FOR MONTHS, Patrick Bianchini of Greenbelt searched for the most romantic way to ask his girlfriend to marry him.
He found it at the Symphony of Lights in Columbia.
Bianchini, 30, and his fiancee, Carol Schuhart, 25, had been dating for 3 1/2 years.
According to the groom-to-be, Schuhart had been expecting a proposal for six months.
"She's been waiting for me to get my feet moving," Bianchini said.
It took him months to find the perfect ring -- a "hearts on fire" diamond in a platinum setting.
Once the ring arrived, he moved on to the next phase of his plan.
Bianchini saw a newspaper ad for the Symphony of Lights.
"I decided to give them a call and propose my idea to them, expecting they were going to think I was off my rocker," he said.
Luckily for Bianchini, his call was answered by Sandi Posin, an employee of the Howard Hospital Foundation.
The foundation sponsors the Symphony of Lights as a fund-raiser for Howard County General Hospital.
Posin said, "We've never had a request for anything like this before. He was nervous, and I took him under my wing."
Posin recommended Bianchini have a sign professionally made at Signs by Tomorrow, in Baltimore. The 4-foot-by-3-foot turquoise-and-white sign read, "Carol, Will you marry me? Pat."
The sign was decorated with pictures of a sparkling ring, stick figures showing a man kneeling in front of a woman and a vine of roses.
Bianchini made a date with Schuhart to drive to Columbia, have dinner at the Macaroni Grill, see the lights and shop at The Mall in Columbia.
"I was nervous, hoping everything was in place and that I hadn't blown the surprise for Carol somehow," Bianchini said.
As they drove through the displays listening to Christmas music on the radio, Schuhart remarked on how romantic the lights were.
When they came down the hill approaching the sign, Schuhart said, "Oh, look at the kissing couple."
Then she saw the sign and started laughing and crying at the same time, Bianchini said.
He pulled the car to the side of the road where three friends were waiting, along with a television camera crew that had been tipped off about the impending event.
Posin was also there with a bottle of champagne and two glasses -- compliments of the hospital foundation.
Bianchini walked hand-in-hand with Schuhart toward the sign, where he dropped to one knee and asked, "Would you make me a lucky man and marry me?"
Schuhart gave him the answer he was hoping for: "Yes!"
"I've been accused by Carol of not being romantic," Bianchini said.
If she ever complains of that again, Bianchini claims he'll simply reply, "December 17, 1998, Symphony of Lights."
Schuhart says that a visit to the holiday light display will now be an annual tradition.
The couple have not set a date for their wedding. They expect it will be late next year.
The meaning of Christmas
Piano teacher Maude Dennis, a resident of Long Reach, brought 10 of her students to entertain the residents of Harmony Hall Retirement Community on Saturday.
Harmony Hall is on Cedar Lane in Hickory Ridge village.
"We want to show the seniors that we care about them, and we want to share the true meaning of Christmas with them," Dennis said.
Dennis, originally from Liberia in west Africa, has been bringing students to Harmony Hall to sing and play the piano during the holidays for the past three years.
While they were at Harmony Hall, the students were delighted to see the train garden designed by Lisbon resident Dennis Moore.
Moore lives with his wife, Sherry, and their children, Christine, Greg and Caitlin.
Moore's interest in trains began when he was a child. His parents would set up a train garden for the holidays in their Baltimore rowhouse.
Moore had a train room in his home in Sewell's Orchard in Columbia. Last year, when the family moved to Lisbon, he decided to share his collection.
"I wanted to put it up where it could be enjoyed by more people," Moore said.
He contacted Nancy Aversa, recreation director at Harmony Hall, to see whether the retirement home would be interested in having a display for the holidays.
Aversa was excited about the idea and helped make arrangements.
L Moore contacted train supply companies to solicit donations.
Williams Electric Trains in Columbia donated a passenger train set and a freight train engine.
Other companies contributed lamp posts, houses and lighted buildings -- and more train sets.
The display was built on an 8-foot-square platform covered with green indoor-outdoor carpeting and sprinkled with artificial snow.
The layout features four continuously operating trains: a Christmas train; a passenger train with lighted passenger cars; a freight train with boxcars and a caboose; and a trolley.
It took Moore two weeks to build the display in his basement and 10 hours to assemble it at Harmony Hall.
The track plan that Moore designed leads the trains under, over and across each other on 75 feet of track.
Detailed scenes, including 30 human figures, are scattered throughout the display that includes 25 cars, signs, telephone poles and a train station.
Moore is still working on adding what he describes as "an environmental sound component."
The sounds of crickets and frogs will soon join the train whistles and the pleasant clickety-clack of trains running over tracks.
Helene Fribush, assistant recreation director at Harmony Hall, says, "The residents just love it."
Moore says residents have told him, "The train garden brings back memories."
The public also can enjoy an 8-by-20-foot train garden by Moore at Chatham Mall in Ellicott City through New Year's Day.
Pub Date: 12/23/98