In spite of being busy as all get out in the here and now this weekend, there have been some hard tugs on my attention, turning it west.  Carole posted some gorgeous neighbourhood pictures of spring blooming–wisteria, daffodils–and that was a welcome tap to the far side.

A while after I fell asleep last night, however, I was rousted when Bob’s late night news viewing brought an announcement from KTVU unexpectedly into my unconscious.  The news was wretched:  four police and the suspected shooter shot on the streets of East Oakland, with shooter and three of the cops killed. Reports note that police arriving on the scene were taunted by some of the bystanders, direct fallout from the shooting two months ago of an unarmed man by a then-officer in the BART force. All in all, a grim time in a place that has more beautiful spring sunshine than any other city I’ve ever seen.

Before either of these prods to look west, Bob and I seemed to have got ourselves into a California small movie roll. I suppose since spring isn’t in the air here, we’ve been casting about for known alternatives.  Bottle Shock was good, but Just Add Water was better.  

But it would take something way more than a quirky comedy to keep my nose out of the news pages right now.