Skip to main content

Far Afield




For Father’s Day the plan was to drive to Charles Village in Baltimore to try a place called Doner Bros. My husband’s college years in Manchester left him with a deep love of all things “doner kebab” and he’s always up for finding a new place where he can indulge his cravings. (He’s deliriously happy about Halal Guys.)

At the last minute we realized that Baltimore Pride was on Saturday and that getting in and out of Charles Village might be impossible. To the Internet! It was soon established that there was a place called Doner Bistro in Frederick. So, to Frederick we went.

You know the deal. I don’t get out of The Bubble much. A forty-five minute drive just for dinner is not the usual for me. But this was for Father’s Day, and it was a beautiful evening, and it was family, and it felt like an adventure. (And yes, I really should get out more.)

When we arrived in the vicinity of the restaurant we saw lots of cars parked along the streets. Soon we noticed folks walking along carrying lawn chairs. Hmm. “Must be something going on tonight.” We found a public parking garage and set out on foot to find out destination.

If you’re familiar with downtown Frederick, you know. But, I didn’t. There’s an entire commercial center built around a creek which feels very much like San Antonio’s Riverwalk. Holy mackerel. I had no idea. And we just happened to be visiting on a lovely early summer evening when everything was darned near perfect and there was an outdoor concert at a park on the waterfront. (Hence the lawn chairs.)



The restaurant was casual and the food was good and plentiful. We ate outside and enjoyed people-watching and dog-watching. People of all sorts were out and about. We heard the musicians begin to play. We might as well have been on vacation a million miles away from home.

After dinner my daughters walked further down to take a glimpse of the park where the concert was kicking off.

A:  What kind of music do you think it will be, based on the audience?
M: White peoples’ greatest hits.

She was right. We walked back to the car to the strains of “Come and Get Your Love” and “Brown Eyed Girl”.

Now I’m interested to find out how that area along the creek came to be and how Frederick got to be such a happening place. Who knows? Maybe it always was.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...

Getting Fresh

One of my favorite days in the Spring comes when this year’s list of Farmer’s Markets is released. That happened this week. New this year are markets in Old Ellicott City and the “Merriweather Market” which, according to the address, will be located here . I mistakenly thought at first glance that it was in the new-construction part of the Merriweather District. I find the name confusing considering its actual location. I’m going to guess that this market is an initiative of the Howard Hughes Corporation because the name seems chosen more for branding purposes than anything else.  Alas, the market in Maple Lawn is gone. The thread on the markets on the County Executive’s FB page will provide you with quite the education in who actually runs the Farmers Markets vs what people often think is going on. Short answer: they are not  chosen nor run by the county. Each market is an independent entity, sometimes started by community volunteers, other times supported by local businesses...

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...