Thursday, or Thereabouts - June 8, 2023

Looking outside these days, one would think that given the time of year, June not December, that a hot humid air mass would suffocate me if I stepped outside my door. Not so! It's a cool 16°C (61°F) and the hazy air stinks. Current AQI(US scale) as of 12:00 June 8 for Newmarket, the largest town near me: 164 - UNHEALTHY. Toronto is 132.

my street - the haze has been worse and is much worse in the city.

Plumes of smoke from wildfires in Quebec and Ontario's northeast waft across the land, obscuring the sun and carrying hazardous levels of tiny particles. These fine particles measure 2.5 microns (2.5/1000mm) or less and cannot be seen by our eyes (for reference human hair is around 70 microns). That small size makes them efficient infiltrators of deep lung tissue.

Smokey Sunset

I learned this first hand when I was in China in 2014.  I wrote in my journal: 

By evening on the second day in Shanghai,  I was stricken with an eye-watering, choking cough that erupted with almost every breath. 2am found me on the floor in the bathroom struggling for air and crying. I was sure the trip was over for me. I crawled back into bed where even sitting straight up sleep managed to find me for a scant 3 hours. It was enough to ease a some of my anxiety but I was still plagued intermittently by choked off breathing accompanied by a profound sluggishness of body and soul; every movement was an effort. 

Not a happy experience and the lung damage was a permanent, though not debilitating mild to moderate asthma. I don't get anxious about that anymore. I have meds and boxes of N95masks. The windows are kept shut, HVAC runs, and I'm spending most my day indoors. 

Still, I'm finding life these days frustrating and uneasy at the same time. Frustrating because there are things I'd like to be doing outside especially as it is so cool, but the air quality dictates otherwise. Anxious because rain still has not come and so the surrounding forests of predominantly pine stand like Roman candles just waiting for a spark. The forest fire risk is extreme. And all I can do is be aware, be vigilant, and be careful about both air and fire.

I got this!

©2023 April Hoeller