Columns

Winter weather has begun, even if the official start to winter is still weeks away. And while we desperately need the rain, we must be on guard for the dangers it can present. The large storm that drenched Santa Cruz County on the evening of...

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...

A couple of years ago I bought a dwarf butterfly bush and planted it in a pot near my entry. It’s one of the plants that came back from the roots after the fire and it now lives on my deck but in a...

The phone rang, and my doctor’s assistant was on the other end. “Janet, our office is not equipped to help you; you must go to the ER (emergency room) today.” I was almost out the door heading to a 1:1 meeting over the hill before the...

Their business tagline is ‘Boutique Photographers and soon-to-be-best friends.’  We meet great people at networking events, so while attending the Women’s Business Network-SLV on Nov. 17, I met two businesswomen whose enthusiasm for their work was contagious, inspiring this article. Shannon Somers and Christina Re...

I received a phone call just at sunset from my friend Rosemary “Rosie” Chalmers two weeks ago. Usually Rosie is in bed at that time as she rises at 3 a.m. Monday through Friday in order to open her broadcasting studio by 5 a.m. Rosie...

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...

The Irish believe the Celtic cross represents the human desire to discover and experience the mystery of life. This cross symbolizes it as a compass, guiding us through our spiritual journey. My window looks out onto my garden where a 3-foot-tall concrete Celtic Cross is...

In the movie Independence Day, we heard “….We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We're going to survive! So today, we celebrate our Independence Day!”  We did fight, we did struggle, and we...

In Washington State, fresh Elberta peaches would begin appearing in local markets in September, but in July, in California, we have just begun to see fresh peaches for home use coming in from Fresno, Tulare and Madera, where processing peaches are grown mostly in...