When Avigail finished her responsibilities at the Hazon Food Conference, we caught a cab over the hill to Monterey to pick up a rental car for the next portion of our trip to the Madsen's in Laytonville. We drove up the east bay for a quick visit with Ralph and Dass Kramer. For many years, a Hurvitz trip to the Bay Area consisted of at least an hour or two, if not a meal or an overnight stay with the Kramers. In previous years, Mark would stay either with Miriam and Luis or with Ralph and Dass when he worked the Nisus Software booth at Macworld. This year he will not attend Macworld, so this was an important opportunity to touch base. And, since we had spent the first night of Januca in Oaxaca with Miriam and Luis, it seemed doubly appropriate that we spend the afternoon before the last night of Chanukkah with Ralph and Dass. Even better, Miriam and Luis (who had flown up from Mexico City on a flight shortly after our flight to San Francisco), as well as two of their daughters and their "Jonases." were there. Michal's Jonas was asleep sick in bed and Avital was busy on an international phone call when we finally had to leave and took our "extended family" photo.
As we were led by Loren, Libbe and Nora up to their new house from U.S. Highway 101, Mark remarked to Debbie and Avigail on how differently the three Hurvitz siblings live:
Mark returned home to Los Angeles from his first experience in Israel on the Young Judaea Year Course in the summer of 1965 during the Watts Riots. He remembers seeing a portion of the city in flames beneath the plane as it approached Los Angeles International Airport. The slogan a portion of the Watts African American community used at the time was "Burn Baby Burn." He was able to get a wall poster from the time with that slogan. He recalls eventually giving the poster to Rick Burke, when Mom moved out of the house at 3909 Burnside Ave, for him to pass along to an appropriate archival institution.
Up at Libbe and Loren's home in the woods, "burn, baby, burn" has a vastly different context and meaning. Libbe and Loren live in constant interaction with the forest in which they live, clearing out dead but standing trees and fallen logs to remove available fuel for the natural burns that happen in the area. Loren had shared a time-lapse photo QuickTime movie earlier in the winter of a big burn they had done, and more recently shared photos of a burn that they had done in the snow. This day, December 29, as a soft rain fell, we joined them in preparing the burn. Mark took four dozen photos of the burn that morning, intrigued by the process and the colors of the transformation. Not to burden anyone, here's only a few.
Loren drove Mark down to the meadow in the ATV while Nora, Debbie, Avigail and Libbe walked, accompanied by Anne's dog Cammy:
Loren prepared the site:
Avigail ignited the fire with a blowtorch:
Fire smoldered deep inside the rain-soaked wood:
Flames finally broke forth:
Debbie added fuel:
…as did Mark and Libbe (and Avigail and Nora, but there's no photo):
After a couple of hours, Loren raked the fire and replaced heavy logs:
We took a group portrait before breaking for lunch:
Back up at the house we changed into clean dry clothes, relaxed, read, wrote, surfed, ate and talked about family history until late in the night. Nora and Avigail walked to the old cabin to sleep. Libbe and Loren went to their "bed house" and we slept on the best sofa bed ever.
