Joni Mitchell's Side of the World

Everything you've heard is true.

It never rains here, we spend all day in the sun and people talk sincerely about existing with the cosmic forces in the universe, and it all makes a lot of sense, is the only thing that makes sense.

There are fires and farms and long country roads through the mountains. The sky is an easter blue above the sand-colored hills, dotted with forest green, and everything is so soft that it's like being in an impressionist painting. This is what the sun intended.

And also, the sun bounces off the water off the edge of the continent like something you think you've seen but really haven't unless you're staring into it in late afternoon sun when the wind is whipping around your grateful limbs and suddenly you can't even remember what you were ever afraid of, and when you do, it seems different and smaller.