Pictured is the front entryway to my dad’s house. The sunlit white trellis on the right screens my mother’s rose garden. Photos of a couple of its blossoms are included. Although she has not tended this garden herself for more than a decade, it has been well cared for since. This garden has always been protected by walls, to keep the deer at bay. Deer could still walk into it, but as inviting as this entryway appears to humans, for deer the situation is different.

Anne and I have been out here in Monterey for more than a month now. And though the weather here changes more intraday than it does day-to-day there has been some gradual changes to the season. Sunny California is the rep, but the truth is more complicated. As the weather warms with the approach of summer, along the coast the marine layer thickens. This results in clouds and fog. Out here they have names for this phenomenon. We are currently in grey May but will soon transition to the June gloom. This goes on all summer with no-sky July and then “Fogust.” This less than sunny weather does not last all day. The marine layer usually burns off by noon, but when people come to sunny California, they expect to see the sun. I myself find empty blue skies boring and am quite content to Play Misty for Me.

Life goes on and Jane reached out to us. She is preparing to open the cabin over Memorial Day. I can’t see us getting there before July. Anyway, she asked me to order a new shower curtain for the cabin through Amazon. I did today, even though I am currently at war with Jeff Bezos. His kowtowing to Trump really turned my stomach. I let my Washington Post subscription lapse after all of its reporters left but then resubscribed later. I was in the process of doing the same with my Amazon Prime account when Jane called. So, I revived my Prime account and ordered her the shower curtain. It should arrive tomorrow.

Back in the larger world things seem to be quieting down again. Trump has sued for peace with China in his ill-conceived tariff war. Not having to pay $25 for a $10 shower curtain was a small concession that helped to convince me to reup with Amazon.  A little while back Treasury Secretary Bessent said the American dream is not about ‘access to cheap goods’ But I am pretty sure that the entire reason America exists is because we were bitching about paying too much for stuff. Does the Boston Tea Party ring any bells?