Opinion

It’s the time of year when many of us create ambitious New Year’s resolutions and with good intentions to follow through. We reflect on the past year and want certain changes to be made for ourselves in the current year. But, let’s face it,...

In the spirit of my annual New Year’s resolution to learn something new every day, I did some research on Calscape about adding butterfly friendly natives to my partly shady garden and did some reading on garden design trends for 2025. Turns out the...

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...

Community raises concerns over new housing development We can all agree Santa Cruz County needs affordable housing, but recent moves by lawmakers in Sacramento have created a loophole for one local developer to abuse our planning process and circumvent all restrictions on density, fast-tracking a...

High density threatens Hidden Glen’s quality of life Just wanted to quickly tell our story and voice our strong opposition to the proposed Haven Development, Santa Cruz County Application Number: 241369. We moved to the Hidden Glen neighborhood five years ago, after looking for the perfect...

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...

I look out my sliding glass doors and see tall redwoods and stately oaks, but on the inside I enjoy the green and sometimes flowers of houseplants. I learned long ago to group them where they get enough light to do well. Recently I...

“Mae West has been on more laps than a napkin.” —Walter Winchel Yesterday, while ironing my umpteenth holiday napkin, I was remembering our “napkin box” that hung on the wall in the refectory at our convent in Tacoma, Wash. Such a simple box with 50 or...

January is almost over with nary a raindrop. Our days have been lovely and many of my plants have started growing earlier than usual. Guess I can’t put off pruning my Compassion rose any longer. I see some outstanding new rose varieties available for...

“Be careful what you wish for, it might be more than you can handle.” That thought immediately came to mind, that late afternoon while staring down the hallway of my apartment building many years ago. Women and children were at each end of that hallway, some...