Please join us this Saturday at the Darin Boville Gallery for the opening event of three new photographic projects. We’ll be here from noon to 4:00 with light snacks and beverages.

Up on the walls (and the UltraHD screen) are three of my projects: Waves, Albuquerque, and Category 3.

“Waves” is a series of eighteen images of waves as you’ve never seen them before in psychedelic colors.

“Albuquerque” is a self portrait in shadows made at Petroglyphs National Monument in New Mexico.

“Category 3” puts a new spin on landscape photography.

We have, as always, beautiful oversized postcards to share—one image from each project. The postcards are free.

There will also be special pricing on the photographs—if you’d like to own an original image we will be offering a significant discount to opening attendees. Let us know if you are interested in a specific print.

The Darin Boville Gallery is located on Route 92 in Half Moon Bay in the Spanishtown building (when you see the large dinosaur sculptures at the side of the road you are there). Our regular hours are 12:00—4:00, Thursday through Sunday.

No need to RSVP. Please feel free to forward this invitation to others.

Families always have a great time when singer/songwriter José-Luis Orozco comes to town.

Join us!  Sing along! Friday, June 13th, 7:00PM Cunha Middle School multi-purpose room 600 Church Street, Half Moon Bay. Presented by the Half Moon Bay Library

The Coastside Film Society invites you to our Grand-Reopening presentation: World War II Propaganda

How animation and shorts made before, during and after WW II taught us what to think.

The Coastside Film Society is roaring back in our new venue - the beautiful new Coastside Adult Community Center. Come celebrate our grand re-opening and bring your friends. It’s an amazing show and we’ve lowered ticket prices for this special occasion.

For the fifth year in a row Karl Cohen, world-renowned film scholar, hosts a night of animation he has assembled for the Film Society. This program explores how short films were used to rally the American public to war ­ and then, later cool down our bloodlust and get us to rebuild a world ravaged by war.

These films provide a fascinating look at how Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck, Daffy and other animated stars persuaded us to recycle, pay our taxes ­ to buy guns, guns and more guns ­ and laugh at Hitler. Warning: Some of these films were designed to inflame our rage and will now be seen as deeply offensive.

Friday,  May 30, 7:30 p.m.
Coastside Adult Community Center
925 Main Street, Half Moon Bay, California 94019
Special grand reopening admission price: $5 for everyone

Directions: The Coastside Adult Community Center is just south of downtown Half Moon Bay on main street, but it is so brand spanking new that Google maps and other mapping programs still can’t find it or may take you to the wrong location. Typing in the address (not the name) should get you close. I will post an updated map and better instructions for parking on the Film Society’s website soon.

Full program info and map at www.HMBFilm.org

Farmers in rural San Mateo County are once again embarking on a scholarship drive aimed at helping Pescadero High School seniors become the first generation of their families to attend college or technical school.  Now in its second year, the Sustainable Farming Community Scholarship (SFCS) fund will help with tuition and other educational expenses for one or more students graduating from Pescadero High on June 6.

“Last year, we raised over $6000 from our local farmers and community members, which we awarded to three Pescadero graduates who have gone on to post-secondary education,’ explains Casey Norton, one of the drive’s organizers.  “This year, we hope to match or exceed that total for the class of 2014.”

Additional funds may also be used to help last year’s recipients with their continuing expenses. Noted Norton, “It would be great if we could continue providing some funds to help previous scholarship winners with tuition, transportation, and other costs. We want to make sure they can stay in school long enough to complete a degree.”

Geared for Farming Community

The scholarships are awarded based on the amount of money raised before the school’s June 6 graduation. Applicants must be among the first generation of their immediate family to attend any form of post-secondary education (community college, technical or trade school, or a four-year university). Preference is given to children of farmworkers currently employed in the agriculture industry in Pescadero and its surrounding areas.

Of the expected 24 graduates in Pescadero High School’s class of 2014, more than 80% intend to pursue a post-secondary education. Yet more than 58% of these students come from families whose parents never completed high school.
“Education strengthens every part of our community – the labor pool, family life and the local economy,” says Teresa Kurtak, owner of Fifth Crow Farm, who initiated the SFCS drive with Norton in 2013. “We are excited about being able to contribute back to the people who work on our farms.”

Send Donations to Pescadero High

All donations to the Sustainable Farming Community Scholarship (SFCS) are being handled through Pescadero High School, and are tax-deductible. Anyone may contribute to the fund. Checks should be made payable to “Pescadero High School” with “SFC Scholarship” in the memo line, and mailed to: Pescadero High School, PO Box 730, Pescadero, CA 94060.

Come to Miramar Farms at 420 Purisima Way, Half Moon Bay,  for a farm fresh breakfast and an interactive session with the Miramar Farms beekeeper, Sunday, May 18,
9:30 to 11:30am.

Learn about the fascinating world of honeybees and how they contribute to the food supply. You’ll go home with a taste of honey from their apiary. Proceeds benefit the BRITE scholarship fund.

Regular agenda items are:
—Coastside Emergency Corps formation and proposed organization.
—SamTrans proposal to eliminate weekend bus service on Sunshine Valley Rd.
—Devil’s Slide Ride, Saturday, 6/28, Hwy 1 bike event.

Agenda and supporting documents at the link: http://www.midcoastcommunitycouncil.org/
The meeting starts at 7pm at Granada Sanitary District, 504 Ave Alhambra, 3rd floor, El Granada.

Join Tom Brocher, Director of the U.S. Geological Survey Earthquake Science Center as he describes what we might expect when the next big one hits.  He will go over lessons learned from the 1906 San Francisco and 1989 Loma Prieta quakes.

Half Moon Bay Library
Tuesday May 13th 6:00PM

Thank you friends, family, Earth Heroes and amazing supporters. In October you helped me win the Cox Conserves Hero award thru our local KTVU TV station and along with that award came a check to the Pacifica Beach Coalition for $10,000. We just spent that money on our Earth Day of Action & Ecofest event which resulted in over 7000 volunteers, 4500 students who received Snowy Plover assemblies, 14 schools, 135 businesses and 150 community groups, 45 ecobooths, and one united community who took action to help the environment!

Well your support has just brought the PBC another award and a new $10,000 check! Nominated by KTVU TV (who learned of PBC’s work through the Cox Award), the Pacifica Beach Coalition was chosen as a Chicken of the Sea Gratitude award winner – one of 100 groups to receive a $10,000 check.

We at the PBC are so grateful for your support and for having our mission shared with hundreds of 1000’s of people on TV by KTVU for Cox and Chicken of the Sea! There is a lot of work to be done and our mission, to end litter is no small task. So, this new award of $10,000 is helping us to dream big. Rest assured that this money will be spent making a difference in Pacifica that ripples throughout the US and every ocean! Hopefully our work will continue to educate, inspire and engage people all over the world to know and do the Little Things that Matter.

Now lets get to work on that tobacco litter! Won’t you join us with your daily Little Things that Matter actions of picking up litter, conserving resources of the Earth and Ocean, recycling, refusing, walking, biking, carpooling, using your voice for the environment, sharing the shore, respecting birds and their habitat ... !

See the Bay Area People show live and enjoy this “Magic of Earth Day”

There’s more information in the San Jose Mercury News report.

Lynn Adams

The National Weather Service has increased its estimate of the probability of an El Niño beginning in November from 66% to 78%.

There remains uncertainty as to exactly when El Niño will develop and an even greater uncertainty as to how strong it may become. This uncertainty is related to the inherently lower forecast skill of the models for forecasts made in the spring.

Many forecasters are expecting that if there is an El Niño that it could be unusually strong.

The structural similarity of SST [sea surface temperature] anomalies in the equatorial Pacific between 1997 and 2014–combined with numerical model projections for continued warming in the coming months–suggest that the it’s still rather likely that the Pacific is headed for a major El Niño event this year. By the end of May, we start to move past the Spring Predictability Barrier, so I expect that we’ll have a much better handle on where things are headed by early June.

The Coastside Community Orchestra’s Spring Concert features Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances 5-8, Soloist Bruce Yu playing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor Dvorak’s Symphony #9, “The New World.”

The CCO will also present music scholarships to the 2014 winners.

May 10th at 7:00 p.m., Coastside Lutheran Church, 900 N. Cabrillo Hwy., Half Moon Bay.

Tickets available at the door a half hour before the performance, $10 general, $7 seniors, students and children free www.coastsideorchestra.com.