43 things I like about the place I live

but I’m going to give up on this one. Truth is, I’d rather LIVE here than write about living here.

So I’m giving up.

Given my peripatetic ways, it’s a good thing I live near an airport!

Oakland is in the State of California.

I love California, madly, deeply, illogically, passionately. I love the beauty here. I love the diversity. I love the weather. I love the fact that if I should WANT lousy weather, I can find that here too.

I love it that I am so near the Pacific, and so near the Sierra Nevada.

I love being in a state that has two kinds of redwoods, both of them magnificent.

There are things I don’t love, but I’ll mention those in a different place sometime, I am sure.

cool peaceful nights…

views of the SF Bay…

waterfowl on the San Leandro Bay and Lake Merritt…

wonderful public libraries…

my synagogue community here.

two nice little coffee places with free wifi nearby.

I’m an ex-Starbucks customer now.

and everyone calls in to KCBS (local news radio) to talk about what their cat did and what the dishes did and how the dog predicted it and what the baby said and and and.

Suddenly the Bay Area feels like a very small town.

The climate in the East Bay is darn near perfect. Balmy days, balmy nights, rain in the wintertime if we are lucky, perfect day after perfect day.

My beloved sweetie, my dear sons, and assorted members of my family of choice are here. There are some extended family members who are not, but nothing is perfect.

I love Oakland!

because I am returning HOME to Oakland, CA.

My stuff, in transit at the moment, is actually going to live in San Leandro for a while, but Oakland is my home, has been my home for almost 23 years.

More to follow, of course.

1. Lake Merritt is the navel of my universe.