After a year of publishing a print edition of The Canyon Chronicle, we’ve maintained a website but not to the scale we need. We have an opportunity now to upgrade it, expand our social media outreach and take advantage of the technology of the moment. It was, of course, always a goal but that first year of cranking out 24, 20, and then 16 pages every two weeks was a test to see if we could do it, and also to see if it was worth it to those of us creating it and to the community supporting it. Did we pass the tests? Yes and Yes! Our first issue in June 2020 was created in the heat of the pandemic and was welcomed more than we expected. It never would have seen the light of day without the generosity of the community, our intrepid writers, and our advertisers. We can now count on our deep Topanga roots to keep us grounded and nourished. While we’re at it, let’s have some fun with an introductory “Win-Win� campaign by offering Giveaways for canyon residents! Starting with this issue, those who sign up for our online newsletter become eligible to win. Giveaway 1: Canyon Chronicle Creative Director, Eiffel Nazaryan of EiffelMedia.com, a branding and web design boutique, will design a new FREE website (worth $800), or redesign an existing website, for one lucky canyon resident winner. (eiffelmedia.com). Giveaway 2: Three more residents will be randomly selected to win an American-made Block-it Pocket (Value: $40) that protects your data, your privacy, and your health from mobile phone radiation. (block-itpocket.com). Future Giveaways: Sign up for our email newsletter to qualify for future giveaways and special local announcements. Visit thecanyonchronicle.com for Drawing and Contest Rules. Attention Topanga businesses! Donate a service, product or, gift certificate and receive a listing in the “Win-Win� section of thecanyonchronicle.com along with a photo of you and your winner. Contact: editor@thecanyonchronicle.com. In this issue Dog Days of August are still with us as our Cover Dog, Pumpernickel, indicates and joins Missy, Alfie and Olive on Page 10. On Page 11, in “Cat and Mouse Days of Summer,� one cat has his say (mostly snores) thanks to Kathie Gibboney from her corner of the canyon. There’s also a lot of news to catch up on—the Virtual Evacuation Drill; Jane Terjung’s treatise on “Sheltering in Place� in a fire (perish the thought); and state and local government hard at work. Chabad of Topanga is preparing for the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah (Sept. 6) and Yom Kippur (Sept. 15); and the Topanga Christian Fellowship is gathering for worship on August 29. There’s a bit more. The Deadly Datura While I was recently mooning over moonflowers in the July 23 issue of The Canyon Chronicle, Suzanne Guldimann, writer for Topanga New Times sounded the alarm over the deadly Datura. The plants are often confused because they look alike. The differences are that the Datura has an unpleasant smell, unlike moonflowers, which have a light lemony fragrance; Datura leaves are arrow-shaped as opposed to heart-shaped moonflower leaves; and their seeds are covered in spiky burrs. My paramour, alas, was also not a vine. Three out of four indicators say it was Datura. I was seduced by the fragrance but the leaves and seed pods were the giveaway. Thank you Suzanne for enlightening us about this “sacred medicinal plant of the Chumash people,� and that it “contains a potent cocktail of deadly tropane alkaloid poisons, including atropine and scopolamine. Admire the flowers,� she advises, “but use caution around this potentially deadly plant.� We’re happy to pass along the advice. There’s something to be said for having two newspapers in a small town. Topanga now has the equivalent of a weekly newspaper, able to share more of Topanga’s mystique to our readers and exposure for our advertisers. Oddly enough, on the day the Topanga New Times appeared in my mailbox, the Datura plant had disappeared. Gone, as if it had never been there. Maybe there was a new gardener in the neighborhood. I hope they were careful.