Archive By Author - Jim Walker
Who's taking care of the caregiver?
She's your mother and yet she calls you by her dead sister's name as you schlep her from doctor's appointment to pharmacy to grocery store. You treated her to a nice lunch half an hour ago but she keeps asking when you are going to eat. She remembers things that didn't happen and gives you a blank look when you talk about the important ones that did. And you have to repeat everything you say ...
‘I was at Oaks, man!’
Once your eyes adjusted, the wall of darkness defined itself into massive black oak trees supporting an off-black Saturday night sky. Viewed from a distance, the bright and colorful glow beneath and between those oaks seemed magical - as if you'd stumbled onto the forest elves partying in "The Hobbit." Except that these elves were rockin' to the sounds of the McGrath Project band and "Sweet home Santa Clarita" echoed through the canyon as the ...
Welcome to Hiker’s Heaven, here on Earth
They drag in by ones, twos, fives - hot, tired, footsore, dusty and thirsty. It's early June, and the daytime temperatures in the Southwest deserts and mountains they have crossed have reached into the 100s - well, that is, when it wasn't raining. They've come precisely 454.4 miles since late April or early May, and all on foot. And now they only have about 2,500 more miles to go. But they won't think about that ...
Flemings open their home for silent auction preview
Last Thursday evening, Don and Cheri Fleming once again opened their beautiful and party-friendly Westridge home for a good cause. And though it might have been a little hard to feel it, what with the Lakers playing the Spurs on the wide screen televisions, the theme of the evening was "A Night on the Diamond" - as in a baseball diamond.
'Boys' Night Out' raises $12.5K for Domestic Violence Center
Classic cars, fine cigars, good food, drink and entertainment made the third annual "Boys' Night Out" men's barbecue and cigar night a hit last Friday.
A Sunday salon
One of the best things about the Santa Clarita Valley is the way we experience "class." We can present it when the need arises, certainly recognize it and appreciate it when we see it, and definitely enjoy it. After that we fall back on the sofa and plunk our boots on the coffee table. No need for pretensions here.
The Valentine's dance
Within days after the new year begins, the stores throw up their Valentine displays - big, bright-red, and threatening. Even with that dreaded holiday still a month or so away the television assaults your eyes with images of assembly-line jewelry and perfume that every woman simply must have to prove she is unique.
Protective sports eyewear
arents have a lot of "worst nightmares," and one of them is that their beautiful child might lose an eye in some sports-related accident. It's a fear that permeates our culture and even reaches into our fiction. In the now-classic movie, "A Christmas Story," young Ralphie is desperate to get a BB gun for Christmas. But everyone keeps telling him, "You'll shoot your eye out." When he finally does get his prized gun, the first ...
Playing Monopoly for charity
As the late afternoon sun slowly reeled in its rays, letting a cool spring evening take over at the Paseo Club last Saturday, the sounds of tennis volleys gave way to music and amplified voices coming from two
A ‘Fibro Faire’ to remember
Today, May 12, has been named National Fibromyalgia Awareness Day by the National Fibromyalgia Association. And while many folks might yawn and wonder what day isn't some national something-or-other day, this day is significant to the estimated 10 million Americans who are affected by this disorder. Not coincidentally, the SCV Senior Center and the SCV Fibromyalgia Suppport Group hosted Fibro Faire, the second annual fibromyalgia awareness day, on Saturday, May 3 - to spread the ...
SCV’s 2008 Man and Woman of the Year
More than 375 members of the SCV community gathered last Friday night at the Hyatt Valencia to recognize the contributions of 23 of our valley's most dedicated and selfless volunteers - and bestow the prestigious Man of the Year and Woman of the Year awards on two of them.
The wheels of good fortune
They finally got their cars. West Ranch High School seniors Ashley Cha, 17, and Jill Tuso, 18, picked up their brand new 2008 Pontiac G6 Coupes on April 2. They won the cars, and a bunch of cash, on "Wheel of Fortune," during a show taped Jan. 11. And the hardest part wasn't the waiting - or even the winning. It was keeping the results a secret from their friends from Jan. 11 until the show aired on Jan. 28, as they were required to do by the show's producers.
Shining stars of the SCV
You'd expect a nice service club brunch at the Valencia Country Club to be a charming, sedate affair where the speakers might not even need a microphone to be heard above the occasional clink of fork-on-plate.
Autistic - with honors
Kevin Chu is 18 and an A-student. He's aced honors math and he got a 1980 on his SATs. He'll graduate West Ranch High School on May 30 and has already been accepted by two University of California Schools - Irvine and Santa Barbara - as well as California State University Northridge. He has friends, direction and, most of all, possibilities. And absolutely none of this could have been imagined only a few short years ago.
Saving the planet, one CD player at time
"Some older televisions have four to eight pounds of lead in them," said Duane Morton. Woah, that's heavy, man.
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