Opinion

I am a reader. I would not venture to estimate how many books I have read since I was a lad in Greenfield, but I dare say it is in the thousands. Since July 28, I have read five books, two on the long...

Last Sunday one of the readers of this column listened, patiently I suspect, to my not uncommon lament of having a deadline in the near future and not a single word written, whereupon he responded that I say that every week and every week...

I cannot remember the first time I met her and her lovely husband. It seems to me that we were friends from the minute I arrived in the valley about 19 years now, so it was a good while ago; and likely at a...

Local column by Joanne Banuelos

I have been watching our local politicians as they try to govern the unruly County of Monterey. One week the county supervisors said they wanted to make everyone outside and in wear a mask to cut down on the rate of transmission of this...

Many times, over the past five decades I drove between Southern California and the Salinas Valley on El Camino Real, aka the 101, and so am very acquainted with the stretch of asphalt from Santa Barbara to SoMoCo. Now, like motorists everywhere finding a...

“Honey, when did we move to Gonzales?” I asked my marriage mate as she (Rainy) flittered around the corner doing things that women do when their husbands feel like they have the busier schedule. Of course, I knew that all I had to do...

Aahhhh February! This has to be one of my favorite months. For a month that only has 28 or 29 days, there are a lot of days that we celebrate this month. Of course, we have Valentine’s Day. This is the day Saint Valentinus...

I’ve been digging rather deeply recently to try and find the good stuff in the world. I’m sure I’m not the only person to say that life is currently pretty tough. Coupled with my husband’s illness and our financial stress, the wide open spaces...

Many of you, or some of you, or heck maybe none of you will, recognize the title of today’s column as the opening lyrics of the song “The Levee’s Gonna Break” made popular by Led Zeppelin in 1971 (actually it is a re-working of...