Home At Last

Good morning,

We are home at last after weeks away.  We arrived just as the sun was setting so had to wait to see our garden until the next morning.  Our wonderful daughter helped us unload the car and drag suitcases to the second floor.  She had fresh pizza waiting for us and a pot of fresh coffee.  She is wonderful.

Of course, the first thing I did was bake some fresh bread.

This is my Rich Egg Bread.  Click the link for my recipe.

In the morning light I went outside to see how the ten week drought has treated my garden. This is how my magnolia looks today; click the link to see the way it looked last April.  Hopefully, Mother Nature will not be too harsh on next year's blooms.  The buds are much smaller than usual this Fall.

The drought was the least of the problems for some of our neighbors, though.  Following are pictures of homes around the block in our lovely old gas light neighborhood of homes large and small.

This is the truly sad part of the homecoming.  We were still out of town the day after Labor Day when our daughter sent us pictures above and below of a fire in our neighborhood.

From these night pictures I had a hard time knowing exactly which houses were on fire.

Before I go any further, I want to say we are all so thankful no one was hurt.  Two homes were severely damaged, a garage and several cars totally destroyed, and two families displaced, but there were no injuries.  The general consensus is the fire was caused by a propane grill that was between the two homes after a Memorial Day cookout.  Adding to the perfect storm of a fire, the fire hydrant on the corner across the street was not functional. 

 These are pictures of our walk around the block the morning after we returned home.  Not much more needs to be said.

Things can be replaced.  Homes can be repaired or rebuilt.  Thank God no one was hurt.

Best,
Lois

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Kidde FA110 Multi Purpose Fire Extinguisher 1A10BC 

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