Let's proclaim 2008 as the summer of a Baltimore garden; thank you, rain

July 5, 2008

It was on an early morning walk this week that I observed the evidence of the cooperating weather we've enjoyed this spring and summer. I was just off Charles Street, in the Homeland neighborhood. Lawns remain emerald green, without any early-July brown patches. I thought it was May in July.

Recent columns

• Old Haussner's in Highlandtown hid a trove of Cortes treasures in plain sight

  June 28, 2008

  Your eyes never quite knew where to gaze at art-filled old Haussner's Restaurant in Highlandtown. But if you looked toward the ceiling, near the lights and the ventilation system, a long row of paintings in heavy gilt frames seemed to be the extra guests at the party.

• With new traffic, change swept through Bolton Hill of the 1930s

  June 21, 2008

  It all began when a reader who lives on John Street in Bolton Hill wanted to learn the circumstances of the city's 1930s plan to extend Howard Street through his neighborhood via a route that includes the familiar hump-back bridge over the Jones Falls Expressway.

• Delectable meals were always a treat during those sweltering summer days

  June 14, 2008

  This week's hot spell made me think of some of the hot-weather culinary customs my family observed. On a brutal Baltimore afternoon in July, my mother would roast a turkey or pork loin in a nonair-conditioned kitchen. She would say, "Don't think about the heat." After all, she'd probably been shopping earlier in the day on Howard Street, on foot, and carrying her shopping bags home.

• As new buildings go up in downtown, nostalgia for old Baltimore builds up

  June 7, 2008

  Even in slow and deliberate Baltimore, things arrive and depart rapidly in the Inner Harbor East. I'd read that several new apartment towers were ready for residents. My niece Liz talks about its jazzy sportswear, shoe and handbag stores. And maybe one day this summer I'll make it to the movie theater complex now that the MTA has routed a new bus line along Fleet Street.

• As 'hot, buggy' summer returns to city, neighborhood, family traditions blossom

  May 24, 2008

  When the Johns Hopkins undergraduates start disappearing from the blocks around my Charles Village home, the Baltimore summer is around the corner. I miss these kids, but there's something relieving about the neighborhood intermission their departure brings. Friends of mine tell me it encourages the locals to show their faces.

• Musical theater productions once thrived in this Charles Village alleyway

  May 17, 2008

  An unassuming little building in an alley just off Charles and 22nd streets has long piqued my curiosity. Brittle 1930s play programs revealed it had been a legitimate community theater, but the rest of its tale remained cloudy.

• A day at the races is a glimpse of the good life in Baltimore City

  May 10, 2008

  About this time of the year a set of news stories appear to reveal how the spectator side of thoroughbred racing is about to perish. I read the accounts about Pimlico's fallen glory days and that the stands are empty, except for Preakness day.

• As Flower Mart blooms, a sea of color gives way to memories and little delights

  May 3, 2008

  There are mornings when I say to myself, do I really need another Flower Mart? Then I get my walking shoes on, pace down Charles Street, bless the lack of traffic (streets closed) and wind up in the right mood. Call it the Flowermart effect.

• Baltimore in details of Greek historian's book

  April 26, 2008

  My friend and neighbor Nick Prevas explained the other evening about how he became historian of the local Greek community.

• The memories of baseball legends haunt a Baltimore neighborhood

  April 19, 2008

  As the days grow longer and the weather more delightful, I've been lengthening my morning walks. The other day, I spotted a rowhouse being renovated in the first block of W. 24th St. It stands in the middle of the block, and it's probably the home of Baltimore Orioles legendary player Wee Willie Keeler.

• For years, Baltimore has not been on right track when it comes to public transit

  April 12, 2008

  Acouple times a year, I visit an old friend in Philadelphia, and when I return to Baltimore, I feel a kind of quirky envy. That city has the kind of fully functioning, reliable public transit network that Baltimore could use.

• Hippo's opening another night to remember

  February 14, 2004

  AS MY CAB turned south on Eutaw Street on Tuesday night, I asked the driver, "Where are the moving lights?"

• Hoping B&O Museum is able to maintain pieces of history

  February 22, 2003

  I’VE OFTEN thought that Baltimore possesses three truly great object collections: the Cone sisters' canvases, the treasure of Henry and William Walters and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Yes, the rail museum at Pratt and Poppleton, which suffered such a direct hit from this week's snowstorm, is this country's knockout stable of iron-horse history.

• Saturday nights in 'Perry Mason's' courtroom

  February 17, 2001

  THE TELEVISION shows of 45 years ago were fairly tame fare compared to what the networks and cable deliver today. But certainly when this medium was relatively new - and the arrival of a fresh set in the neighborhood was still something of a novelty - gathering around the black-and-white screen was an event.

• Chief medical advice from family: Get better

  February 10, 2001

  IHEARD this week from my sister, the mother of the twin girls who just turned 3. All her children (she has three) are down with the sort of childhood maladies that arrive in the late winter. Her washing machine is working overtime. The children just aren't themselves. Or are they?