It's been a few days since I published anything. We are living in a time of falling ash, as it seems as if large areas of California are on fire. I noticed it yesterday when I went out to the store and saw ash on my car, and I noticed it today in abundance.
I had not gone on my morning exercise walks since last Saturday. We went through a really hot spell, and Saturday was bearable, but any hotter and it would be unsafe to go walking. Sunday was out of the question. It reached 115 degrees Fahrenheit, and we all just chuckled in disbelief at home. We are used to hot temperatures during this month, the month of the Fiestas Patrias (the independence day celebration for Mexico that are de rigeur for both Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, even if there is little to no mention of it on English-language media that gives preference only to Cinco de Mayo or, to a much lesser degree, Día de los Muertos in October). I am used to it, and I am used to complaining, although we got air conditioning last year. But last year was still difficult, because of my dad's passing. It is still hard to believe.
But Sunday's temperatures were beyond belief. There went any plans to step outside. Each time we opened the door we were slammed by furnace-like heat, and we had to close it immediately and retreat into the air conditioning. Going anywhere was out of the question, and I hunkered down at home. Besides, there were no events. That would have been opening weekend for the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona, but this year, that and all the other fairs were cancelled. We are sinking into Covid despondency.
Well, today I had to go out. I had originally wanted to go to San Diego but I didn't, I ended up walking and then, doing yardwork. It was overdue, the yard is overgrown. I had to trim trees and rake leaves. The heat is really withering the trees, they have dropped an awful lot of leaves, and the lemon and mandarine trees in the back dropped much of their unripe fruit. The vegetation is withering, and these temperatures are truly over the top. It is global warming, and we are of course past the tipping point. I wonder what kind of world my nieces will have.
I got back and dawdled on the computer, then decided, it is now or never. So, I planned to go to my campus and then, to the Huntington Library Garden in Pasadena. Good thing I checked the web, the Huntington Library decided to close because of unsafe air quality. Yes, there is a smokey gloom in the air that lowered temperatures somewhat, we were supposed to be at 100 degrees, but we only got to about 90 (which was still fairly uncomfortable). The air is obscured by the ash clouds that have diffused and spread out over much of the southern California area. But the California Botanic Garden was listed as open. I was too ambitious. I bought a ticket but didn't go.
I still made it to my campus. It was deserted and hot, in equal order. No one was working at the attendant station, so there was no way to buy a faculty parking permit. I had to go to the machine, and it was expensive, $9 for a one hour sojourn that I had planned. I did it, though. I was there and I was hankering to take a few 8x10 photos with my pinhole camera.
Walking to the Japanese Garden made me reflect on all the changes to campus. We have had mega-structures added, and one, the CLAS building, abandoned. But to what effect? The campus is empty, and likely to be so during the entire school year. All that construction, and here we are at home, struggling with Zoom sessions and getting chewed out by students who blame me for not being able to connect. (Contact technical services, not me!). I am to blame, because we all need a scapegoat.
Reaching the garden, I reflected as to whether the ash gloom was an advantage. I didn't want the harsh contrasts of strong sunlight, but the gloom did not tone down contrast enough. You will see it in my 8x10 pinhole images. I took three of them, but only developed one.
Right away, I knew I attracted the attention of campus security. They kept driving by slowly near where I was taking photos. Maybe they thought I was planning on stealing koi fish, who knows. They would slow down or stop, and act as if they were busy doing something else, but they were watching me. I knew it because they kept circling around and stopping where I was located.
I didn't let that dissuade me. I went ahead and started taking photos with both cameras, but what was truly unusual was that ash was falling all around me. It was something I didn't expect. It soon peppered my carrying bag, and of course I knew it was falling on me. The other thing I noticed is that each time the breeze picked up, long lines of dried leaves fell off the trees. It was both beautiful and eerie. I knew this was the wrong time for it, this is not autumn, this is the middle of a god-awful and blistering summer, but the heat is killing the vegetation and drying their leaves. The same thing is happening at home, as I mentioned previously. I had to rake several times because the leave just keep falling. And it is not cool, it is not autumn, it is hotter than heck.
The Japanese Garden is a beautiful garden, but when you are being watched, it is not comfortable. The security people send a portly man wearing civilian clothing to pretend as if he was admiring the garden and ignoring me, but I knew he was watching me. He just hung around where I was located, and kept glancing in my direction. He tried to seem inconspicuous, but I ignored him. The last thing I wanted was to invite him in my direction. He had no face mask! Maybe he was trying to scare me off by not wearing one, but he never approached me.
Afterwards, I went to the garden and took an 8x10 photo. There was no thought of taking 4x5 photos, I still had two frames left but I was being watched by a security vehicle parked a few hundred feet away. I just wanted to leave. Besides, I knew the air must not have been healthy. I knew even then that I would not go to the California Botanical Garden, I wanted to go home after I left campus. Which I did, after sitting in the gazebo for a few minutes. I work here and yet I am watched like a hawk watching prey.
I left and got some lunch, then drove home. It was after 3:30, and the website said that the Botanical Garden had yet to announce if they would be closing. I wasn't going, although I hope to use my entrance on another day. Not tomorrow, though. I am tired, and would rather not be out while fine ash particles rain down on me. It was hot, too.
At home I changed film, reloaded, then got ready to develop. Here are a few frames of my 4x5 images. I didn't bother to correct them, I just popped them in the scanner, chose a scannable area, then saved them to my desktop, then loaded here. Usually I would correct orientation, then correct exposure, then correct contrast, then lighten dark areas, then maybe correct some dust areas on the negatives. Not this time, I am tired.
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