Clippings

THE EXPERTS are correct to praise Dizzy Gillespie's music. We would also like one of his other major talents not to be forgotten. He was the master of the witty put-down of journalists posing silly questions.Once he was asked by an unimaginative interviewer how he would explain be-bop to an alien from outer space who had just landed in a flying saucer. He replied (rather sensibly when you think of it) that if he saw an alien space creature emerge from a flying saucer he would be too shocked or scared to say anything.

Apart from lots of questions from recycling novices, last week's expansion of the county curbside recycling program went off without a hitch, said Linda Fields, the county's recycling manager.The program added 16,000 new homes and three new pick-up routes."We've been getting lots of calls -- what day do they put their compost leaves and grass out," Fields said. "It's all in the brochures, but people like to call in and get all that information."One woman from the Clemens Crossing neighborhood in Columbia called to say she was upset that recycling hasn't come to her street yet."

LANDOVER -- Some college basketball teams have been accused of believing their own press clippings too much. But the George Washington team that came into USAir Arena yesterday must have been reading the University of Florida's clippings.How this was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Gators, two seasons and several players removed from their Final Four appearance in 1994. How Florida was coming off a 15-point loss earlier this week at South Florida."Human nature tells us that can happen," said Florida coach Lon Kruger.

Overnight, it seems, the weather has turned chilly and brisk, and the trees are daily dropping their bounty of nuts for the squirrels to harvest. They are also dropping their leaves. This will shortly become a flood.I am not fond of raking leaves, and because burning them is no longer permissible, I cannot even look forward to a bonfire. So what to do with them?I am well aware that the municipalities around us provide leaf pickup days, but as a confirmed composter I always cringe at this waste of organic material.

IN JEFF McNelly's "Shoe" comic strip, the central bird-newspaperman is a duffer who sits day after day at a rolltop desk half-hidden under a snowdrift of print matter. He cannot bring himself to throw anything out.The tradition carries over onto other newspapers. Mary Knudsen, a recent Sun alumna, was famous for her clutter; so also Carl Schoettler of The Evening Sun (now of The Sun), and old alum Jim Bready, the back-issue saver of the editorial department. The messy-desk legend still enfolds Judy Bachrach -- her specialty was the permanently pulled-out drawer, from which yet another mound arose.

Miss Ellen, playing a harried ballet teacher, shepherds 14 giggling, whispering teen-age girls in white net tutus and pointe shoes into something resembling a straight line.Miss Ellen, becoming a harried ballet teacher, shepherds the 14 girls into a deliberately uneven line, tugging an arm here and smacking a protruding hip there. "Pay attention to the story!" is her watchword, and the piece they're rehearsing, "Scuola di Ballo" ("Ballet School"), is about an impresario who comes to audition girls for his ballet company.

THE STORY the family always told about Uncle Carm, Grandma's charming but devilish younger brother, was that at 18 he and five friends had "borrowed" a car and got caught driving it in New York City before they had a chance to return it.Recently, my mother, a tireless family historian, recruited me to help her learn more about Uncle Carm. We ended up in the New York State Archives, flipping through 70-year-old admission records from the Elmira Reformatory. We found the entry, including a photo of an impossibly young Uncle Carm.

A snowball stand's success depends on two key things: hot weather and lots of hard work, say Baltimore-area purveyors of the summer treat. Add those ingredients to the crushed ice and syrup concoction that has long been a regional favorite, and summertime entrepreneurs say they can make a decent living during the season's warmest weeks. "A lot of people think it's easy to start it," said Margo Torsell, who along with family members runs a three-year-old stand on Liberty Road in Randallstown.

How should I mulch a vegetable garden? Do I need to mulch all of it? Anywhere you don't want weeds will require mulch. Mulch helps retain moisture and moderate soil temperatures, but weed suppression is the No. 1 goal because weeds steal water, nutrients and sunlight from vegetables. Organic mulches of mowed leaves or straw with three to four layers of newspaper underneath make an impenetrable barrier to weeds while allowing rain to soak through. These will last the growing season and decompose over the winter, feeding the soil.

Angelina County, Texas. -- Occasionally I stop by the barber shop when I don't even need a haircut, just to find out what people are talking about. This particular morning, they were talking about haircuts.''That fellow sure can mess up,'' said Nick the Barber, my barber for more than 20 years. ''Who'd think you could get in that much trouble just going to get a haircut?''Of course, it wasn't just a fellow -- it was the president of these United States. And it wasn't just a haircut -- it was a $200 haircut.