Tonight's Fire

It's 4th of July and I'm watching the Lake Union fireworks from a window at my house. There's an ironing board between me and the window so I'm leaning my elbows on it. This is helpful cuz the window is low. I can't stand straight up and see the fireworks at the same time. Truth be told, I'm pretending the view is better than it is. Even leaning forward I can only see the top of the tallest fireworks, behind some trees.

Right before watching the fireworks I was reading Yahoo news and paging through photos of Afghanistan. So, I'm feeling a little conflicted about celebrating anything but the Fruit Bats who are playing in the background (they are so good). They are competing with the big booms coming from all sides of the house. My thoughts are floating from the Fruit Bats, to Afghanistan, to hoping the neighbors' fireworks don't land on my full-of-dry-wood-garage when I notice that there are people running down the sidewalk. One guy is turning around, going back toward his house, then turning around and going down the street again. More people are walking quickly, or running, and then I see flames. A house is on fire down the street! I'm concerned! So I run outside, with everyone else.

The fire is on 13th Ave (I live on 12th) about midway down the street. Four firetrucks are already there. Of course the first person I see is my very sweet and talkative neighbor Diana. She knows things. Turns out a garage was lost to the flames, and no one was hurt.

Diana and her husband Bill make a point of knowing the people in our neighborhood. She introduced me to 4 neighbors tonight. Many people came out to see the fire. One woman even brought her 4 week old baby. After the fire, Diana and I caught up on all of our happenings.

Whew! I'm tired, and really glad it wasn't my garage.