Category Archives: People

Social Butterflies

Posted on February 27, 2013 by AnnieRie

In more ways than one.

Last night the 50+ bloggers and readers gathered at Union Jack’s in Columbia to reconnect. We haven’t had a get together since last spring, so it was great to see everyone. It is amazing that we have a local group, close to 300 blogs written by county residents, that gets together and networks. I like Tales of Two Cities blog about the event.

Our hosts last night were from The 53 and ukdesperatehousewife, Bill from the former, and Claire, from the latter.

My husband came with me, and really enjoyed the conversations. Lots of fun, even on a really rainy evening. It looks like we will be doing more of these in the future.

As for the second way to be a social butterfly, I am about to do my refresher training for the spring field trips at the Conservancy. One of the spring topics, for second graders, is Wings, Stings and Leggy Things. I love the butterfly part of this activity. The Conservancy has huge amounts of milkweed, which attracts monarchs. We will even rescue, nurture and tag emerging butterflies to track their journeys. It was a highlight of my first fall there. Tagging butterflies and releasing them. In the spring we talk about how they return here for the summers, and how we have created a welcoming habitat for them to thrive.

I like our training sessions. A one hour refresher course, a hike to rehearse what we do with the school children, and then, of course, the social part of it, we have a potluck on the last Thursday of training. I blogged yesterday about the training. Come out and be a social butterfly with those of us who love the outdoors, enjoy teaching the little ones all about the earth science around them, and who want to make a difference in our own small way.

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My third reference to social butterfly today, that of home gardener, getting ready for the 2013 season. We pruned the butterfly bushes. I am learning how to find and rescue monarchs from the milkweed in the meadow. I blogged last fall about finding it out there. I intend to rescue as many larvae as I can, in order to protect them from predators.

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This is a tiger swallowtail. We have lots of those every year. I know my butterfly bush isn’t native, but it certainly attracts a large number of them.

Spring has sprung, at least for most of what I am doing. Tomorrow, I will be starting my spring greens planting and putting together a salad table. All that, after my social butterfly attendance at Conservancy training.

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Downtown

Posted on February 8, 2013 by AnnieRie

Our downtown. Glenelg/Dayton. Not EC, or Columbia. The hub of west county, or at least the circle. A typical Friday afternoon. For us, a few quick errands before the weekend. Stamps. Gas. Money. Liquor. A movie. What else do you need? 😉

brighton dam and glenelg 021

The circle at Ten Oaks and Triadelphia is always hopping. Day or night. The pictures are from last spring, when the trees had leaves, I know. Between the Ten Oaks Tavern, the TRI pizza place, Bistro Blanc, the Subway, and the Royal Farms, you can always find food and drink.

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You also can get money from the ATM, hit the post office, the pharmacy, the cleaners, Redbox, the Old Tyme liquor store and run into at least one person you know somewhere in your stop there.

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Today we hit the post office, Royal Farms for gas and money, and the liquor store to look for a liqueur for my Valentine’s Day dinner. Actually, I am looking for pastis. They had absenthe, but no pastis. I am recreating a meal from Provence for Valentine’s Day and hoped I wouldn’t have to drive to Ellicott City to find Pernod or Ricard.

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No luck on the pastis, but we did have a fun encounter with another patron. He saw my purple fleece turtleneck and my black fleece jacket, and asked. Are you a Ravens fan? After all, maybe football season is over, but I still like purple Fridays.

I said yes, and he pulled out his phone and showed me his new pictures. The first one. The Vince Lombardi trophy on a table. A few pics later, our new acquaintance holding the trophy. It seems he was one of the bus drivers who picked up the Ravens at the airport on their way back from the Super Bowl. They all got to hold the trophy and get their pictures taken with it.

I knew Eyre drove the Ravens. You see the buses at the facility occasionally, and you got to see them on TV before the parade Tuesday as they shuttled the team from the stadium to City Hall. Can’t miss the logo. Travel on Eyre. The company sits right behind Ten Oaks Tavern. Another local Howard County business that is doing well.

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You never know what you will encounter “downtown” in west county.

Have a great weekend. Spend some time at one of the events or markets around the county. Breezy Willow farm store maybe? Conservancy? Ellicott City Sunday Bakery event?

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Young at Heart

Posted on February 6, 2013 by AnnieRie

At least that’s how I feel these days. Even though at times the body tells me I am doing too much. I was putting items of interest onto my calendar. Volunteer naturalist training. Habitat restoration. Wonder walks. Program committee meetings. All at the Conservancy.

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Add to that the bird club events, programs, and the Great Backyard Bird Count coming up the weekend of the 16th-17th of February.

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There’s Greenfest, Earth Day and mixed in with all the rest there are cellar dinners, get togethers, luncheons, and family commitments.

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I can’t believe a year has passed since I was getting ready for neck surgery. Thankfully, that is behind me and I am filling our social calendar with possibilities of days out and about. It may be the last month of winter, but things are getting busy. This weekend besides the Ray Bosmans event at the Conservancy Saturday, on Sunday there is the first event at the Little French Market in Ellicott City with River House Pizza selling wood fired pizza.

If you think retirement means days passing time sitting at a senior center playing cards and getting your blood pressure checked, think again. There is so much more out there to do in Howard County. Oh, and I almost forgot. We are having a much anticipated bloggers and friends party at Union Jack’s on February 26th. Check out the link and sign up if you want to meet many of the bloggers on my Blogs I Read page, and from hocoblogs. I may be one of our oldest bloggers out there, but still, I insist that retirement is my second childhood and I will definitely be enjoying myself.

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A Perfect Place for a Winter Hike

Posted on January 29, 2013 by AnnieRie

We went hiking today. In perfect weather. We were shedding vests and jackets and loving the temperatures that climbed into the 60s this afternoon. All the snow has melted. Except for a few places where the sun doesn’t touch. Out at the Howard County Conservancy, our last winter hike took place this morning.

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The strollers got to find the first skunk cabbage up near the East Branch on the Conservancy grounds. Also found a few last milkweed pods. And listened to the woodpeckers up in the trees.

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The other “fitness hikers” took off behind Ann, their leader to find the champion tulip poplar on the property. There is a geocache located there for those into discovery using the GPS units.

We watched them coming down the hills on their way back to the Conservancy.

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The birds were out in force today, flitting from trees to bushes. I startled half a dozen bluebirds, some Carolina wrens, lots of sparrows, a few woodpeckers and nuthatches. We heard the pileated woodpeckers but couldn’t find them. They were hiding, not coming to visit like they did for me last November.

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After our hike, we went to hear Ned Tillman talk about the geology of Mt. Pleasant, and then enjoyed soup and salad for lunch. Lunch provided by one of the supporters of the Conservancy, REI. The Conservancy knows how to keep their volunteers happy. Let us roam around outdoors, come in for some enriching lectures and feed us well.

Here’s to more time spent enjoying the scenery.

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Come Meet Your Local Farmers

Posted on January 16, 2013 by AnnieRie

This Sunday the 20th from 2-4:30 the Howard County Conservancy is presenting a program featuring our local farmers. Come and meet the faces behind the farms. Farms that participate in our markets, that have seed sales, pumpkin patches, mazes, fall festivals, farmstands and CSAs.

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Particularly the CSAs. Many of the farms will be explaining how their CSAs work. Here is a shot of last year’s April delivery from Zahradka.

Typical April CSA items

Typical April CSA items

If you are interested in learning more, come join the discussions. Besides having information available a few of the farms have items for sale. Like cheese. Honey. Eggs. You can also find out how and where to get local beef, lamb and pork from our farmers.

Farms include: Clarks, Sharp, Breezy Willow, Love Dove, Bowling Green, Zahradka, and Gorman. Maybe you have visited their stands. Maybe bought their items at the markets in Howard County.

Love Dove, at market, also has CSA

Love Dove, at market, also has CSA

Do you know where they are located? How long the land has been farmed? What they now farm and any changes over the years?

There will be an informal panel discussion at 3 pm, with the participants. Ask what they grow, what they love most about farming, what are they planning in their futures?

Check out all the great products brought to us from our local farms. How about seedlings for your herb or vegetable garden?

heirloom tomato seedlings and plugs - Sharp's farm

heirloom tomato seedlings and plugs – Sharp’s farm

Did you know you can order meat to pick up at Clark’s on Saturdays? Or, stop out at Breezy Willow for eggs, meat, dairy and winter veggies? Find out what is available year round. It may be winter but there is quite a bit available to support our local farmers.

Breezy Willow in January

Breezy Willow in January

Join us Sunday!

hocoblogs@@@

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Get Out There!

Posted on January 8, 2013 by AnnieRie

That’s how I feel when the weather is as good as it is around here now. Today we had wonderful hikes for the volunteers, and a lecture that just really gave us so much more to think about when it comes to life in the farming community of Howard County. Creating the Mt. Pleasant history has been a long fascinating task for the history committee.

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One thing we learned about the farmhouse. The old log cabin is under the siding in the center part of the building. The dining room was in this section of the house. Guests were seated so they could watch the beautiful sunsets through the open door. Now that the trees have grown, you don’t get the clear view that they did a half century ago. Still, sunsets out here are spectacular. In this clear winter weather, we get some really incredible ones.

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This weekend a really great wonder talk on Beekeeping will take place there. Put it on your calendar. The weather should be wonderful. You could hear the talk and take a walk through the property. What could be better than strolling around the trails in 50-60 degree weather. In January.

Carol Link is giving the Beekeeper program. She has one very exciting interesting life. Check out her bio on the bio page.

The wonder talk this Saturday the 12th starts at 10 am.

And, if this weather holds, the Tuesday fitness hike (and the stroll for us slower folks) will concentrate on native plants. This hike is at 0930 on the 15th followed by a lecture by Tabby Figue of the Conservancy staff.

Don’t stay inside during this incredibly mild lovely weather. Tomorrow I am going to spend most of the day outside. Think it is time to take down the Christmas lights and finish the garden prep to be ready for spring.

What are you all doing this weekend? Oh yeah, there is football for the Ravens fans. 😉

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It’s Christmas Eve

Posted on December 24, 2012 by AnnieRie

And, we will have a white Christmas. Sort of. There is still snow on the ground although much of it is melting. To me it isn’t Christmas without snow. We went to my brother’s this evening. Like we always do.

All my cousins and their little ones were there. My brother did his thing, playing Santa Claus, just like he has for almost 30 years. It took my nephew years to figure out it was him on the porch leaving candy.

I did many home made items for the cousins. Pumpkin bread. Orange chocolate truffles. Dry rub mix. Herb mixes.

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Plus, I also gave gifts from local farmers. Soaps from Breezy Willow. Honey. Popcorn for the little ones. What do you expect from me? A definitely locavore Christmas. Took local wines for the party. Linden Vidal Riesling. Rose too.

Then, home for a glass of pastis and a chance to chill out. Tomorrow a few open houses to attend, and some finger foods while watching a Christmas movie. A lovely laid back holiday. Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas.

close up poinsettia

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Things to Be Thankful For

Posted on November 20, 2012 by AnnieRie

Two days left before the holiday season kicks off with Thanksgiving. For us, a little bit hectic but not like it was when we had two sets of families to juggle with visits. Now, we are pretty much all residing in Maryland and my brother hosts many of the holidays.

My mom lives about 30 miles east of us, and my brother about 30 miles southeast near Annapolis. Both are easy rides. I am thankful we can avoid the holiday traffic on the highways. I remember when I was still going to Hopkins at night to study electrical engineering and we had class the night before Thanksgiving. We worked in Silver Spring. I never made it to class. Sat for three hours trying to get up the highway to Baltimore. So, I am very thankful I still have family locally.

I am thankful they found my collapsing discs before I had permanent nerve damage, and that I had a great neurosurgeon repair it. Health is something we take for granted when we are young, and don’t know how hard it is to recover from injuries or illnesses as we get older. I still have bad days after doing things for the first time since the operation. A little Tylenol and I cope. It could have been life changing if I hadn’t found out in time.

I am thankful my husband and I could retire and enjoy it. Enjoying our hobbies, our friends, the local events and get togethers. Finding my niche at the Conservancy to still feel useful.

Him connecting with the radio clubs and getting to do something he loved as a teenager. Something he gave up when we lived in Columbia in a town house. Having fun at field day every year.

Putting up the antennas and getting on the air is his hobby. No, he doesn’t play golf. He never wanted a boat. All those hobbies that many people have, he wasn’t into those things. His hobby is practiced right in the rec room, on his radios. Maybe I do get a little tired of “CQ contest, CQ contest” for up to 48 hours. I like the CW (Morse Code) contests better. I can’t hear him using the keyer. Phone contests I get to hear him call stations and give the proper exchanges to validate a contact.

I am thankful we went through the derecho and the hurricane with minimal damage. We were counted among the lucky ones. For that, we are making sure we help those who still need help. Giving clothing, non perishable foods, toiletries, and contributions where we can. We lost a few trees. We lost some food after the derecho. Nothing earth shattering for us. We know we were very fortunate. The largest ones were caught in others and missed our home.

I am thankful we live in such a pleasant and relatively safe environment. Even with all its warts, this country and, personally for us, this area are peaceful. Civil unrest, riots, financial crises like those across the pond, we are relatively insulated here. I am thankful I got my degree, thanks largely to encouragement from the good nuns in my high school. They insisted I take math and science. From thinking I would do a business curriculum and get a job in Baltimore at 18, to getting to go to college and major in math. Without that push, I would have had a vastly different life. Instead, I got to experience amazing things.

young and adventurous, my month at an ice research station

I am glad the Dream Act passed. Education is key to making a life better. Any type of education. I learned that. So did my husband. Both of us worked our way through college, and made better lives for ourselves. Without that education, we wouldn’t be retired and enjoying life. I am so eternally grateful to our parents for helping us, even though they struggled. My dad was a policeman. His dad a coal miner, then a factory worker. We know that our education, his in engineering, mine in math and computers made us marketable and employable, even during the recession in the seventies when we graduated.

We have much to be thankful for. Thursday we are off to visit my family and celebrate the traditional turkey day the way we have for many years. Dinner, a nice long walk, then some football.

Today is CSA day. We are getting good things for my dinner. Tomorrow I pick up my Maple Lawn turkey. Then, off to England Acres to get a centerpiece and some things that won’t be in my CSA box today.

This weekend our little private personal Thanksgiving, a tradition we started years ago when I wanted to learn how to cook a turkey, we will give thanks again for what we have.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my cyber readers, and my cyber circle of locavores.

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The Envelope Please

Posted on November 6, 2012 by AnnieRie

So, I have been nominated again for a blogger award. The last time floored me, and I didn’t know what to do about it. This time, I actually have a plan. I realized I shouldn’t go and get all analytical and worry about having to name other blogs. Since I was so scatterbrained last time, I didn’t do what the award “chain” wanted, and the sky didn’t fall.

This time, I am going to have fun with it. Thank you A Table in the Sun for nominating me for the Beautiful Blogger award.

Because of her chain back to The Great Dorset Vegetable Experiment, who nominated her, I found an interesting blog to read from one of my favorite places on earth. Dorset. And, I found other great blogs to read, to find inspiration and just to entertain me.

I love reading blogs. I found a new one the other day thanks to wordbones blog, Tales of Two Cities. UKDesperateHousewifeUSA

So, for this blog award, you need to tell seven things about yourself and nominate 15 bloggers. Oh, and then tell them you nominated them by linking to this post in a comment on their blogs.

The seven things:

I am ambidexterous becuase the nuns beat me when I put a pen in my left hand in second grade. First grade I learned to print with my left hand.

When I traveled all the time for work, we lived on Stouffer’s. How’s that for the past of a confirmed locavore and hardcore foodie?

The only fast food that still calls me back to being bad, Krispy Kreme hot donuts. Thankfully, they are pretty much out of business around here but there were times when that sign pulled me into Dobbin Road right after leaving my dentist.

I was born and raised in Baltimore City. Right across the street from Mt. St. Joe.

I have lived in Howard County 38 years come January 1st.

We have a brick bought eons ago just down from the People Tree. Friends send us pictures of it when they find it.

In my original job out of college, I taught high school mathematics.

There, that’s seven useless pieces of information that haven’t been discussed in my blog. Not earth shattering but fun. Oh, and a bonus, today included I have voted every Presidential election, never missing one, from 1972 until the present. Twice it was an absentee ballot as I was in Alaska in 1984 and Florida in 1988. Both times, work related. I take that privilege seriously.

As for the 15 blogs to nominate, obviously nine of them are my food challenge compatriots. I read these blogs all the time, not just for challenges, but because I love hearing what my fellow locavores are doing.

Backyard Grocery Northern VA
Bumble Lush Garden near DC
Eat. Drink. Nourish. South Carolina
Eating Appalachia Blue Ridge VA
Eating Floyd Southwest VA
Family Foodie Survival Guide Northern VA
Sincerely, Emily Texas
The Soffritto right up the road in Woodstock
Windy City Vegan North Carolina

Liz, at Family Foodie Survival Guide, nominated me for a blog award a while back and I got caught up in other things and never followed through. I wish I did, now.

Number ten is an awesome lady, who set up our CSA link party. Heather at In Her Chucks. She kept commenting and commenting to set up that link page, and I use it all the time to see how to use those strange veggies in my CSA box.

Number Eleven is one of the guys over at hocoblogs. I hope he takes the nomination in the spirit intended, as he is one beautiful person when it comes to helping others. Whether it was the fund raising for the security deposits for the group homes, or his recent “fill up the Subaru” for his wife to drive to Jersey and help hurricane victims, hocorising is something special.

The Foodie Farmer is number 12, and Soulsby Farm number 13. I read both these farm blogs. Foodie Farmer is on the Eastern shore of MD and Soulsby is a tiny farm in Ohio. I love reading what they are doing.

Number 14 would have been Tammy, at Agrigirl but I see A Table in the Sun nominated her along with me. Tammy comments all the time around here. I love her perspective. So, in her place I nominate another desert country blog I read regularly. Fresh Veggies in the Desert, from Nevada instead of Arizona. Another frequent commenter and co-poster at In Her Chucks.

And, last but not least, the newly discovered UKdesperatehousewifeUSA. I love reading her comments about Howard County. I love that she found my neighborhood only a few months after moving here. There are people in Columbia who couldn’t find the Crossroads Pub if their life depended on it. Nor would they willingly travel the back roads out here. And, I love her comments about life around here. A great new blog, adding fresh air to Howard County blogs.

My blogging compatriots. Know that I nominated you because I read you all the time. I find you entertaining, enlightening, kindred spirits. If you aren’t into doing the blog chain thing, I get it. It freaked me out a little the first time someone nominated my blog.

But, at the end of the day, if someone comes and reads your blog and subscribes, and I sent them there, it is all good. We just like to see others appreciate what we write.

Cheers! Now, off to tell all the bloggers I nominated them.

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What Goes Around Comes Around

Posted on November 6, 2012 by AnnieRie

I have to admit, learning the new shorthand used in tweeting and in texting, as well as some of the acronyms around here has been interesting at best, and downright confusing at times.

It used to be that we, the govvies in the area, i.e., government employees, were the best at making entire conversations using acronyms designed to confound our non-govvy friends and family.

“I work at NHTSA on IVBSS and I will be at UMTRI next week”. “I work at NSWC on the MK 116 ASW FCS”. Our pasts. The DH and me.

What’s a DH, you say? Same as an OM. Dear Husband. Old man. One picked up on web forums years ago, the other an amateur radio standard. It is why my gmail account has xyl in the address. I am the wife, aka x-young lady, of a ham.

Now, my blogging friends here in the area are working to get uniform hashtags that we use when we tweet. Whenever I put up a post I sent it off to twitterland using #hoco. These days #hoco is overrun by colleges and homecoming, and we are getting lost in the noise about whose dress is best, and who can get more drunk. It seems to be time for us to find a new place to “hang out”, and we have graduated to using #hocomd more.

Jessie over at Jessie X, who also cofounded and administers hocoblogs where about 300 of us are more or less active about blogging in the County, or about the County, is working to get us to use more specific hashtags.

I feel like I am back at work, learning new acronyms after changing jobs. What used to be the geekiness of our govvy lives is now the new normal of social media. Like, learning a whole new language.

Add to that, in our world, where we have been active in amateur radio, a “shack on a belt”, or HT (handy talkie), once a sign of real nerdiness, with the hands free headphone really stood out. Now, you can lose yourself in the midst of the bluetooth crowd. What was once cause for comments, and a little ridicule, is now mainstream.

As I said, what goes around comes around. The entire world has become geeky. What the heck. If you can’t beat them, join them.

So, Jessie asked me to become the queen of #hocolocavore and #hoconature on the spreadsheet being assembled for county tweets. I promise to try and remember to use them. At least I do remember to use my hocoblog hashtags appropriately, like the one at the end of this post.

So, when I post about local foods and farmers, I will be using #hocolocavore.

And, about the Conservancy, or the birds, or the garden. #hoconature

And, since I am attempting to complete NaBloPoMo (look that one up!), there will be lots to read about Howard County.

hocoblogs@@@

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