Dear Family and Friends,
It's hot but no flames in Sacramento. We are fine. Everything smells like smoke -- even my dreams. I don't like the color of the air -- yellowish gray from ash. It is worse all around us. My friend Susan in San Jose said lightening storms there were terrifying -- explosive light bouncing through blackness, flinging from mountain to mountain with no sound of thunder or relief of rain, and seemingly no letup.
The Thursday farmers market had dwindled and then it was coming back to life, but last week there were fewer stalls -- Zing! and I saw it as people were setting up. The strawberry stall was still there, but the baker and mideastern food truck that I like were not. We didn't go back at lunchtime. It's too hot anyway in the middle of the day. California heat is like an oven, while Florida is like a steam bath.
Zing! and I walk only a block or so morning and evening, with even less at 3 p.m. It's too hot. But at 10 this morning we went to Capital Books at 9th and K Streets. We walked inside, they handed me the bag of books I'd ordered and then we walked out. I glanced at a few books on display but didn't touch them.
We passed the Capitol on the way back. I have been almost angry at them for locking the fence up some time ago. It was the exact opposite of the warm welcome I felt the first time I went into the Capitol building. The guard at the top of the steps welcomed me with a genuine smile and said it's the people's building. Today there was a demonstration for child victims of sex trafficking. They were playing "Love is all you Need" as Zing and I left the grounds. I didn't take a photo, but I saw the Capitol uses handcuffs to lock up the gate. It was open and the cuffs were dangling as we walked back home.
I've been confused by all the communication opportunities. But people wonder what it's like here, and this is the way I see it.
Love,
k
Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
