I was out by the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse and Santa Cruz Surfing Museum yesterday and saw the workers from Cardiff Pest Control had the lighthouse wrapped in a termite extermination tent. It was surreal, to say the least. Loads of folks were stopping by to photo the Santa Cruz icon shrouded in blue and yellow striped material.
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More and more businesses are building out their outdoor settings for customers during the pandemic. I feel sorry for these folks, like at hair salons, nail places, restaurants, cafes, pubs and breweries, that are struggling to make a buck, stay open, comply with the rules and try to make folks feel comfortable. It’s not easy. I can’t imagine having to wear a mask all day long while waiting on customers out in the sun. For starters, It’s hard to hear what folks are saying. And the sad facts are some officials are saying this is probably the program for the next several years.
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I’ ve been up into the burn area in the Santa Cruz Mountains several times now and the experience is nothing shy of depressing and challenging. Burned out homes, wrecked and blackened cars, toasted gardens and patios, ash-covered driveways and bleached out forests. There’s a sullen stillness to it all that grabs you and speaks of a vast lifelessness, of deadness, of nothing left but few crispy ashes, cinders and a blanket of powdery, gray nothingness. I sure wish power to the folks that have to get back in there and believe in their plot of land, the place they called home and a neighborhood and how they might get back on their feet.
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I went around to two of the Ace Hardware stores today in Watsonville to get photos of the hard workers that hold these places down. I took group photos of the staff at the branch on Freedom Blvd. and the folks out at the East Lake Village Center store. They were upbeat, all of them, and positive that business is coming back and things are moving forward in a good way. Best of luck to all of them.
