I remember flying with my father to Polson, Montana. My aunt and uncle had a rustic cabin on Flathead Lake and the family gathered there for camp cooking, water play, and connections. Taking the direct result into Polson meant having to come over the mountains and then drop a lot of altitude in a short distance. In a light airplane it was an ear-popping experience. On the way home we flew south instead of heading directly for the mountains. Our little airplane would have had to make a lot of circles to gain the necessary altitude, but by heading down the valley we could climb at a good pace and we wouldn’t have to cross high mountains until much later in our journey. The distance was a bit longer, but the time was the same or even a bit shorter.

I was learning to navigate bye visual flight rules. I had a chart on my lap and I was checking off waypoints, naming different mountains, rivers, and other key geographic features. As we drew closer to where the city of Missoula is, I was unable to see it. All I could see was a low layer of cloud in the valley. Finally, as we drew quite close, I could make out the M on the mountain above the college and identified my waypoint to turn toward the east. As we flew, I discussed the problem of making out features from the air. He explained to me that although generally the atmosphere cools as one flies higher, there are times when a layer of cool air can become trapped beneath a layer of warmer air above. The layer of warm air stays put because of the cooler air above it and it traps the layer of cool air that is below it. In the case of that particular day along with moisture which was condensing in the cooler air below us causing fog, the warm air was trapping the smoke from the paper plant and other industrial facilities in the valley.

I may have heard the term smog before but that was the first time that I remember knowing what it meant: smoke and fog. Later we lived in Chicago and I learned a lot more about smog. And we have traveled and seen various kinds of air pollution.

That condition that I witnessed over Missoula Montana on that summer day long ago seemed to be the dominant condition of the entire Intermountain West yesterday as we flew from Vancouver to Salt Lake City and from there to Atlanta. The route from Vancouver to Salt Lake is familiar to me. It passes not far from Boise, Idaho. I know a lot of the landmarks from flying in the area. But I couldn’t make out the landmarks yesterday.

The west is literally full of smoke. While I can feel sad about the changes from the days when we were able to fly across the west with nearly unlimited visibility the tragedy of the smoke is what is does to the health of so many people. Breathing all that smoke is not good for anyone.

This week a wildfire burned to within four miles of the home where we lived for 25 years in South Dakota. Fortunately the weather turned cooler and rain fell allowing firefighters to make great progress and no homes were lost. Had we still lived in the area we would have received pre-evacuation orders from the Sheriff instructing us to be ready to evacuate on short notice. So we’ve been paying attention to the news from that fire. The gift of weather and well-timed rain is a blessing. There are lots of places in western Canada and the US that didn’t get the rain when it was most needed.

On a completely different subject, today is an historic day in Mount Vernon, Washington. At the end of the regular day, the city’s library will close and will remain closed for most of the rest of the month. When it re opens it will be in a brand-new building. A special open house farewell to the old library building was held on Wednesday with hundreds attending. The new Mount Vernon Library Commons is an incredible project that will benefit the community for many years to come, but for generations of children who grew up enjoying the library there is a bit of nostalgia. Fortunately for the community the old library building will be repurposed to serve the city in a new role as city hall will expand into the building with some much needed office space and services.

We will be back in Washington in time for the ribbon cutting at the new building - a moment that will be a proud time for us as our son is the Director of the Library and the new Mount Vernon Library Commons has been a vision turned into reality for him and other community leaders who worked together to bring this important project to the city without needing to ask for a tax raise. It has been a long journey and telling the story is with more time than a single journal entry, but today’s last day in the old building is a day to remember.

For the staff of the library it must be a bittersweet day. They can’t help but be excited about the new building and the expanded services to the community that will be enabled by its opening. They are excited to have the room to expand the already excellent children’s library and to offer additional youth services in a safe space. But life will be different in the new building. The familiar work spaces will be gone. New routines will have to be established. As they shelve books and prepare for the ribbon cutting in the new building their work will b e different not just during the time when the library is closed for the move, but also when it opens with new services for the community.

Smoky skies and a new library building. The world is changing. And in each change the lives of people are affected. May we never lose sight of the people and the communities that nurture our life together.