Prevent Heart Trouble: Volunteer! If you don’t have any charity in your heart you have the worst kind of heart trouble. — Bob Hope By Leah Lancione Bob Hope’s sentiment was quite accurate. Volunteering is beneficial not only to the people and community who receive the service or charity, but to the volunteer’s self-worth as well. […]
Posted inDear Vicki
Dear Vicki
DEAR VICKI Dating Etiquette It’s my kid’s fault! How good it feels to say that because parents always get blamed for everything, don’t they? I’ve been a widower for a long time and my daughters finally talked me into signing up for a senior dating service. As a result, I’ve been in contact with a […]
Posted inBooks
Teacher Man
TEACHER MAN By Frank McCourt Simon and Shuster, New York (2005) For anyone who has read the award-winning novel, Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt, Teacher Man will be a 180-degree change in content. While Angela’s Ashes, was a somber book, Teacher Man is a bright testimonial to the tenacity and dedication of a high school […]
Posted inGames People Play
MAY THE Q BE WITH U
MAY THE Q BE WITH U By Maureen Smith As we get older we need all the teasers we can come up with to keep those brain cells generating. My husband and I actually race to see who will start the day’s crossword puzzle. One starts it and the other adds to it — and […]
Posted inBooks
THE BETTER PHOTO GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
THE BETTER PHOTO GUIDE TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY By Jim Miotke Amphoto Books, New York (2005) White balance, mysterious icons, strange jargon. These new digital cameras take great pictures. However, it seems you need a PhD in funny sounding tech terms to learn to use them. Actually, you don’t if you pick up Jim Moitke’s Betterphoto […]
Posted inBooks
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope By William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer HarperCollins (2009) This fascinating true-life adventure details the life of a young boy who, without more than rudimentary knowledge of English, teaches himself to understand electricity and ultimately builds a windmill from scrap from the town […]
Posted inHike, Hike the Bay Area
For a Perfect Fall Day, Connect with the Mountain Club of Maryland
BAY CONNECTIONS For a Perfect Fall Day, Connect with the Mountain Club of Maryland By Edree Downing Can there be anything more pleasant on a fall day than walking in the woods enjoying the spectacular autumn foliage and fresh air? And could it get any better than to share the day with like-minded people? If […]
Posted inFun Stuff, Life Styles
Write What You Know: Start Your Memoir
Write What You Know: Start Your Memoir By Leah Lancione Writers often advise other writers or want-to-be authors to “write what you know,” so shouldn’t writing a memoir of your own life be effortless and uncomplicated? Well, to be honest, the process may not be as easy as just taking a pen to paper or […]
Posted inFood, Travel
Lobsters, Foliage and the Three Yorks
Lobsters, Foliage and the Three Yorks By Katie Moose If you haven’t made up your mind where to go this fall, York, Maine, can entice you almost any time of the year, but particularly at the height of foliage season. This charming village just over the New Hampshire border is steeped in history, architectural treasures […]
Posted inLegal Insights
Legal Team
LEGAL TEAM SPEAKS – AUGUST 2010 Robert R. Smith, Esq., and Gilda O. Karpouzian, Esq., are practicing lawyers in Maryland with over 30 years of experience. Their answers below are based on assumptions that Maryland law applies. Mr. Smith can be contacted at 410 268‑5600 or [email protected] and Ms. Karpouzian can be contacted at 410 […]
Posted inFun Stuff, Join a Group, Of Local Interest, Volunteers
Rotarians Park Cars
Rotarians Park Cars By Buzz Stillinger Naval Academy home football games attract thousands of cars to the stadium on Rowe Boulevard for each home game in Annapolis. Many fans come early and set up tailgate parties. Without some strict organization, there would be chaos, hot tempers and inefficient use of the parking spaces. To […]
Posted inEducation, Life Styles
Go The Distance: Online College and You
Go The Distance: Online College and You By Melissa Conroy College has changed dramatically in the past several decades, and there have never been as many opportunities for all sorts of people to gain a college education as there are today. Retired people, single parents, international students and disabled people are some of the many […]
Posted inNature, Of Local Interest, OutLook for the Bay
BAY CREATURES: SEA NETTLES
BAY CREATURES: SEA NETTLES By Hank S. Parker Admit it. You won’t take a dip in the Chesapeake Bay after mid-June. Not because of rampaging jet skiers, pollution-spawned flesh-eating bacteria or errant sharks. All scary enough, if remote risks. Your real fear is of getting stung by the Bay’s most loathsome creature: the sea […]
Posted inExercise for Good Health, Good Health, Life Styles, Well Being
Five Quick and Easy Fixes to Help You Feel Better Now
Five Quick and Easy Fixes to Help You Feel Better Now 1. Stand Tall. That round shouldered hunch is too easy to slip into as we age. Try to straighten that back and those shoulders. It magically gives the body the appearance of being ten pounds lighter. You’ll also feel better. 2. Drink lots of water or […]
Posted inAsk the Undertaker
Ask the Undertaker
Ask the Undertaker By Ryan Helfenbein Part of every funeral director’s education involves studying the American history of funeral directing. Directors in training learn about the development of the industry, how embalming got started and the ever-so-interesting topics of grave robbing and devices invented to signal a “premature” burial. My studies included the use of […]
Posted inArt
It’s Time to Let Your Inner Artist Out
It’s Time to Let Your Inner Artist Out By Jane Ferguson Have you ever wanted to try oil painting, but for any number of reasons decided, “I just couldn’t or shouldn’t ….” Or, “I just wouldn’t want to be a beginner at this stage in my life.” Or perhaps you’re thinking, “I can’t even […]
Posted inTechKnow Challenge
What Exactly are “Apps?”
What Exactly are “Apps?” By Scudder Sodergreen Should one day you find yourself flying a Star destroyer through an asteroid belt with your buddy Darth Vader and his all-too-familiar voice rasps, “We’ve passed that asteroid before,” you’ll realize he’s right. But then you pull out your iPhone (imperial issue, of course) and pull […]
Posted inBooks
Day of Honey
Day of Honey: A Memoir of Food, Love and War By Annia Ciezadlo Free Press/Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York (2011) Day of Honey is a book about a journey, a voyage through geographic space and historic time, reflected and recollected through cooking, customs of eating and hospitality and culinary accomplishment. The time […]
Posted inEducation, Life Styles, Travel
LEARNING A NEW LANGUAGE IS EASIER THAN YOU THINK
LEARNING A NEW LANGUAGE IS EASIER THAN YOU THINK By Louise Whiteside Have you ever doubted you could master a foreign language? Do you have painful memories of arduous drills and verb conjugations in high school French or Spanish classes? Well, there’s good news: Today’s language-learning techniques are easier, more natural and more fun […]
Posted inExercise for Good Health, Life Styles
What’s the Pointe in Taking up Ballet Now?
What’s the Pointe in Taking up Ballet Now? By Leah Lancione If you saw last year’s acclaimed movie Black Swan you know it portrays a different side of ballet…one that sheds light on its severe physical and mental demands for ballerinas. However, despite ballet’s potentially grueling components, it can be a graceful and cathartic way […]