- Submit Datebook items to [email protected] or drop off press releases or photos at 5215 Scotts Valley Drive, Ste. F, Scotts Valley 95066. Deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday. Entries are subject to editing, and publication is not guaranteed.

- Mateo Cruz Johnson was born at 6:07 a.m. Aug. 20, 2012, to Noelia Poblano and Adam Robert Payne of Scotts Valley. He weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz.

There has been a lot of news recently about Hantavirus infections involving visitors to Yosemite National Park. Six cases, including fatal infections, have occurred in park visitors who stayed in “signature cabins” in the Curry Village this summer.

In Poland, you greet someone by saying “dzien dobry,” which means hello or good day. You hear it at every restaurant and market, and even high on a mountain trail. I had a hard time trying to pronounce the Slavic words with so many consonants, but I used this phrase daily. So began my adventures to visit the gardens and natural landscapes in Poland earlier this month.

- Submit Datebook items to [email protected] or drop off press releases or photos at 5215 Scotts Valley Drive, Ste. F, Scotts Valley 95066. Deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday. Entries are subject to editing, and publication is not guaranteed.

- Scarlette Justine Scott Stephens was born at 10:05 p.m. Aug. 14, 2012, to Theresa Marie Scott and Shad Edwards Stephens of Boulder Creek. Scarlette weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces when she arrived at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz.

Scotts Valley Host Lions Club

Last year, my daughter complained to me about back pain. I wasn’t sure what was causing her discomfort until one day when I had to lift her school backpack out of my car. I almost threw my own back out.

Until about eight years ago, not a single bunch of kale, collards or Swiss chard made its way into my grocery cart. Those giant coarse leaves intimidated me. I had no idea how to cook them, and I wasn’t even sure if I would like them.