Hanging in Nor-Cal

So, here are a few pith observations of "Nor-Cal" (that was sighted on many cars when I ran this morning)

• The weather is great; sort of like Israel was this time of year during my trip that I left for a year ago to the date. My Aunt and Uncle have in their backyard: apple trees (3), lemon bush (1), pear bush (1), apricot tree (1), cherry tree (1), a blackberry vine, and a couple tomato plants.
• Uhh, I guess that is the only observation. My Aunt and I visited my Uncle Dave's place of work, as an engineer at a Valero oil refinery. This was awesome and I learned a hell of a lot about oil refineries that isn't at all obvious. The stuff that they do to protect the environment was particularly impressive: many hundreds of millions of dollars worth of scrubbers and other similar implements were all put in place because of more strict EPA regulations. The engineering of the place was also impressive. Go Uncle Dave and his very cool job.
• Staying with my Aunt and Uncle has been actually great - plus Starbucks coffee in the morning, and seeing cousins tonight, then Marin later tonight or tomorrow.