I left Portland Thursday morning in a misty rain, cool and dark as the mornings there are. The freshness of the air hit me again as remarkable – it’s an almost therapeutic side benefit of all the constant rainfall, what with the cleansed oxygen and ozone so redolent all around one.

My next leg of travel deals with seeing my daughter again, amid some of the recent changes in her life. As well, I have the great good fortune of my life’s best friend picking me up at the airport, then running up to see his own daughter in Camarillo, a gal I met when she was all of 2 years old. I’m a nice local legend in her family and I was her first real adult friend at her age then.

Here he regales my new bestest little freind, Marleigh, with a railroad tune, further justifying her pet name for her Grandad – “Choo-Choo”.

It was so cool chatting as we drove Northward after we sat for a while with my girl, Alena, at a great outdoor pub close to Mission Beach in San Diego. Here’s a shot of us with her friend, Matt.

But I am a landscaping man…………..enough of the sociality. Time to get local, regional and take a gander at Paradise. As these things go, this is high Rose season in Southern California. Coincidentally, it’s also Bouganvilla season, which rather augments the next picture of a home in Leigha’s neighborhood.

 Here’s “concrete truth” about my whereabouts.

Among the flora of Southern California which I know absolutely Zero about but which I still consider elements of Paradise are Jackaranda Trees. Anything blue always surprises me, I think, but particularly this big.

Leigha and Nic’s place is set in a small and surprisingly mellow corner of humanity, away from the rush of LA, set near the new college of Cal State Channel Islands – you know, the Dolphins. It’s a gorgeous school, the site of an old mental institution and home of a few myths designed to give a scare. But much of it was added later in a great, airy, ultra-modern design which looks real fun to attend.

The view outside is kind of terrific – Leigha and Nic abut the wilds, more or less. Evidently, coyotes are thick especially when it gets drier and farther from Spring. Here’s what’s outside the front porch:

Things are going pretty good, so far. This guy agrees!