Tonight is the quietest Fourth of July I can remember. There are absolutely no fireworks anywhere in the city. Usually things are popping for the first few days in July, culminating in virtually non-stop explosions throughout the evening of the Fourth. Most years the fireworks continue well past midnight, and of course we sleep with the windows open at night so we can hear all of them. The quiet is kind of unnerving.
It’s for good reason, though. The entire day was hazy– you couldn’t see more than a couple of miles because everything was cloaked in a grey haze. It didn’t smell like smoke, but this evening the wind must have shifted because now we can smell it. I’m not sure which wildfire we’re smelling tonight, but it’s a somber reminder of the troubles in other areas of the state.