Chapter Ten and a Half: Summer “Break?”

Dear Diary,

The jacarandas are in bloom throughout Southern California. The first time I ever saw a jacaranda was also the first time I ever visited Los Angeles, sometime back in the mid-nineties. Whizzing around the city (traffic was similar to current lockdown conditions back then), I recall being absolutely enchanted by the technicolor purple trees, which blurred together like an impressionist painting wherever I went.