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Wearing something green on St. Patrick’s Day has been a tradition since immigrants, particularly in the United States, transformed the holiday into a largely secular event celebrating all things Irish. Cities with large numbers of Irish immigrants staged parades going back to 1737 in...

Today’s the day I’ve been anticipating for months. It’s the day I go to the Felton Holiday Wreath Makers get together to create another masterpiece (hopefully). I plan to make several for friends and neighbors, although some of those prior recipients are coming with...

When you hear the phrase “self-care,” what comes to mind? For many of us, it’s bubble baths, spa treatments or elaborate routines we see online. While those can be enjoyable, they often make self-care feel like something time-consuming, expensive or unrealistic to keep up...

Everywhere I look, it’s green—forest green, apple green, olive green, fern green, sage green, chartreuse green. Even all those showy flowering trees blooming now will soon be sporting bright green leaves.  Since moving to the Santa Cruz Mountains in the late ’80s I have always...

New Year’s Day: Now is the accepted time to makeyour regular annual good resolutions. Next weekyou can begin paving hell with them as usual. —Mark Twain Over the past 40-some years, I have made dozens of New Year’s resolutions, some I have succeeded in keeping, and...

How are your knees? Knees are one of the largest and most complex joints of the body, your knees are crucial to movement, which means protecting knee joints should be a priority. Knees bear your body weight, allowing the full range of motion of...

“We are always too busy for our children. We lavish gifts upon them; but the most precious gift, our personal association, which means so much to them, we give grudgingly.” —Mark Twain I had the privilege of being sworn in as a member of the...

In the spirit of my annual New Year’s resolution to learn something new every day, I did some research on Calscape about adding butterfly friendly natives to my partly shady garden and did some reading on garden design trends for 2025. Turns out the...

Last week I had the pleasure of greeting the guests at the Donor’s Gala held at the new Performing Arts Center in Scott’s Valley. Not only did I welcome the guests in, but I did my best to wish each and everyone a Happy...

They’re called the dog days of summer. You know, those sultry days with the hottest summer temperatures. The name “dog star” comes from the ancient Egyptians who called Sirius, the Dog Star, after their god, Osiris. His head in pictograms resembles that of a...