The first large northwest swell rolled through Monterey Bay with a vengeance. The buoys were reading 14 feet, and when the swells hit the beaches and local reefs, things got rolled up.

One of the more dastardly problems with laws is that they keep changing.

This is the one-year anniversary of my Talk About Money column in the Press-Banner, and I'd like to celebrate this august occasion by recapping my previous 12 columns.

There's nothing like a couple of garden tours to remind you that all things are possible with a bit of imagination.

Parker Saige Clifton was born to Faith Estell Clifton of Boulder Creek at 9:01 a.m. Sept. 1, 2010, at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz. She weighed 6 pounds, 3 ounces.

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.)

“In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation.” — Great Law of the Iroquois

Patients who go to a doctor complaining of heart palpitations usually worry that they have some serious problem with their heart. They often describe a feeling that their hearts are “flip-flopping,” missing a beat, beating faster or beating irregularly.

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.

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.