Columns

I’ve been on this planet for quite a few years now, so why is it always hard for me to get my head around the fact that the calendar has turned over to another year and the days are getting longer. A new gardening...

I regularly visit my burned parcel in Bonny Doon to monitor the progress of the redwoods and understory plants. It will take 30-50 years for the forest to regenerate, but it’s trying.  Amazing how Mother Nature takes advantage of voids. Succession plants like native Yerba...

“I am thankful for small mercies. Some people expect only the best. I found that I begin at the other extreme…expecting nothing and am always full of thanks for unexpected blessings.” —Tim Man Lee, Wildlife Photographer Since moving to my small “slice of Heaven” here...

Summer is supposed to feel lighter. Longer days, warmer weather and maybe even a break in routine. But for many people, summer brings a different kind of pressure—one that can lead to a sneaky form of burnout. At TherapyWorks, we see it all the time....

There’s a rumor afloat that all San Lorenzo Valley Water District Board Directors support a rate increase. As one of those Directors, and speaking only for myself, let me set the record straight.   I oppose the rate increase proposal for the following reasons: It unfairly punishes...

When Juliet tells Romeo that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” she must have been referring to the Compassion rose. Actually, this line is not in the original version of Shakespeare’s play but was an edit in 1599, according to...

Even though my kids are all-grown-up, nothing pleases me more than hearing them tell me how much they love my cooking, and often they will comment on the food they are eating, food that tastes “just like Grandma used to make.” Grandma Anna, my mother-in-law,...

I suppose if a ‘good’ witch stood in front of me and asked, which one person from your past life would you bring back today, that one person would be my Aunt Betty. Not my mother, who left me as a small child on...

I’ve been worried about the bees lately. Can’t be easy being a bee given the severe weather we’ve had this winter. They’ve also had to deal with habitat loss, pesticides, climate change, pests like mites and pathogens such as viruses, bacteria and fungi. What...

I have two Japanese maples on my deck. They are not nearly as large as those I had up in Bonny Doon but you have to start somewhere. One is a common acer palmatum seedling and the other a ‘Sanguo Kaku.’ They have not...