Tidewater Times March 2024

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About the Cover Photographer

Matt Felperin

Matt Felperin is a DC area local, raised in Takoma Park, MD. He is the Roving Naturalist with NOVA Parks, the regional park system of Northern Virginia. Matt has always been drawn to nature, and has been sharing his findings with anyone within earshot since his days as a small child looking for salamanders and crayfish in nearby Sligo Creek. He truly treasures the Chesapeake Bay and has enjoyed field work and naturalist programs in several types of habitat within the Chesapeake Watershed. He credits working under naturalist Greg Kearns for truly

sparking his love of birds. As the NOVA Parks Roving Naturalist, Matt leads environmental education and recreation programs such as bird walks and kayak tours for the public. He views his wildlife photography work as one of the most useful tools to connect people with nature.

The bird on the cover, Flower Boy, is a male house finch taken in Kensington, Maryland

Feel free to contact him for appointments, prints, or for more information at mfelperinphoto@ gmail.com .

Organ Recital

by Helen Chappell

It’s the time of year I dread. Not just for all those post-holiday bills, but for the annual health checkups.

And as I age, unlike a fine wine but more like a fine whine, that list of checkups grows longer and longer.

When I was a girl, the aunt who partially raised me told me not to give an organ recital. But it was a do as I say, not a do as I do, like so many other adult admonitions.

“No one,” she said, “Wants to hear a list of your health aches and pains and your ailments.” Having

stood behind her in supermarkets for years while she stopped to chat with any one of her thousands of friends, I understood what she was telling me. People of a certain age just couldn’t resist reciting a litany of their woes.

My aunt called these organ recitals, since they always seemed to revolve around some piece of the body. My heart, my liver, my bowels, etc. Footnotes included arthritis, rheumatism, dental work and failing eyesight. Worthy matrons would lean into each other’s

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Organ Recital

carts to whisper about The Change. Since she could recite as well as the next church and good works lady, she contributed her share of woes. I soon grew bored and wandered over to stare at the dead fish on ice, but I learned enough.

Of course, as a kid, I thought it was all a huge joke, and a female preoccupation with your health was a woman’s way of exerting some kind of control in a male dominated world. At least that’s what I thought until I was dragging middle age on a trailer hitch.

Now, once a year at least, I have to trot to this doctor or that clinic for some test or poke ‘n’ prod or blood draw or mammogram or whatever. Sometimes it’s every few months, but right after New Year’s it’s all the annuals clogging my calendar and I have come to realize,

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Organ Recital

to my own amusement and horror, that I have started to both give and receive organ recitals. You wanna know my list? Of course you don’t, because, no sane person would.

Starting before Christmas and ending in February, I have annual visits with six or seven practitioners, all to make sure I’m not dead yet, and there are days when I need a confirmation. While I am charted as a pleasant patient, I often could add voodoo practitioner to that list.

Now, my late and much-loved friend Miss Edwina could have played the organ at Camden Yards. She had a legitimate share of aches and pains and, like women of an -

Organ Recital

other generation, caught between subservient Tilghman woman and feisty feminist, she could organ recital with the best of them, but she was also willing to listen to your recital. I learned how to make oyster fritters and survive menopause in her kitchen.

As you get older, a lot of the precepts you once scoffed at tragically prove that age has wisdom. That aunt also told me, “men are like little puppies and you have to treat them that way.” Oh, I laughed at the time, but at this end of the candle I’m recognizing how right she was about a lot of things. Up to and including organ recitals.

I try, Lord knows I try, not to give organ recitals because they’re a bore, frankly. No one cares about my aching back or my lack of breath. I try to at least look like a good listener when I’m next to someone at physical therapy, and I remind myself they’re there because their problems are as bad or may be worse than mine. And when it comes to my back and breathing,

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I have a fine whine all my own.

But when I start up, I try to remind myself that no one wants to hear my organ recital.

It’s inevitable, when you’re sitting in a waiting room with the TV carefully tuned to something innocuous like The Weather Channel, to strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to you and they start playing Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Well, you just have to come back with some E. Power Biggs. Sometimes I have enough home training to stop myself, other times it pours out of me as if someone pulled the vox humana stop and I am deeply ashamed.

Helen Chappell is the creator of the Sam and Hollis mystery series and the Oysterback stories, as well as The Chesapeake Book of the Dead . Under her pen names, Rebecca Baldwin and Caroline Brooks, she has published a number of historical novels.

Canadian Rockies

Glaciers, Glaciers, Glaciers by Bonna L. Nelson

As long as I live, I’ll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I’ll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche. I’ll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can.

After exploring Canada’s Calgary, Banff, and their picturesque environs, including the Badlands, Rocky Mountains, national parks, historic sites, lakes, waterfalls and rivers, we next traveled in a northwest direction to immerse ourselves in glaciers.

(See the previous Canadian Rockies stories in the Tidewater Times January and February 2024 issues).

~ John Muir

Most of us must undertake a bit of travel to see a glacier. While glaciers once covered a third of Earth’s land during the last Ice Age, ending over 10,000 years ago, now they are only found on high mountain ranges and the polar regions of the Arctic and Antarctica. If you are as fascinated by glaciers as I am, the Canadian Rockies offers quite accessible op -

Canadian Rockies

portunities to observe and explore them.

We think of glaciers as snowy, icy masses, beautifully draped like blankets over mountains and tucked into crevasses and valleys, and they are. But how are they formed? What are the various types, sizes and ages of glaciers? I gleaned answers to these questions about glaciers from our tour and tour guides; from my readings of Smithsonian Guides; the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. National Park Service, National Geographic websites and several travel guidebooks.

Most scientific descriptions of glaciers speak of large, thick masses of ice that form on Earth when fallen snow gets compressed into ice over many centuries. Glaciers are an accumulation of crystalline ice, snow, rock and sediment, and often liquid water. The slowly moving ice masses flow downward from the influence of their own weight and the pull of gravity, thus that drapey look over mountains and valleys. Glaciers can range in age from a couple hundred to thousands (some say millions) of years old, and most are remnants of the previous Ice Age.

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This fact surprised me: glacier ice, like limestone, is considered a type of rock. It is made of only one rock, the crystalline form of water. According to the USGS, “Most glacier ice forms through the metamorphism of tens of thousands of individual snow -

Canadian Rockies

flakes into crystals of glacier ice.” Hard to fathom that fragile, delicate snowflakes mash together to form the icy masses of gigantic glaciers.

Glaciers are classified by their size from largest to smallest, ice sheet, ice cap, cirque glacier, valley glacier; location; and thermal environs, such as polar versus temperate. Ice sheets are continental-scale bodies of ice, now only in Antarctica and Greenland. Ice fields are smaller than ice sheets and collect in high elevation catchment areas with mountains and ridges that jut out above the ice and influence its flow. Cirque glaciers originate high in the mountains and form in small bowls with steep sides (cirques). Valley glaciers form high

and flow to the valley, terminating there.

On a recent adventure, feeling like John Muir, we walked across a glacier in the Canadian Rockies near the town of Jasper. John Muir, the naturalist and preservationist, in his writings encouraged humankind to enjoy, appreciate and preserve wilderness landscapes like those we journeyed through on our Canadian Rockies tour. Though his adventures were primarily in the U.S., we nevertheless followed his example to “get as near the heart of the world” and “hear waterfalls,” rivers and the crunch and movement of glaciers, as we could. Exhilarating, never to be forgotten!

The Canadian Rockies boast a spectacular array of glaciers, contributing to the region’s stunning natural beauty. These glaciers, formed over thousands of years, are remnants of the last ice age and play a crucial role in shaping the landscape. Among the notable glaciers in the Canadian Rockies are the Athabasca Glacier, Columbia Icefield and Peyto Glacier. These icy wonders are situated within the expansive mountain ranges, creating a mesmerizing contrast with the rugged peaks and alpine meadows.

Glaciers in the Canadian Rockies are characterized by their vast expanses of ice, which slowly flow downhill under the influence of gravity. The Columbia Icefields, one of the largest accumulations of ice

Canadian Rockies

and snow in the Rocky Mountains, serves as a primary source of several glaciers in the region. These glaciers not only contribute to the scenic grandeur but also play a crucial role in providing freshwater to rivers and ecosystems downstream. Visitors often marvel at the unique blue hues of the glacier ice, a result of the ice’s dense structure absorbing other colors.

While the Canadian Rockies’ glaciers offer breathtaking vistas, they are also indicators of ongoing environmental changes. Like many glaciers worldwide, those in this region are experiencing the effects of

climate change, with some retreating over time. The study of these glaciers provides valuable insights into the broader impacts of climate change on mountainous ecosystems and highlights the importance of preserving these natural wonders for future generations. This is according to a ChatGPT app, AI query (1/24), see note at end of the story.

The final leg of our Canadian Rockies journey was all about glaciers in northwestern Canada. Our first big taste of the giant white masses was on a drive along the Icefields Parkway to the town of Jasper, our home base for a few days. Waterfalls, canyons, glaciers, glacier lakes and the snow-capped Rocky

Canadian Rockies Mountains lined the Parkway leading to the 4,200-square mile Jasper Park, Canada’s largest national park.

The Icefields Parkway, winding through snow-domed peaks and massive hanging glaciers, is considered one of the most beautiful drives in the world. We—my husband, John, our friends Genny and Tom, and I—wholeheartedly agreed that the views were astounding. The only sounds on the Caravan Tours bus as we traveled the route, were “Oohs” and “Aahs” as we passed one stunning scene after another, and the click, click, click of cell phone cameras.

We were surrounded by the sheer beauty and power of glaciers and glacial lakes. We passed Peyto Lake, Peyto Glacier, Bow Glacier, which

Canadian Rockies

feeds the Bow River, Saskatchewan Glacier, Columbia Icefields, Athabasca Waterfalls and Athabasca Glacier and made a few photo stops along the way. We would visit some of these sites the next day but by then we were ready for food and sleep.

We had a delicious dinner and pleasant night at the cozy Jasper House bungalows on the Athabasca River above the town of Jasper. There we saw elk free roaming through the open spaces and walked down to the river after breakfast. Next, we traveled around Jasper National Park (JNP), stopping to view Athabasca Glacier and falls

and various other ancient glaciers, thundering waterfalls, crystal clear glacial lakes and jagged peaks.

JNP is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with stunning and diverse mountain landscapes. It is the biggest national park in the Canadian Rockies and contains 2,000 lakes. Famous for the most visited glacier in North America, the Athabasca Glacier, we were headed there next on the Icefields Parkway.

We learned from our tour guide that the rivers in this area flow north to the Arctic and that the magnificent, spectacular lakes, waterfalls and rivers are mostly created from melting glaciers. We learned also that the rock, sand and gravel at

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Canadian Rockies

the bottom of some of the glaciers, mountains and on the banks of rivers and lakes is called moraine, deposited by melting, receding glaciers.

Located in the southern end of JNP, Athabasca Glacier is one of the six principal glaciers fed by the Columbia Icefield. The Icefield is the largest in the Canadian Rockies and covers around 89 square miles at depths of up to 1,200 feet. The Icefield forms a high-altitude ice cap that lies on a plateau. The Athabasca Glacier is a large toe extending from the Columbia Icefield.

Athabasca Glacier is approximately 3.7 miles long and is between 300 and 980 feet thick. The glacier currently recedes at the rate of about 16 feet per year and has lost over half of its volume in the past 125 years. We were looking forward to experiencing an ice walk on the glacier.

We left the famed Icefields Parkway and disembarked at the Columbia Icefields Discovery Center situated across from the glacier that we would soon walk on. The center had wonderful amenities, including tour information, interpretative exhibits, dining facilities and a gift shop. We dined on the deck, facing the 7,200-foot high Columbia Icefields, a giant alpine lake of ice, and Athabasca Glacier, a landscape frozen in time, while we basked in the warmth of the sun with temperatures in the 60s. A divine experience never to be forgotten.

Next, we boarded the large red Ice Explorer trucks, all-terrain vehicles with big viewing windows and gigantic tires to ride high up to and across the glacier. An experienced driver drove the vehicle, and a guide shared information about the importance of glaciers. The massive trucks drove up steep glacier moraines to the Athabasca Glacier, where we disembarked. We were on our own to trek across the glacier, take photos and drink from the pure glacier water melting on its sides.

Exhilarating! Magical! The ice was many things: rough, smooth, bumpy, noisy, slippery, crunchy, white, blue and black/gray in color. I felt like John Muir, at one with nature, walking on that amazing, natural gem. It felt otherworldly.

We ended the last touring day of our spectacular adventure by exploring the unique town of Jasper, smaller than Banff and less touristy.

Canadian Rockies

This is the commercial center of the JNP. The attractive train station is a centerpiece for the town. We enjoyed browsing in some shops, a tasty meal and some ice cream. We sat outside encircled by a panorama of snowcapped mountains and glaciers. I took a deep breath and felt at peace.

Mark Twain said, “A man who keeps company with glaciers comes to feel tolerably insignificant by and by.” Everyone on our tour could relate to this Twain observation. Whether driving by, hiking by or walking on glaciers and the Rocky Mountains we thought about our place in nature and the world, our insignificance, yes. But we also thought about how important it is for us to travel to observe these wonders of nature and to do our part in preserv-

ing as much of the wilderness as we can for future generations.

NOTE: I included information/a quote/a response in this story to a ChatGPT app query about the Canadian Rockies glaciers. I am interested in learning more about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and started to explore it by downloading the app and experimenting with sending it queries. ChatGPT is a large language model AI chatbot developed by OpenAI. It is trained on a massive dataset of text and code to generate text and creative content. There is much controversy over its use. An upcoming story? Perhaps.

Bonna L. Nelson is a Bay-area writer, columnist, photographer and world traveler. She resides in Easton with her husband, John.

Among the Wildflowers

by Michael Valliant

March is a breakout month. After being cooped up in the cold dark of winter, March is the time to kick the door open and find warmer days to be outside. The color green starts throwing its paintbrush Jackson Pollock-style, flinging spring onto the ground and into the trees. And the bones and the mind start to wonder and wander.

Everyone comes through the door to spring with things they’ve accumulated or taken in during the winter. My catapults for spring this year

have me focused on creativity, spontaneity, and community, by way of two documentaries and the return of an all-time favorite television show, which is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

From 1976 to 1991, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released eight albums, each going gold, platinum, or platinum multiple times over. They were household names; their songs were known by heart and song in cars and showers. They had a sound and expectations put on them both

Wildflowers keep churning out hits,’” she said. “And he was always kicking that gate open and going, ‘no I am just going to go hang out with my friends and make some music.’”

by fans and by record labels. And then Tom Petty pivoted and decided to release a solo album. The documentary, “Tom Petty: Somewhere You Feel Free,” compiles video, interviews, commentary, and a look back at the making of the album “Wildflowers,” which came out in 1994.

“Wildlowers” was a movement away from what was expected, what was demanded, and instead was a stepping into the freedom to create what he felt compelled to write.

“I had no control over what I wrote at that time,” Petty said in the film. “I didn’t edit myself, I didn’t hold anything back, I just let it come out.”

Petty’s daughter Adria remembers it this way:

“The story of Wildflowers at the time it was created was about a lot of people saying, “stay in this pen and

Petty died in 2017. In 2020, they found footage that was shot between 1993 and 1995 as the album was being recorded. Watching the film is like going back in time. In creating something different, doing things his own way, Petty was aware that there was a change in what he was creating.

“He had gone to a different emotional place or a different way of revealing emotion,” said Benmont Tench, keyboardist for the Heartbreakers.

The resulting album is the most talked about and lauded album Petty

created and it went platinum multiple times over. “Wildflowers” is a testament and testimony to growth, staying true to yourself, and creating what is inside of you, regardless of expectations. That speaks to me as I get further into my 50’s and look to be ordained this summer as a transitional deacon en route to becoming a priest in the Episcopal Church. There is a prescribed path with expectations and responsibilities, but there is also creative freedom to answer your calling in a personal way. Just as no two people are the same, no two artists are the same, no two writers are the same, and no two deacons or priests are the same. Holding on to a sense of creative freedom and calling is

a lifelong unfolding. Watching the making of “Wildflowers” spoke to me and sends me out into the spring, the energy of the season, renewed and inspired.

Wanderlust is a feeling that wakes up with the spring. The urge for spring break is not just for teenagers and college students. Jimmy Buffett wasn’t off base with his notion of “Changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes.” I don’t know how many times I have watched Jeff Johnson’s documentary, “180 Degrees South.” Johnson was inspired by a 1968 trip taken by Yvon Chouinard (the founder of Patagonia) and Doug Tompkins (the founder of The North Face) before their companies had really begun and before either of those brands meant anything to anyone. Chouinard and Tompkins loaded surfboards and climbing gear into a Volkswagen Bus and drove 10,000 miles south to Patagonia to climb Mount Fitz Roy. Chouinard said the trip set the course for what they were going to do with the rest of their lives.

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Jeff Johnson is a photographer, filmmaker, surfer, and climber. He found old footage of the epic and spontaneous 1968 trip. He got it in his mind he wanted to do something similar and years later heard about a sailboat that was heading south for Patagonia. Johnson had begun his career, was traveling less and came to a crossroads. He could take his two weeks of company vacation and fly down to Patagonia like a normal person, and come back to his corporate job. Or he could take a chance, embody the spontaneity of the original trip, and get on the boat.

“Every mile I travel, I learn something new,” Chouinard said. “Hopefully it helps me to be a better person.”

“If I do (hop the boat), my future is unwritten,” Johnson said. The Wildflowers adventures that ensue, including Johnson and his friends meeting Chouinard and Tompkins down there, are the story of the film, and the stuff of dreams and a lifetime.

I am someone who finds adventure in my backyard. I can appreciate so many of the things we have here on the Eastern Shore. I tend to be a homebody. Every time I watch “180 Degrees South,” something stirs in me. In 2022, Holly and I took a trip to Alaska, which was a first for both of us. Coming into spring with spontaneous travel stories stirring in my soul, I want to remain open to doing something different; getting out of routines; allowing the Spirit to move us and send us in unexpected directions.

The quirky 1990s show “Northern Exposure” is my favorite television show of all-time. The fictional town of Cicely, Alaska, is the kind of place I would love to live. We found the closest thing to it in real life Alaska, in the town of Hope. This winter, Amazon Prime began streaming the complete seasons of the show, which could only be found on DVD up until now.

Having every episode and every season of “Northern Exposure” at the tip of the remote control has helped pass the indoor season. The sense of community is what

stands out the most, the way people come together, the way they help each other, the friendships they have, and the way the environment around them shapes who they are and what they do.

Obviously the climate and geography are different, but it reminds me of growing up on the Eastern Shore in the 1970s and 1980s. My great aunt Louise (Valliant) Willis ran “The Town Shoppe” in Oxford on the corner of Morris Street and Tilghman Street. Everyone in the town knew each other; people came out to Little League baseball games even if they didn’t have kids playing. The Eastern Shore was full of

towns that were their own versions of Cicely.

And it still is. Seasonal wanderlust and the need to break routines aside, I can’t imagine living anywhere else. The Eastern Shore wakes up in the spring and in the smallest towns, shops begin to reopen, the Oxford Bellevue Ferry starts running again, and from kayaks and paddleboards, to sailboats and powerboats of all sizes and shapes, the rivers, creeks, and Bay come back to life. As the weather warms and people are outside more, it isn’t hard to find and feel a small-town sense of community.

As we head into springtime, creativity, freedom, spontaneity, and community are the things on my heart and my mind. Maybe you feel it, too.

“You belong among the wildflowers. You belong in a boat out at sea. Sail away, kill off the hours, You belong somewhere you feel free.”

What Tom Petty said.

Michael Valliant is the Assistant for Adult Education and Newcomers Ministry at Christ Church Easton. He has worked for non-profit organizations throughout Talbot County, including the Oxford Community Center, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and Academy Art Museum.

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Events for March 2024

FRI. 3/1 - The Reagan Years - Avalon - 7 p.m.

SAT. 3/2 - Katie Henry Band - Stoltz - 7 p.m.

THURS. 3/7 - Alaina Stacey & Madeleine Kelson - Stoltz - 7 p.m.

FRI. 3/8 - Dinsey’s The Lion King Kids - Avalon - 7 p.m.

SAT. 3/9 - Dinsey’s The Lion King Kids - Avalon - 7 p.m.

SAT. 3/9 - The Met: Live in HD La Forza Del Destino - 12 p.m.

SAT. 3/9 - Medium Debbie Wojciechowski - Stoltz- 7 p.m.

TUES. 3/10 - Jonathan Richman - Avalon - 8 p.m.

THURS. 3/14 - Chris Trapper - Stoltz - 8 p.m.

FRI. 3/15 - An Evening with Tom Rush - Avalon - 8 p.m.

TUES.3/19 - Delmarva and the Ground for Change - Avalon - 6 p.m.

FRI. 3/22 - The Last Revel - Stoltz - 8 p.m.

SAT. 3/23 - The Met: Live in HD Romeo et Juliette - 12 p.m.

SAT. 3/23 - Griffin House - Stoltz - 8 p.m.

FRI. 3/29 - Everyday People- Avalon - 8 p.m.

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All Quiet on the Sound

A

novel

by B. P. Gallagher

Chapter 7: The Best Laid Plans

“Okay,” said Earl, raking his fingers through his hair as he paced back and forth before the hearth. It was easier to think in here with a wall and quilt separating them from Pastor Calhoun’s bludgeoned remains, but only just. He could still see blood pooled around the corner, but he was trying not to look at that. “Let’s get a few things straight. When did this happen, Maggie?”

Margaret had also positioned

herself with her back to the bloodslicked kitchen. She’d stopped sniffling—had never actually cried, in truth—and stood with her arms crossed tightly beneath her breasts. Her hands and sleeves were sticky with blood, which smeared onto her frock as she gave a tremulous shrug. “An hour, maybe an hour and a half. Can’t be much more than that.” Earl couldn’t help but observe again how composed she seemed. Shell-shocked, perhaps, but not distraught. In another con-

text, he might have admired her steely disposition. As it was, it disturbed him. A cool head would be a boon given the impossible situation they faced; Earl was just afraid that those mercenary instincts were what had gotten them into trouble in the first place.

“What’s he even doing here this time of day?” said Leon. “It’s too early for visitors, and there’s nobody much home anyways.”

“He’s done it before,” said Earl, recalling his last living encounter with the Pastor. “Came prowling ’round here that time I stayed home to fix the roof, too.” Maggie’s visceral reaction that day made a lot more sense now, come to think of it.

“Sneaking bastard,” said Leon, fists clenched. “All those years when we were kids, and he always did love turning up to whisper poison in Mom’s ear whenever Pop was out. Who knows when else he’s been coming by, poking his nose where it don’t belong?”

“But what for? Afternoon I spent up on the roof he went straight to Clara Gibbs’s house, and neither she nor the Geezer were home far as I could tell.”

“Covering his tracks,” said Maggie. “That can’t’ve been more than two days after…what he did to Clara. The first time, anyways. Could—could be he was looking to do it again, or worse.”

Acknowledging it aloud, even obliquely, was painful enough to set her sniffling. Earl, feeling a surge of sympathy for his little sister, placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Margaret’s frame seemed much too small and frail to have delivered the killing strokes that felled the pastor, that towering figure whose outsized influence had for years lain like a black shadow upon their childhoods. David slaying Goliath, if Goliath had spent decades before their fatal encounter as a frequent guest in the tent of David’s parents.

And he came here next, thought Earl. Failing to find Clara, Pastor Calhoun had come to the Higgins house looking for… Maggie. His resolve to protect her hardened, as it did to see that the villain’s punishment stood—that he stayed vanquished. Peter Calhoun had done enough damage to this family in life; he would not dictate their fates in death.

“Still…” Leon was stuck mulling something over. Good thing, too, because Earl’s frazzled brain had overlooked it for a triviality. “He musta damn near swamped his truck getting here, if the tide was barely out when you n’ me got back!”

“His truck!” said Earl. “We can’t just leave it sitting in the driveway when folks start getting home!”

Any minute now, he realized, stomach plummeting. The clock on the mantel showed twentyeight minutes past four. Shit. They

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must’ve wasted the last twenty minutes talking it over, and hardly any concrete strategizing at all in that time. Even leaving this instant, it’d be a miracle if they could get the damned rust-bucket Shore-side without passing homebound neighbors along the way.

“I’ll take it off-island,” he said, planning aloud. “Go park it in the woods somewhere for the night, maybe back in that glade near Billy Wright’s fields where you shot that eight-pointer last year.”

“Not there,” said Leon. “Too far. And Billy hunts there some weekends himself.”

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son Creek?” Maggie said. “Pop always said it was his secret fishing hole, and you can reach it by water as well. Could retrieve it tomorrow and get rid of the truck that way.”

Earl and Leon exchanged a puzzled glance. How did Maggie know about the Gleeson hole? The brothers hadn’t been back there together in years. When had their sister ever been? And who with? More to the point, though, it was a sound idea, and disposing of the truck by water an even better one. Rather than question the origins of her logic, Earl said, “Sounds like a plan. I’ll—” He paused, swallowed drily. “Uh… You happen to see where he kept his keys, Maggie?”

She blanched. “In his pocket, I guess.”

“Stay put in the den, Maggs,” said Earl. Why he felt the need to spare her the sight of the carnage she’d wrought, he didn’t know, but that wasn’t the sole reason. “Leon, I need you in the other room for a moment.” Leon gulped, hesitated. “Now!” said Earl.

“Best stay here with Maggie when I take the man’s truck,” murmured Earl when she was out of earshot. “I don’t like thinking what other trouble she might get into left to her own devices.”

“You sure?” said Leon. He sounded disappointed—or maybe he was just thinking about having to stay behind with the corpse.

Beneath its mildewy patchwork

shroud the body looked vaguely foreign. Could that really be a person under there, or some sort of slain beast? A vicious predator, maybe. Both, thought Earl. Almost he expected to see it stir—not dead, but sleeping. Then he drew back the quilt and saw the horribly misshapen skull, the leaking divots where the claw of Pop’s roofing hammer—the end designed for breaking shakes and shingles to size—had struck home. Only a person after all, and Earl could think of few deader than that.

He nodded in answer to Leon’s question, fighting down the urge to retch. “I’ll have to hitch home with somebody once I drive it into the woods. Don’t worry—I’ll cut

through the fields and pop out on a different road before catching a ride, like I’m on my way home from work. Can’t hurt for folks to see me elsewhere so we can start building an alibi, if it comes to that.” Lord, he hoped not.

“What if nobody comes by?”

“Then I guess I’m walking back. If I haven’t showed by seven or so, row ashore to pick me up.”

“What about him?” Leon nodded towards the corpse, still managing not to look directly at it.

“We’ll figure out what to do with him when I get back. Just leave him be for now. And don’t take any visitors while I’m gone!”

“I ain’t stupid, Earl.”

“I know you ain’t. Just covering

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all our bases, that’s all.” Now came the distasteful part. Crouching on his heels in the slick of blood and God knew what else, Earl rifled through the dead man’s pockets for the keys to his truck. No luck. Nothing but a miniature book of Psalms in the breast pocket of his jacket and a wallet in his front trouser pockets. Which meant it was time for the even more distasteful part. “Gotta roll him over.”

“What happened to leave him be?”

“Keys must be in his back pocket.”

“Oh, lord.” Leon looked greener than ever. Earl had never known

his brother to be so squeamish, but then again, this was a lot different than stumbling across a rotten deer carcass in the woods.

“I’ll get his arm, you get his pantleg.” Gripping the preacher’s sleeve, Earl rolled the dead man onto his stomach. He tried not to dwell on the boneless way Pastor Calhoun’s arm flopped back down into the congealed swill of bodily fluids upon the floor. All for naught— Nothing in the seat pockets either.

“Left ’em in the goddamn truck,” said Leon, stepping clear of the looted corpse with a look of fresh horror.

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All Quiet

to assign hiding the truck to Leon. He settled for clapping his older brother on the shoulders, looking him dead in the eye, and insisting, “Stay here with Maggie. And don’t go anywhere, hear me? Neither of you, unless I’m not back by seven. If that happens, row across to get me—but only then!”

With that, he raced out the door.

Pastor Calhoun’s truck was old, but it ran, and Earl, having zero interest in preserving its decrepit machinery, pushed it to its limit. All he cared about was beating the early crowd home. So far so good. Passing no cars, he sped down the island’s dirt lane and raced across 410-822-7716

the land bridge, pushing the bloody Ford truck to a cool thirty miles an hour—probably the fastest it’d ever moved. Careening along country roads as the sun disappeared over the horizon, he went off-road at the first sight of headlamps in the distance—he’d thought to leave the truck’s headlamps switched off, thank God—and skirted a field of winter wheat before turning onto the wooded farm lane that led to Pop’s fishing hole on Gleeson Creek.

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At one time the secluded road had served as a throughway between neighboring plantations owned by members of the same Shore clan. But one or the other farm had passed out of family hands in the intervening years, and the farm lane had fallen out of use except by tractors during harvest season. The close side of Gleeson Creek was bordered by a wood of tulip poplar and pine, among which Earl parked Pastor Calhoun’s truck. It should be safe there until they figured out what the hell to do with it. Down the embankment from the glade where he hid the truck was the fishing hole itself, a dirt landing on the creek. It would require some mighty skillful boating, but if he and Leon came by with a barge in the small hours, they might be able to remove the truck by water with none the wiser. From there, well… the Bay giveth, and the Bay taketh away.

Earl considered the issue further as he hiked back to the main road

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through the woods. Sporadic traffic trundled by, but he kept out of sight until he reached a stretch of road on his accustomed route home from the boatyard. Why risk inviting questions in the first place by being anywhere unexpected? He was starting to think he really would be walking all the way back when a suitable ride appeared at last: a Model T, its exterior appearing jet-black in the fading light, though Earl knew it to be navy blue. A suitable ride indeed, but far from opportune. In fact, close to the last person Earl would’ve picked to share the twenty-minute ride home with. Too late to change course, though. The driv-

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er had already spotted him and was slowing down, and making himself scarce now would look suspicious.

“Need a ride, Earl Higgins?” said a familiar, raspy voice as the Ford rolled to a stop. At the wheel was none other than Geezer Gibbs, perennial cigarette dangling from his lips. Quitting must not be sticking so well, Earl observed. Or maybe the man had given it up for a lost cause this late in the game.

“Sure could, Mister Gibbs. Much obliged.”

“Get in, then. Long day on the docks?”

“Sure was,” Earl lied. “Stayed late to finish up some crab pots. Just trying to give Maggie a good Christmas, that’s all.” There, that was easy enough. Not even strictly untrue, if you squinted hard enough.

“That’s nice,” said Geezer Gibbs. He appeared to have something on his mind, and with compulsory small talk out of the way, seemed content to drive and smoke and mull it over in peace. That arrangement was fine by Earl; so much so, he was rather alarmed when the aged waterman turned back to him only a few minutes later and said, “Alright there, boy? You don’t look so hot.”

“I’m fine,” said Earl quickly.

“You sure? You’re shivering, and you look a mite sweaty to tell you the truth.”

“I’m all right, Mister Gibbs, really. Thanks for asking.”

You don’t look so good yourself, he might’ve said. The old man was sallower and thinner than Earl had ever seen him.

“And your family? How’re they?”

“Uhm…We’re good,” said Earl. Peachy! Got a Pastor in the parlor as we speak, dead as a doornail! “How ’bout yourself?”

“So-so.” Smoldering cigarette ash showered from the driver’s side in a cascade of brilliant stardust. “Listen, it’s real kind what your sister’s done to help us out. My Clara appreciates it, and lord knows I do.”

Earl froze. For an instant of sheer panic he considered leaping straightaway from the Model T. At twenty-five miles an hour, he could probably tumble into the ditch and

come up no worse for wear. Then he remembered the extra meals Maggie had been taking over to the Gibbs house these past weeks and was able to breathe again. The howling fracas in his mind quieted to a dull roar.

“Maggie don’t mind helping out,” he said. That’s just the problem, ain’t it? Then, desperate to change the subject, he added, “What about Clara? How’s she making out?”

A graceless, tactless way to broach the topic, given what Earl now knew, but anything to steer the conversation away from Maggie’s charitable endeavors and supposed good deeds. Sure enough, Geezer Gibbs seemed to recede inwards at the question, his features grow-

ing still more wan and peaked, if that was possible. The pain in that haggard expression made Earl feel slimier than an eel.

“Clara’s staying with her aunt in Salisbury for the next week or so,” said the waterman quietly. “That’s where I’m headed back from now.”

“Oh,” said Earl. The next lapse in conversation stretched out painfully. This time it was Earl who could no longer abide the silence, broken only by the sounds of the road and the labored cadence of Mr. Gibbs’s wheezing breath. “Say, would it help you out if I wintered that boat of yours for you? Not to intrude, but I notice she hasn’t been out of late.”

Geezer Gibbs grunted, cleared his throat. The nub of his cigarette went out the window. He didn’t produce another. Maybe he was limiting himself to one these days. If so, it was a considerable concession. There was a slight hitch in the oldtimer’s voice as he said, “My days on the wooder are numbered, now. If you wanna take the Marylou out sometime, you’re welcome to her. Anytime, really. Just don’t let that fool brother of yours at the helm and we’ll be square.”

Earl was taken aback. “Oh, uh… Thanks, Mister Gibbs. I will. You sure?”

Geezer Gibbs nodded. “Yeah, well—I figure somebody oughta get use outta her. Lord knows Clara

won’t. She was my father’s before me and woulda gone to my son, Clara’s daddy, but he’s gone now, and Clara’s got no interest. Not that I’d want her living the life of a waterman anyhow—even if I did think women had any business captaining a boat. Hard life, that, and she deserves easier.” The old waterman’s voice shuddered; he seemed close to tears. “Lord knows she deserves easier than she’s had it. Funny thing is, I always thought you might make a good match for her, Earl Higgins.”

To have his merits as a possible suitor for Clara pointed out in the midst of covering up her rapist’s brazen murder was almost too much for Earl’s rational mind to bear. What a horribly bizarre encounter this was turning out to be, root to stem! Another strange episode in this surreal nightmare of a day.

When they reached Moore Island a short time later, Earl was relieved to find his house calm and free of lawmen. He had Geezer Gibbs drop him off at the end of the lane and, thanking and wishing his elderly neighbor a good night, ran the rest of the way home at a dead sprint. Only when he stopped to take off his shoes in the front hall did he notice that they were still smeared with the pastor’s blood. He would just have to pray none had rubbed off in the Geezer’s motorcar.

Leon and Maggie were waiting in the den with a plan on ice, cun-

ningly devised and coolly delivered within moments of Earl’s return. They would go tonight by cover of darkness, by land and by water, and by morning all trace of Pastor Calhoun’s final, fateful visit to Moore Island would be gone. By New Year’s, the preacher’s disappearance would doubtless be noted by his constituency; but who by then would be able to recollect anything about his predatory housecalls? Hard to imagine the good pastor had been publicizing such a shameful predilection. Thus, Maggie and Leon proposed, they would use the secrecy Peter Calhoun had cultivated in life against him in death.

Each sibling had a vital part to play. Maggie, who had begun this miserable, irrevocable day insisting she wanted to clean the house, would end the night by scrubbing every inch of it—especially the dining area, kitchen, and front hall. She was to burn the blood-stained tablecloth, broken dining chair, mahogany handle from the roofing hammer, and anything else that might’ve come into contact with the pastor’s bodily fluids. Earl and Leon, meanwhile, would venture like thieves into the night, each with their own dire errand. Leon, employing his considerable skill as a tugboat operator, was to retrieve Pastor Calhoun’s vehicle by barge

from the glade near Gleeson Creek and sink it in the middle of the Bay. That part of the plan was strikingly similar to what Earl had come up with earlier, a serendipitous convergence he chalked up to some form of familial telepathy. Unfortunately, his siblings had left the responsibility of disposing of the corpse and murder weapon to him.

“You want me to row all the way to the Blackwater with a body in the foot of the boat?” he asked when Leon and Maggie finished pitching their plan.

“More or less,” said Margaret.

“That’s right,” said Leon.

“Why not dump it closer, in the Sound or Fishing Bay?” said Earl. His siblings shook their heads almost in unison, wearing matching expressions of mild disappointment. We thought this through already, dummy, their faces said.

God, they really are more alike than they’d ever care admit, thought Earl.

“They dredge for oysters both those places,” Maggie explained. “Too much chance of somebody turning up the body by accident

and sinking all of us. It’s got to be the Blackwater. And make sure you drop the head of that hammer far enough away from it that nobody’d think to make the connection, even if it did turn up someday.”

Earl looked aghast at his little sister. “You’ve given this some thought, haven’t you?”

“We both have,” said Leon, “and Maggie’s right. Gotta be the Blackwater. It’s the perfect place to hide something so it won’t ever be found! Hell, we’ve even joked about it before, Earl!”

“That’s the thing—joked! And it only felt safe to make jokes about ‘cos it seemed so far-fetched in the fi rst place!”

“What are jokes if not a seed of truth?” said Maggie.

Earl had no trouble whatsoever seeing the seed of truth—that part was never in doubt. Nor the fact that this was the best plan, or close to it. Entrusting Maggie’s fate to the authorities was not an option, not with Peter Calhoun involved. Problem was, Earl could see nothing to laugh about now, nothing at

all. He was afraid he might never laugh again.

“Just one night, Earl,” said Leon, “One night and we’ll be rid of this ghoul forever. Then we can put this all behind us. Whatever it takes, remember?”

“Whatever it takes,” said Earl. Although it had been Leon, not him, who made that vow originally. He was rather surprised his brother remembered, considering Leon had spoken it from the depths of a drunken depression. As for Maggie, who had decided to make the ordeal a family aff air without so much as a whiff of forewarning to either one of them, well… Whatever it takes. The words belonged to Earl too, even if he hadn’t lent them fi rst voice, and he would abide by them. Leaving his siblings to their preparations, he went to his room to gather himself for what that might entail.

Brendan Gallagher is a 2013 graduate of Easton High School and is currently finishing up a Ph.D. in Social-Personality Psychology at the University at Albany.

Haven on the Tred Avon: Life at Londonderry

by

Tracey F. Johns

Londonderry on the Tred Avon is more than a place for adults 62 years of age and older to retire. It’s a haven where residents share the power of purposeful living and the importance of a cooperative community.

The waterfront campus boasts cottages, apartments, a refined restaurant, a clubhouse and the historic Manor House, providing a diverse array of spaces to cater to the community’s dynamic preferences, whether bustling with activities or

offering serene contemplation. The Director of Health and Wellness is a registered nurse who promotes a holistic approach to aging.

“Living at Londonderry takes the worries out of homeownership. Our team makes retirement living hassle-free,” says Londonderry CEO Christine Harrington. “Our monthly fee covers everything from housekeeping twice a month to changing your lightbulbs, to make life easier for our residents.”

Harrington is an Easton native and began as CEO this past fall as a homecoming of sorts. With 14 years of experience in senior living, Harrington brings a wealth of knowledge and a genuine passion for senior living to her position, and a familiar sense of home.

“We have residents that are the parents of people I grew up with,” she says. “So, this is truly like serving an extended community of family to me.”

As CEO, Harrington emphasizes the cooperative nature of the community, stating, “the Londonderry residents and team work together.”

Harrington’s goals include maintaining Londonderry’s 33-year reputation for exceptional service and resort-style independent living while ensuring Londonderry evolves with the changing landscape of senior living.

“Understanding the unique fabric of Londonderry is important to me, including each of our residents, residents’ families, team

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members, and the Board of Directors,” said Harrington. She says the operational team meets weekly to stay updated on what is happening in each department.

Harrington encourages anyone who is thinking about a retirement living community to tour and experience firsthand the various activities and amenities that create Londonderry’s inviting environment. With a waiting list, Londonderry has a wide range of floorplans to fit anyone’s lifestyle, like the need for a garage or sunroom, for example.

“Building connections makes for a more vibrant life at any age,” Harrington says. “And Londonderry is where you can enjoy being a part of a community that is lifestyle focused. If you’ve never been here, I encourage you to come and explore earlier, rather than later,

to help live out your best life.”

Londonderry on the Tred Avon: A Culinary Haven for Active Adults

Londonderry’s onsite Tred Avon

Tavern looks more like a country club setting, with beautifully set

Londonderry

tablecloth seating and abundant light coming from windows facing a fountain and pond, complete with resident waterfowl to watch and admire. The dining room has a café and adjacent porch and lounge for residents to use, while Director of Dining Services Chelsea Harris and her team transform every meal into a culinary delight.

Harris says Londonderry’s commitment to farm-to-table principles runs deep. “We cultivate partnerships with local food suppliers to provide fresh, nutrient-dense ingredients in all our dishes. Our daily dinner specials are also based on the seasonality of ingredients,

much like we all eat at home.”

This commitment extends beyond the kitchen, with a residentmaintained vegetable garden kept

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during the warmer months. A farmer’s market is also hosted for residents during select days in the summer months, providing fresh produce and much more to residents, with the convenience of having it all at Londonderry.

Harris says takeout meals are always in demand as residents have busy lives, whether within Londonderry or the greater community

Private events catered by the culinary team also help create memorable meals and moments beyond the restaurant’s offerings. Londonderry’s waterfront Manor House and the clubhouse serve as venues for these resident gatherings, showcasing the flexibility and hospitality the community offers.

One of the joys of Harris’s work at Londonderry is watching team members transition and grow, she says—including a past food runner who recently graduated from culinary school. She says a big plus is when these experiences are supported by Londonderry’s tuition reimbursement program.

Blossoming Friendships and Diverse Delights at Londonderry on the Tred Avon Activities Coordinator Erica Hardeo serves as the heartbeat of this lively senior living community, offering a haven of warmth and camaraderie for new residents while helping to forge friendships and

meet a variety of interests.

Understanding the settling-in process varies for each resident, Hardeo takes a personalized approach. “I always meet new residents at their settlement, discussing activities to help them acclimate and feel part of the community.”

She says one of Londonderry’s unique initiatives is the residentfriendly face ambassador program.

“I match a resident with a new resident as a friendly-face ambassador,” she says, “where that person will call them up and invite them for a lunch or dinner.” She says this warm handoff has proven to be a game-changer, fostering initial connections for new residents to get involved in activities at a level comfortable to them.

To ensure activities are tailored to what residents want, Hardeo says

there’s a committee of residents that provides input in the direction and planning for their programs.

This commitment to inclusivity extends to Londonderry’s embrace of technology. For new residents, Hardeo highlights the ‘CATIE’ training. ‘CATIE’ is a system preloaded on an iPad that is provided for every resident to keep them connected and informed, including daily menus, weekly activity schedules, and more, plus ways to connect with staff and other residents.

‘CATIE’ also includes a check-in button available for residents from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m., ensuring everyone’s well-being. “If residents don’t check in, security gets a report by noon and we’ll do a wellness check,”

Hardeo says. “It’s an added layer of security and care.”

Hardeo says she enjoys seeing residents thrive, especially when they arrive pensive about the experience and are later engaged in regular exercise classes and meals.

“You can see it in people’s faces— they blossom when they engage in activities,” she says.

Life in a Cozy Cottage: A Transformational Move

For Cyndy Miller, moving to Londonderry wasn’t just downsizing; it was embracing a new chapter filled with vibrant community life. Miller is one of Londonderry’s youngest residents and especially enjoys the seamless blend of independence and support that defines life at Londonderry.

After six months on the waitlist and five months of anticipation, Miller moved into a charming cottage, previously occupied for two decades. Describing the transformation, Miller said, “Everything was new—new appliances, new flooring, new carpeting, and it had a garage, which was one of my requirements.”

While the community managed refurbishments, Miller took charge of personalizing her living space. “I paid for anything that I wanted special,” she says. “I had flooring put in the sunroom, which would normally be carpeted, so that I could paint and care for my plants in the filtered sun.”

Two years into her stay, Miller is enjoying winemaking with a group of residents and designs the community’s monthly newsletter, among other activities. “People here are actively living,” she asserted, emphasizing the value of making the move earlier in life.

The move to Londonderry also became an opportunity to focus on active living rather than being encumbered by possessions. Miller says she found it a relief to get rid of so much “stuff,” especially after helping to clear out possessions from loved ones who had passed.

“My attic here remains empty, and my garage is for my car, not for storage,” she says. “I’ve got clutterless bookshelves, and I’m still so proud of myself.”

Miller also appreciates the convenience of CATIE for ordering meals and keeping up with what’s happening in the community. “And checking in every day isn’t a chore,” she adds. “It’s reassuring when you’re living alone and getting older.”

Sharing her admiration for the staff, Miller emphasizes, “The staff is just wonderful. They’re extremely friendly, and they all know your name.

“It’s like having your own ‘people,’” she says, “especially for those without extended family or living alone.”

Miller’s advice for anyone considering a move to Londonderry is to do it earlier rather than later.

“If you’re even thinking about

it, get on the waiting list now,” she says.

Miller’s journey reflects a harmonious blend of independence, community belonging, and the joy of actively living in one’s golden years at Londonderry on the Tred Avon.

Tracey Johns has worked in communications, marketing and business management for more than 30 years, including non-profit leadership. Tracey’s work is focused on public and constituent relations, along with communication strategies, positioning and brand development and project management.

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Easton Map and History

The County Seat of Talbot County. Established around early religious settlements and a court of law, Historic Downtown Easton is today a centerpiece of fine specialty shops, business and cultural activities, unique restaurants, and architectural fascination. Treelined streets are graced with various period structures and remarkable homes, carefully preserved or restored. Because of its historical significance, historic Easton has earned distinction as the “Colonial Capitol of the Eastern Shore” and was honored as number eight in the book “The 100 Best Small Towns in America.” With a population of over 16,500, Easton offers the best of many worlds including access to large metropolitan areas like Baltimore, Annapolis, Washington, and Wilmington. For a walking tour and more history visit https:// tidewatertimes.com/travel-tourism/easton-maryland/.

Dorchester Map and History

Dorchester County is known as the Heart of the Chesapeake. It is rich in Chesapeake Bay history, folklore and tradition. With 1,700 miles of shoreline (more than any other Maryland county), marshlands, working boats, quaint waterfront towns and villages among fertile farm fields – much still exists of what is the authentic Eastern Shore landscape and traditional way of life along the Chesapeake.

For more information about Dorchester County visit https://tidewatertimes.com/travel-tourism/dorchester/.

Your home's exterior affects both its look and energy efficiency. Updating your doors, windows, roofing, and siding can reduce energy consumption, lower bills, and increase comfort along with curb appeal.

TIDEWATER GARDENING

by K. Marc Teffeau, Ph.D.

What's Your Zone?

We Baby Boomers remember the fantasy and sci-fi TV show “The Twilight Zone” in the early 1960s with Rod Serling as host. Home gardeners have their own “zone,” but not one containing sci-fi and fantasy content, though sometimes we do some pretty weird gardening practices and grow some unique plants.

The “zone” I am referring to is the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM) produced by USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and the PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, Corvallis. I am sure you have seen on plant tags in the garden centers and in gardening plant sales catalogs a notation of Zone 7–9 or something similar.

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The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is a standard tool used by gardeners and growers to determine which perennial and woody plants are most likely to grow in a specific climatic area. The map is based on the average annual extreme minimum winter temperature, displayed as 10-⁰ F zones and 5-degree⁰ F half zones. These 5-degree differences are listed as A and B in the specific zone.

Mark P. Widrlechner, Christopher Daly, Markus Keller, and Kim Kaplan, in their article “Horticultural Applications of a Newly Revised USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map” (HortTechnology, February

2012), discussed the idea behind plant hardiness zones. They stated, “Horticulturists have long recognized that the accurate prediction of winter injury is a key component of the effective cultivation of longlived woody and herbaceous perennial plants in many climates. Winter injury can limit long-term plant survival and vigor and can reduce production of valuable horticultural products, including flowers, foliage, fruit, and seeds.”

They went on to write, “The ability of a plant to survive low temperatures depends on its genetically and environmentally controlled adaptations and its acclimation status. The utility of plant hardiness zone maps for measuring winter in-

Tidewater Gardening

jury is a function of the correlation of the PH statistic to the frequency and severity of low-temperature events that damage above-ground plant parts over appropriate time intervals and space.

In addition, it also is important to recognize and account for important modifying factors. These include environmental factors, such as levels of moisture, temperature, and light, and proper photoperiod regimens, which influence the full expression of the physiological and physical mechanisms that promote winter adaptation and those that hinder it, such as abrupt, wide temperature fluctuations and atypical dehardening events.”

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There is a history to the plant hardiness zone maps going back to two researchers, Dr. Alfred Rehder and Dr. Donald Wyman at Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum in Boston. In 1927, Dr. Rehder published in his “Manual of Cultivated Trees and Shrubs” the first plant hardiness zone map. His mapped zonation system related winter minimum temperatures to the survival of specific woody plants. Dr. Rehder roughly divided the temperate portion of the conterminous U.S. and southern Canada into eight zones based on the annual mean temperature of the coldest month. Each zone spanned 5º F (2.8º C) .

In 1938 a second update was done by Dr. Wyman and published

Donald Wyman - 1954

in his “Hedges, Screens and Windbreaks” book. For his update, Dr. Wyman used temperature data from 1895 to 1935. Dr. Wyman updated his map in 1951, 1967 and 1971 and published it in “Wyman’s Gardening Encyclopedia.” One of the issues with Dr. Wyman’s maps was that it was not based on consistent temperature zones: some were 2.8° C (5° F) and others were 5.6° C (10° F) or 8.3° C (15° F).

To address the inconsistencies in Wyman’s plant hardiness zone maps, the USDA Agricultural Research Service developed its own map. USDA ARS’s first map was

issued in 1960 and revised in 1965. The first USDA map used uniform 10° F ranges. This map gradually gained widespread acceptance among American gardeners. In 1990, under direction of the late Dr. Marc Cathey, Director of USDA ARS’s U.S. National Arboretum (USNA), an update of the plant hardiness zone map was published using temperature data from 1974–1986. In 2012 the PHZM was again updated by the USDA ARS using temperature data sets from 19762005.

One of the opportunities that I had working in Washington, D.C., from 2003 to 2013 for the Ameri -

Dr. Marc Cathey

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can Nursery and Landscape Association (now American Hort) was as Director of Research for the Horticultural Research Institute (HRI). HRI is the research endowment for the nursery and landscape industries. As one of a couple of nursery industry representatives on the USDA ARS Technical Review Group for the 2012 map, I learned about the scientific rigor that went into producing the 2012 map release. The algorithm for the 2021 update used 1976–2005 weather data to create the zones.

In November 2023, the USDA released another updated version of their plant hardiness map, based

on 1991–2020 weather data from a total of 13,625 stations across the United States. A review of the updated map shows generally a continued northward movement of hardiness zones, reflecting a continued warming trend in the United States climate from 1991 to 2020. Reflecting this gradual warming trend, the 2023 PHZM has moved the Eastern Shore from a 7A (0 –5° F) to a 7B (510° F) and some 8A zone (10–15° F).

However, before you jump to the conclusion that this “warming” proves “climate change,” the USDA ARS notes, “Climate changes are usually based on trends in overall annual average temperatures recorded over 50–100 years. Because the USDA PHZM represents 30-

year averages of what are essentially extreme weather events (the coldest temperature of the year), changes in zones are not reliable evidence of whether there has been global warming.”

According to the USDA ARS, “Hardiness zones in this map are based on the average annual extreme minimum temperature during a 30-year period in the past, not the lowest temperature that has ever occurred in the past or might occur in the future.” The USDA PHZM website goes on to note, “Gardeners should keep that in mind when selecting plants, especially if they choose to “push” their hardiness zone by growing plants not rated for their zone. In

addition, although this edition of the USDA PHZM is drawn in the most detailed scale (1/2-mile square) to date, there could still be microclimates that are too small to show up on the map.”

Like the 2012 edition, the 2023 edition of the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM) is GIS (Geographic Information System)based and is specifically designed for the internet through a collaboration with the PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, Corvallis. You can see what zone you are in by going to the USDA PHZM website https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/ and typing in your zip code.

To see what changes that have

Tidewater Gardening

occurred in the 2023 PHZM, I typed in a couple of different zip codes for Caroline and Talbot County. Easton (21601) and St. Michaels (21663) have gone from a Zone 7b (5–10° F) to Zone 8 (10–15° F). Cordova (21625) from 7a (0–5° ) to 7b. In Caroline County, Preston (21655), near where I used to live in Bethlehem, stayed 7b in 2023 map, while Denton (21629) went from 7b to 7a. Looking at the Talbot County map, it seems that U.S. Route 50 is the dividing line between 7b and 8a.

One point that ’Shore gardeners need to keep in mind is although your area may have become warm-

er, this is not a reason to plant more warm-tolerant plants in the landscape. We will still get extended winter temperatures from 0 to 5° F from Arctic cold fronts. Don’t be planting palm trees in your yard!

I find it interesting that if you download the Maryland state map for USDA PHZM how much of an influence the Chesapeake Bay has on air temperatures. I remember when I was the County Extension Agent in Talbot County, gardeners could grow an apricot crop in the Bay Hundred/Tilghman area while they would be frozen out in Cordova—the temperature moderating effect of the Chesapeake Bay. A copy of the map with your specific zip code can also be downloaded from the website if you are interested. Happy Gardening!

Marc Teffeau retired as Director of Research and Regulatory Affairs at the American Nursery and Landscape Association in Washington, D.C. He now lives in Georgia with his wife, Linda.

St. Michaels Map and History

On the broad Miles River, with its picturesque tree-lined streets and beautiful harbor, St. Michaels has been a haven for boats plying the Chesapeake and its inlets since the earliest days. Here, some of the handsomest models of the Bay craft, such as canoes, bugeyes, pungys and some famous Baltimore Clippers, were designed and built. The Church, named “St. Michael’s,” was the first building erected (about 1677) and around it clustered the town that took its name.

For a walking tour and more history of the St. Michaels area visit https://tidewatertimes.com/travel-tourism/st-michaels-maryland/.

For Sale - Waterfront

by A.M. Foley

Waterfront property on auction for $15,000 and going begging!

Who wouldn’t be interested? But suppose it’s offshore? Contaminated with hazardous material? Located in a naval firing range? Learning that neighboring properties were accidentally targeted with bombs and rockets, a prospective bidder might be put off—unless he happened to be surfing the internet for a major challenge.

Incoming bids to the General Services Administration’s auction of Hooper Island Lighthouse were so slow they opted to extend the closing date. Then a late flurry of interest reached $192,000—the winning bid of Richard Cucé, a 52-year-old lover of old buildings. From his converted barn on a 25acre farm outside Quakertown, Pennsylvania, he tumbled for an offshore 120-year-old light, automated and neglected for sixty years, but still firmly embedded in Chesapeake Bay bottom.

Despite his being land-locked with little boating experience, nobody could have been better qualified to reclaim the caisson-based lighthouse. Cucé (ku shay) is the proprietor of aptly-named Blastco,

an industrial blast-cleaning and painting service boasting of “few limitations,” apparently an understatement. Blastco has refurbished all kinds of land-based items: statues, dumpsters, roller coasters, collector cars. Perhaps it was almost reasonable for Cucé to seek an offshore challenge. His aquatic sparkplug-lookalike is just an extension of past jobs, sort of a combination of restoring fire hydrants and water flume cars. Blastco’s motto is “The Rust Stops Here!”

Months passed after Cucé’s successful sight-unseen bid—months filled with government formalities and negotiations with the military.

Sparky

Finally, Cucé’s initial encounter with his new acquisition was taped and shared on Facebook and YouTube. It shows an ebullient Cucé, delighted with the rusty hulk he dubbed Sparky. Not being a boat person initially, he engaged a local to take him more than three miles into Chesapeake Bay off Hoopersville in Dorchester County. The tape shows him apparently undaunted, climbing 17 feet up a dicey-looking exterior ladder. He’s all smiles as he explores multiple levels carpeted inside and out with decades of accumulated bird feathers and droppings—perhaps a carcass or two. He envisions returning the lighthouse to its original colors, in accordance with its status on the National Register of Historic Places.

Until automation of the light in 1961, resident lightkeepers had

tended Hooper Island Lighthouse. Coast Guard “wickies” fought demon rust and rot with brushes: painting, scraping and repainting. They were expected to stay occupied and have the station in top condition when random inspectors came to interrupt their routine. Evidence of their labors are visible today: layers of peeling white paint curling from every surface and crunching under Cucé’s work boots.

This Hooper Island Lighthouse is not to be confused with St. Michaels’ Hooper Strait Lighthouse, a cozy-cottage-type facility, bisected and moved from Dorchester waters to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Historically, screwpilestyle lights such as CBMM’s were prone to being dislodged and set

afloat by ice, as had destroyed the first light at Hooper Straits. In 1877 ice drove that superstructure and beacon, not yet ten years old, five miles south of its pilings. Two crewmen aboard were missing and feared lost. After two weeks, a relayed message reached headquarters in Baltimore that the two men had escaped at the last minute. After a frigid night in the station boat amid the ice floes, they had been rescued by a Captain Murphy and were recuperating on isolated Billys Island.

While existing lights remained at risk, in 1902 the design of Sparky’s foundation eliminated this hazard on future constructions. Its caisson foundation was

sunk pneumatically 13.5 feet into the Bay’s bottom. An entry in the Straits cottage’s log from the winter of 1912 reports ice shaking the house so severely it extinguished the light. At the Hooper Island Lighthouse, Coast Guard radioman Burton Whaley, aboard in the 1950s, was unconcerned when ice floes beat against Sparky. He said, “The only way they’d ever move this lighthouse would be to blast it or dynamite it.”

Speaking of explosives, perhaps Whaley was comparing his station to Holland Island Lighthouse, just to his south. While Whaley served on Sparky in 1951, Skyraiders had zoomed in from Patuxent Naval Air Station and attempted bomb -

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Oxford Map and History

Oxford is one of the oldest towns in Maryland. Although already settled for perhaps 20 years, Oxford marks the year 1683 as its official founding, for in that year Oxford was first named by the Maryland General Assembly as a seaport and was laid out as a town. In 1694, Oxford and a new town called Anne Arundel (now Annapolis) were selected the only ports of entry for the entire Maryland province. Until the American Revolution, Oxford enjoyed prominence as an international shipping center surrounded by wealthy tobacco plantations. Today, Oxford is a charming tree-lined and waterbound village with a population of just over 700 and is still important in boat building and yachting. It has a protected harbor for watermen who harvest oysters, crabs, clams and fish, and for sailors from all over the Bay. For a walking tour and more history visit https://tidewatertimes. com/travel-tourism/oxford-maryland/.

ing the Holland Island Lighthouse, mistaking the six-sided cottage for their designated target: the decommissioned hulk of a pre-sunk ship fifteen miles to the southwest. Six years later, Reserve pilots from NAS Atlantic City attacked the same Holland Island light. Several unarmed rockets struck the cottage, sending shards flying. (Coast Guard crewmen suffered no irreparable harm, dropping their paint brushes and fleeing inside to radio.)

Radioman Burton Whaley was a native of Seaford, Delaware, many miles up the Nanticoke River from any lighthouses. After joining the

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Coast Guard in 1949, he was sent from Baltimore to Cambridge by Red Star Bus line and ferry, then rode the U.S. mail bus over gradually narrowing roads to Hoopers Island. The station’s boat met the seventeen-year-old at an island wharf and ran him over three miles westward out to the light. He was to be one of two Coast Guard men stormwatching and reporting on the weather. They also routinely tended surrounding lights and buoys in Honga River, including the Straits lighthouse, then at the mouth of Tangier Sound. And of course, they assisted any boaters observed to be in trouble. At that time, the third man aboard, the actual lightkeeper, still wore the uniform of the U.S.

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Life-Saving Service. He was referred to as a “surfman.”

It was the surfman who reassured youngsters such as Whaley when they came aboard: “Everybody who ever went aboard the lighthouse, most of the time got a chance to see the blueprints of the lighthouse and told by the lightkeeper of how solid the thing was built.” He recalled winters when “ice was coming down the bay sometimes twelve to twenty-four inches thick. Large sheets of it, miles wide, would hit the lighthouse and never budge it. Never could—never—feel it inside. The thing is so solid that it would take

This hopeful statement appeared in the Spring 1977 issue of Skipjack , a magazine published by students of the former South Dorchester High School. Ten years earlier, the youngsters had seen the nearby Hooper Straits Lighthouse leave home-waters, while the Coast Guard destroyed other obsolete houses. In today’s amphibious Lower Dorchester communities, Richard Cucé has been welcomed by neighbors who support his dream of developing Sparky into a tangible tribute to local history and a center for nurturing appreciation of the Bay. Sparky

quite a few days for anything, even dynamite, to move it. In fact I don’t think it will ever be moved.”

TIMOTHY B. KEARNS

Cucé’s so smitten by his “lifechanging experience” with Sparky that he continues to sink life savings into lighthouses. The handson preservationist says, “It breaks my heart of see them just rotting away.” He recently bought Wolf Trap Lighthouse off Mathews County, Virginia, after it appeared

on a Doomsday List of lighthouses in dire need of preservation. In 2017 the Coast Guard had removed the Wolf Trap light, deeming access unsafe for maintenance personnel. In another first-tour taping, Cucé gladly climbs an interior access ladder, preferable to dangling outside on Sparky’s. He admires the 1894 brickwork, still “in really nice shape. I’m thrilled with that flooring….The bones are

there. We’re gonna get it done.” He plans to blast off paint remnants and seal the original brickwork of the octagonal caisson-based lighthouse. Meanwhile, for slightly more than $100, he relighted Wolf Trap with a pair of solar-powered LED security lights.

Early on in 2022, Cucé had confessed to moments of buyer’s remorse. When his bid won Sparky, family members said he’d bought a money pit. Online sites mocked his purchase. “My uncle told me lighthouses are going to ruin my life,” he said. Instead, “It’s turning out to really make my life more meaningful….It’s truly a labor of love.” He’s established an organization called The Lighthouse Centers with the motto “Restore the Lighthouse. Restore the Bay.” He hopes to build docks and create accessibility that will enable the public to safely experience offshore visits. He says, “We are going to do our best to save as many as possible. If you have a YouTube channel, please subscribe

to us. We are getting some income from that to offset some of the costs.”

Note: The Skipjack magazines mentioned above are available again, after being out of print for forty years. The Dorchester County Historical Society has recently had them compiled and reprinted. Anyone interested in the lure and lore of the Eastern Shore would enjoy learning about life as lived in the 1970s and ’80s “down below” in South Dorchester. The Skipjacks are available in Cambridge at the Society’s gift shop, Bay Country Shop, and Craig’s Drug Store, or on Amazon.

Forty-some years ago, A.M. Foley swapped the Washington, D.C. business scene for a writing life on Elliott Island, Maryland. Tidewater Times kindly publishes Foley’s musings on regional history and life in general.

Sparky

Oxford Business Association March 2024 Calendar

Every Wednesday – Open Art Studio - Oxford Community Center10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Bring your own supplies, free. More info on this and current exercise classes at oxfordcc.org .

3/1 – Dinner and a Movie at OCC – Paella dinner at 6 p.m. $25, followed by “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” written and directed by Woody Allen at 7 p.m. Movie is free. Dinner reservations required. More info at https://oxfordcc.org/ .

3/2 – Cars and Coffee Returns to OCC - Free, Sponsored by Prestige Auto Vault, Eat Sprout & Doc’s Sunset Grille. Come enjoy the incredible array of automobiles! Oxford Community Center, 8:30 – 10:30 a.m. https://oxfordcc.org/

3/2 – Men of Waters Annual Dinner – Waters UMC, 205 Market St., 410-820-7386. More info at https://portofoxford.com .

3/5,12,18 & 26 – Open Quilting and Sewing Instruction with JKThreads. Sewing time in the studio with owner, Jean Konopacz. Start or work on a project in progress, learn how to make a T-shirt quilt. 1 – 4 p.m, $20. Advance reservations required at www.jkthreads.com/contact

3/6 – OCC Excursion to National Harbor - ‘The Titanic – The Exhibition’, a virtual and unique narrative experience as we travel back to 1912 through photographs, handwritten letters, wayward keepsakes and other personal belongings telling countless stories about the fates and heroic deeds on board. Tickets $90 pp and includes transportation and exhibit tickets; $70 pp to enjoy National Harbor / without attending the exhibit; 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. Leaves from Oxford Community Center. Reservations at https://oxfordcc.org/ , 410-226-5404.

3/10 – Pancake Breakfast - Oxford Fire House, 8 – 11 a.m., $15.

3/10 – Waters UMC Annual Men’s Day – Waters United Methodist Church, 205 Market St.

3/15 – St. Patrick’s Day Dinner - Traditional dinner and music by the Paddy ‘O Band. Oxford Community Center, 6 p.m. $25. Reservations required at https://oxfordcc.org/ .

3/19 – ‘Rivers Of The Eastern Shore’ with Karen Footner. A classic returns in a second edition,’ Rivers of the Eastern Shore’, by Hulbert Footner. Footner’s social history is a spirited tribute to the people and rivers that made the Eastern Shore geographically and culturally distinctive. Karen is the author’s granddaughter. Mystery Loves Company will be on site with books for sale. Oxford Community Center. 5:30 p.m., free. https://oxfordcc.org/ .

Sandaway Suites and Beach opens for the season 3/29

Check restaurant and shop websites or facebook for current days/hours.

Caroline County – A Perspective

Caroline County is the very definition of a rural community. For more than 300 years, the county’s economy has been based on “market” agriculture.

Caroline County was created in 1773 from Dorchester and Queen Anne’s counties. The county was named for Lady Caroline Eden, the wife of Maryland’s last colonial governor, Robert Eden (1741-1784).

Denton, the county seat, was situated on a point between two ferry boat landings. Much of the business district in Denton was wiped out by the fire of 1863.

Following the Civil War, Denton’s location about fifty miles up the Choptank River from the Chesapeake Bay enabled it to become an important shipping point for agricultural products. Denton became a regular port-ofcall for Baltimore-based steamer lines in the latter half of the 19th century.

Preston was the site of three Underground Railroad stations during the 1840s and 1850s. One of those stations was operated by Harriet Tubman’s parents, Benjamin and Harriet Ross. When Tubman’s parents were exposed by a traitor, she smuggled them to safety in Wilmington, Delaware.

Linchester Mill, just east of Preston, can be traced back to 1681, and possibly as early as 1670. The mill is the last of 26 water-powered mills to operate in Caroline County and is currently being restored. The long-term goals include rebuilding the millpond, rehabilitating the mill equipment, restoring the miller’s dwelling, and opening the historic mill on a scheduled basis.

Federalsburg is located on Marshyhope Creek in the southern-most part of Caroline County. Agriculture is still a major portion of the industry in the area; however, Federalsburg is rapidly being discovered and there is a noticeable influx of people, expansion and development. Ridgely has found a niche as the “Strawberry Capital of the World.” The present streetscape, lined with stately Victorian homes, reflects the transient prosperity during the countywide canning boom (1895-1919). Hanover Foods, formerly an enterprise of Saulsbury Bros. Inc., for more than 100 years, is the last of more than 250 food processors that once operated in the Caroline County region.

Points of interest in Caroline County include the Museum of Rural Life in Denton, Adkins Arboretum near Ridgely, and the Mason-Dixon Crown Stone in Marydel. To contact the Caroline County Office of Tourism, call 410-479-0655 or visit their website at www.tourcaroline.com .

Start the Day Delicious

I’m sharing my favorite healthy breakfast ideas to get these jampacked days off to a great start. You’ll find ones that are perfect for making ahead and taking with you and others that are quick and easy to whip up in the morning.

Oats, chia, pudding, eggs and smoothies are what I crave in the mornings. Whether you are some -

one who craves something sweet, or savory, first thing in the morning, or whether you like to enjoy breakfast at home or grab and go, you’ll find some healthy breakfast ideas you love.

Oats and chia seeds are loaded with fiber, so they’re a great healthy breakfast, but to avoid burnout of either oats or chia seed pudding,

make sure that you vary your toppings. Nut butter, fruit, dried fruit, yogurt, seeds and your favorite protein powder are great options. For protein powder, my favorite is Juice Plus complete.

Frittatas are great if you are someone who wants to prioritize proteins for breakfast, egg recipes are a great choice. Make individual frittatas in muffin tins for a portable breakfast option.

Smoothies are some of the best breakfast recipes as they pack a big serving of fruits and veggies into your first meal of the day. I have found a handful of spinach is undetectable and boosts the nutrients

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in a fruit smoothie. Hemp seeds, ground flaxseed, fresh ginger, nut butter, etc. will give it an extra healthy kick.

Make-ahead smoothies. If you don’t have time in the morning, here’s a quick solution: I portion the smoothie ingredients for the week into mason jars or small ziplock bags to freeze for later.

Whenever I want a smoothie, I just dump the contents of the mason jar or freezer bag into the blender, add some liquid, my favorite protein powder & boom. I have a super nutritious meal on the go. Also, I get in my servings of fruits and vegetables.

A Taste of Italy

My Favorite Green Smoothie

If I could choose only one green smoothie, to enjoy for the rest of my life, this is the one. The sweetness of the pineapple and tang of the fresh limes make it a good green smoothie for beginners.

1 lime, peeled

1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

2 cups roughly chopped kale or spinach

1 cup water

One cup loosely packed fresh parsley

One cup frozen cubed pineapple

1 scoop favorite vanilla protein powder

Handful of ice

Place the lime, orange juice, kale and parsley into a blender with just

enough water to blend. Add frozen pineapple chunks and puree until

smooth. I like to add my favorite homemade granola on top.

Blueberry Power Green Smoothie

Blend 2 cups of fresh spinach, 1 banana and 1 cup apple juice or water. Add 1 cup frozen berries and 1 scoop of your favorite chocolate protein powder and blend until smooth.

Creamy Kale and Banana Smoothie

Blend 2 cups of fresh kale, one peeled lime, and 1 cup almond milk. Add one cup of frozen banana chunks and 1 scoop vanilla or chocolate protein powder, and blend until smooth.

Tidewater Kitchen

Green Mango Lassi Smoothie

Blend 2 cups of fresh spinach, 1 cup of Greek plain or vanilla yogurt, 1/2 cup water. Add 1 cup of frozen mango chunks and 1 scoop vanilla complete protein, blend until smooth.

Mason Jar Chia or Oatmeal Pudding

This is a great breakfast that professional athletes love to eat. I enjoy lasting energy after hours of activity.

1 cup soymilk or coconut milk

1 cup fruit (such as blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries)

1/4 cup chia seeds or 1/2 cup oldfashioned oats

2 teaspoons honey

1 tablespoons pepitas or your favorite nut

1 tablespoon coconut flakes

Add all ingredients to a 16-ounce mason jar. Screw the lid onto the jar and shake vigorously or mix well. Allow the pudding to rest for 20 minutes before enjoying. I like to prepare a week’s worth on Sunday, storing it in the refrigerator to set. Just make sure the chia seeds or oats are mixed well so they don’t clump at the bottom. You can add fruit either as you are preparing or the morning of. Enjoy.

Cheesy Frittatas in a Muffin Tin

4 large eggs

1/4 cup favorite cheese

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper, ground

1 tablespoon chopped herbs, dill, parsley or basil

Preheat the oven or toaster oven to 350°F and adjust the cooking rack to the middle or bottom placement. Generously spray or brush a 6-cup muffin pan with oil.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, salt, black pepper, and herbs. Distribute the mixture evenly across the six cups. Bake until the frittatas are puffed up, the edges are golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean or they have reached an internal temperature of at least 160°F, about 18 to 22 minutes. Let the egg muffins cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes before removing them.

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Spicy Ham Frittatas: follow the basic instructions. Fold in 1/2 cup of diced ham and a pinch of red pepper flakes.

South of the Border Frittatas: Follow the basic instructions. Fold in 1/4 cup of shredded pepper jack cheese and 1/2 cup drained and rinsed back beans. Serve with fresh salsa & homemade guacamole.

Mediterranean Frittatas: Follow the basic instructions. Just before the eggs set, at about 10 minutes, add 1/4 cup of diced tomato, 2 tablespoons of sliced black olives, and 2 tablespoons of crumbled feta cheese to the muffin tins. Continue to cook until heated through

Eggs on the Go: wrap the eggs in a warmed flour tortilla for a very basic breakfast burrito

Adding a little shredded cheddar cheese or mashing half an avocado in the wrap will add flavor and prevent the eggs from falling out of the tortilla.

Pamela Meredith, formerly Denver’s NBC Channel 9 Children’s Chef, has taught both adult and children’s cooking classes.

For more of Pam’s recipes, visit the Story Archive tab at tidewatertimes.com.

QUALITY STROKES PAINTING

Raising Rebecca T. Ruark ~ Salisbury Daily Times 11-06-99

Capt. Murphy’s Worst Day Was Also One Of His Best

by Capt. Wade Murphy Jr.

Transcribed and lightly edited by James

Dawson

[Note by J.D.: Capt. Murphy from Tilghman is a third-generation waterman and has oystered and crabbed all his life. For 34 years he was the owner and captain of the historic skipjack Rebecca T. Ruark, both oystering and taking people on summer cruises. He followed the water for over 60 years until his recent retirement and naturally had many adventures in that time. Here is one of them in his own words.]

I’m gonna tell you a story ‘bout the worst day of my life on the Chesapeake. Nov. 3, 1999.

I left Tilghman 5 a.m. It takes 2 hours to get up to Trappe Creek. It

was a bad year for dredgin’ to start with. When you have a bad year with no oysters, you can’t pay the crew a lot of money, so you can’t get nuthin’, I’m serious, but a bunch of

Worst Day

bums is all you get. It’s a good way to get drownded. Anyway, second day of the season, Tuesday, we can use the motor on Monday-Tuesday at that time. I left Tilghman. It was rainin’. I got to the river at 7 o’clock. Sunrise. I started to work. I work 7—rain. 8, 9,10 o’clock—rain. Rain. 2 o’clock I said I’ve had enough of this so I quit. The wind was about south southwest about 15–20 miles an hour. We had to go across the river to get home. In the middle it’s rolly when it’s 20 mile an hour winds, so what you do, you pull the push boat out of the water and then you sail across the rough water.

I’m sailin’ across the river. Still rainin’. Got in the middle of the Choptank River, the wind went from

20 to 30 and it was not predicted. It was not predicted. A storm.

Got a little bit farther, the wind went to 40 miles an hour, I’m still sailin’ to Tilghman. A little bit later, 50 miles an hour and when the wind went to 50, it busted my sails and the sails were perty decent sails. When it busted the sails when you’re out there in a sailboat with that wind, it’s gonna be rolly so you have to anchor. If you don’t, you might roll the mast out and if you do the mast gonna come down and kill somebody, so you have to anchor.

I put the anchor over. She come head into the wind. If you don’t you’re gonna be broadsided and swamped. The sails were completely tore up. Then it started breezin’ up more and she started divin’ her bow under and the waves were comin’ up on my forward deck. I get on the radio call for help. The radio’s nuthin’ but static. Static. Static! First time in my life I had a cell phone. The first time. I got on the phone called my wife and I said I don’t know exactly where I’m at. I’m in the middle of the river, but I need help.

She went next door and got my neighbor and his son. Two boats. I told ‘em where I thought I was at. You couldn’t see nuthin’ for the rain. Perty soon I heard a noise and he found me. Thank the Lord he had radar, so he found me by radar. It was too dark to see me.

I’ve seen a lot of wind. The biggest waves I’d seen in the Bay were prob -

Worst Day

ably 6–7 feet. The biggest waves that day with no exaggeration, they were 10 and 12 feet. 80 miles an hour. The guy that come got me, Capt. Robbie Wilson, on the way out he busted the windows on his cabin comin’ to get me. He told me later, he said I’ve never seen it that rough before. And he’s lived in the Bay all his life. Also it was a bad storm that was unpredicted or I would not a went out.

Then it’s still blowin’ 70–80 miles an hour. It’s blowin’ the tops off the waves, it’s blowin’ so hard. He started to tow me to Tilghman. We were takin’ on water and I didn’t know that the pumps had quit workin’. I was in the bilge up to my

knees bailing with a 5 gallon bucket. The crew was too scared to get down there to help me or we might have saved it. We got about a half mile to shore she went to the bottom.

I couldn’t believe that she was goin’ down. She started down and I thought she was goin’ to come back and she never did and I got off her. All the life jackets were in the cabin. Couldn’t get a life jacket. Well when she went down I seen a life ring. I seen the life ring on the cabin. I said I’ll get that, so I went and grabbed it. I got that life ring! I’m OK! Wasn’t a minute later, a 250-pound crewman popped up alongside me and he grabbed it. I thought Oh, man! but it held both of us.

As soon as she went under I was

Worst Day

in the water my phone got wet. Der! Der! Der! I’m gettin’ a phone call! I thought this was a heck of a time! The water activated the phone and it rang the rest of the day. Well, then the other two guys was picked up and I was picked up. It was November. Cold. We couldna lasted long in that water.

We went to Tilghman, then everybody says whaddaya gonna do now? I said, I’m gonna fix the boat and go to work. It’s the first week of oyster season. I gotta work.

Of course she’s on the bottom and my heart was broken I tell ya and I said, uh, well I’ll take a chance, so since the boat was on the bottom,

any of you know Smith Brothers? Smith Brothers had a 150-ton crane, they can pick the boat up. I called ’em. They know me. You might not remember, but this story was on television and in the newspapers. I called Smith Brothers. I said you gotta come help get my boat up. They said Capt. Wade, we’re workin’

Worst Day

down Solomons Island. We can’t get there until Sunday. I said she’ll be broke up before Sunday. They said we can’t get there.

So I got to wait. Too much wind. I sank on Tuesday. Wednesday still too much wind. Thursday it moderated. I had two outfits with barges and cranes to call. You probably know Bailey the pile driver. Mr. Bailey came. His crane’s only 35 tons and I had another group from Baltimore. Deckelman. They got there. We got the boat 2 feet from the top of the water and the crane couldn’t pick it up out of the water. We put ’er back on the bottom at dark on Thursday. Well, then I knew

I’d never see the boat again.

When I got in Tilghman a friend of mine said what happened? I told him they couldn’t get the boat up. Said I’m gonna call the Governor. Glendening was the Governor at that time. They called him. I got a good friend in the Governor’s office and soon as he got the call, he said we gotta help him, the next mornin’ they had a 150-ton crane alongside my boat. They came down the Bay that night. When I went out the next mornin’ they were alongside my boat. I still don’t know how they knew where the boat was at, but they were there and by mid-afternoon, we had the boat floatin’ and that’s when I put it on dry dock. But anyway, I’m lucky to be here. Thank god

4930

info@baywateranimalrescue.org

my insurance wasn’t paid up when I called my wife ‘cause she’d a killed me if it had been!

Friends of mine in the Coast Guard said why don’t you let us inspect the boat. You see it was uninspected. I could take 6 people in an uninspected boat, but they said why don’t you let us inspect the boat. I said cause I can’t afford it. When you get a boat inspected everything gotta be just right.

I put it in dry dock in November. December. January. February. March. April. May. June I got it all

finished and it’s inspected now for 49 people. Before it was 6 people and if it hadn’t a sank and had it Coast Guard certified, it would probably be dead now because it cost a lot of money to keep my boat floatin’. A lot of money. I couldn’t keep it floatin’ without takin’ people out.

So it was a bad day, but it was also a good day.

[Afterword by J.D.: The historic skipjack Rebecca T. Ruark was hit by a freak storm. It was raining and blowing so hard, Capt. Murphy couldn’t see the squall line coming, which tore out her sails. When she sank the Rebecca was 113 years old, nearly twice as old as her 58-yearold captain.

It took Capt. Jason Wilson in his workboat The Island Girl and his father, Capt. Robbie Wilson, in his workboat Miss Brenda II almost an hour to go the two miles to get to the Rebecca because of the wind. They found the Rebecca anchored, but full of water. Capt. Murphy was bailing, but his two crewmen were too panicked to help. While she was being towed, the Rebecca rolled and sank about 10 minutes from shore off of Upper Bar Neck Pt. It took a barge and crew of 17 to run slings under the boat to raise her later that week.

When the Rebecca sank she was carrying the 70 bushels of oysters

which Capt. Murphy had dredged that morning. Most of them had spilled out but when she was raised, but somehow 18 bushels had been washed into the hold which was also half full of mud. Of course, Capt. Murphy salvaged those oysters.

That crew swore they’d never go out with Capt. Murphy or on any skipjack again, but Capt. Murphy would be crabbing and oystering for the next 22 years with other crew members.

This transcript is mostly from a talk that Capt. Murphy gave at the Talbot Co. Free Library on Feb. 11, 2019 with some later additions by Capt. Murphy.]

James Dawson is the owner of Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe.

MSO Global Concerto Competition

by Philip J. Webster

Mix 155 young instrumental solo musicians from throughout the United States and the world together in a competition, backed by one of America’s best professional regional symphony orchestras, and you have a totally unique not-tobe-missed musical concert event.

It is the juried Elizabeth Loker International Concert Competition, sponsored by the 26-year old Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, based in Easton and Delmarva’s only professional symphony orchestra. The competition in con -

cert format will be held on Sun., March 24, at 3 p.m. at the Todd Performing Arts Center at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills.

Three finalists chosen by a distinguished jury from the original Competition entrants will compete before a panel of judges and an overflowing audience as soloists in an afternoon concert performing their chosen concerto, accompanied by the entire 40+ musician Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra. Almost every other concerto competition for young solo classical musicians

MSO

in the world is performed only with an accompanying pianist.

As a result of this extremely rare opportunity to compete backed by a professional symphony orchestra, a record field of young musicians ages 12 to 26 have entered the competition, including contestants

from Maryland, Delaware and 22 other states, as well as China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Israel and Canada. The competitors’ solo instruments range from the expected string and woodwind instruments and piano, to the rarer harp, tuba, trombone and percussion instruments.

Michael Repper is the conductor of the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra and the 2023 Grammy winner for the best classical recording, beating out Hollywood “Star Wars” composing/conducting icon John Williams and Los Angeles Philharmonic (and soon New York Philharmonic) conductor Gustavo Dudamel. The Orches -

A beautiful 400-acre science education center and farm on the shores of Pickering Creek. Come explore our forests, shoreline, fields, wetlands and nature trails. Check out our adult and family programs! 11450

tra performs 25 concerts a year on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and the Delaware Shore. Repper is one of the most sought after young conductors worldwide with a reputation for engaging and exciting audiences of all ages, and promoting new and diverse musical talent. His Grammy-winning recording was with the New York Youth Symphony. He has also conducted the Sinfonia por el Peru, the elite youth orchestras and choruses of Peru; Ashland Symphony Orchestra; and Northern Neck Orchestra of Virginia. He was the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Conducting Fellow for two seasons, and

the BSO’s New Music Consultant. Recognizing his success, Repper was awarded a Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

In commenting on his vision for the International Concerto Competition, Maestro Repper explains, “One of my chief missions as a conductor and a professional musician is to create as many opportunities as possible for the next generation of artists. There can be limited opportunities for talented young musicians to share their talents and even fewer for young musicians to experience the joy of playing a concerto with a full orchestra. It was clear to me that we at the MidAtlantic Symphony Orchestra had

MSO

an opportunity and responsibility to present the Competition in a new way that provided the most rewarding possible experiences for the competitors. That meant a format where all finalists will play their full concerto with orchestra!”

Repper adds, “I am so overjoyed that the Competition generated such interest from around the world, and that the new format and the generous prize money given by our supporters resonates with a wider audience. The level of the candidates’ performances were extremely impressive across the board.”

The Elizabeth Loker International Concerto Competition Judging Panel will be James Kelly, Executive Director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C.; Sachi Marasugi, Concertmaster of the Salisbury Symphony and a Violin Faculty member at Salisbury University; and Edward Polochick, Music Director of Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra of Lincoln, Nebraska. Five judges from the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra reviewed the 155 original contestants, and Michael Repper reviewed the final 20 candidates and selected the three finalists and three alternates for the March 24 Competition at Chesapeake College. The finalists will compete for the $5,000 First Prize, $3,000 Second Prize and $1,000

Third Prize and a $500 Audience Choice award.

Michael Repper, in commenting on the challenge for the Competition judges, says, “The level of technical proficiency in the applicant pool was extremely high, and it can be difficult to separate candidates on technical ability alone. The judges will most likely be searching for clear and obvious musical expression and passion, and will be inviting candidates to reveal a deep musical interpretation and passion that transcends a performance that is simply technically proficient.”

Tickets for the Competition and concert are available online at midatlanticsymphonyorchestra. org. Music students recommended by their band or orchestra directors or teachers will receive complimentary tickets to the event, as part of the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra’s educational outreach program.

Philip J. Webster has been the volunteer Chairman or a Board member of the Avalon Foundation, Chesapeake Music, Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, Handel & Haydn Society of Boston, Boston Women’s Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Walnut Street Theatre of Philadelphia, and Public Relations Director of the U.S. Army’s Symphony Orchestra in Europe.

Queen Anne’s County

The history of Queen Anne’s County dates back to the earliest Colonial settlements in Maryland. Small hamlets began appearing in the northern portion of the county in the 1600s. Early communities grew up around transportation routes, the rivers and streams, and then roads and eventually railroads. Small towns were centers of economic and social activity and evolved over the years from thriving centers of tobacco trade to communities boosted by the railroad boom.

Queenstown was the original county seat when Queen Anne’s County was created in 1706, but that designation was passed on to Centreville in 1782. It’s location was important during the 18th century, because it is near a creek that, during that time, could be navigated by tradesmen. A hub for shipping and receiving, Queenstown was attacked by English troops during the War of 1812.

Construction of the Federal-style courthouse in Centreville began in 1791 and is the oldest courthouse in continuous use in the state of Maryland. Today, Centreville is the largest town in Queen Anne’s County. With its relaxed lifestyle and tree-lined streets, it is a classic example of small town America.

The Stevensville Historic District, also known as Historic Stevensville, is a national historic district in downtown Stevensville, Queen Anne’s County. It contains roughly 100 historic structures, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located primarily along East Main Street, a portion of Love Point Road, and a former section of Cockey Lane.

The Chesapeake Heritage and Visitor Center in Chester at Kent Narrows provides and overview of the Chesapeake region’s heritage, resources and culture. The Chesapeake Heritage and Visitor Center serves as Queen Anne’s County’s official welcome center.

Queen Anne’s County is also home to the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center (formerly Horsehead Wetland Center), located in Grasonville. The CBEC is a 500-acre preserve just 15 minutes from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Over 200 species of birds have been recorded in the area.

Embraced by miles of scenic Chesapeake Bay waterways and graced with acres of pastoral rural landscape, Queen Anne’s County offers a relaxing environment for visitors and locals alike.

For more information about Queen Anne’s County, visit www.qac.org .

Changes: Smart Guys Retrospective

part 1 of 3

by Roger Vaughan

A recent article in The New York Times about Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (T.S.M.C.) measuring the advanced microchips it makes in single digit nanometers (billionths of a meter) reminded me of a group of amazingly creative people in the hi-tech world who were in the forefront of twentieth century computer and electronics development. I interviewed them in 2007, seventeen years ago, when advanced microchips were roughly

the size of a quarter and contained less than a million gates. While the accomplishments of these passionately intellectual pioneers were often considered seminal breakthroughs that opened gateways to further progress, their motivations and their concern about the implications of their work were equally engaging. Here are a few examples.

Woodie Flowers (died in 2019): “The most sophisticated

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thing a designer does is decide what to design.”

Flowers retired as Pappalardo Professor of Engineering at MIT in 2007 after 35 years of innovative teaching that had a galvanizing effect on thousands of engineering students. The class he offered in combative robotics, wherein students were required to go beyond theory and actually build robots to compete performing a specific task - ascend a length of hanging rope, for example - became iconic.

Flowers treasured his involvement with F.I.R.S.T.—For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology—where he was a national advisor. He coined the term “gracious professionalism,” which is at the core of the F.I.R.S.T. ethos. It stresses that fierce competition and mutual gain are compatible notions.

Born in 1943, Flowers grew up in a small town in LaSalle Parish, Louisiana. His family, his father in particular, had a big influence

on what he decided to do. Flowers says his father was terrible at business but very creative. He was the first person in the Parish to have a motorcycle. He had a small mobile sawmill used to make railroad ties. Making a tie took four cuts. Large slabs were left over. It took three men to drag the slabs over to a bonfire.

“Dad made a slab kicker,” Flowers told me. “He took a section of 30-inch gas pipe, welded steel teeth on it, and hooked it up to an engine that spun it at 2000 rpm. The kicker flung slabs 100 yards and stacked them on the fire.”

Flowers’ uncle gave him a car his junior year in high school. He wanted to make a hillbilly hot rod out of it. His father said he would help if he promised to finish the job. He did. Senior year he worked in the oil fields and could buy a Corvette. He did.

His social studies teacher noticed he couldn’t fully extend his left arm. “He said we’ll have to get you declared a cripple. I got examined. The surgeon said I needed rehab. He wrote a letter to the state, so I got a rehab scholarship. People said I should go to college. Again, there was a scholarship. I said I can’t turn that down. I had a nice mix of insecurity and a feeling that if I tried hard I could make it. I did. I was going to get another job in the oil fields and

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buy a better Corvette. My advisor asked if I’d applied for grad school. I said no. He said you should. I did. Got admitted to MIT0—Stanford turned me down—and people said a grad school opportunity at MIT, you can’t turn that down, so I went. By the time I finished my masters, I wanted a Porsche, but my advisor called me in and asked if I had signed up for the PhD qualifier exam and I said no. He said you should, so I did, passed it somehow, and people said a PhD opportunity at MIT, you can’t turn that down. I was told there was a job slot on the faculty, and people said faculty opportunity at MIT, you can’t turn that down, so in the first 26 years of my life the only decision I made on my own was to ask Marg to marry me, and I nailed that one.”

For two years before he retired, Flowers worked half time, keeping his title, his allowance and his office. “MIT makes that deal to get people to leave,” he says, “and it’s a good idea. Given I have tenure

I can stay even after I stop walking. That makes no sense. I need to make room here for young guys, and I have two or three lifetimes of things I want to do. I’ve driven 250,000 miles commuting. That’s enough. And once you feel that you are going to know everything you are asked to do that day, it’s time to change jobs.”

Flowers said he and his wife Marg have spent the last ten years trying to find out the difference between what they believe and what they think they believe. He says it’s both amusing, and difficult. They started a 4 a.m. book club. After the alarm sounded, they drank coffee and discussed what they had been reading. He said it was mostly philosophy and modern physics. Their most recent book was Emotional Alchemy— How the Mind Can Heal the Heart by Tara Bennett-Goleman. “I read things that enforce what I believe,” Flowers says. “We all do.”

In 2007, Flowers was in the 25th year of a 50-year renovation of his house. He said things were breaking faster than he can repair them. A self-described tool freak, his favorites include an 11,000-lb boom lift with a 40-foot reach that can handle 500 pounds while extended 25 feet. He’s also proud of his Scag Cougar mower that allows him to cut grass at 12 mph, and his three horse-power sliding table shaper. He also built a bird bath that

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dumps its contents every 24 hours and refills itself.

“I have too many hobbies. I go to sleep at night designing things. I pick a problem and think about it. It’s my form of meditation.”

Jim Adams (died in 2022): “I stayed at Stanford because if I got bored, they’d suggest I do something else. The world is full of places you can go and be stupid.”

Jim Adams, who was running product design at Stanford in 2000, was an example of one of the key points he made in his book, Conceptual Block Busting: “[for problem solvers] the ability to tolerate chaos is a must.” His dishev-

eled appearance and the creatively cluttered nature of the home environment that has evolved around him suggested it was a long, chaotic and always stimulating game. It’s what happens when one goes through life with a first-class renaissance brain running near the red line with antennae fully extended, and all conclusions written in pencil.

Adams was a hands-on guy. That became evident the minute one entered the yard of his home somewhere in a handsome residential section of the 8,800-acre Stanford campus. Staring at a visitor from the garden were several bug-like creatures made of spare mechanical parts welded together and painted. Inside the house, the

objects were a bit more refined and even more fascinating. One was a very old manufactured item big as an office desk. Atop a network of metal rods and braces was an old metal tractor seat. There were foot pedals. It was in excellent condition and painted in bright colors. Adams explained this is a rare, antique foot-powered jigsaw that had belonged to his grandfather, who was an orange grower. “People made and repaired their own stuff in those days,” Adams explained. “Granddad had a very complete shop. Before the turn of the twentieth century, wood workers spent a lot of time pedaling.”

One noticed the old rifles hanging here and there, a Revolution-

ary war gun, another by Whitney (Springfield 95). All were beautifully restored. Adams said his collection showed the advances in the way guns were made. “Guns are sophisticated mechanisms,” he said. “At present they have a mixed reputation. But mechanically they are

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very clever, and they have made a difference in the world.”

Upstairs, Adams’ office was so crammed with objects, including a number of large aircraft models hung from the ceiling in perilous attitudes, that at first glance the room seemed virtually impenetrable. But one finally spotted the desk, the computer, piles of books and papers in full bloom. Adams said he was contemplating a book with the working title of Making, Fixing, Tinkering. “I think people who work with their hands are superior, more attractive, gentler,” he said. “Maybe that’s because I work with my hands.” He chuck-

led. He had written a couple books on creativity and is contemplating another about what creativity means (“if anything”) in governments and religions.

There was another book on the back burner, something about good products and bad products. That sounded less interesting until Adams talked about it. “Partly it has to do with the interaction of technology and war,” he said. “The military loves technology, but they’ve made it so wars don’t work. Wars used to work. They were fought by professionals over women, that sort of thing. Now they don’t work. The military has poured on the technology. Everything is bigger, louder, faster. The new weapons make you wonder about the users. For 300 years the ships didn’t change, the guns didn’t change. War was a people thing. Not anymore. It’s bizarre.”

What kept Adams focused was his contemplation of where the world was headed, what the next step in the progression might be. For Adams it began in the 1950s, when his Stanford mentor seduced him forever with the study of creativity. “There was a lot of activity in that area because society thought itself dull,” Adams said, draping his lanky frame half off the leather couch and messing his hair around as if it might improve the reception for the incoming stream of consciousness. “Every-

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one was stamped out. People were interested in why we were dull. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit led the literary swell of interest in that area. Then in the late ’50s something happened socially. The digital thing started people talking about information.

“In the ’60s it was altered states. Even the Veterans Administration got into it as cheap therapy. That’s when Jim Fadiman started the LSD courses at Stanford. And the students were out there, totally involved. If we had the draft we’d have that same situation today. But no way. Governments always like mercenaries. And minorities. But there was massive heightenedawareness input to the design group in the ’60s. Bob McKim, the head, and Fadiman were Esalen guys. They brought LSD into the mix. Mike Murphy, who founded The Esalen Institute, was a Stanford graduate. Esalen was his family’s property. McKim loved it. I knew an antenna expert who was very interested in the future, who went into parapsychology. Capt. Edgar Mitchell, a lunar astronaut who was communicating with ‘other sources,’ started Noetics [The Institute of Noetic Sciences, for leading-edge research into the potentials and powers of consciousness]. None of those guys came back the same. Wait until

they start going to Mars. It’s nine months out, nine months back. And they’ll have to stay for nine months. And it’s not a nice place.”

Adams catches a breath. He smiles. He’s skimming the surface at the speed of sound, pulling a rooster tail, whipping me up like a good professor should. He can’t help himself.

“In the late ’60s and early ’70s there was a giant sorting process. Most were dying for tradition, rules, established directions. They wanted to come home from ’Nam and have a kitchen and a bathroom and a house the same color as the neighbors. They didn’t want uncertainty, fear. It’s been dull since the ’60s, especially at the universities.”

Remember, this is 2007, seventeen years ago.

“Governments and religions provide ultimate stability for people. But if the world changes, really

changes, everyone is screwed. And the world does tend to change. Is the government going to lurch into the next direction, or is there going to be a revolution? Leadership has no perspective. There’s got to be trouble. Student interest is focused on globalism, and that’s not going to stop. That means labor goes global, and nations are less important. We aren’t going to war with China. Because if they cash their bonds we sink. Economically people are more and more independent. Government leaders don’t mean as much because nobody gives a shit about them. So they’ll attack each other just to let people know they exist.” Class over. Your homework as -

signment: design a flying carpet. What keeps Adams’ brain from burning out is his fascination with large, slow machines. He’s got a friend with a farm in the Sacramento Valley who has one of the biggest tank collections in the world. Adams has squatter’s rights on his friend’s farm, where he keeps an Armored Recon vehicle (1972 Scorpion), some British bulldozers, a 1916 Best 60 tractor, a Cat D7, a 1955 Peterbilt truck, and a bunch of other toys. He does all his own work on the machines, which are discarded if he can’t make them run.

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ams says about his machines. “It’s great fun. They love it. I’ve got one steam tractor from 1910 that takes three hours to start, three hours to clean up, and it can hurt you. It burns wood. Without this stuff to occupy me, I would be a serial killer.”

Matt Herron : “I don’t typically worry about the conventional thinking. I’m a risk taker, the kind of guy who gets fired anyway.”

There is so much going on in Matt Herron’s mind at any given moment he truly doesn’t remember accomplishments lesser beings would savor for the rest of their lives. Not recalling his overnight solution to making the Caps Lock key work, a solution that is a computer industry standard to this day, is a perfect example. It was just something he did on the run, no

big deal. When there is something Matt Herron has done he wants to talk about, the ears perk up.

The item in question was the new radiation machine for the treatment of prostate cancer being built and distributed by Calypso Medical of Seattle, Washington. Herron spent five years as part of the team that designed Calypso’s 4D Localization System, called “GPS for the body.” Herron was responsible for the mechanical engineering and the industrial design of the 4D, for which he received an International Designers Society of America (ISDA) Gold Award. He also did a lot of the user interface design.

The treatment system uses encapsulated “beacons” smaller than a grain of rice implanted in the prostate, which is then scanned. A sophisticated antenna on the 4DLS homes in on the beacons to accurately track the position of the gland. The radiation beam can be focused within 0.2 millimeters (8/1000ths of an inch) of the target. “The prostate is constantly moving in the soft tissue around it,” Herron says. “For the first time ever, doctors can track the movement of the prostate while delivering radiation. The 4DLS will be a great success. It will help a lot of people. I’m very proud of it.”

Calypso’s 4D Localization System is in use in 2024.

Perhaps inspired by the satisfac -

tion he derived from his work on the 4DLS, Herron jumped into another medical start-up. It’s called Oraya Therapeutics, in Newark, California. He says the company is working on new therapies for age-related macular degeneration. “This is an insidious disease that wipes out high resolution central vision,” Herron says. “There are treatments, but they are unattractive, like injections into the eyeball every two weeks for the rest of your life. We’re hoping to find a better alternative.”

In 2024, Oraya Therapeutics offers non-invasive radiation treatments for eye diseases.

In his spare time, Herron was working on a marketing deal for his Varoom Box system for making family vans sound like muscle cars, and he had started creating applications for the iPhone. Apple, a former employer, had smartly created an online store where applications created by outside sources could be sold. “They take a 30% cut for selling your software and sending you checks,” Herron said. “Pretty soon there will be ten million iPhones in use.”

There will be 1.56 billion iPhones in use globally by the end of 2024. Apple currently offers nearly two million apps.

Flying sail planes continues to fascinate Herron. He started a

company called Glide Plan—“Take Control of Your Cross Country Planning”—that offers customized charts with overlays for glider contests and non-competitive flying. Herron says competitive flying is so intense it’s one of the few things that can keep him totally focused. Because of that, it has an oddly calming effect on him.

“There are lots of opportunities to make judgment calls,” Herron says.

“Strategic and tactical decisions come up every couple minutes. It’s very cerebral. You have to think hard, be a good pilot, and be able to weather the full spectrum of emotion from elation to terror to salvation back to frustration in a period of a few minutes. It’s a lonely sport. If you screw up it’s your fault, and there’s not much anyone can do for you.”

Vaughan.roger@gmail.com

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www.themarylandshore.com

Chesapeake by Del Webb - Well maintained two-story McDaniel model located on a corner lot backing to open space. Previously the model home with upgrades. Great room with gas fireplace, formal dining room, sunroom and office. Breakfast area, kitchen with granite countertops, stainless appliances, 5 burner gas cooktop, double wall oven. 1st floor primary suite with tray ceiling. 2 guest bedrooms, loft and full bath on the 2nd floor. Paver patio, 2-car attached garage. Community amenities include Clubhouse with exercise rooms, event room, billiards, library, game and craft rooms, outdoor pool, tennis/pickleball courts, Bocce ball, exercise paths and putting green. Located in non-restricted age section. Active adult community close to downtown Easton, restaurants and shopping. $495,000 NEW LISTING NEW LISTING

Chesapeake by Del Webb - Popular one-story Wittman model. Many upgrades and recent improvements. Great room with gas fireplace, formal dining room, office, gourmet kitchen with granite countertops, center island, 5-burner gas cooktop, double wall oven. Primary bedroom and bath with upgraded shower and walk-in custom closet. Guest bedroom and bath, enclosed porch/ sunroom overlooking fenced backyard with brick patio. 2-car garage and ample driveway parking. Roof new 2021 and HVAC new 2019. 55+ non-age restricted section of community. Community amenities include Clubhouse featuring large gathering room, library, billiards, 2 work-out rooms, craft room, game room, outdoor inground pool with expansive decking, tennis/pickleball courts, Bocce ball, exercise paths, picnic areas, putting green $459,000

This is a great time to list your home. Our inventory is low and we have buyers looking for their dream home. Please call me for a no obligation Comparative Market Analysis.

jmoore@bensonandmangold.com 27999 Oxford Road, Maryland 21654

OXFORD

Two charming High-Quality Houses (each rentable) on a single lot in the center of Oxford. Restaurants, marinas, waterfront park, beach, tennis and pickleball courts, food/wine market all close by.

EMANUEL JENKINSON HOUSE ca. 1763

Important Georgian residence in Easton awaiting your restoration. The structure offers a wealth of original paneling and has beautifully proportioned rooms. $290,000.