What I saw from my kitchen window on East Sopris Drive

I chose to give this painting by Dave Durrance pride of place at Toklat this summer. It's title: Basalt, July 2018. I see it every night as I drift to sleep: the terrifying fire, the trauma of a place shattered, the basalt rock holding strong and the blue sky of hope.

 

Solastaliga is defined as "the pain experienced when there is recognition that the place where one resides and that one loves is under immediate assault...a form of homesickness one gets when one is still at 'home.'" For me, this pain lasted through the summer and into September. So I closed the gallery for six weeks to get my bearings.

 

Following is an Aspen Times article about one of the ways our community gave thanks to the fire fighters. As Thanksgiving approaches, my gratitude just grows as I read a about the devastation of other fires in other communities.