A Fall Family Outing–Jalama Beach Style

Jalama Beach also offers a look into California history. The Jalama Creek estuary, as noted by one of the signs posted, was once a Chumash Village. Both grandchildren actually found that interesting, especially when they learned that the chert we found on the beach was collected by the Chumash and fashioned into arrowheads and blades. That led to a hunt for what my grandson thought would make a perfect carving stone. He found one, but decided to leave it on the beach.

A Personal Report: Coastal Cleanup Day

At a time when our 24 hour news cycle broadcasts little joy, the enthusiasm of the volunteers who came to do nothing but pick up other people’s trash and garbage, shed a certain kind of light to blot out all the negative headlines of the day. At our locale, most volunteers were locals— some partnered with a friend or family, and some represented local groups. Visitors from Livermore and San Jose, (both cities about 200 miles north of San Simeon) also joined in the effort to keep our wastes from slipping into the Pacific Ocean.

She Volunteers for Community Fitness and Health

After Grau busted through the glass ceiling at the LA Times, rising from classified sales to outside sales and then into management, she left the weight of her career behind in retirement. Not one to atrophy in retirement, Grau embraced weight training. And it shows. This 76-year-old woman is fit and has those kind of arms that flatter sleeveless shirts.

Out of the Kitchen and on to a Bike Trail

Children between the ages of 8 and 14 spend an average of just over four hours on screen media, according to the 2017 The Common Sense Census. While their technology skills likely out perform mine, they are also at risk for obesity, lack of sleep and reduced performance in school. Which is one of the precise reasons why a few Central Coast cyclists have a dream — get more Central Coast youth involved with cycling and trained to compete in the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) — a program that offers interscholastic mountain biking programs for student-athletes across the United States.

5 Ways to Pull Out of Life’s Riptides

We can’t stop a rip current. But we can heed the warnings, and we should learn how to get ourselves out of a rip current if we are sucked into one. And so it goes with our personal efforts at finding peace. A sudden world event can pull our peace away. Once caught in the current, we may become another casualty.