Nat Young is a homeboy for us Santa Cruz West Siders. He won last year's Coldwater Classic in Santa Cruz as teenager up against some of the best and most experienced surfers in the world — Local Boy winning Local Contest. Plus, he thanks his mom and dad in interviews.  He also says "surfing is the best way to improve your surfing." Come on, you've got to

Check it out, this is utterly vertical

 

But he's able to pull it down

 

…and land it! Doesn't that defy the laws of physics? How can you stand a knife edge up in the water?

The second day, waves were lax in the morning when I'm out with my camera, so I didn't get many photos. But here are a few…

 

 

 

 

Then, post-game: here are all these great surfers in town, plus

Around Santa Cruz, the water is cold. But the waves are lively, and people like playing in the them. (Thank goodness local Santa Cruzan, Jack O'Neill, invented the wetsuit.)

Our cold water also got us a great surf contest, the Coldwater Classic. Every year top surfers from around the world show up to challenge our powerful waves and each other.

Here are some

I lived in Taiwan in the early 1980's, so I was used to earthquakes. In Taipei we had a couple of quakes every fall — a little shaking, a few objects falling from tables. Even after moving to Santa Cruz in 1987, I'd been through my share of little earthquakes (which were, as it turns out, foreshocks).  It affects you — it shocks you — every time, but I felt

 

After rebranding (new business name, see previous blog post) I wanted to change the name of my existing business Facebook page.  

However Facebook doesn't allow for that.  :(

So, I've created a new business Facebook page HERE ==>

http://tinyurl.com/yaytbp3 

I need just 25 Fans to get my vanity URL.  If you'd like to follow my posts on Facebook, please go there

Monterey Bay, near Santa Cruz. Photo by Peggy Dolgenos

 

Sea lions at Lighthouse Point, Santa Cruz. Photo by Peggy Dolgenos

 

Dog in window, Santa Cruz. Photo by Peggy Dolgenos

 

Farmers Market, Santa Cruz. Photo by Peggy Dolgenos

 

Banana Slug, Bonny Doon. Photo by Peggy Dolgenos 

The Russian language constitutes the largest branch of Slavonic languages, as it is spoken by the most numerous of the Slavonic races.  Something like 300,000,000 people use Russian as their maternal, official, or auxiliary tongue.  It may be considered as the key to the understanding of Slavonic tongues, such as Bulgarian,

It's 09/09/09 and spam texts (spexts?) about what a lucky day you will have by forwarding this message. "Luck is being prepared for opportunity when it comes" is what springs to mind, this Moon in Taurus & Mercury Retrograde Tuesday.

I started the day around 6:30 am posting on Twitter that now was a good time to re-assess all you value most. Health, time,

wooster always has good flyers, so i can't think of a better way to start this post off than with their flyer for a show last month at moe's.

it's funny, i have no idea what wooster sounds like, but i always look forward to their flyers. those are polaroids, in case you can't tell. i like the lettering a lot and the colours are great.

i fall in love with

You ever eat something so good you just gotta’ blog about it?

Well I did:

 

The Bayou Burrito from the Cypress Lounge with Alligator sausage and chicken smothered in crawfish ètouffèe.

Say it with me...Mmmmm.

 

I was a little sheepish about the alligator sausage myself, but after the first bite, I was sold. The alligator, chicken and crawfish compliment

if you're not afraid to try something different, it might be fun to see "man on wire" under the stars this friday. wordsmith blogged about the guerilla drive-in a few weeks back and it sounds exciting. they're showing man on wire under the soquel bridge in the san lorenzo park this friday, are you going? "man on wire" won the best documentary oscar last

I was caught by surprise by Genevieve Bookwalter's story in the Sentinel Friday that construction of a visitors center for the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary could begin by January.

Last time I heard, they needed about $3 million in contributions from the community. Bookwalter's story says the project will be $16 million. Her story says that $13.6 million

If I were a smoke detector, I'd be going off several times a day. Downtown Santa Cruz is many miles from the Lockheed fire, but when the wind blows from the north the air is acrid and stinging, the sky ash grey.

 

 

 

It's nothing like being in the thick of it, but when the air is ashy I can't help but think of mountains ablaze and horses being rescued and

Discontent is the first step to progress

(Chinese Proverb)

The one thing I do know about construction: it always takes three times as long and costs three times more than you planned. Last April I first started some construction in my house, deciding to take out the old carpets in the bedroom and replace with laminate flooring. This decision stemmed from

If there was ever a masterpiece meant to be brought to life among the redwoods of Santa Cruz, it is A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Enchantment and wonder are no stretch of the imagination when the dappled light of a dreamy forest falls upon your face and friends gather to picnic in the Glen.

Now, I have to admit, from all of William’s works, A Midsummer

june was a good month for flyers in santa cruz. i know there is nothing new in art, but last month's visual contributions were less than inspiring. i photographed a lot of black and white flyers in may. they all reminded me of hardcore flyers circa 1984-6. they seemed interesting at the time, but when collected together, looked kinda boring and a little

Awesome things to do this 4th, from family fun to a fireworks cruise. What's happening in Santa Cruz, 4th of July 2009.

Parades

World’s “official” Shortest Parade in Aptos @ Soquel & State Park
10am FREE

World’s “unofficial” Shortest Surf Parade @ Pleasure Point
12pm FREE

Spirit of Watsonville Parade down Main Street
2pm FREE

Scotts Valley Parade & Fireworks @

this weekend seemed pretty busy for local businesses. village yoga's 10 am saturday class was crowded with lots of out-of-towners anxious for 90 minutes of bending, stretching and compressing.

zoccoli's is always crowded on a saturday and this weekend was no exception. hats off to all the wonderful staff there. despite being slammed they still provided

santa cruz's nocturnal sunshine has been amazing crowds since the beginning of the century. these are highlights of their performance at the "dancing in the streets" event that happened at the end of april.