Parts of Canada are on fire. That, all by itself, is terrible news for our neighbor to the north. Even worse, smoke from the wildfires is affecting life on Earth, making the air hard to see through and hard to breathe. Californians are familiar with these problems. So are people in the Rockies. Those planning events in Wyoming have to factor in haze from California’s annual fires, I learned five years ago, as our granddaughter planned her wedding. It was, in fact, hazy in Wyoming, when the happy day arrived.
In Michigan, we’re fairly near Canada’s fires, but the vagaries of wind are visiting the worst of the smoke on other places, notably east of here. In parts of the eastern U.S., judging by news images, you can see the air. You can see it, and it’s orange.
Those of us well east of the Rockies, experiencing life with smoke for the first time, are shaken. Sure, we know California has so many fires that the state has come to look at its calendar as having a fire season. But that’s just part of life in California. A failing of some sort on the part of Californians, perhaps. Right?
It never occurred to us, here in lush, green Michigan, to ponder what it must be like to live with fire and smoke. Now, there’s no need to ponder. We get to try it out for ourselves. Most of our state is in the midst of a drought. Wildfire burned through 2,400 acres of Michigan forest last week, three hours north of here—due, no doubt, to a failing on our part. Risk of fire continues to be extreme.
In any case, most of the smoke that’s settled here now comes from Canada. And some of it we made ourselves. The task at hand is to live with it. We’re getting off lightly in Ann Arbor. All that’s visible of the smoke here is a certain lack of definition in the air on this gorgeous June day. Detroit, we understand, is much worse off.
Those of us with dogs are still walking them, despite official warnings to take things easy and to avoid spending time outdoors unnecessarily. Rascal is making no complaints. Only, as you walk from Point A to Point B outdoors, your nose never stops running. Sue had to deal with a little flurry of sneezes and a cough or two, while we were out together this morning.
“Have you felt, recently, that the valve on your nose needs replacing?” I asked her. “Yes!” she said. “You know why?” I queried. “No,” she answered, shaking her head. “It’s the smoke,” I told her, and understanding dawned. I only figured it out for myself yesterday. My husband’s been congested and coughing. His nose hurts, and his throat is scratchy. We have no underlying respiratory problems.
Our daughter does have respiratory problems, as do many of her students. She lives and teaches school in suburban Detroit. That’s the same Detroit that had the second-worst air quality of any metropolitan area on the globe, this week—second only to Delhi, India. Our daughter is spending the day helping out with an all-school field day today. Her principal decided to go ahead with it, despite public health warnings. Yikes.
On a cheerier note, I just got home from watching a movie with my French class. The film, The Intouchables, was funny and moving. The private viewing with a bunch of congenial friends made it delightful. We sat snuggled in Molly’s living room, on sofa, chairs, and the floor. We sipped coffee, tea, and water. We nibbled on clementines and homemade baklava. Mostly, though, we laughed.
We tittered, snorted, and guffawed with laughter. Some indulged themselves in unrestrained shrieks of laughter. Laughing together was great fun. Goodness knows, we’ve suffered together, through challenging assignments and in our lives, which we’ve discussed in French. We like each other enough that the process of leaving each week, when class is over, can be a multi-step affair. Chats in the parking lot may follow chats outside the building, which come after chats around the classroom table.
Molly has one more movie for us to watch together, and this one has no subtitles in either English or French. She says the first bit is rough going, but that a miracle will occur, ten minutes in, and after that, we will understand everything. All will become clear. I sure hope she’s right, and has taken the smoke into account. If she wrong, and hasn’t, there will be nothing for it but to laugh. Fortunately, the class is good at that.
9 June 2023