To the editor:

Lots of teachers inspire by opening the door to learning new things.  Some special teachers with how they approach their craft can inspire and enrich their charges years after the final school bell has run. One of these for me, and thousands others, was San Lorenzo Valley High’s Lee Overbeck, who died Wednesday from leukemia.

Miranda Beasley

San Lorenzo Valley’s Bailey Lotz was named player of the year for the SCCAL softball season. Lotz, a junior, never once struck out all season and hit 600 while knocking in 15 RBIs. Her coach, Mark Brown, was named Coach of Year. 

“Five gallons of soup”, my Hubby Norm yelled, “five gallons of soup?…Colly this time you’ve gone too far!” he kept repeating as I lugged in twenty pounds   of Cremini mushrooms packed in five pound cartons.  Next came twenty-two quarts of chicken stock, cream and onions and finally, the bottle of sherry wine that it would take to create the Santa Cruz Mountains Gourmet Dinner Club’s Rustic Cream of Mushroom Soup.

Has the hot, dry, windy weather made your garden look like mid-summer? Our meager spring rains have all but disappeared from the soil and what hasn't evaporated the weeds have taken. The local water companies all have water conservation requirements that began last month. I'm getting lots of calls and emails asking for advice about the best way to use water efficiently so the garden doesn't look like the Sahara this summer. I'm helping others redesign their gardens with an eye towards ongoing water conservation.