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December Birthdays



I once worked at a small Episcopal school where invidual student birthday celebrations were not encouraged. Each month the priest in charge would announce Birthday Blessings for the month in chapel and later that day all students would enjoy ice cream sandwiches for dessert at lunch. It was the custom. As I recall things were more loosey-goosey when it came to birthday celebrations in the preschool. The young ones couldn’t be expected to understand the unified birthday concept. Their parents couldn’t, either. 

That little school is no more but her students are out there in the world, hopefully not scarred by celebrating joint birthdays in the lunchroom. One of those students is celebrating her birthday today. My oldest child (far from a child) took her Grace and Saint Peter’s School education to the Baltimore School for the Arts and then to Johns Hopkins University. She took a degree in writing and turned it into a published romance novel and a career in restaurant management. 

We don’t get to enjoy her writing locally much anymore, although I featured her thoughts in “Hospitality” on Christmas Day. As HoCoHouseHon she was a part of a brief golden age of local blogging (if you’ll forgive the hyperbole) kicked off by the vision and energy of Jessie Newburn, founder of HoCoBlogs. I used to feel intensely nostalgic about those years. Now they are fuzzy enough in my memory that I’m not entirely sure that they really happened. 

HoCoBlogs was The Thing. At least, it was for the intensely hyperlocal bunch of us who cared about it at the time. When I look back the phenomenon strikes me very much like the advent of Compact Discs on the music scene. They were revolutionary. Nothing was ever going to be the same. And then, before we knew it, CDs were obsolete and streaming had almost completely replaced them. 

In the same way, the local blog scene was going to be a whole new way of connecting people, sharing information, and encouraging new ideas. I sometimes wonder if it was just so full of its own sense of importance and potential that it just blew itself up. Clashes of personalities had something to do with its demise, as well as strongly differing goals for what it was meant to be. And then - - poof! - - it was no more.

Every once in a while I miss the BlogTail parties. Mostly, though, I miss the community of writers. One of my favorite bloggers chimed in this week after a long silence. The blog is AnnieRie Unplugged: Life in the Slow Lane. The Post is entitled “Merry Christmas Y’All Again.” The author, Diane Marie Ochs Ference, started blogging in November of 2011. 

…currently I focus my posts on life as a retiree living in West Howard County.

Topics? Include gardening, cooking, volunteering, and eating and drinking locally produced items. Add to that whatever catches my fancy at the moment.

Though she hasn’t posted much recently, past pieces contain a wealth of information about local food, farms, wine, wineries, and her work with the Howard County Conservancy. It’s all still there for you to dip into. Warning: when she describes her homemade meals you may find yourself wishing you could drive on over to try them. 

Another good reason to bring up Ms. Ference today - - it’s her birthday.  Maybe it’s a good day to read her most recent piece  and then wish her many happy returns of the day. 

Are you having a birthday today? Blessings! It can be hard having a December birthday. I hope you feel loved and celebrated.



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