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*fiction The trail through the woods was a winding one. It ran along a stream bed, deep and wide with very few places to cross. The trees were tall and as spring settled in, a pasture of green rose above the leaf fall, delicate grassy plants that mirrored the canopy above. The path rose as…

I was listening to a Halloween podcast the other day. It was series of stand-alone fictional stories intertwined with an overarching narrative that culminated in a cautionary tale about summoning demons and bending to their will. Whenever I hear a story like that, I am always disappointed that someone would feel the need to take…

There is a photo of me on the front page of our local newspaper when I was about 9 or 10 years old. I’m with three other kids and we are all standing on a patch of marsh grass, staring intently at the water, crab nets in hand. This photo was taken at the Elms…

I like Food and Wine magazine. I like the fact that they have a recipe for virtually every occasion and that the majority of their recipes are an almost guaranteed success. That is, if you have access to all the ingredients and are capable of following all the instructions. Regardless, one of my favorite features…

This is a picture of what my mom called Crow’s Feet when I was a kid. Apparently that’s what they call it in Pennsylvania where she grew up although it is more commonly referred to as Running Cedar or Ground Pine. Its a lovely evergreen perennial that you can find on the floor of most…

Unless you are from St. Mary’s County, you have probably never heard of stuffed ham.  Stuffed ham is a dish that is ubiquitous in Southern Maryland, especially in the Fall and Winter months, but has not travelled much past its borders.  The origins of the recipe are unknown, but it is thought to be a…

There are a lot of beautiful historic homes in Southern Maryland, but one of my favorites was owned by my mother’s friend and mentor, Hope Swan. Gravelly Hills, as it was called, was located about 20 minutes north of our house and my sister and I often went there with one or both of our…

When I was little, we raised chickens for eggs and meat and they had a rather generous sized coop with a large run in the field behind our house. My best friend and I would spend hours back there in the summer playing with the chickens and bringing them all the tomato worms we found…

Oysters are part of our culinary history and culture in St. Mary’s as evidenced by our annual oyster festival.  The festival, now known as the U.S. Oyster Festival, occurs every year on the third weekend in October and has been featured on the Food Network.  They have an oyster shucking contest that brings competition from…

In my dream, at the end of a winding path, mostly downhill and strewn with loose rocks, was a pond.  Both the path leading down to it and the pond itself were surrounded by trees, maples and oaks and the occasional pine, spaced far enough apart that you could see the trees behind them until…