Annapolis Wildlife

The grass grows high some days in our front yard, and who jumped out right by my feet but a baby rabbit. I call him Bun bun. My husband Peter refers to him as Wilbur.

Our Annapolis neighborhood, a 20 minute walk from City Dock, is teaming with wildlife. Bunny rabbits skirt their way across the streets at dusk, families of mallard ducks select the secluded side yards of homes on the banks of Spa Creek to build their nests. A blue heron searches for breakfast at Old Woman’s Cove at daybreak, while squirrels busily dig up the spring bulbs I planted seeking nourishment for themselves and their babies.

Each morning leaving for my walk, I eye my one tomato plant with tomatoes (purchased at the Farmers’ Market) to check no one has been nibbling at its fruit. The leaves of my basil plant are mysteriously absent. But it’s in a pot, and I have  no witness account of a creature sampling its minty flavor.

With such a large population of rabbits, it’s not surprising to also see a handsome red fox steathily walking about in the evening near Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. Everyone has to eat. What’s next, coyottes? Has anyone seen any recently?

Connecting With Community

What are they doing? It’s the 2008 Flagship Class of Leadership Anne Arundel doing a few stretches before starting a dance class.

It’s been a very rainy week and all week long I’ve been worrying and asking the fates, “Will it rain on Saturday?”
Saturday was Customer Appreciation Day at the Peter B. Crilly Nationwide Insurance Agency  in Annapolis. My husband Peter had scheduled a Moon Bounce, Satellite Glass was set to do free glass repair to damaged windshields and he’d bought lots and lots of food for a barbecue buffet.
The wind was blowing hard but the sun was shining. Associate Agents Kathy Gascon, Pamela Lewis, and Debbie Whittaker worked late

into the night making baked beans, macaroni salad, potato salad, and cole slaw. One of the customers brought home baked brownies. Fellow Nationwide agent Ed Owens and his wife Sharon were flipping burgers and hot dogs.
Our daughter Alex set up a face painting table and painted butterflies, footballs, kitty cats, and polka dots on the faces and forearms of at least 35 children. Debbie’s husband Chip volunteered to have a Nationwide symbol painted on his head. Over 125 people came by to enjoy the party. All I had to do was stand behind the tables and serve up the side dishes.
      My other “extra-curricular” project for the week, Leadership Anne Arundel Cultural Arts Day, was not quite a stress free—being an entire day of activities, but all went well. LAA  for those who are not familiar, is a program that mentors emerging leaders in the corporate, volunteer, and political sectors of Anne Arundel County by teaching them about some of the primary infrastructures—health & human services, education, criminal justice, government, environment, economics, the arts and how they are related to each other in a variety of ways. The flagship program, which I participated and graduated from in 2002, is a nine month program that requires a commitment of one to two days per month plus additional time for “homework” and the development of a community leadership project that you create and execute with some of your classmates. I have continued to volunteer with the program as a chair of Cultural Arts Day, the day that puts the focus on the arts and local history.
        This year my Co-Chair was David Jones, former Executive Director of the Chesapeake Arts Center and we worked with Davina Hill, the current CAC Executive Director, April Nynan Executive Director of the Arts Council and Linnell Bowen Executive Director of Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts to formulate a day that included artists workshops, round table discussions with some of the forty plus non-profit county arts groups, and culminated with a viewing “Pip and Zastrow” the local documentary film released earlier this year about the relationship between former Mayor Pip Moyer and retired Staunton Center Director Zastrow Simms. And it just so happened to be Zastrow’s birthday so we sang “Happy Birthday”.
         LAA participants learned drumming, drama, ceramics, dancing, and painting. Opening remarks from Lee Streby President and Executive Director of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra kicked off the morning activities and the day ended with creative presentations from the ‘Core Learning Teams” (a term you’ll just have to learn about if you take the course) sharing what they’ve learned about the county and themselves with their classmates.
Of course I can’t blog about what we’ve been working on at What’s Up? Publishing because then I’d be revealing our plans for the July/August, September, and October issues but we’ve got some great articles in the works plus new items every day on our website www.WhatsUpMag.com. If you have suggestions, send your comments. Thank you for reading.

 

Mother’s Day, Mother Earth, and Conserving Our Energy

I was driving down the road today, Mother’s Day, a little over the 65 mile per hour speed limit, and I started to wonder why am I driving so fast? If I wanted to conserve on fuel, I should be driving 55 miles per hour. Everyone knows that once you exceed 55 mph your mileage goes down, or do they? I’m of that age that remembers the oil embargo close to 35 years ago when everyone was trying to conserve– keep the heat thermostadt at 68 degrees, carpool, and drive 55 mph. We reduced oil consumption by as much as 20 percent. What happened? We all became complacent and forgot, brainwashed by the energy companies and now we’ve done so much damage to our planet no one has time to care. We’re all too busy trying to get somewhere quickly.
I was on my way from Annapolis to Baltimore to visit my mother. I came bearing gifts, although I wasn’t certain if they were the “right” gifts. My mom has a talent for asking for things as gifts that I just can’t find, although they sound simple enough. She wanted a turtleneck (to hide her ugly neck she told me) but in May a turtleneck is not easy to find other than by going online. But I was running out of time so I bought her a red knit top. I thought it looked nice but she didn’t want it, so that’s another trip back to the store. She did, however love the flowering potted plant I brought her, even though she didn’t want a plant.(I figured the plant would last longer than cut flowers). “The color of the flowers are great,” she told me. Okay I did something right. Here I am, a middle aged woman still trying to please my mother.
My mom has lots of plants. Unlike me, she has a green thumb, and is always taking cuttings and creating more potted plants to populate her cluttered home. I made lunch rather than taking her out(Crabmeat and avocado salad), because with her arthritic hips she prefers staying in and headed home before the next onslaught of rain. (No I did not reduce my speed to 55 mph.)
Meanwhile I’ve received phone calls from both my sons and my daughter was working on my Mother’s Day gift –planting a garden with her dad and making me dinner. (Hope they can keep up that garden!) It doesn’t matter really, at least they put the effort in and as to what they’re serving for dinner? It’s a surprise. Whatever they prepare I’m going to love it!
For me the biggest gift is taking the time to slow down, enjoy the green earth while it’s still here, enjoy my family. So maybe it is time to see about getting those speed limit signs changed!

Women, Song, Mother’s Day, and More

If you’re casting about for something to do with your Mom on Mother’s Day and she happens to love musicals and strong women, take her to see Vanishing Point. There’s only one more show left, Sunday afternoon May llth at the Annapolis Unitarian Universalist Church, a production of the Dignity Players and directed by Mickey Handwerger with music direction by Mark Hildebrand. The story is about three famous women who vanished—Amelia Earhart, Sister Aimee , and Agatha Christie. Or did they? Agatha Christie, one of my favorite early 20th century mystery writers vanished for eleven days in 1926. That same year evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson vanished for three weeks. In 1937 Amelia Earhart set out to fly around the world and disappeared on the last leg of her journey over the Pacific Ocean near Howland Island. How are their three disappearances linked?
All three actresses—Margaret Allman as Agatha Christie, Wendy Baird as Aimee Semple McPherson, Sheri Kuznicki as Amelia Earhart have lovely voices and incredible stamina as they perform this intense story that draws on historical record and the authors’ imagination.
Also opening this weekend is The Goat Or, Who is Sylvia by Edward ,Albee Winner of the 2002 Tony Award at the Bay Theatre Company in Annapolis directed by Lucinda Merry Browne., if you attend this Friday there is a Pre-Show reception.
Over at the Colonial Players in Annapolis is Hauptmann and you can read my review in the “Entertainment Blog” on the WhatsUpMag.com website.
And if you want to make a visit to Baltimore, The Color Purple is playing at The Hippodrome through May 18th and is excellent. Leading actress Jeanette Bayardelle has a phenomenal voice. While I loved the movie, the staged musical is completely different, equally as poignant and uplifting in a different way.
Yes, I am a theater junkie. Good live theater is inspiring and we have plenty of great opportunities to see a wide variety of plays within a small geographic area.
The May baskets around town are starting to wilt and fade, but many colorful azaleas and tulips are brightening up the Annapolis Historic District. My favorite time to walk downtown Annapolis is early morning, before it gets too crowded, but for those of you who may live further away, next time you’re planning a trip to your favorite downtown restaurant allow some time to stroll. Spring is a great time to soak up the local scenery.