"Arkansas was called 'apocalyptic' by its governor, in the grip of the worst icestorm in decades. Michigan has a windshield factor of minus 18 degrees. Now for the local forecast."

Switching over to a bright, bubbly blonde...

"The weather can be summed up in three 'B' words....Bright, Breezy, and Beautiful.'"

The rest of the country was choking in the worst icestorm in years, but here in San Diego, I was wearing short sleeves and regretting I hadn't packed any short pants for the kids....

Temperature in the seventies in winter. I knew it, intellectually. Yet to actually experience it....

The neighborhood where my brother lives---and my mother, just a block or so away...is so safe, that it upsets all my ideas of decorum. My mother, in her late seventies', mother would say goodbye and walk home...by herself---without anyone walking along with her. I live in a relatively safe community, but I wouldn't dream of letting her do that here. I'd worry about her being robbed or worse.

Later, since we were staying at my mother's, we would do the same thing. Even in the dark---and the stars seemed much more noticable than they were in Nashville...we felt utterly safe.

She of course left the door open for us. For hours. Anything could have happened. Yet nothing did. She obviously knew her neighborhood.

This is like Ward and June Cleaver's neighborhood---save with odd, Dr. Seuss-type trees that dot the California landscape.

We pulled into a gas station. In Nashville, the gas prices are between a dollar-twenty-nine and a dollar-forty-nine. Here they were a dollar-eighty-nine or a dollar-ninety-nine.

My brother comments:

"We have to have a special gas mix to cut down on pollution. Special mixes cost money. So California pays for it through the nose."

Later I ask him about the "power emergency" I had read about in the news.

"They deregulated the power companies. Yet there wasn't the rush in to fill the gap in power that they expected. So, instead, we went from one-hundred-forty a month to four-hundred-dollars a month. Then the State Legislature stepped in and forced the prices down. The power companies say they can't make a profit that way...

"It will be years before enough power stations are made to pick up the slack. One way or another, we'll have to pay..."

"Thank goodness we have TVA back in Nashville."

My brother looked amused.

"Deregulation is on its way for the entire country, I expect. It'll hit you sooner or later..."

Girls in bikini tops and shorts skating by.

Bare-chested joggers run by, this on December 28th.

We go out to a park, near Poway Lake, and Eric has fun on a playground, and later looks at hordes of ducks in a stocked lake.

Later Eric helps us shop, pushing the cart. Yet we are in the minority, being in long pants....

To someone used to the usual ebb and flow of the seasons, the protected paradisical climate of San Diego is a continuing miracle.