Hazy

Yesterday, the temperature didn't climb quite as high as had been predicted, primarily because of the haze hanging over the city. The light quality was so strange - sort of greeny yellow, like the light just before a thunderstorm hits in the Midwest.

We grilled out last night, and I noticed a lingering scent of smoke in the air later in the evening. Or at least, I thought it was from our grill.

Today, I discovered that the haze and the smoky aroma were/are from the fires burning to the East and West of Sacramento. I'm sure folks who've lived in California or other dry, arid, fire-prone spots are used to this sort of thing by now, but for me, this is my first experience with visible signs of nearby wildfires. You can really smell whiffs of smoke in the air, and the light today has a pinkish tinge to it, like a pale or medium "bastard amber," for those of you who may be familiar with theatrical gel colours. It's really quite strange, sort of eerie, almost like the rays from a sunset even though it's just past noon.

I decided to go for my run indoors on the treadmill at the Club today instead of dealing with inhaling the haze...