August 25, 1995|By SYLVIA BADGER
The grapes are usually from the Napa Valley of California, but the winemaker lives in Centreville. He is Lee Hack, who lived in Mount Washington and worked long hours for Shore Auto Electric, before he retired and moved to the Eastern Shore 14 years ago to live the good life with his wife, Miriam.
And indeed he does. Not only did he build a 20-foot work boat in his shed, he catches his own crabs and makes his own wine. He's getting confident enough about his wines, that he is now entering them in competition. His cabernet sauvignon recently won a first place in the Bordeaux Varietal category of the American Wine Society regional amateur wine competition.
Watch out Sterling, I hear he's starting his own vineyard by planting chambourchin grapes, which he plans to harvest soon.
The excitement is building for Cal Ripken fans in anticipation of Sept. 6, when he is scheduled to break Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played streak. Sitting among those fans will be Geraldine Day, the widow of Hall of Famer Leon Day, thanks to the generosity of Edie Stevens of Worton. Edie had planned to take Chuck Burke to the game after she watched an interview with him on WMAR-TV, where he reminisced about having seen Gehrig play. He also mentioned how much he would love to see Cal break the record. With that, she called and offered to take him to the Sept. 6 game. 'Twas not to be -- Chuck died in July.
When Edie was notified of Chuck's passing, she thought it would be a fitting tribute to Chuck and to Leon Day to take Geraldine, who was having difficulty getting a ticket. A small reception is planned for them before the game at Charlestown Retirement Community, where Chuck lived.
(Belated Happy Birthday to Cal, who turned 35 yesterday.)
A lot of people are happy that Van Halen is performing at Merriweather Post Pavilion Tuesday. The fans will fill not only the seats at Merriweather, but also fill the stomachs of those who frequent soup kitchens and shelters in the area.
Van Halen selected U.S.A. Harvest as its charity of choice during its 1993 tour, which netted more than 350,000 pounds of foodstuffs, about a half-pound of food per ticket holder. So once again, Van Halen with Our Lady of Peace, are asking fans to take foodstuffs with them.
Gerstung, a name synonymous with gymnastics in Maryland, is planning a grand opening of its newly renovated 42,000 square foot facility near Mount Washington in October. It promises to be a gala event with members of the National Aerobic champions among those invited to perform. Gerstung staffers thought it would be nice to bring back members of their 1980 Gymnastics '' Team, which traveled to Germany for a two-week performance that year.
They are still looking for Mary Sorongon, Kathy Jory, Laura Hankins, Melissa Goldman, Stacey Chen, Beth Schiff, Laurie ? and Tanya ? (the school doesn't have a record of these last two students' last names). If you know any of these women, who would be in their 30s, call Mary Kniep at (410) 337-7781.
Gov. Parris Glendening has appointed Marsha Reeves Jews, a vice president with Career Communications Group, to a five-year term on the Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission. It's certainly going to be an interesting time to serve on this commission and will require some creative thinking, which Mrs. Jews has. She's the former executive director of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre Foundation of Maryland, where she boosted the annual budget from $200,000 to $800,000, before financial problems made that group just a fond memory.
Call for events: In mid-September I plan to run a calendar of social events taking place in October, November and December. If you would like your event listed, please send a note, including date, time, cost, dress code, contact name and phone number, to my attention, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore 21278.
