From a garden in Santa Cruz

Looking out at ripening golden Cherry tomatoes, gold-red leaves of a Persimmon tree falling away to reveal globular golden fruits, dazzling in clear gold sunlight. A pair of Hummingbirds fast friends in the garden, a visiting Mocking Bird. I sleep out on the deck and wake up each morning to this.

I've arrived in a house where Takashi, who lives deeper into the garden, is a wheelchair wizard mechanic who has designed and built an adjustable, tiltable basking wheelchair. He gets this out, dusts it off, tinkers a little and invites me to give it a try.

Ryan, Corrina Yinka and Corrina's grandson Freddie are strongly encouraged to don costumes and take to the streets of Santa Cruz on Halloween, where parades of ghouls check each other out in passing.