Once at a party I met an editor for People Magazine.  She happened to remark, “You know you’re a writer when you have more to say than your friends are willing to listen to.”  I fit the pattern.  Some of my need for an audience has been met by writing scholarly books about Europe and Washington DC.  But along the way I have also accumulated a very large number of opinions and impressions about California, where I grew up.  This blog is an effort to share those thoughts, especially as they relate to the past.  Some of the entries involve me personally; many others do not.  Most of the posts are factual; a few, identified as such, are fictional. There is no shortage of writing about California. But more remains to be said.