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“If the first thing you do in the morning is eat a live frog, you can go through the rest of the day knowing the worst is behind you.” —Mark Twain The year was 1972 when a friend drove me to the small town of...

Wisteria are one of those vines that you either long for or lament ever having planted. They are all fragrant with a delicious sweet scent that varies from faint to strong to almost overpowering. Bees and hummingbirds love them. Here are some tips to...

Ever feel like you wish you had someone else’s body type? Is the body you want always just out of reach? Like no matter what you do, you’ll never quite be slim, strong or fit enough? If this is true, try to not be...

What fun it must have been for the children raised in the 1900s at Filoli Estate. You can just imagine what a kid could do on 654 acres of orchards, fields and gardens creating a maze of places to hide and seek. As gardeners,...

As someone who has held management and leadership positions for most of my career, I was intrigued to learn more about how working with horses can improve leadership skills in the workplace. I had the opportunity to meet Razelle Janice Drescher, owner of Intentional...

Having been raised by my elderly aunt who ran a boarding house for the workers at the nearby sawmill in the small town of Aberdeen, Wash., my younger days were spent primarily in the company of older people. Our house was the last house...

I have been gardening for a very long time. But even now I feel I know just a little bit about a whole lot of subjects. Every day I learn something new. Now that spring weather has finally arrived I’m anxious to start planting...

Students face challenges beyond the pressure to succeed academically. Parents hear about many of these issues as their children move through middle school, high school and beyond. These challenges include peer pressure, drugs, harassment, bullying, discrimination and low self-esteem. How can we help our young...

Millions of Americans are affected by mental health conditions every year. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S.—43.8 million, or 21%—experiences mental illness in a given year; and we know this is increasingly an issue...

When the dogwoods start to bloom, I’m torn between the flowering crabapples and cherries and wisteria and lilacs. But those huge dogwood flowers—or more precisely, bracts—get my attention every time I drive along the thoroughfares of San Lorenzo and Scotts Valley.  Most of us are...