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The weather outside


Is frightful.   So goes one of the incessantly played jingles in American shopping centers during the winter months at the onset of Xmas.

We took a stroll in our neighborhood as we had nothing to do on a weekend evening and wanted to try some food options in a new mall that opened nearby.

As we strolled we realized that the intense wild fires burning 100 miles north of us was sending massive dust particulates south toward us and had turned the giant star, our sun into something like a large citrus painted in oil on grey canvas.



Other spots in the mall were festively decked in string lights and play areas for kids, including fog machines and fountains - perhaps not that delightful on a wintry evening.





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