Village Green/Town²

I keep a calendar on Google, an additional one on my iPad. I used to be really good at writing things on them. Updating them. Checking them, even. Recently I have fallen off the calendar habit. So I hope that everything I need to know will be in my facebook events or in my email. I keep a back-up of my work schedule in Dropbox. And, for the most part, it has been okay. But today I am going to jump back on the calendar bandwagon because I have an important date to remember: Wednesday, April 11th, from 6-8 pm. The next HoCoBlogs Party is coming our way at The Second Chance Saloon in Oakland Mills. Hosted by Sarah Husain of sarahsays , and me--YAY!--of VG/TS, we're looking foward to getting the blogsters and readers back to this hometown hangout where the nachos, wings, burgers, and chili dogs are legendary. And the beer selection is awesome! You might just want to join their Beer Club while you're there. So, today is Sunday. You're beginning to think about the week ahe...

You may recall that, as a result of the councilmanic redistricting process, some rather vocal folks came out to detail their objections to being moved into a district that included Columbia.  (I believe that would be District 2, represented by Calvin Ball.)  I found the hostility disheartening. While I don't believe that Columbia is the center of the universe or that it holds any innate superiority over other parts of Howard County, it is where I live, and it is difficult to see it kicked around in this manner. Well, I had just about gotten over that unpleasantness, until this morning.  I attended the opening of Blandair Regional Park. It was a beautiful day, and it is a beautiful park.  I have been waiting with excitement for this day since I moved here in 1999. As my daughter ran for the play equipment, I felt the kind of joy that only a parent can have, watching a child take flight in play. Okay, that's the good part, you say.  What could be unpleasant a...

I hope you all have been following LisaB.Mrs.S. as she has examined the ins and outs of the Howard County School System.   She has been encouraging fellow Howard Countians to educate themselves about the upcoming race for the Board of Education.   This past Saturday, she took that role one step further by hosting a meet and greet session for two of the candidates:   Leslie Kornreich and David Gertler. A small group of interested parents gathered—between six and eight; I didn’t make an exact count. Lisa helped start out the session with some questions for the candidates to answer.   It didn’t take much to get the conversation going.   The candidates were ready, and the group had plenty of questions and concerns. Here is a list of things that the parents were interested in discussing: 1. Improving communication and openness-- 2. Embracing social media to include stakeholders 3. School overcrowding and the redistricting process 4. Involving ...

John McCoy, Columbia Association Watershed Manager, is a man with a mission.  He is charged to reduce run-off and he is willing to employ a variety of methods to make it happen. One of those ways is through the planting of trees. Lots of them. The fact that CA can use grant money to pay for these trees is an added incentive.  Many other methods for reducing run-off are costly. The Village of Oakland Mills has some lovely Open Spaces just perfect for homing a good portion of these free trees.  In some cases, volunteers are willing to do the planting.  It seems like a win-win for Columbia, our environment, and the Chesapeake Bay, doesn't it?  There's just one problem. That land belongs to the citizens of Columbia (Oakland Mills) and they are using it. Most of the areas designated for tree planting are used in active recreation by families and children. In some cases the lack of trees in a given area provides an openness for walkers on neighborhood paths, a f...

The house where I live belonged to my husband before we met.   When I moved in, we went through an awkward period of adjustment, since both of us were adults with complete sets of furniture, dishes, and the like. It’s not a big house, and it took a lot of shedding of personal belongings before we even came close to feeling like everything fit. I decided that, although the house was small, it would feel big to me if I just pretended that it was a house at the beach.   My husband has indulged me in my fantasy, and when we did some work on the first floor and kitchen, we gave everything a beach-y feel.   I set up the living room furniture to face into a corner of windows that look out on our neighborhood.   In my mind’s eye you could sit on the couch and look out at the ocean. In fact, it was more a nook, of sorts, centered around the television.   I tucked my big comfy chair right where I could get away from it all.   It was my quiet place, and I ...

One of my favorite family activities is the "What If?" game. What if we were going to cast all of our friends as characters in the Muppet Show? Who would they be?What if you could design any house you wanted--what would it be like? What if you could pick your favorite stores for the Mall? This game has helped to pass the time on many a car ride or restaurant table wait. I admit that I have occasionally played, "What if you could re-make the Wilde Lake Village Center?" on several occasions. (Remember, this is a game. For one's own amusement.) For a long time I was stuck on the idea of making it a kid's birthday party center. A bouncy castle/inflatables place in a village center? Wow! I was pretty excited about adding all all the shops to surround it--a place to buy birthday presents, and a coffee shop for parents to hang out when kids were at parties...There are a lot of kids' parties happening each year, and I could imagine Wilde Lake being the dream h...

The room grew quiet. It was a depressed kind of silence, as if no one could think of anything to say that would help or make things better.  Finally, someone spoke. "The problem is that we keep hoping for the Great Good Developer who will be to us what we think that Rouse was--and it ain't gonna happen." He went on, "The County is our Government, and that's where we need to be going if we want things to change.  This kind of magical thinking isn't going to do anything." We were talking about the Bridge Columbia Project , an idea which would benefit Columbia and Howard County alike.  But we could have been talking about any significant challenge that Columbia faces today.  Insomuch as we have to work with HHC or GGP to get something accomplished, we cannot make them into something that they are not.   They are not like the God-like force protecting the Edo on Star-Trek Generations , looking out for our every need, protecting us. That'...