I don’t know if the scale of the NorCal fires has made it into national media. 70+ confirmed dead and another 600 people unaccounted for - by far the deadliest fire in state history. It’s 150 miles from San Francisco, so no risk of the fire itself reaching us, but for the past 10 days the smoke in the air was worse than you could imagine. My campus has been closed since Friday - the first time I know of them canceling class for a weather-related situation. I was wearing a mask even inside and still felt sick all the time. Happily, I had pre-existing vacation plans (Portland, Oregon) and I changed my flight to leave a bit early and escape the smoke all weekend. My heart goes out to everyone affected by the fires.
Anyway, on a much happier note, a much needed rainstorm finally came. It’s been raining steadily all day and the air is finally clear. It feels so good to walk outside and breathe easily. (The rain does cause some problems - risk of mudslides in the burned areas - but overall it is very welcome.)
To venture out in the first rain of the season, I wore my new plaid blazer! After all my waffling, I managed to find the larger size (2) at the store. Cut the tags today. I wore it with my Everlane “cheeky straight” cropped jeans and Doc Martens to keep my feet and jeans dry. My one mistake was not adding a real rain jacket over it. I though my umbrella would be enough. Funny how 9 months is long enough for us to forget everything we know about dressing for rain!
Other photos are my respirator selfies from last week - it was sort of cool how everyone started posting these selfies on Facebook. Some of my friends had impressive style! One day I covered my disposable mask with a light bandana because I was tired of the white look. (A bandana itself isn’t any protection.)
