Smoke on the water…a fire in the sky…
I’m dating myself. This song has run off-and-on, through my head since November 23rd. Written by Deep Purple and released in 1972 (when I was 17), Smoke on the Water is an iconic hard rock song with the riff “smoke on the water, a fire in the sky” that is a heavy metal classic. This song has been covered by many: Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Carlos Santana; and it has been in the movie, Point Break, as well as several episodes of The Sopranos. And, I can’t get it out of my head!
Smoke on the water…dun, dun, dun, dun. A fire in the sky…
I guess I can’t get it out of my head because it was written about a fire that occurred in Switzerland in the 1970’s and the “smoke in the water” part is about smoke reflecting on Lake Geneva from the fire. And, as I’ve mentioned before, we’ve had extremely warm weather this winter (high 80’s) and very windy conditions (Santa Ana’s) that combined with our ongoing drought lead to hazardous fire conditions and red flag warnings for several weeks. And, I’m sure you’ve read or heard about the Colby Fire burning in Glendora and Azusa, California.
People think it never rains in Southern California, and we’ve been in the throes of a serious drought for 3 years running, but here’ proof that it does, indeed, rain here…
Rain in our pool – November 21, 2013
Noticing the rain outside our kitchen window, I grabbed my camera and ran out the back door. Because while it does, indeed, rain in Southern California, it doesn’t rain much and I wanted a picture of this rare occasion! Silly me wanted a picture of rain…
Looking west, this is what I saw…
Rain clouds over our valley – November 21, 2013
Massive storm clouds with the setting sun peaking over the hills and a smidgen of blue sky.
Fiery storm clouds – November 21, 2013
Looking east over our backyard fence, the glow of the sun setting in the west reflected across the gathered storm clouds.
Sunset in our valley – November 22, 2013
The sunset the next day was gloriously spectacular! Deep Purple mixed with Maroon Five.
Picture 1 – 2 Palm Trees reflected in the pool – November 23, 2013
And, the next day, November 23rd, I noticed the trees and storm clouds reflecting in the pool at dusk. Smoke on the water…
Picture 2 – Palm trees and clouds reflected in pool – November 23, 2013
Picture 3 – Clouds reflected in our pool – November 23, 2013
Again, I grabbed my camera and ran outside. Most of the time, I run outside in slippers. I go through many pairs of slippers a year because I’m always running outside without changing my shoes {grin}. Tiffany told me that she loved the photo in yesterday’s post of the four of us kids as children dancing to music playing on my dad’s stereo. It didn’t escape her that I was in slippers – 49 years ago! Some things never change. Here’s a link to yesterday’s post if you want to see a nine-year-old wearing house slippers while dancing in 1964: Pictures at an Exhibition.
Picture 4 – Storm clouds at dusk – November 23, 2013
The gathering storm clouds to the east and the setting sun reflected on the hillsides (taken at 4:29 p.m.).
Picture 5 – Storm clouds at sunset in our valley – November 23, 2013
The sun setting in the west, taken at 4:40 p.m.
Picture 6 – Fire in the sky at twilight in our valley – November 23, 2013
The glow of twilight at 4:43 p.m.
Picture 7 – Fire in the sky beyond the plum tree – November 23, 2013
The sunset “fire” at 4:48 p.m.
Picture 8 – A fire in the sky over the treetops – Sunset November 23, 2013
An orange glow sets the sky afire at 4:50 p.m.
Picture 9 – Sunset sky – November 23, 2013
And as the sun sets behind the mountains at 4:54 p.m., the orange fire is replaced by a soft peach cloud landscape. We’ve had some amazing sunsets recently.
Smoke on the water…dun, dun, dun, dun
A fire in the sky…
Tootles,
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