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Taking care of your mental health doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming. Small, simple actions that turn into habits can make a big difference in how you feel and how you handle life’s stressors. Whether you're a busy parent, a student juggling responsibilities,...

T’was the night before Christmas and all through the garden, The creatures were stirring, the deer got a pardon.  The hummingbird feeders were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that the Anna’s soon would be there.  The flowering cherries were nestled all snug in their beds, While...

I don’t grow corn in my small, shady garden, so I’m not sure how tall they’d be by now if I planted on May Day when the soil was 50 degrees, but that’s how the saying goes. And from what I’ve read about the...

Living just off Highway 9 in Ben Lomond, I am often caught up in lines of traffic going “nowhere” for minutes at a time. So much so, that I keep a notepad and pen in the console next to my seat, jotting down random...

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” —Socrates I am an evangelist for financial life planning! I preach it, practice it and donate it to help others. Everyone must do it or face consequences! I studied it for years with a CFP and a GGU...

This morning, while up to my elbows in potato yeast dough, a voice calling my name came through my opened screen door. It was my neighbor Heather Boynton. We have this understanding, Heather and I, that ‘mi casa es su casa,’ or, in English:...

Just before the holiday season, there was an opinion piece in the Press Banner about San Lorenzo Valley Water District (“Measure U’s Decisive Defeat: What It Means for SLVWD,” Dec. 13, 2024). The author, Jim Mosher, is a citizen who represents a special interest...

Eggplant, that beautiful egg-shaped, purple and glossy fruit we order in a restaurant under the name of Eggplant Parmesan, so often comes to us overcooked, bitter and lackluster for want of proper preparation, we are sorry we had not ordered a different entrée. Now that...

“I try to take care and be gentle to them… Once broken, they become impossible to repair.” —Anne Sexton Last week I received an email from a gentleman reader named Scott. Scott had read my cheesecake article, and Scott, a retired chef, was worried about...

Although it’s a bit early around here to see fall colors it’s happening at the higher elevation. Or is it? Have the wildfires affected the changing of the leaves? And what about the effects of ongoing climate change? How is our planet changing?  Quaking aspen...