Here in Southern California, porches are something of a rarity. But we do have a wide driveway onto which our garage opens up, and we often throw open the garage door to let the breeze from the ocean (which is just over the hill to the West) come in, and set a spell; neighbors come by and we have a little exchange of howdies. It's almost as good as a porch, but not quite. Someone from our street organized a neighborhood barbecue last weekend, and we got to chat with half-a-dozen people from the block that we hadn't had much time to talk with. It was very positive to refresh those connections and share hot dogs. I even sang them a few songs, which they seemed to like.

We, too, have watched our real estate bubble breath in and then out. And we have the same conundrum about the capital inherent in our real estate which is also our home among friends in a place we really like living. I doubt we'll sell anytime soon. We've put a Gawdawful amount of work into the place to resurrect it from a tacky tract home, and we really enjoy living among the fruits of our own labors, or those we hired on.

Even here only half-a-mile from the sea, it gets gruesomely hot in mid-August, but the rest of the year is generally balmy. I have no idea how the warming trend on Earth is going to effect this region -- it probably will get summery all year around, if not sweltering, over the next decade or two.

That's all the news that's fit to print from West University City, in Sunny San Diego.

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