Walnut Creek Patch local editor Lance Howland asked me to start writing a blog for this site.

Sure. Why not? But where to start?

Well, I have lived in this city for 32 years in the same house with my wonderful wife, Mary, near Walnut Acres Elementary School.

We raised our two daughters in that home and our two grandchildren now come to play inside those same four walls.

So, the first blog topic: Why do I live in Walnut Creek? Why haven't I moved sometime during the past three decades?

The simple answer... there's no reason to leave. Walnut Creek has virtually everything I could want or need.

Shell Ridge beckons us on the southern side of town. The bike trails lure us onto the flatlands.

The downtown is bustling and filled with fine restaurants and shops of every variety.

The politics are interesting, if you like that. The schools are top notch. The new library is a wonder to visit. The BART station is one of the better ones around.

Heck, even Ygnacio Valley Road when it's jammed with commute traffic is a pleasant looking thoroughfare to drive down.

Let's see, there's Boundary Oak golf course, Heather Farm Park, Broadway Plaza,  the Lindsay Museum and Countrywood shopping center (where I'm sitting now).

Most of all, Walnut Creek seems to have a balance to it.

It's clean but not pristine. It's busy but not hectic. It's higher income but not rich.

You can find high-end shops downtown, but there's also more affordable department stores.

There are upscale restaurants like Lark Creek, but a few blocks away there's the Hubcaps hamburger joint.

Even the weather is a happy medium. Warm but usually not too hot in the summer. Rain in the winter but most years not so much that you get that Pacific Northwest "where is the sun?" depression.

A little bit of everything. All of it nice.

Yeah. I kind of like it here. I think I'll stay for awhile.