Between holidays and storms, I’m spending more time looking out the windows at the garden than I am actually outside in it. We have been fortunate to have received so much rain. We welcome it. We embrace it knowing that the trees are getting a deep soak and the aquifer rejoices.

After early season proposals to remove the iconic “Mile Buoy” from Santa Cruz, it appears it has been replaced with a new model and is here to stay.

Rene Schlaepfer, senior pastor of Twin Lakes Church in Aptos, has an incredible ability to reach out and transform others with his message about God's unconditional love and grace. He is known for his practical, relevant teaching, and contemporary style as well as for the enthusiasm and high energy he brings to his countywide congregation — which includes many from the Scotts Valley and San Lorenzo Valley.