Christmas Trees Offer Hope Amid Ashes in Laguna
The residents of the Canyon Acres neighborhood were devastated this year by a double dose of natural disaster.
The Oct. 27 firestorm wiped out almost half of this funky conglomeration of cottages, chicken coops and art studios. Two weeks later, rainstorms triggered mudslides, forcing several evacuations and sweeping away at least a dozen cars.
Now, two residents of this rustic community off Laguna Canyon Road have are trying to bring holiday cheer to themselves and neighbors by erecting decorated Christmas trees on the sites of their former homes.
“I was feeling lonesome for my neighbors and they were feeling lonesome for me,” said Judy DuRocher, who erected a tree on the site of her former Lewellyn Drive home. “I put it there to cheer them up, and it has cheered me up too.”
Neighbors say the trees, which remain lighted all night, are monuments of hope for this ravaged community.
Polly Ferrell, who erected the other tree, and her three children lost their Canyon Acres Drive home in the inferno.
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