Category: Columns

Checking In: A Question of Sustainability

Checking In: A Question of Sustainability

| May 16, 2013 | 0 Comments

The news this week that the C02levels surpassed 400 parts per million (ppm) at the recording station on Mauna Loa, Hawaii, sent a ripple of distress through the scientific climate community. The monitoring later recanted, and said the measurement was really only 399.89 – while admitting that .11 ppm makes little difference. The last time there [...]

Continue Reading

Pet Peeves: Big Hair

Pet Peeves: Big Hair

| May 15, 2013 | 0 Comments

By Mark D. Crantz   Laguna Beach.  Another perfect day in Paradise, but oh no, there’s big hair.  According to friends (yes I have two and I pay them dearly to maintain that status), “Steel Magnolias” is a terrific show now playing at the Laguna Beach Playhouse.  I’m afraid I’ll have to take their word [...]

Continue Reading

Minding Our Business: The Power of One

Minding Our Business: The Power of One

| May 15, 2013 | 0 Comments

Some of us, okay, many of us, frequently bemoan the absence of the little things we think are missing around town. We comment on Facebook, tweet, write letters to the editor, or columns, or carry on at city council meetings. Others look around and decide to fill the gap. One of those people is Lisa [...]

Continue Reading

Shore Scene: Siting a Silvery Legend

Shore Scene: Siting a Silvery Legend

| May 15, 2013 | 0 Comments

By Mia Davidson and Jan Sattler   Midnight grunion runs are part of California lore. Having a geographic range from the coastal waters of northern Baja California to most recently San Francisco, the California grunion (Leuresthes tenuis) are found most commonly off the coast of Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. The name is [...]

Continue Reading

Taking Stock

Taking Stock

| May 10, 2013 | 0 Comments

For the last three years, the favorite phrase of many Wall Street traders has been “Sell in May and go away.” Like most sayings that seem to offer clear direction in a few words, actual results may differ. Traders who have been waiting for a 5-10% “correction” to jump back in the market are still [...]

Continue Reading

Patchwork: Mea Culpa

Patchwork: Mea Culpa

| May 9, 2013 | 0 Comments

by Chris Quilter     To the young man on a skateboard outside my house: I wish to publicly apologize for being a crosspatch. I should not have called you a rude name and shouted at you to put on your helmet. Amazingly, you complied. But that’s not the point. I violated a sacred principle [...]

Continue Reading

Wisdom Workout: A Season for Change

Wisdom Workout: A Season for Change

My daughter, Sara, and my newest granddaughter, Aroha, are reunited with “Papa” in Bangkok and this new little family is on their way back to Pakistan where they do humanitarian work. The luxury that I’ve had for the last six weeks of spending time on Skype with them will be negatively impacted by the 12-hour [...]

Continue Reading

Minding Our Business: Building on Small Successes

Minding Our Business: Building on Small Successes

| May 9, 2013 | 1 Comment

Santina Davies is in the business of rehabilitation. Her own physical rehabilitation has been her full-time occupation for six years. Following a successful climb on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Davies slipped off Table Mountain in Capetown, South Africa, which she hiked only to take in the view. She fell 125 feet and had to be airlifted to [...]

Continue Reading

Shore Scene: Burrowing Bug of the Beach

Shore Scene: Burrowing Bug of the Beach

| May 9, 2013 | 0 Comments

By Mia Davidson and Jan Sattler Colored a light sandy gray with an oval shaped body, Pacific mole crabs (Emerita analoga) also called Pacific sand crabs are found in great abundance in Laguna Beach.  They are located in the exposed surf zone between the lowest and highest reach of the waves, buried in the shifting [...]

Continue Reading

Pet Peeves: Makeovers

Pet Peeves: Makeovers

| May 9, 2013 | 0 Comments

By Mark D. Crantz   Laguna Beach.  Another perfect day in Paradise, but oh no, there are makeovers.  These changes are for the most part good. The Main Beach lifeguard tower is getting a makeover, which includes a new roof, stucco repair and new paint. And the former Laguna Federal Savings and Loan Association on [...]

Continue Reading

Village Matters: They’re Disposable

Village Matters: They’re Disposable

| May 9, 2013 | 0 Comments

Ours is a town of causes and we’re often asked to contribute, sometimes by buying a chance on a raffle.  This time my friend won a three-day stay in a cabin in Big Bear Lake and invited me and two other women to enjoy this mountain get-away. Quiet in this off-season after the snow and [...]

Continue Reading

Mother’s Day ‘Toon

Mother’s Day ‘Toon

| May 9, 2013 | 0 Comments

Continue Reading

Taking Stock

Taking Stock

| May 3, 2013 | 0 Comments

Up, Up And Away Stocks held their course through a choppy season of quarterly earnings reports. Many companies met or exceeded earnings estimates but often fell slightly short of forecasts for sales. Increased profits on decreased sales demonstrate improvements in productivity brought on by shaving costs after the financial crisis. Getting more from less has [...]

Continue Reading

Green Light – Jack Meehan: From Surfer to Mariner

Green Light – Jack Meehan: From Surfer to Mariner

| May 2, 2013 | 0 Comments

Our kids grow up and one day leave Laguna.  Laguna, however, seldom leaves them.  They go off to college armed with their wits, often our credit card (yikes!), and whatever stuck from their upbringing.  Many are equipped with something else as well, an attachment to their coastal hometown and the sea.  Such a person is [...]

Continue Reading

When The Garden Club Comes A Knockin’

When The Garden Club Comes A Knockin’

| May 1, 2013 | 0 Comments

By Pat Chatlin The day the Laguna Beach Garden Club announces that Lower Lombardy Lane is going to be “a point of interest” on its prestigious Spring Garden Tour is a mixed bag for some of us.  My husband’s nine-foot tall welded “Nature Totem” sculpture will be featured in the guidebook.  At first, visions of [...]

Continue Reading