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It was a beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon and I was driving down Mount Hermon Road when I noticed a homeless couple with a baby in a stroller standing in front of that whatchamacallit bank. (You know, Wacha-Wells-Co-Fargo-America-Whatever. It’s merged so many times, I have no clue what it’s called anymore.)

It's no secret we live in paradise here in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Recently, it was time to smog-test my 2002 Hyundai — a perfectly reliable, hardworking, economic little commuter with, sadly, more than 175,000 miles on it. It’s had no problems, ever, but recently, the “check engine” light went on.

The life of a wine truly starts with the soil in which the grapes are planted. Grapes get all of their nutrients from the soil, and it’s those nutrients and terroir that will define many of the wine’s flavor profiles.

The autumnal equinox happened this week. It’s the official start of fall, when the sun crosses the celestial equator and moves southward. The earth’s axis of rotation is perpendicular to the line connecting the centers of the earth and the sun on this day. Many people believe that the earth experiences 12 hours each of day and night on the equinox. However, this is not exactly the case.

Roisin Taylor Gill was born at 1:45 p.m. Sept. 7, 2010, to Lila Kai (Mangen) and Marcus Taylor Gill of Boulder Creek. She weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce at Sutter Maternity and Surgery Center in Santa Cruz.

The days are getting shorter and shadows draw longer. The sun is lower in the sky, and there is a chill in the air. As fall conditions return, ocean fishing is the main interest, while trout and salmon are returning to their freshwater home rivers.

Scotts Valley Host Lions Club

The San Lorenzo River originates in the seeps and streams that form in the steep canyons and redwood forests above Boulder Creek. These ephemeral water sources run like tiny capillaries until their life force creates the river, the lungs of the watershed.

For most of my life, I’ve been passionate about music. Not my own — I barely qualify as a wannabe musician. But I love other people’s music, recorded tunes.