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Life Support

  What keeps a church alive? It doesn’t need to be a Christian institution, necessarily. It could be any community of faith that has established a physical location. In one generation it made absolutely sense to create this space and for years the gathering of people and their familiar rituals was an integral part of community life. It was expected, assumed, and for many people: valued. You won’t be surprised that this is the news that provoked my question: Howard County mill town vanished long ago. Its final relic will soon close. April Santana, Baltimore Sun Photo credit: Jeffrey F. Bill/Staff Left to right; former Howard County Police Chief, County Executive and state Sen. Jim Robey, Victoria Goodman, and Gary Rudacille, are members of Gary Memorial Methodist Church. The last remaining intact structure of Daniels, the Gary Memorial United Methodist Church, is closing its doors.   (I accessed this article through the Howard County Library website.) I’m not here to pass judg...
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Coming Attractions

  Let’s start with the weather. It looks pretty good: no rain, pollen in the medium range, highs in the upper seventies. Humidity will be high but you can’t have everything.  There will be Farmer’s Markets in Clarksville and Old Ellicott City. And, of course, there will be all manner of fun at Music Fest in Old Ellicott City. Looking for more possibilities for your day? Check out the Visit Howard County website. Now for the big news. Get out your calendars because the good folks at the Inner Arbor Trust have released the final dates for the 2026 season. October 11th: Howard County Pride Festival (Sunday) October 17th: Hispanic Heritage Festival (Saturday) October 18th: Pops Concert at the Chrysalis (Sunday) October 25th Downtown Columbia Maker Faire (Sunday) Autumn is a great time of year to enjoy Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods, whether it’s a community  festival or a concert at the Chrysalis. And all these events are free. Take a moment to register so they’ll ge...
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F ³: Ms. Rachel is a Real Person

  Thursday: I have the greatest idea for Friday’s blog post! Friday: Oh, that’s probably a really dumb idea. Well, let’s do it anyway. This week I saw a promo post for a HoCoLocal event that truly creeped me out. After some research I learned that it’s quite a common thing. I can’t claim to have discovered anything new or shocking and yet it still bothers me. Rather like the woman in this cartoon by the late (and brilliant) James Thurber. Cartoon by James Thurber This is Rachel Anne Accurso  . Photo credit Penguin Random House  She is the creator and lead performer of Ms. Rachel Music for Littles, an extremely successful program which appears on YouTube.  This is not Rachel Anne Accurso: Image from PJ’s Coffee social media  What we see here is an actor who works for a company called Courtney’s Character Corner.   Personally, I find the idea of a Ms. Rachel impersonator rather horrifying.  Why? We’ve all seen performers in costume suits hired to e...
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This is Brilliant, Ellicott City!

  I had something entirely different planned for today and then I saw this reel from the Ellicott City Partnership. I can’t embed it here so you will need to click the link below. It’s a promo for this Saturday’s activities in Old Ellicott City: https://www.facebook.com/stories/110481028182162/UzpfSVNDOjI1OTY3MDk2OTQxNzg0MDg=/?view_single=1&source=shared_permalink Please forgive my amateurish screenshot here.  It begins: You know what UMBC, CCBC, AND HCC have in common? Y’all don’t have anything to do this Saturday!  The young man in the video then lays out all the possibilities - - Farmer’s Market, Music Festival, Flea Market. He tells you the times of each and he shows you where they will take place.  This is brilliant. You know who are always looking for fun things to do on the weekends? College students. You know who are young and energetic enough to take on a Farmer’s Market, a Music Festival, and a Flea Market all in one day? College students. You know who ...
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Neighborhood Safety is an Open Book

    I’ve got a map for you. Can you guess what it is showing you? No, it’s not hot chicken places. It’s showing you the location of Little Free Libraries in our area that are officially registered with the  Little Free Library organization in Wisconsin  St. Paul, Minnesota. * There’s a new one in town.  Thanks to the good folks in Dorsey’s Search Community Association I now know that a new LFL has popped up on Leyden Way. You can see the locations of many more at their world wide map.  There’s even an app! To learn more about the mission of Little Free Libraries a good place to start is the About Us section of their website. Now I have a question for you. Who are these Little Free Libraries for? If you put one up in your yard, who is welcome to use it? Is it for the people in your neighborhood? Or is it for anyone in the whole wide world? All the information I see is telling me that anyone is welcome to visit the library and take a book. The existence of a...
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More to the Stories

  My readers truly made my Monday yesterday by chiming in on the Little Tikes “neutral” toy collection. What a wonderful discussion! It was a great way to start the week. A tip of the hat to this suggestion: Maybe Legos could be next - beige Legos on a beige carpet would be so much fun to find... with your foot. Ouch!  To top it off, Facebook got in the act and has started targeting me for adverts for clothing in neutral shades. Gee, thanks. Sarah Sundae has reported that the Rowan’s Dream cupcake fundraiser at Icing on the Cake raised $1,155 dollars! At an overall goal of $60,000 dollars for a wheelchair-accessible van for her son, she is in a long journey. Community response to the cupcake fundraiser has to be encouraging, though. So much of crowdfunding for medical needs these days depends so much on connecting with someone who knows someone who has an idea about someone else who might help. In my opinion that’s not at all how it should work. And yet: here we are. Bushy Pa...
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Blending In

  Did you know?  In recent years the Columbia Association has made a concerted effort to upgrade their network of play areas overall - - you can learn more here.  Columbia Association’s new play area upgrades, explained , April 2026 Columbia’s original Tot Lots (now called  play areas)  were created to blend in with the natural environment. Over the years, as trends in playground equipment have changed, color and sturdy plastic pieces have crept in. As you may expect, this has met with dismay by some Columbia purists. When I first moved to Columbia the color of the playground equipment would not have mattered me one iota because I couldn’t even find the totlots. (“ Looking for a Sign ”, Village Green/Town², 2013)  It has never made sense to me that a community has relied upon new residents to find valuable amenities based upon the theory of , “If you know, you know.”  CA has added much helpful signage since then but, to my knowledge, none of them read...
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