My fifth summer of Californication...

It is the fourth birthday of my landing here in California and hence, my subsequent slow but steady Californication. So I am entering my fifth summer and for the first time I'm sorry to have to report *rain* in the month of June in the San Francisco Bay Area (this past thursday). Yes, global climate change thoughts aside, this is an unusual freak occurrence; the first rains after May are usually to be observed late October or so, the occasional thunderstorm aside. My friend and co-worker L just happened to embark thursday on a five week transcontinental motorcycle odyssee (he's heading to Maine on his GS100); in the first leg of his trip, he planned getting to Carson City to pick up his riding buddy. As there were snow storm forecasts for the Sierras (rain in the Bay Area usually equals snow in the high Sierra), he made sure he got out of work early. And to add to all this natural drama, a whole series of earthquakes was to be experienced this week (the one in Crescent City being the largest).