Easton

EASTON -- Six months after a school bus driver was killed and two dozen students were injured when a tractor-trailer barreled through a fog-shrouded intersection, state highway and Talbot County school officials have agreed on a series of safety improvements.Work crews installed rumble strips yesterday on the westbound lanes of U.S. 50 at the Dutchman's Lane intersection. By the end of next week, a new overhead sign will begin flashing a warning to motorists that they are entering a congested area.

Probably the most interesting restaurant on the Eastern Shore to open recently is Thai Ki (216 E. Dover St., Suite 201, Easton, 410-690-3641, thai-ki.com). This is the upstart Thai place that highly regarded chef Andrew Evans decided to open when he closed his high-end Inn at Easton dining room. (The inn itself is still open.) The place is tiny, just 26 seats, with an open kitchen so you can watch Evans at work if you sit at the bar. He describes it as something like a "night market stall in Thailand."

The Rev. Martin G. Townsend, who was chosen this summer to be the ninth bishop of the 124-year-old Episcopal Diocese of Easton, will be consecrated Nov. 21 in a noon ceremony at Asbury United Methodist Church in Salisbury.Father Townsend, the 48-year-old rector of Christ Church in Blacksburg, Va., will take over leadership of the Episcopal parishes in the nine counties of the Eastern Shore at the retirement of the Right Rev. Elliott L. Sorge, 63. Clergy and laity from 41 Shore parishes participated in the July election at Trinity Cathedral in Easton.

Fallston seniors Rob D'Angelo and Dan Bowers remember what it felt like after last year's state semifinal soccer loss to Wilde Lake. The eventual champion won, 7-5, on penalty kicks in a shootout after tying, 1-1, through two overtimes."

The Eastern Shore town of Easton will be in the spotlight this week as tourists arrive for the 24th annual Waterfowl Festival from Friday through Nov. 13.Considered one of the best expositions of its kind in the world, the festival brings some 20,000 wildlife enthusiasts to Easton each year to shop or browse among the wildlife art, carvings and collector items and to enjoy the demonstrations, street musicians, Eastern Shore seafood and fall color.Since its founding in 1971, the festival has donated nearly $3 million to waterfowl conservation.

On a recent fall day, gardeners at Franz Burda's home were putting in 20,000 tulip bulbs. Once they've bloomed next spring, each bulb will be dug up and donated to charity.The German publisher's three full-time staff members clip and groom the impeccable gardens and emerald-green lawns, as well as tend the raised swimming pool on the $5.1 million estate.For formal dinners, Burda's starched damask cloths are ironed on the tables -- after they are sprinkled with Pellegrino, some say -- before the guests jet in.Palm Beach?

As autumn touches the Eastern Shore of Maryland, skies darken with wild geese, ducks and other waterfowl wending their way south to winter quarters. The fall migration brings an influx of sportsmen, bird-watchers and naturalists to the shore. Another boon to tourism here is the annual three-day Waterfowl Festival, which draws more than 20,000 visitors to Easton. The festival marks its 21st anniversary from Friday to next Sunday.The old Colonial capital will take on a festive atmosphere as shops and homes are decked out for fall and street-corner vendors offer hot apple cider for sale.

EASTON -- When Joel Marcus Johnson dons the purple cassock of an Anglican bishop for his consecration service this morning, it will be the latest step in a religious journey marked by detours and diversity.Johnson, 51, was born in Fargo, N.D., the son of a Jewish father TC and an Episcopalian mother, and his childhood included Friday nights in a synagogue and Sunday mornings in an Episcopal church.Today's ceremony for the leader of the new Anglican Diocese of the Chesapeake will continue the diversity of Johnson's five-year tenure on the Eastern Shore.

Marie E. Bent, a former nurse and interior decorating shop owner, died of a cerebral hemorrhage Aug. 28 at the Broadmead retirement community in Cockeysville. She was 91. Born Marie E. Hickstein in Ceballos, Cuba, and raised on the Buena Vista farm in Talbot County, she was a 1932 graduate of St. Michaels High School. She earned a diploma at the Delaware Hospital School of Nursing in Wilmington. Her marriage in 1942 to Lloyd A. Cherbonnier ended in divorce. In 1964, she married Harvey E. Gannon, who died in 1969.

EASTON -- "Donahue" came to town today, turning this Eastern Shore community into part of the global electronic village, if only for an hour.The issue on the nationally syndicated television talk show was the distribution of condoms at Easton High School under a plan proposed by the Talbot County health director, John Ryan, which was eventually voted down by the school board.The setting was the 60-year-old, recently restored Avalon Theater, which was packed with more than 400 people, almost all Talbot County residents.