Columnists

Over the summer we halted a flea invasion by taking the dog to the vet and hiring an exterminator. We removed the rodent population by cutting down a vine and carefully placing poison in humanly inaccessible places. We foiled a fly infestation by discovering the source, removing it, and scouring the house. We survived a trip to the emergency room and the follow-up recovery by administering antibiotics through a PIC line at home. We thwarted the return from jail of an unwanted visitor by calling the cops and taking out a restraining order. -more-

It was an impressive object: somewhere between soccer ball- and basketball-sized, hanging just above eye level in a tanoak tree. A couple of its inhabitants, big black wasps with white markings, were at work on its outer surface. They were white-faced or bald-faced hornets, and the corrugated gray spheroid was their nest. -more-

By Carole Terwilliger Meyers -more-

The half-dozen years before World War I were significant ones for Berkeley’s ecclesiastical architecture. -more-

Crisis is opportunity isn’t it? And some days I just have to say, Thank you, Lord Buddha, for another #$%@ing growth opportunity. -more-

After a day of being olfactorily jostled by vehicle exhaust, the odd pile of dog turds by the sidewalk, and overdone, overused, over-applied synthetic perfumes, being surrounded by natural scents clears the crud from one’s mind and mood. -more-