Village Green/Town²

The local story that caught my eye: A tray of these delicious little men were gifted to us by artist Bobby Donovan, creator of the "Can You Hear Me Now" sculpture on display at Savage Mill, and his equally talented wife Cyndi! - - Savage Mill Photo from Savage Mill social media  In the foreground, one homemade cookie. In the background, Donovan’s sculpture. There’s just something quirky and unexpected about this photo. It’s a real homemade cookie.  This time of year we are tantalized at every turn with photos of professionally made holiday treats. Adverts from local bakeries, grocery stores, online retailers - - you name it. Magazines beckoning to us as we stand in the checkout line at the grocery. They show us perfect cookies that suggest that our home baking will look just like their artisanally produced, carefully curated photo shoot. If we buy into the fantasy it’s rather like believing that we will look just like the model if we buy the dress. This is not to shame any of...

On Wednesday I saw the news and asked on Twitter, “Why not Beyoncé?” Nobody responded. The news was, as you probably know: Images property of Time Magazine, photo credit Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin Time Magazine announced pop artist Taylor Swift as their person of the year. From CNN : Taylor Swift is ending her year with another accolade: The pop superstar was named Time magazine’s 2023 “Person of the Year,” beating out Barbie and King Charles III. - - Jordan Valinsky, CNN It looks like Beyoncé wasn’t even in the running. Why not?  Truth in advertising: I have probably listened to more Taylor Swift music than that of Beyoncé. That being said, I’m not really engaged mentally with either one of them. So my question comes more from observing the statements and behavior of people I see on social media, along with generally following the careers of each artist. As a relatively disinterested bystander, I feel as though Beyoncé had an equally stellar year in 2023. I’m not seei...

  Yesterday in my Facebook memories I was briefly startled by a post which was nothing but a photograph of a wishbone. It took a minute, and then I remembered. It was a reminder of a moment County Executive Calvin Ball’s speech last year at the swearing in ceremony for his second term. What I wasn’t expecting was a small and deeply human story about a wishbone. Yes, a turkey wishbone. Dr. Ball related how his late father would save the wishbone so that they could make a wish together. His voice filled with emotion, Ball recalled the moment in adulthood when he asked his father what he had been wishing for all those years.  “I was wishing for you to get your wish.” This sentiment - - to wish that someone else could get their wish - - was, to me, the biggest and most universal challenge of the evening. Dr. Ball took that moment to invite us to be that person who can want and work for things that won’t necessarily bring us personal honors or rewards. Honestly, that’s harder than ...

Let me reach into my bag of tricks here… First off, I’m in negotiations with Najee Bailey of the Howard County Association of Realtors about setting up an interview with Cool Duck. As they say in the business: my people will talk to Mr. Duck’s people and we’ll see if we can make that happen.   In regards to the Martirano Super Socks initiative, I’m going to reach out to the Bright Minds folks and find out how you can donate actual socks. I’m sure they are setting up away to receive them - - possibly even in each school building - - but I don’t know the exact timeline. I’ll keep you posted.  I mentioned (on Sunday) about seeing what looked like an arrest in progress with four police cars to what looked like one suspect. I was hoping to get some feedback on that. Is that a typical Columbia/HoCo police response? I looked in the police reports that HCPD shares on social media but I’m not seeing anything helpful.  Now, here’s the thing. After I posted this particular piece I w...

I’m not a fan of Elf on the Shelf. It is a very good thing that it was not invented locally, because then I would feel obliged to write about it. However, I find myself intrigued by this guy. This is Cool Duck. Cool Duck appears to be affiliated with the Howard County Association of Realtors.  Here we see Cool Duck posing in front of HCAR’s core values:  Demonstrate Leadership Value Diversity and Inclusiveness Promote Professionalism Foster Collaboration  Strengthen Community  Act with Intengrity Pretty serious thoughts for a little duck.  The Howard County Association of Realtors describes itself as “the voice for real estate in Howard County.” Their mission? The Howard County Association of REALTORS® serves its members by providing resources that enable them to conduct business professionally while promoting and enforcing ethical standards. It is our vision to be Howard County's "Voice" and leading advocate for homeownership, the real estate industry, and tho...

  If there were such a thing as Spirit Week on Village Green/Town², today would be Martirano Monday. Why? Socks. This story from Columbia Patch caught my eye:  Martirano Super Sock Drive Leaves Legacy, Helps Families In Howard County , Kristin Danley-Greiner, Columbia Patch HCPSS Superintendent Michael J. Martirano has launched the Martirano Super Sock Drive as his legacy and way to help families in Howard County.  Awww…this is sweet. We all know that Dr. Martirano loves his socks: fancy, wacky, color-coordinated, possibly even organized by themes. Here’s a picture from a school visit in 2017. Sporting crazy socks at EMMS today in honor of Dr. Martirano's visit!  After a bit of digging around I found this page on the Bright Minds website. Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) Superintendent Michael J. Martirano and Bright Minds Foundation invite you to join us in getting socks to Howard County children and families in need. Socks are a crucial piece of clothing ...

Yesterday I took my own advice and paid a visit to the Holiday Pop Up shop at  The Residences at Vantage Point.   I’ve never been to Vantage Point before. I was greeted as soon as I came in by a gentleman who appeared to be there specifically to direct people to the event. He then pointed me to a young man by the staircase who gave me directions to my destination. I was given a sticker to wear that indicated I was there for the event, a security measure, I’m guessing. The room for the pop up shop was lined with tables where various merchants had set up their displays. There were beautiful assortments of jewelry, adorable crocheted items, tasty looking baked goods…I must admit I didn’t truly go up and down the rows to see everything because I was there for one reason and one reason only: to visit the YOLO Health and Wellness table. I discovered YOLO when I attended a Holiday Bazaar at The 3rd in 2021. I’ve always been sensitive to fragrances and my recent struggles with ...