The hillsides, which have been yellow and brown since the grasses and weeds dried up last May, are turning green again with the winter rains. (Summer rain? Yes, maybe once or twice.)

We have a massive valley oak in our back yard, planted by some long-ago jay. (Since there were no mature oaks on our street, we had no squirrels back then. Scrub jays abound, and "plant" acorns for winter use, just like the squirrels do. One apparently flew over from a couple of streets away where there WERE oaks, with his "treasure.") We watched it grow from a foot-high seedling to the 100-foot (about 30 meters) high giant it is today. Since we had to knock a hole into our back fence to accommodate its growing trunk, we don't have an accurate measurement of its circumference, but its diameter is about 6 feet. This is a species of black oak, which have the elongated acorns, unlike white oaks with their familiar short, fat acorns.

People (usually from "back east") scoff at our climate, and exclaim, "You folks don't have real seasons, since it doesn't snow!" I beg to differ. We've lived here for 55 years, and it snowed at least twice! (Of course it melted in less than an hour.) We actually have at least six seasons: winter (month of December and January,) first spring (around February when the grass grows on the hills and the last oak leaves fall,) second spring (March and April, when all the fruit trees bloom and the leaves reappear, first summer (May and June) when cherries, apricots, and tomatoes are ripe, second summer (June through mid-October) when everything else ripens and it's hot, hot, HOT!, and fall (late October and November--you can tell it's fall because of all the leaves you have to rake up--except for oaks: they drop leaves from October through February.