step-father have had to go through their lives and choose what to pack in their car when the call comes (perhaps today) to evacuate.

There are my grandmothers things that I am sure will remain behind: her dining table that we ate so many holiday meals on. My moms bell collection that she has had for so many years that I can't remember when she started it.

Their beloved RV without a transmission that has taken them to many beautiful places across our nation.

They have loaded their car with pictures & the few memories of their 70+ years on this earth and are just sitting at home waiting and praying for the Butte Fire to not 'jump' the feather river.

I know the fear these people are feeling. Several years ago, a large fire broke out in a river bottom close to our home in Phoenix. We could see the flames shooting up, we breathed in the smoke, neighbors began watering yards and roof tops & we began getting ready to evacuate.

The first thing we did was pack up my daughter-in-law and grandchildren and have them leave the house. We wanted to make sure they were safe & took as many things with them as they could.

Then we began packing up our truck and motorhome. We were only blessed in the fact we had a storage unit close by and we began to take things to the storage unit. I was a police dispatcher at the time and so many co-workers called to see if we needed assistance.

We were lucky, the winds stopped, the firefighters were able to put the fire out and we were ready to get back with our lives, but the people in Butte County, the towns of Concow and Paradise are not so lucky. Many of them have nothing to go back to.

If you would like to help me get quilts to these people. please contact me at: compassionatequilter@yahoo.com