When Butter Becomes Ghee
This morning, while up to my elbows in potato yeast dough, a voice calling my name came through my opened screen door. It was my neighbor Heather Boynton. We have this understanding, Heather and I, that ‘mi casa es su casa,’ or, in English:...
Thinking Strategically About Our Future
This spring, Scotts Valley City Council held public workshops to discuss the City’s long-standing strategic goals. City Manager Mali LaGoe led the Council through a series of questions and discussion topics to update and prioritize staff’s focus to achieve the listed goals. Metrics were...
Homegrown Tomatoes
Alaska, where the Crows created the world
And the Ravens brought the sunlight
- Native quote
I have been in Alaska and my hometown of Aberdeen, Washington for the past two weeks and my traveling shoes are beginning to show serious wear, not to mention wear on...
My Traveling Shoes
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness,
and many of our people need it solely on these accounts.
Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things
cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of
the earth all one’s lifetime.
- Mark Twain
While taking my ‘traveling...
Women in Business Make a Difference
Throughout history, women have demonstrated leadership. And, when women band together, their abilities foster growth, support and wisdom. Without getting into our modern-day cultural and diversity correctness, let’s say everyone in business knows about the power of how networking groups work. When you take...
Focus on the Valley: Steve Kuehl
In 1989, Northern California was rocked by the Loma Prieta earthquake, which was centered in the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz. The 6.9 quake was responsible for $6 billion in damages (close to $40 billion in today’s dollars), 63 deaths...
Cabrillo’s ‘Candide’ is a Force
Promoted as a “Satire of Innocence, Optimism and the Unexpected Lessons of Life,” Cabrillo Stage’s adaptation of Voltaire’s “Candide” is a glorious conglomeration of the very best that local theater has to offer. Incredibly funny, fast-paced and thoroughly engaging, the comical operetta grips the...
LPRT Returns July 20-31 In Surf City Odyssey
When it comes to live parody musical theater, no other group brings it to life like Little People’s Repertory Theater (LPRT) in Ben Lomond. The Park Hall-based crew of kids and parent volunteers begin work the minute school adjourns for the summer, and spend...
What are the Odds?
You never think that the last time is the last time.
You think there will be more.
You think you have forever, but you don’t.
- unknown
I believe it was in 1977 while my Hubby Norm and I were living in Santa Barbara, that he announced, “we...
Mountain music in the key of life
When Sydney Gorham was five years old, she started her first business, “Sydney’s Outdoor Chore Service.” The tiny entrepreneur waddled throughout her San Jose neighborhood with a bucket of cleaning supplies and a stack of handmade business cards in hand; Gorham went door-to-door and...
News Briefs | Published July 4, 2025
Tree removal leads to temporary closure on Big Basin Highway
Caltrans will temporarily close a section of southbound Highway 236 (Big Basin Highway) left on...