Maybe (a Little Piece of) My Heart Belongs to Hollywood, After All

The view from one of my flights home from BC.

A funny thing has begun to happen to me lately. In the midst of counting the days until I can get out of Hollywood and get up to Santa Ynez, I've begun to feel a sort of nostalgic affection for my current city. Perhaps because I know I'll be leaving it soon, this strange, sweet appreciation for it has moved to the forefront of my heart.

I've found myself smiling more often at the sight of the colorful people walking the streets. And feeling warm pangs for the tourists who ride about town in their buses, snapping pictures of everything they see.

I even had to bite my tongue on the plane ride home from Vancouver last week when I overheard the Canadians in front of me disparaging my city. "Hollywood is pretty sketchy" one of them said to the others. Like she was some expert. I wanted to tap on the back of her seat and say, "There may be some slightly rougher parts but it's not nearly as bad as you think and the people in the neighborhoods are quite nice." It's sort of just like a slightly egotistical, doped up rockstar village. It may wear too much eyeliner and curse a lot, but there's goodness underneath.

It surprised me to feel that way. After all the beheading/weird neighbor/traffic-induced instincts I've had to flee the city as soon as possible.

But there are still so many good things here. And I'm trying very hard to see and savor them over the next several months. 

I took this about a month or so ago and am astounded by how much the grapevines
have grown in such a short time. They're about 5x this size now. I do love our little
Hollywood "vineyard." It's a good start for the real one we'll have in the next couple years.

This is my favorite tree on our street. I love eucalyptus anyway, but this one makes
the most soothing rustling sounds as the wind blows through it. It's like a natural
relaxation wind chime.

Mr. W hates that we have rogue California poppies popping up in the backyard,
but I love them. They add so much cheer to the scene back there.

Yes, the weather has been so beautiful, I've spent some hours working like this.
And my ghostly white legs are ever thankful for the vitamin D.

I was delighted to partake of a little spring feast this weekend from backyard pickins.
Everything was great except that golden beet. It tasted like dirt so I had to throw it
away. But the artichoke and tomatoes were delicious.