Items of local interest to the four-state area (Western Md, Southern PA, Northern VA, and Eastern WV).
I don’t know if you’ve had the pleasure (or misfortune) to visit an emergency room lately, but if the ER visit is a litmus test on the current state of the US healthcare system, we are badly failing as a society. Let me relay our most recent experience with a local health system provider – whose name I will withhold, but if you live anywhere near me, you’ll know exactly what organization I’m talking about. My mother was involved in…
My youngest daughter is experiencing a whole lot of “firsts” in her life this week. She’s on fall break from her college, and she decided to fly down to see her grandmother, extended family, and a few friends in Florida. So naturally, there was some planning to do. Some “adult” things to take care of – as with any journey – but in the past these things were always handled by myself or her mother. This time, she is the…
There are some foods that are synonymous with a state’s identity. Maine has its lobster, Georgia has their peaches, Louisiana has the crawfish; however, in Maryland, one food item reigns supreme. The Maryland blue crab. Nothing beats sitting down at a long, paper-covered table piled high with freshly steamed blue crabs, the air filled with the signature smell of Old Bay seasoning. Armed with a mallet and a small knife, it’s now each diner’s job to dissect these crustaceans, picking…
My small town of Clear Spring, MD (population 479 – salute!) celebrated a big milestone this past weekend. It was the town’s 200th anniversary. Now, it’s not every day you get to live in a town that has been around long enough to celebrate its own bicentennial, but for an “older” gal, I have to say she still looks pretty good. This past weekend was celebrated with home tours, scavenger hunts, and panckake breakfasts. Lots of folks were popping in…
Perhaps you’ve seen examples of this in your town. A big shopping plaza filled with several big-box stores opens up to great fanfare, then as the years go by, the stores close one-by-one, leaving large, abandoned buildings and deserted parking lots to litter the landscape. Do you know what I mean? I’ll use some examples from the largest town near me – Hagerstown, MD (population @40,000). It’s at the intersection of two major highways, I-70 and I-81. You’d think that…
Unless you’ve been living in a cave or your internet connection has been down for the past month, you’ve no doubt seen or heard that one of the heralds of the fall season is the return of that obligatory flavor of autumn, pumpkin spice. Ohhhh, and it’s not just in flavored coffee at Starbucks. No, some overzealous salesman at the spice factory has managed to ensure that this seasonal spice blend has found its way into way too many products,…
I can’t tell you how much I’ve been looking forward to September 22, 2021 (precisely at 3:20 PM, to be exact). For those of you not in the know, that was the date and time of the annual Autumnal Equinox, better known as the first day of fall. Sure, others may have their favorites. I know folks who can’t get enough of summer. Some folks love the long cold, winter – while others love the rebirth of spring. For me,…
I’ll admit it – I’m a planner by nature. I’m always looking ahead, trying to figure out schedules, menus, chores, money decisions, vacations – literally every aspect of my life. Sure, I can be spontaneous, but I’ll be the first one to tell you that it doesn’t happen very often. If my wife came home one day and said “let’s drive to Florida for the weekend!”, my mind would probably lock up from all of the decision points it was…
So we’re now finished with Week 2 of college football, and I have watched more games in the past two weeks than I have in the past twenty years. Why, you may ask? Well, my youngest is going to a premiere SEC school in the south (all I’ll say is that Forrest Gump also went there), and since she is going to or watching games every week now, I feel almost like I HAVE to watch them – just to…
As school is back in session all over the local area, this time of year is also marked by the return of public education’s transportation workhorse – the school bus. Gone once again are the days when I could whisk down the roads into work on my early morning drive. I now have to time my morning commute with the precision of a federal bank heist, where one minute out of-sync will mean the difference between an effortless drive or…