It's spring here in Paradise and a glorious one it is, maybe the most idyllic of our 34 years on this place. Early on we called it Paradise and have never changed our minds about the propriety of that decision, even during the terrible drought years in the very early Eighties.

Today, the landscape is every shade of green imaginable married to a blue, blue sky. Touches of yellows, purples, and reds for accent. One patch of brown in the garden where tiny seedlings are growing. Riotous flower beds, orderly rows of spring vegetables, fresh-leafed trees – some burgeoning with tiny apples and peaches – all have me awestruck.