Village Green/Town²

  Oddly enough, the story I have for you today is probably what happens when “ What Keeps a Church Alive? ” and “ Fear of Suburbia ” intersect.  I present the following real estate listing:  Long & Foster listing: Real estate for sale - Commercial/Industrial: 2800 Westchester Ave Ellicott City - MD [List Price: $9,700,000] MLS #: MDBC2157828* This 10 acres parcel is a host to a church and conference center and day camping with several buildings .  Let’s zoom out to get the big picture. Here you see the property in question marked by red toward the center of the picture. At the bottom left is the B & O Ellicott City Station Museum. At the top right you see Hallowed Ground Garden Center and, I think, the Residences at Oella Mill. Image from Google Maps  A quick Google search brought up plenty of identical listings but one in particular caught my eye. Exceptional 10-acre Land With Limitless Development Potential  The words are from the real estate list...

  The best part of waking up? Pouring that ambition in your cup because today’s Dolly Day. The outpouring of admiration and love for the late musician and philanthropist grew into a flood of suggestions that her life be celebrated each year on 9/25 - - a nod to her song “9 to 5”. The idea seems to be catching on. California and Ohio have officially declared September 25th to be Dolly Day and other states are in the process of making that happen. We all know you don’t need official proclamations to celebrate people you love and admire. And we certainly don’t need permission. A few invitations don’t hurt, though. Some of the vendors at the Common Kitchen in Clarksville have special plans for the day: Image from Trifecto Bar social media  Trifecto Bar is bringing the sparkle to Dolly Parton Day! Stop by The Common Kitchen this Friday, September 25, and treat yourself to one of their limited-edition Dolly-inspired specials at @trifectobar: Dolly's Glitter Lemonade, $7 Tennessee Ho...

  “Everybody doesn’t like something…” goes the old Sara Lee advertising jingle. I can’t argue with that. People in suburban Columbia don’t want more density because they fear becoming “urban.” People in urban areas may harbor concerns about gentrification. Some young folks in Columbia long for the city life. But today I came across one I had not seen before. Neighbors resist western Howard County development, citing well water concerns , Jess Nocera, Baltimore  Banner People in western Howard County fear…suburbia? Becky Merrill and her late husband moved to Lakeway Drive from Columbia in 2005, looking for more space to raise a family but wanting to remain in Howard County. “We didn’t want to feel like we were living in suburbia,” said Merrill, who is among the neighbors appealing the conditional use decision. If the Elm Street project moves ahead with so many homes, it’s “bringing suburbia to this very rural area,” Merrill said. The article mentions Lakeway Drive. Here’s a vie...

  I am currently wrestling with two - - yes, two! - - posts that I told myself I really wanted to write which are both kicking my butt.  So, let’s talk about benches. Maybe I should call it “ Benches Redux : The Remake.” For some reason I seem to attract social media content about benches, largely from the UK. This one is my current favorite: Lucy Davies: 1975 - ? Not dead yet  Just loves the bench I don’t know Lucy (and she is a good sight younger than I am) but I already like her. I, too, am “not dead yet” but I love benches.  I certainly love benches more than walking, which is a continuing challenge. A friend has lent me a book entitled 52 Ways to Walk. Perhaps I can incorporate my love of benches with my reading of the book.  Each chapter could be part of an adventure: Leave house.  Seek out a park or other natural environment that has benches. Walk to said bench. Read one chapter.  Enjoy natural surroundings.  Reflect on reading.  Is ...

  I probably would have scrolled right by this photo on Bluesky had it not been for the words that accompanied it. I had friends who owned ‘em, and friends who worked at Columbia Data Products. Proudly built in Columbia, Maryland! Say what? Here comes a journey down the rabbit hole… Columbia Data Products was founded in 1976 by William Diaz. According to Wikipedia: CDP introduced the MPC 1600 "Multi Personal Computer", designed by David Howse, in June 1982. It was an exact functional copy of the IBM Personal Computer model 5150 except for the BIOS which was clean room designed.  From what I can tell, Columbia Data Products was located here, at 8990 Route 108. Image from a prior real estate listing  Except their own advert lists it here, at 9150 Rumsey Road: The advert: When was the last time you saw foresight and cunning together in an advertisement? Here’s an ad all the way from London.  I did not know anything about this. Did you? The Columbia Data Products comput...

  I’m not here to talk about sin. But I am mulling over these words: …we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.* No, let me narrow that down: …and by what we have left undone. Right now my house and my car can bear witness to those things which I have left undone: Large bags of polystyrene coolers waiting to be taken to the EPS Recycling drop off. It has moved - - did you know? One large bag of assorted bubble wrap. One large bag of plastic grocery bags and similar plastic. Several large bags of foam plastic packing material that came in my mother in law’s meal delivery orders. These least malevolent of all this things is a box full of assorted boxes that is waiting to be put out for recycling. That’s easy. Corrugated board needs to be clean and flattened. The county picks it up. Done. But plastic is not easy. For the companies that bring it into our lives it must be quite easy - - or else they wou...