Update

Well, the fire is up over 6000 hectares, and another 1000 homes are on evacuation alert. And the valley is THICK THICK THICK with smoke today. This is NOT a good situation...

We remain fine. Dad is doing surprisingly well with the poor air quality -- he has asthma, and we were concerened. And the animals are coping. But things smell like an old ashtray, and there is tonnes of ash and stuff. Plus, the ride that electricland is coming out for may not go ahead because of the fire risk. We'll still do fun things. And we WILL still ride. All over, I hope ;). But *pout.* For once in my life, I plan ahead for a ride, and there is a chance it will be cancelled. Nothing is confirmed, of course. And if we get some rain. . . . *hopeful look* to the sky. . .

Hope you all have a good day!

Mary D. Midkiff on Passions and Power

When I appear before groups of women and talk to them about power, I always advise them to search out their passion. By identifying and using passion to guide and drive you through each and every day, you gain personal power and freedom. It is like an inner fire that ignites every time you connect to your passion. . . . When we find something that excites or thrills us, even something that simply takes us to a soothing place, we have found the thread of a passion. Follow it! An Arabian mare doesn't need to ask herself what she's good at; the memory of it is carried in her hooves and her legs and her haunches, which are bread to carry her long distances over the desert sands.

We can and need to ask ourselves: What are we good at? What do we enjoy? What kind of environment do we feel most comfortable in? What makes us feel most comfortable within ourselves? What in life makes us sparkle?

We need to trust our intuitiveness to reveal our passions.
In our passions we will find our power.

Mary D. Midkiff
She Flies Without Wings: How Horses Touch a Woman's Soul, pp. 124-5

( on another note: cute animal story )

you know work is not going well when. . .

You'd rather clean an algae laden, very gross horse watering trough than write about North American vs, Sydney School Genre theories. Speaking of passions, I guess. . .

also, the fire is actually now over 11,000 hectares. It grew rapidly last night. And got within 500 metres (lawgeekgurl, there are 2.2 km in a mile, and 500m is half a km. So you do the math ;))of one house. But right now the wind is blowing the smoke out of the valley. Which is nice. except it means there is wind. Which is likely to fan the fire. . .

Ok, work. Must do some now. . ..

ETA. Shit, this is from the main fire update site:

Thursday: "Day From Hell" 2:44 pm
Thursday is being called officials the 'day from hell' in the battle against the Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park forest fire. What that means is not exactly clear, but it probably refers to the weather. Environment Canada is predicting strong winds tonight and Thursday with gusts up to 40 kilometres an hour and they will be coming out of the South West which means the flames will be pushed towards Kelowna. There's rain in Saturday's forecast but there's also a possibility of lighting.