Wine Tasting at Farmer's Market

Our very successful Farmers' Market added a new element on Friday night -- wine tasting from our local Calvert County vineyards! Thanks to our super-wonderful Town staff members (who always go above and beyond) a tasting tent was set up on Fifth Street by Chesapeake Avenue and some locals and dignitaries were treated to some locally produced bites by Herrington on the Bay Catering while tasting wine and listening to speeches. Thanks were given to state Senator Mike Miller and Delegate Sue Kullen who supported this effort by sponsoring legislation that allowed this to happen in our wonderful little Town. Recognition should also go to Diane Burr and Sally Donaldson who were co-Market Managers for the event and without whose weekly hard work, none of this would have happened. I personally am very grateful to those two who manage our market week after week and ensure that everything runs smoothly. I would name others who were instrumental in making this event a success but I might inadvertently miss someone and that would be a real shame. Wine-tastings will now be a weekly event at our market with the local wines available in our local shops. Now, if only we could entice a local artisan cheese-maker...

Welcome back to our Farmer's Market

Our North Beach Farmer's Market is back in business! The 2009 Farmer's Market season began on Friday, May 15th. My bag of goodies included 2 quarts of delicious strawberries from Swann Farms, my favorite breads from "Barbie the Bread Lady", some blueberry honey, and a beautiful bouquet of peonies for one of my favorite vases! I'm looking forward to another wonderful season of fresh items for my table & home!

A Wonderful Man

Sometimes, God decides to take people home with no warning and we are left to wonder why He took away such a wonderful person. William Poole, III went home to God on Friday. His family and North Beach have suffered a huge loss. Bill was well-known around the Beach. You could often find him tending the plants and flowers in the Town flowerbeds or the pots on corners. He attended the majority of Town events with his wonderful wife, Sheila, at his side. Bill was a Gardener. Not only did he garden at home and take care of other gardens but he was known to share plants from his gardens with other gardeners. Bill was also known as a participant in Town meetings - most often as a voice of reason. He felt passionately about the environment and was greatly disturbed by the number of large mature trees that have been disappearing around Town as he knew well the environmental impact of such losses. Bill supported the local Boys and Girls Club and the Senior Center. Bill raised a wonderful family including a daughter who influences many students with her wonderful teaching, and a son who serves his country in the US Army. Bill will be sorely missed by family and many, many friends and neighbors. http://www.rauschfuneralhomes.com/service/572/William-H,-Poole,-III

Gardening and Politics

Gardeners prepare the planting bed, plant a seed, add some fertilizer and water, and stand back to watch the plant grow for a bit. Gardeners tend the plant carefully, ensuring that it has enough water, light, and food to grow into a big and healthy plant. Sometimes the gardener has to deal with unwelcome additions to the garden -- weeds, whose seeds are brought in by other forces. Those weeds' sole purpose is to grow and they will use anything they need to do it, including the water, light, and food so lovingly provided by the gardener. If the gardener wants the plant to grow, he has to get rid of the weeds. Politics is very much like gardening. There are some people in politics whose sole purpose in life is to grow weeds. They throw those seeds out there, wait until they fall upon fertile ground, add plenty of manure and then keep feeding the manure hoping that the weed will gradually smother and kill the good plant. When it comes to politics, we are all a fertile garden waiting to be planted. Will your garden grow weeds? Or flowers? I keep an eye out for weeds in my garden, and they are ruthlessly yanked out. How about you? Remember, one little weed allowed to grow can ruin years of work and toil in your garden when it starts to spread its own little seeds.

Is it something in the water????

There seems to be several allegations being put out and about concerning a mysterious group called the "North Beach Citizens Council". Don't know who or what they are but they sure have at least one Town resident seriously freaked out and paranoid. Those folks who read neighborhood blogs will know what I'm referring to in this post. If you haven't heard about them, don't worry, neither has anyone else. It seems that someone's imagination might be working a little bit of overtime these days. Perhaps the long, dark days of winter might have something to do with it? I'm pretty sure it's not in our local water as the Town is very conscientious about making sure that our water supply is free of any contaminants. Enjoy your week!

North Beach Fire Department Open House

Our own North Beach Volunteer Fire Department (Company 1) is having their open house on Saturday, October 25, 2008 at the firehouse from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM. Take advantage of the opportunity to tour our local firehouse and learn about all of the wonderful things that our Firefighters and EMT's do to help us out. In case you didn't know, this is an all-volunteer company. They are definitely here when we all need them and are truly a dedicated bunch of people. If you just happen to have any spare change around your house or any extra discretionary income in these hard times, please try and steer a few dollars towards the Fire Department. You never realize how very much you appreciate them until that awful day when you need a fire truck or ambulance at your own house. My family always makes a donation every year. I look at it as a payment in advance and a way to say "thanks for being there to help". Although, I do have to say, I kind of miss hearing the old fire siren go off to call the volunteers in for a call -- changing times, I guess, and I do understand why the neighbors had a problem with it. I just always looked at it as a reassuring sound that meant that help was needed and would be provided. I know, I'm old school...

Any new events?

Although I try to keep up with what's going on around Town, I don't always catch everything so if you know of anything going on in North Beach that might be of interest to someone, feel free to add a "Comment" to this post. I'll work on investigating other options for adding content that might be of interest to others. In the meantime, don't miss our Haunted Boardwalk, coming up next weekend, October 25th, starting at 6:30 down on the Boardwalk. Whatever you do, don't miss the haunted house down on the boardwalk!!