FAULT LINES

Just before we left Santa Barbara for our visit to Desert Hot Springs I saw on Google news that only a few hours ago there had been a 7.2 earthquake in Kurihara, just beyond the mountains on the other side of the lake, a beautiful area we often visit on our jaunts. Deaths, landslides, roads wiped out, communication cut off...

The news said the shock had been so strong it was felt all the way up in Tokyo, so it seemed like it must have been felt, or even worse, over at our house. I immediately tried to call Echo, but couldn't get through, and because I had sent her an email the night before and hadn't yet received a reply, I was beginning to picture nasty scenarios, so on the possibility that it might have been a local phone jam to Japan I called Keech in Seattle and asked him to try to get through.

Half an our later he phoned back and said he had gotten through to Echo, that she was ok and hadn't felt the quake(!), nor had Kasumi up in Saitama near Tokyo.

An hour or so later came an email from Echo confirming the details.

Nasty scenarios are profoundly so when you don't know the facts, but do know that you can't get home for at LEAST 24 hours...

Now back to being where I am... i.e., on another active fault line...