Did I vote to move to Portland or Seattle? No. If there was such a vote, I seem to have missed it, and also, my side lost. Yesterday was possibly the first day since Monday the 27th of December to not have a thorough covering of clouds and at least a few sprinkles in it, and I might even be mistaken in that last, seeing as I'm back to work inside an office all day, and not paying full attention. The clouds parted for the Rose Parade on New Year's Day, of course, as they are contractually obligated to do, but they closed back up again about as soon as the parade was over.

Also there was the disturbingly strong and circular wind that whooshed through a week ago Tuesday, the first day of really heavy rain. It blew open the back gate, pushing the cinderblock doorstop in across the dirt a good three feet; it knocked down the aging trellis on the near end of the carport, which broke in two places where it hit the large stack of unused bricks; it sucked the lid up off the earthquake-supply trashcan that lives next to the lemon tree, and dropped said lid over near the sideyard; it pulled up our TV antenna from the roof (yes, we still use an old-school antenna, how quaint), yanking out the cable, and dropped the antenna more or less upside-down in the other sideyard, with a few prongs poking into our neighbors' airspace; it lifted off the lift-off door of the water heater's little metal shed and left it askew there; and it caused me to drop the Xbox controller and skitter away from the large plate glass windows in case they were about to blow in or be smashed by some large flying object. The power then went out, but it came back after a minute or two. I also learned later that one neighbor lost his chimney cap and the other actually did have a window smashed by a piece of fiberglass roofing from this gazebo patio thing she has in her backyard. Excitement all round.

Anyway, as I said, it's been at least overcast, if not raining, for almost two weeks straight. Laugh if you will, o ye of polar climes and endless nights, or just of places where winter means snow, but I'm a native Angelena. I'm not used to this. I need my sunshine. If you happen to know that the Southern California weather-spirit is off on vacation and let the Pacific Northwest guy handle the job for a few weeks, could you please pass on a message to the absentee: "Get your butt back to the office like the rest of us!"

Um, happy new year, by the way, where applicable.

contents of purple tricycle are copyright 2005 carrie lynn king unless otherwise noted.