IT'S A NEW YEAR
In keeping with our tradition, we watched a movie, When Harry Met Sally since it's such a "New Year's Eve" movie, and stayed up until midnight to ring in the New Year. We also watched a few celebrations around that world and my favorite was London's celebration while Mr. BAW liked Sydney's. They were both pretty spectacular but having just visited London, they hold a special place in my heart! Before we leave 2024, I just wanted to recap our last month of December 2024.Mr. BAW had knee surgery after we came back from London to replace a torn ACL which apparently happened a few years ago (he doesn't even know when it happened!). So since early December, we've all had to adjust to a new way of life because he's unable to drive and walking was very limited for about three weeks. So I've had to shuttle the kids to meet their usual school and extracurricular activities, including meeting up with friends! I've also had to take on all dog walking duties during the week and Buzz will walk Kepler in the afternoon on weekends. I've also had a to prepare all the meals for everyone. In addition, just to make things even more interesting, we've all been sick since coming back from our London trip. In mid December, I had this horrible cough that kept me up all night for three nights. Life was very difficult for a brief while. But thankfully, the kids got a few weeks off from school so I've not had to get up super early to make breakfast, pack lunches, walk Kepler, and drive Ahgoo to school for too many weeks! We definitely kept things quiet over Christmas break. The kids couldn't be happier. Being teenagers, they both just want to sleep in, eat junk food, and be on the computer with their friends. After our big London trip at the end of Novemeber, we all welcomed the quiet time over Christmas. We did have a few friends visiting us and we had a small, but still pretty delicious, ham dinner for Christmas. Plus, the Christmas gifts were still over the top, that's a tradition not even knee surgery can thwart! Then we celebrated Buzz's 15th birthday. Even though we postponed a celebratory dinner with the whole family, I took Buzz to one of our favorite local sushi restaurants for lunch, here's a picture of him in his happy place, surrounded by sushi!
After almost two months, I've gotten pretty used to the dailly routine with Kepler. Each day, the sun rises earlier and earlier so I've not had to walk Kepler in total darkness. Kepler has been a pretty good boy through all of this. We've gotten our morning and afternoon walking routine down pretty good. In January, we even celebrated his 6th birthday!! Mr. BAW was even mobile enogh to bake Kepler a birhtday cake. We also brought donut holes and coffee to the Saturday morning doggie group to celebrate with all his doggie and human friends.
Although the new year was pretty quiet for us, it was anything but that for the rest of Los Angeles. We've not seen rain since November, I believe, and it was only a slight drizzle then. I was thankful that we've not had rain the entire month of December since I had to walk Kepler all month long. Usually, we do start to get rain in LA in December. I recall having to move Buzz's late December birthday parties indoors because of rain many years in the past. But this year it's been completely dry, setting up for very dangerous fire conditions. Then in the first week of January, the Santa Ana Winds kicked up and the Palisades fire started. Next thing we knew, the Eaton fire started and then all hell broke loose and LA was surrounded by fires. This is not surprising because with strong winds, embers get blown around and can land on roof tops and tree tops spreading, literally, like "wild fires!" Two of my cousins and their family close to the Eaton fires had to be evacuated. But thankfully, they are all safe. The impacts of the fires are definitely much larger than the immediate fire zones. So many areas were without power for days. So even if your home is spared you would not be able to stay without power for so long. In addition, the smoke and ashes made thing unlivable for many people near the fires. We are pretty far south but still smelled smoke and even got a light dusting of ashes. Although our schools remained opened, they suspended all outdoor activities for several days and cancelled sports practices. My nephew's school was closed for a week even though the school was not too close to the fires but many of the teachers were probably evacuated from their homes and could not work. I have lived in LA for over forty years and this is the worst fires I've ever seen. The most shocking scene for me was seeing all the homes along the coast up Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica and Malibu all burnt to nothing. That is perhaps one of the most iconic drives in California and it's now completely transformed. There has always been fires in LA but never this wide spread and this close to LA Basin. Now, the next fear is the impending rain which is typical for February and March. Many home spared by the fires are at the base of the San Gabriel and Santa Monica Mountains and mudslides are a real threat. We have family, friends, and coworkers impacted by all of this and we try to keep abreast of their situation.
Posted on January 21, 2025
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