It's hot here, and everyone says "unseasonably" but we all know that California gets summertime in October - right? But it is scary weather, because it's so hot and, after a long summer, so very dry - and then you have these vicious winds that rattle the dry grass and leaves and then you add to that crazy arsonists or random cigarettes and you have firestorms.

This time of year, I know I said I love it, but it's also a time that's fraught with lots of feelings for me. My mother died in August, my father in October, and my house also burned down in October. So I find myself getting very anxious and apprehensive, as if I'm waiting for the next disaster to sweep away what I knew of my life again...

In the meantime I take comfort in little things that reawaken my sense of wonder and joy.