Columns

As we step into 2025, we must acknowledge the unprecedented events that recently tested our community's resilience. Our long-held scientific belief that tornadoes do not happen in the Santa Cruz Mountains was dispelled. A week later, we saw historic storms destroy a county landmark...

We the people are watching our country burn, seeing images on television and social media of police in riot gear storming our nation’s capital in Washington D.C. as it is overrun by Americans who believe they have been cheated and wronged and disenfranchised. We the...

You can hear them a long way before you see them. I’m talking about the hundreds of honey bees feasting on the nectar of the Flowering Plum blossoms. I confess I don’t know a lot about keeping bees. I even had to look up...

A Facebook friend posts photos taken of her yard with lots of turkeys and deer families. How can you not love a picture of those cute fawns covered with spots? There's something about babies. You know that feeling when you see a new infant...

This week I decided to cook one of my oldest and most labor-intensive desserts that took many trials and errors in the process of getting just right: Flambéed Crepe Suzettes. Now, this creation requires making the crepes and having on hand oranges, lemons, Grand...

Every garden I visit these days has at least one gorgeous rhododendron in full bloom. They can’t help but be spectacularly covered with those huge flower trusses. They sure make you stop and take notice. I still miss the two old ones I had...

The most generous country on earth hasn’t sacrificed Christmas, and the Association of Religious Data archives reports that roughly 32% of Santa Cruz County residents remain Christian. Americans donated about 2.3% of GDP in 2007, a world record. In 2000, religious Americans gave almost...

It's always a breathtaking experience taking a walk at this time of year. You might see the cobalt blue flowers of ceanothus or a stand of dicentra formosa with their dainty pink bell-shaped flowers backlit in the spring sunlight. Coral bells are in full...

Bummer Bob gripes over dinner, where most financial decisions get solved: “We just can’t afford a gorgeous river house in Brookdale now. Thirty-year mortgages are over 7%, and payments over three grand on $500,000 30-year loans daunt us buyers.” Pretty Penny, serving salmon, answers: “But...

You know that nagging phrase we’ve all heard by our parents growing up, “Now sit up straight!” I bet it didn’t mean much to you as a kid and you hated hearing it, but your parents were right trying to correct you. Posture is a...