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I’m always surprised when a longtime local says, “Huh?” at the mention of the Lockheed-Martin facility up on the Ben Lomond Mountain ridge above Boulder Creek. But even those of us who are aware of it tend to forget about the world’s largest defense contractor in our midst.

                  The mysterious malady was arbitrarily linked with Spain, where thousands, including King Alfonso, were infected in the spring.  As might be expected in 1918, some Americans were certain that “this new evil, like other evils of the war, must be traced to German origins.” 

SEATTLE — It was a snowy afternoon in the Seattle area when I attempted to ferry across the Puget Sound to Whidbey Island. Whiteout conditions got the best of us, so we chickened out and decided instead to go to a local arboretum and the garden of one of my sister's friends.

Five wrestlers from Scotts Valley and San Lorenzo Valley high schools won individual league titles during the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League finals at Santa Cruz High School on February 17. In the team competition, Aptos won the meet with 241 points, followed by Scotts Valley with 146 points. SLV took fourth with 122.5 points.

Directed by Shanelle Atchley, Baymonte Christian School put on its annual talent show at the Rio Theater in Santa Cruz on Friday, Feb. 7.

Each year I wait for them in my garden and so do the robins, varied thrush, jays, spotted towhees, grosbeaks and band-tailed pigeons. The fruit of sambucus mexicana, a California native plant, is relished by an incredible number of songbirds. The creamy flower clusters in the spring are a favorite of bees and other beneficial insects. My Western Elderberry grows tall and gangly in the shade of a California bay tree, shorter and more compact in the sun. Their exuberance for life makes me happy just to watch them provide for so many other species.

Strange things are happening at sea.