Vol. Heat No. Dome

As many of you know, my husband and I were in Maui, five miles north of Lahaina, when the huge fire hit. The winds were incredible, the smoke so black it was night. We'd been in Lahaina, our favorite town on Maui, on both Sunday and Monday, out on a dinner cruise from Lahaina harbor and back some six hours before the devastation. You all know what happened so I won't go into detail, only that it's utterly heartbreaking and it scarred your soul to see the smoldering foundations when only the day before people were at the small store, out and about and then -- it was gone. There are still over a thousand people unaccounted for. Please select a charity you trust and send a donation to Maui. There are so many homeless families, so many animals, so many who don't know if their relatives and friends are dead or alive, the need is so very great. There are sites online for donations.

Here on the mainland, so many of you have been suffering under the Heat Dome (not Thunder Dome) and continue to hunker down with your iced tea, books and if you're lucky and the grid's up, a/c - From what I'm hearing, the heat is finally letting up, except, of course, for cities like Phoenix that are still cooking, yesterday a whooping 117 degrees.

The NFL season starts on September 7, game between the KC Chiefs and the Detroit Lions. And that means I start wrapping Christmas presents. Wait! I don't have many gifts to wrap this year and why, you ask? The truth - been there, done that, and now all the kids get gift cards and I would bet that's all they've wanted since they were old enough to talk.

Keep the faith and repeat: It will cool down, the leaves will turn yellow and red and temps will fall because they have to and the weather minions will ensure this happens.

Maui no ka `oi -- Catherine

I'm gonna mess you up.

Sunset on Maui

I woke up, looked out the window to see this incredible sunrise over Angel Island.