Yesterday, flames destroyed the roof and spire of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. This modern-day tourist attraction and centuries old holy site was ablaze for hours. As news organizations broadcast the sight of the huge engulfing flames around the world, what started the blaze was a mystery. People assembled nearby were heard saying prayers and singing hymns and folk songs. I couldn’t imagine the loss the residents of Paris felt as they watched the flames rise. Nor could I imagine how they and millions of people around the world who revere Notre Dame Cathedral as a holy site felt as they watched, helpless to stop its destruction, especially during what many believe to be a holy week.
Tag Archives for fire
InkTober 2017: Day 21 – Furious
As I learned last year, taking care of my health is monumentally more important than drawing a picture every day. Therefore, I had to take a break this week because I had a few rough days. On Monday, I was in so much pain I couldn’t focus my thoughts. Since then, I’ve been so exhausted that keeping my eyes open has challenged me at some points throughout recent days, which made finishing my daily sketches impossible. Now that I’ve had some rest I’m jumping back in because I committed to completing the InkTober 2017 challenge – even if I’m a few days late.
For Day 21 of the challenge, the prompt is ‘furious’. It’s hard for me to illustrate emotions because I’m still not great at drawing faces. That would be the easiest way to illustrate them and definitely the easiest way to draw the word furious. This weakness in my creative skills means I usually have to come up with a workaround; meaning I have to think of things that embody emotions and hope that the way I draw them clearly illustrates the word(s).
What I thought of in this case, are the fires that continue to furiously burn in California. Not only are extensive areas of forests being lost because of these wildfires, but people are also losing their homes and their lives. It’s been heartbreaking to see the devastation in the wake of the spreading fires. The hundreds of acres of charred forests will most likely take decades to replant and grow. Sadly, the burned possessions of families affected by the fires can’t be replaced; and my understanding from the news is that the many people reported missing may have lost their lives in the fires.
Last year in Canada, there were massive wildfires burning in the western part of the country in the province of Alberta. The fires burned furiously for months. It’s been estimated that the fires caused billions of dollars in damages. They evacuated approximately eighty thousand people from their homes and thousands of buildings burned to the ground. As hard as fire fighters worked, it took nearly 15 months to declare the area safe because they had to make sure they put out all the fires and any remaining hot spots before residents could return. I truly hope it doesn’t take that long for the California fires to be put out.
My heart goes out to everyone affected by these fires. This includes the courageous fire fighters placing their lives on the frontlines of these fires, while their homes and families are also under threat.
InkTober: Day 28 – Burn
Yesterday was another rough day for me because I didn’t get much sleep the night before. It was also the first day of the InkTober challenge, I didn’t post my drawing. I’m posting this drawing a day late, not because I didn’t complete it yesterday, but because my pain made it necessary to spend most of yesterday asleep or resting; and even though I could have, I didn’t feel like rushing through posting it to put it up before midnight. One of the challenges of practicing mindfulness with my pain condition is giving myself permission not to do something, even when it’s something fun.
Yesterday’s word, burn, made me think of two completely unrelated things. The first was how terrible I am at roasting marshmallows. I’m fairly certain that I always end up with a bit of blackened – burnt if I’m being truthful – crust on any marshmallow I’ve ever held over an open flame. I’m not sure why that is when roasting marshmallows is something young children are quite skilled at doing. The other thing it made me think of is the ever-present pain in my body and how, sometimes, it makes me feel as if the flesh on my body is burning. This sensation becomes more intense when I’m about to experience a pain flare up and it’s one of the most uncomfortable feelings I’ve ever known.
While thinking about the constant presence of my pain, and the burning sensation it often causes, I was led to write a poem. Although, for the first time in a long time, I struggled with writing it, because the words wouldn’t flow. I think my thought process was affected by how tired and uncomfortable I felt and I’m certain it still requires many edits so I’ll post the poem another day. Nevertheless, it’s interesting that what inspires me to write poetry is always so unpredictable and unexpected.
My Small Surrenders 