Dear Liza,
I was born in Southern California and, except for three years around when your daddy and Auntie Katie were born, lived in California my whole life. I am used to warm dry summers, slightly damp winters, and trees that mostly stay green all year.
i am also used to crocuses making some sort of sense. Yesterday as we were walking through the neighborhood, looking at houses for sale and heading for the market, I saw these:

These are crocuses sprouting up in front yards! In every other part of the world, crocuses are a spring flower, usually the first spring flower….back east, they come right up through the snow. But here it is, the first day of fall, and up they come.
Maybe they are trying to come up out of the ground so they don’t drown in the rain? Maybe they are as confused as the rest of us about the world in general? Or maybe they are just messing with me…..
Today is chilly but dry, and we are trying to decided what we want to do this weekend. With summer passed, the roses have lost most of their petals and the gardens will rest until spring. There is an Architectural History Museum down by the river that looks interesting, or maybe we will bundle up and walk around downtown. It is going to stay chilly, but no rain is predicted for a whole week!
Take care of yourself, your mommy and daddy.
Love,
Grandma Judy