Last Weekend of May

And now we head into June. Summertime in Santa Barbara. June Gloom. Solstice Parade and all the fun that goes along with that.

May was a crazy month, what with starting a new job, dealing with the Jesusita Fire (yours truly drove around for three days with a packed car, "just in case") and my Best-Kept-Secrets event.

The Jesusita Fire - very huge, very scary. But for the courage of our first responders, this lovely town would be horribly devasted. But those brave folks, many from all over the state, fought hard and long. The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden was a battleground - we lost a chunk of it, but a great deal of it was saved. We lost nearly 80 homes, but many more were saved. And although three firefighters (from Ventura, actually) were injured, no residents were harmed (unlike the huge Tea Fire last November).

Here's a photo of the huge smoke plume on Wed, May 6th - the second day of the fire:

That Wednesday, May 6th, was also the date of the Best-Kept-Secrets Author Tea. Honestly, it was a great afternoon, despite the fact that the lights went out, right as the panel discussion began. And we all watched, over the heads of the authors, the wind pick up and blow up State Street with great ferocity. And it was exactly 100 degrees that afternoon.

But still - the authors were delightful, the food was fabulous and the audience had a wonderful time! Many thanks to the panel: Mara Purl, Harley Jane Kozak and Kathryn Cushman, and a big shout-out to Starshine Roshell, our moderator.

Almost forgot my other event this month! Michele Carbone, author of Friday Evening, conducted a fabulous food demo, tasting and booksigning at Borders on May 1st. It was well attended, but her event today at Borders in Thousand Oaks, according to my sources, was even better. I wish her great success - her book is absolutely gorgeous! (www.pentolapress.com)

Yes, it's been a crazy month. I'm glad May is over and I look forward to June. But I know that May 2009 will be one I'll think about for a long time to come. Heck...I haven't even mentioned Bike to Work Day yet! :-)

As always, with love from paradise - K8.