Village Green/Town²

  This year’s Labor Day post is for the people you don’t meet until you need them. They do things you wouldn’t have imagined you would ever need. The people who shepherd a frightened family member through a traumatic trip to the ER. The people who help you coordinate home care when you know absolutely nothing about what to do and what you need. The people who deliver and set up the hospital bed. Physical therapists. Occupational therapists. The people whose job is it to keep taking X-rays while trying not to cause pain. And, most of all: the carers. You definitely aren’t going to meet them under ordinary circumstances. You are so exhausted that you have contemplated walking out into traffic just to end the continual fear that you are doing something wrong. You desperately need help and you are afraid that sharing the load is shirking your responsibility or means that you don’t care as much as your ought to. Our culture treats this kind of care work as something quite low - - unskil...

  It only takes one variable to change your day. I needed to pick up a few things that my own Walgreens did not have in stock so I put in an order at the one on Route 40 in Catonsville. I entered the destination into my GPS and headed out. I soon found myself lost, more or less, in what I would call The Wilds of Dunloggin. It is not a terrifying thing to be aimlessly drifting through Dunloggin but it was unexpected. A little checking revealed that my GPS was inexplicably set to “avoid highways.” So I was not lost. I was taking the scenic route. Since I spend so much time inside the Columbia Bubble it’s honestly educational for me to visit neighborhoods that deviate from my expected norms. I took in the differences in architectural style, how the lots were laid out, and I wondered what it was like to live on these streets when they were new.  I felt like I had pretty much gotten the hang of where I was going when a vision off to my right startled me. It looked rather like a chi...

  Farmers Markets this weekend: Clarksville Commons and Old Ellicott City today, Oakland Mills tomorrow.  Pollen and humidity will be high and yet my weather app says air quality will be excellent for outdoor activities. Go figure. There’s a cool new activity getting up and running over at the at the Nonprofit Collaborative of Howard County today. You can help Bridges to Housing Stability turn their shredded paper waste into new paper that will be donated to participating HCPSS art classrooms. I’m fascinated by this. Organizations shred documents which contain confidential information. That’s a responsible thing to do. But the resulting shreds can’t be put in our regular paper recycling process. Now what? By creating Waste to Wonder, Bridges to Housing Stability aims to: dispose of confidential paper waste responsibly, turn it into a usable resource for classrooms, and - - probably the most significant, to my mind - - connect with new community members who may not know about t...

  At the risk of dating myself: the year is 1975. I’m ducking into the girls’ room across from my ten o’clock algebra class. It’s filled with girls. And cigarette smoke.  Smoking at school was allowed in those days -  - outside. Of course it didn’t just stay outside. I hated it. I hated the smell of the smoke which clung to my clothes and made it hard for me to breathe. I hated competing for the few stalls available when at least one contained someone standing on the toilet seat and burning a message into the ceiling tile with their lit cigarette. It never ceased being a hostile environment to me. By my senior year they had started locking many of the student restrooms. By that time I had figured out which of the faculty bathrooms I could slip without being caught.  All this is to say that if anyone tells you that kids today are so much worse than back in the day…Are they? Howard County schools can’t keep up with bathroom vandalism. Their solution? Lock them , ...

  The problem with allowing the general public to name things is this: Columbia Association  During routine lake management operations at Lake Kittamaqundi, an aqua mower (Chompers) capsized. All Columbia Association (CA) staff are safe. While no fuel or oil leaks have been noticed, protective measures will be in place. CA is conducting a full investigation and coordinating a safe recovery of the equipment. Oh, no. Not Chompers! Notice how differently it comes across in this brief mention in the Baltimore Fishbowl:  Aqua mower capsizes in Lake Kittamaqundi,  Aliza Worthington  It’s “Chompers goes under” vs “Aqua mower capsizes.” Do you see it? Feel it, even? Alas, poor Chompers! I knew him, Horatio. In 2021 the Columbia Association - - possibly inspired by Mr. Trash Wheel? - - held a contest to name the new Aqua Mower for Lake Kittamaqundi. A nine year old named Quintin won for the name “Chompers.” Excerpt from Night and Day , Village Green/Town² The use of anth...

  Cozy:  1 a : enjoying or affording warmth and ease: SNUG b: marked by or providing contentment or comfort - - Merriam Webster Dictionary  It’s the first of September and in Maryland that means high humidity, outrageous pollen counts, and a prediction of ninety degree weather.  Still, that didn’t stop me from getting a bit excited when I saw this post from Columbia’s own indie bookstore Queen Takes Book. It’s a Cozy Fridays Events List which begins in October, so maybe the weather will be cooperating in a more seasonal way by then. Going down the list of activities sparked a yearning to have that seasonal cozy feeling even though I’m in an air-conditioned house drinking a glass of iced coffee. It’s funny how that works. Suddenly you’re envisioning being cuddled up under a blanket with a good book in your lap and a warm drink nearby. Speaking of warm drinks, Visit Howard County did a lovely roundup of cozy cafés last year. Do you have any you’d add to their list? Coz...