Okay, I admit it. I’m becoming a little self conscious about the fact that the great majority of my posts reference my homeland on the east coast, and my growing affection for life in the west. So really, this won’t be another. But I have to say, as I endure yet another Ojai winter (cue the violins and fake melodrama), I have to laugh at how I never noticed last year that “winter” in Ojai is just a nice fall day in New England. You know, the day you go apple picking, or lug a sand chair down to L Street (yea, yea, I’m speaking to a special brand of locals there). The day you watch a soccer game in shorts and a long sleeved shirt — certainly not the kind of blue sky day that fades into a mid-winter high school basketball night, gym filled with fans, stomping and cheering like it’s 1984, Celts v. Lakers (wait, sorry, there I go again…) But that’s just the Saturday I had. Late morning hike among the just emerging orange blossoms, nighttime hoops as our very own Toads went into the second round of post season tournament action. Those boys played their hearts out, and as the clock ticked down to victory, the place went wild. As the crowd poured out of the gym into the crystal clear Ojai winter night, happy and proud, I couldn’t help but smile. They can’t even see their breath. Go Toads!!!!