Bloom

Cy Bloom, the former owner of two restaurants in a building near the intersection of Baltimore and Charles streets, died Wednesday at Maryland General Hospital of complications to kidney failure.Services for Mr. Bloom, who was 80 and lived on St. Paul Street, were being held today at the Levinson funeral establishment, 6010 Reisterstown Road.He opened Cy Bloom's Place in the Alley in 1965, with an entrance from Wilkes Lane, the alley between Baltimore and Fayette streets. Later, he opened the Brass Rail in the same building with an entrance on Baltimore Street.

Edward R. Bloom began working for the Maryland Department of Human Resources in 1960 because, as he put it, he "needed a job." But he soon fell in love with the work and the people, so he stayed - for more than 43 years. Last week, Bloom retired as director of the Anne Arundel County Department of Social Services, a position he has held since 1980. "I couldn't have picked a better job," said Bloom, 67, who began his career as a case worker in Montgomery County. "It's full of challenges and full of needs."

Jason Bloom just couldn't resist the challenge from Washington Redskin kicker Chip Lohmiller last June at the kicker's camp at Western Maryland College."

In high school football, having a kicking game is considered a benefit.Jason Bloom is a luxury.Bloom nailed a 44-yard field goal with 1:50 remaining in regulation to lift the host Gators to a 15-12 victory over Woodlawn, in a Baltimore County 3A-4A League game yesterday.With the victory, Perry Hall (4-2, 4-1) kept its hopes of a fourth consecutive league title alive and knocked Woodlawn (4-2, 4-1) out of a first-place tie with Randallstown (4-0 in league). The Warriors play Randallstown Friday night at Catonsville Community College.

Life should have been an easier road for Mike Bloom, who met with more bumps along the way than any one man should have been made to encounter. He was kind, soft-spoken and withdrawing, not given to making a boast or a brag.There were times when his demeanor, while looking out at the world from dark, deep-set eyes, seemed to suggest he was lonesome. Yes, so much alone. Before all that, Bloom had been a phenomenal basketball player at Temple University and made a partial living in the early pro leagues when teams played in armories and dance halls and the players sometimes were paid $25 a game.

Cy Bloom went back to another war. Half a century ago, the city was filled with kids in uniform and middle-aged parents sending them off to battle, and Cy was giving everybody their last laughs.It's different now from his day. This time around, the nation sits by television sets as it sends its people off to war. A long time ago, they flooded Cy Bloom's Club Charles and drank to better days, and those who were there say it had the feel of a tipsy party on the last night of the world.They buried Cy Bloom the other day. His life gave out in his 80th year, but in his days and mostly in his nights, he created a party atmosphere that looked for a while as if it might last forever.

The blue-green algae that bloomed in tidal rivers throughout the upper Chesapeake Bay last month was toxic, an independent laboratory has confirmed, but so far has not harmed wildlife or caused human health problems, state officials said yesterday. Some strains of the algae, identified as Microcystis aeruginosa, can cause skin problems and flu-like symptoms in humans and can sicken or kill livestock or pets that drink it. Tests performed at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, confirmed the presence of the algae's toxin, said Rob Magnien, director of tidewater ecosystems assessments for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

It took defender Bill Bloom seven years to crack the starting lacrosse lineup at UMBC. Some things are, indeed, worth waiting for.Bloom's wait just took longer than usual.He had appeared in three games for the Retrievers in the spring of 1989, then enlisted in the Marines, leaving as a corporal in 1993. He spent one year as a student at the University of Maryland, then transferred back to UMBC, where he's a 6-foot-2, 185-pound junior majoring in history and hoping to become a teacher."I originally made a promise to Coach [Dick]

When do I prune my crape myrtle? Never, if that suits you. Crape myrtles bloom on new growth. A healthy shrub puts out new growth each year and, thus, new blooms, too. A pruned shrubs reacts by putting out more new growth, but heavy pruning is not necessary to enjoy crape myrtle blooms. Of course, crape myrtles may grow too large or need pruning for other reasons, but the annual chopping (known in some circles as "crape murder") is not required for blooming crape myrtles. Any pruning should be done in late winter/early spring.

I have been moving books between one house and another, doing a quinquennial cull to donate to libraries. In flux, I can't make a firm census of the poetry books I cannot bear to do without, but there are no less than 60. A good number go back to childhood and undergraduate days. Many are anthologies. There's a 1953 printing of the 1939 edition of the Oxford Book of English Verse. The one I have owned longest is Rainbow in the Sky, collected and edited by Louis Untermeyer in 1935, 484 pages of poems chosen for young people.