When I was twelve, I moved to Upper Ojai to the home of my dad’s girlfriend at the time. It wasn’t long before I became aware of the legenday Carl Hofmeister: rancher, captain of the Search and Rescue team, and de facto Mayor of Upper Ojai. He was larger than life (though technically quite short). You didn’t want to trespass on his property.

Years went by and my husband Bill and I made our life here in Upper Ojai. Bill joined the Search and Rescue team, and I got to know Carl a little bit. I really got to know Audrey, his wife, from the 3 am phone call: “Hello, this is Audrey. Wake up your other half: there’s a rescue.” More years went by, Carl retired, and Bill eventually became the captain of the Upper Ojai team himself.

Carl passed away the other day, and today I was helping draft his obituary. And that is a strange story of how things can come full circle in ways you least expect them to.

By the way, I haven’t mentioned the KILLER tracks Kevin McCormick, Jim Christie and Jonathan McEuen recorded in Ventura for “So You’re the Muse” and “There’s a Problem with the Dam.” That Muse rhythm section is very cool, very Bill Withers. Yes.

I’m home! Now the laundry and bookkeeping. I’ll post a bunch of pictures soon. Hope you all had a lovely Mother’s Day.

Well, that’s it. Week One of recording is a wrap, and boy, what a wonderful week. I love Mark Hallman. We got so much done. It was great to meet Ned and Tyler too, and I’m very, very happy.

My voice is out of shape! I’ve been sitting in front of the computer too much. Now my homework is to really warm up so when I come back in a few weeks to do the vocals I will sound GREAT!

Thanks, Wheat. Thanks, Dave (Snizz). The problem with coming here to record is that these great players live 1500 miles away from me!

Thanks, Kristen, for a lovely dinner. Sigh. I can’t wait to see my family tomorrow, but I’m a little sad to go.

Tomorrow I am going to Barton Springs, and though I’m pretty wimpy about chilly water, I’m going in.

Hey, folks – back at home in Ojai, my ten-minute play “That Little Red” will debut as part of Theater 150′s Ten-Minute Play Festival. Please visit http://www.theater150.org or http://www.rainperry.com/calendar.html for more info!