…the blossom that springs from the avenues of trees and shrubs planted against the concrete of the suburbs and the wide expanse of roads running through this city.  Mostly pale whites and creams and occasionally splashes of pastel pinks.  I’ve been trying really hard over the last week or so to make a conscious effort to notice it, because it all, too soon, will be gone again.

This weekend is the Almond Blossom festival – I believe this year will be the 67th – and there will be a fun fair, stalls, food and entertainment.  Last year was the first time we had made it as previously we had been out of town that weekend.  A small boy was excited to sample the ‘tamer’ rides and although I haven’t let on that it is coming, I am sure he will be just as excited this year.  We also bought an anniversary present to ourselves there.  A beautiful hand crafted board for the kitchen which is a checkerboard of maple, cherry, purpleheart and jatoba.  Wood for the 5th year of marriage, purchased in our 6th year of marriage – you can tell we are good at this whole anniversary thing.  I wanted something that I could use and look lovely and be a memory of California…it does all those things and I enjoy soothing its scored surface with lashings of mineral oil which it continues to drink with thirst.

Life has been a little hectic lately.  Baseball season has kicked off (probably the wrong term…) and our little team of 5 and 6 year old’s have had a slightly slower start.  The coach that had selected them had to stand down and so we were suddenly brought together for the first time to seek volunteers…don’t panic, I am not coaching baseball….I don’t think my rounders experience would cut it somehow and I keep getting all the terms wrong for pretty much everything…however I am now a ‘Team Mom’.  Having two years of Tball under our belt I felt able to organise a snack rota or two.  But of course, it is never that easy.  Another learning curve, but at least my office experience means I can work a spreadsheet and who doesn’t love a distribution list in your outlook!

We’ve just had our first game of the season – following only two practices – and our kids did great!  We didn’t score anything, we didn’t hit anything, but we did tag someone out and our little players got a feel of playing different positions and taking a turn of putting on the catchers kit, which some of them had only seen that morning.

The advantage of being British is that you can claim complete lack of knowledge- so I can ask anyone anything and our moms are coming to me to ask about scoring – ‘do we mark fouls?’ – I have no idea – I’ll go ask the opposition!

It’s going to be a fun season – hitting a moving ball (pitched from a machine), learning rules and scoring – well hopefully!