Malibu...It's Not All Sunblock and Photo Ops Outside of Nobu

Jane, Matt and Lottie and Sophie had a sleepover at our place last night and long after the wee ones were sound asleep and Matt had gone to bed, my daughter and I wandered outside to gaze at the stars. My nose twitched and I looked at Jane. "Smells like someone had a fire tonight," she said hopefully. "Hmmmm, let's hope," I mused, my heart sinking, but I felt a definite tightening in my belly. I live in a Canyon that is normally bone dry this time of year, but we are now in a historically dry period...so historic that in over 100 years of recording annual rainfalls, there has never been such a dry period. We've had a little under six inches of rain in the last 18 months.

At 11:45 PM, Buzz called us. We both confirmed what we knew. We smelled smoke and had both just seen a firetruck heading down his street. Vowing to keep in touch with any news, we all settled down for a restless night. At six this morning, Betsy called. She could see the flames on Piuma from her home. It was burning hard and fast towards the ocean. The wind was in our favor for now, but Santa Ana's are blowing and blowing hard with some gusts expected to be close to 100 mph. And now I've heard that some homes on Malibu Crest are gone. We have friends who live on Malibu Crest and who have been evacuated. Keep them in your thoughts.