Summerland Buzz

A third-generation Californian, Leslie, currently resides in Carpinteria but called Summerland home for 30 years. The award-winning writer assists clients sell fine art, antiques and collectibles at auction houses around the globe. She can be reached at LeslieAWestbrook@gmail.com or www.auctionliaison.com

People of Summerland: Gordon Morrison E very Sunday evening at 7 pm Gordon Morrison, bagpiper, husband, father, and VP of Engineering at Freedom Photonics, steps onto the porch of his family’s Summerland house and plays the bagpipes as the sun sets. It’s a comforting lament during these difficult times. I asked Morrison our usual “People of Summerland” questions. I also sat in on the Summerland Citizen’s Association May meeting that Morrison chairs as President of the SCA. Here are his thoughts, as well as a short report on the confab, which certainly wins the Summerland Zoom prize for most unusual board meeting. The meeting included an update on the Whitney Avenue organic farming project on the Summerland School/ Carpinteria Unified School District Gordon Morrison with children on Summerland property from Leslie Person Ryan beach; Anna (12) John (10) and James (8) (photo who prepared her dinner – roasted by Sandra Morrison)

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Gordon Morrison plays bagpipe on his porch every Sunday evening at 7 pm

cauliflower with grilled sausage on a bed of arugula and goat cheese/harina/baba ghanoush sauce – throughout the Zoom board meeting, which made it infinitely more entertaining.

Q. With COVID-19 changing the way we interact as a community, how are you making it work through this difficult time and do you have any tips to share?

A. To be honest, I think that my wife Sandra and I have been very fortunate. I know this has been an incredibly difficult time for most people, not just in Summerland and Montecito, but throughout California, and indeed the world. Surprisingly, I have found the transition to working from home less difficult than I expected, largely thanks to online meetings. At Freedom Photonics, the small technology company at which I work, we have been quite nimble about reorganizing our schedules to frontload the work that can be done from home where possible. Without my regular commute to Goleta and back, I can get in an extra 40 minutes of work every day and still have a short lunch break with my kids, which has been wonderful.

My three kids, Anna (12), John (10), and James (8), are all playing together better than usual, and are doing a great job of keeping up their schoolwork online with help from their teachers at Summerland School and Carp Middle School. I suppose when your only playmates are your siblings you start to appreciate them more! So, spending more time together as a family has been a real blessing. That’s not to say we don’t miss our friends and all the extracurricular activities and so forth that usually keep us busy, but with the assumption that this will eventually pass and that it is a disruption rather than a permanent status quo, it has been quite nice. One of my favorite new activities has been going for regular runs with my three kids on their bikes either through Montecito or around the back of Summerland, usually early in the morning or before dinner in the evening. Montecito and Summerland are beautiful with all the spring flowers at this time of year, and the brooks and creeks in the area are making their lovely babbling sounds next to many of the trails.

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Susan Pate | Beverly Palmer | Mitch Morehart

805.895.9385 susan.pate@compass.com themorehartgroup.com DRE 01130349 | 01319565 | 00828316

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