The house here in Monterey is like a chimney. Built on the side of a hill, it cascades down the steep hillside towards the bay. Above the house is its road and across this road is Carmel Valley. This chimney’s flue is the house’s open floorplan that runs from the downstairs bedrooms to the upstairs master bedroom suite. We are sleeping downstairs, where it is always cold, especially in the morning. This morning, we got a little rain, to cool it further. Just, enough to baptize a fairy, but why one would want to baptize some pagan spirit is beyond me.

As the sun rises and warms the day, the master bedroom sucks up most of the heat that the house receives. It actually gets hot there by afternoon, which is the time we usually gather there to watch TV. The downstairs warms slightly during this time, but still remains cool even through the heat of the summer and offers the semblance of air conditioning down there. It is still only spring here, with lows in the forties. In the relatively dry California air, things cool off rapidly after sundown, only to repeat this cycle with little variation the next day.

The weather in Monterey changes little throughout the year. Most days have highs in the sixties and lows in the fifties. The highs sometimes get a little higher in the summer and lows a little lower in the winter, but day-to-day temperatures changes little. It changes more with locale than it does with the season. It is always cooler by the coast and warmer inland. There is more fog than rain at this time of year. The fog brings moisture that the plants need. It also obscures the view, but usually burns off by noon. That in a nutshell is the weather here.