Eggs

Twenty-five years ago today, The News American ceased publication after 213 years. Two days after that, with the announcement that Times Mirror Co. had bought the A.S. Abell Co., The Sun and Evening Sun entered the era of out-of-town corporate newspaper ownership. On a lighter note, the Mars supermarket insert in that last News American had eggs for just 49 cents a dozen. And the movie listings had "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" at the Hippodrome.

As the Swansfield Elementary School students boarded six buses Monday for the trek from Columbia to the White House Easter Egg Roll, second-grader Jadaejah Matthews said she hoped to meet President Barack Obama. Classmate Masale Robi seconded that hope, adding that he wanted to ask Obama "how he learns tricks to play basketball. " The Swansfield party of 250 (including 175 students) were set to join more than 30,000 people participating in the annual event Monday that featured live music, sports courts, cooking stations, storytelling and Easter egg rolling on the White House South Lawn.

Easter eggs Quarter-pound, chocolate-covered Easter eggs made by members of Centenary United Methodist Church in Shady Side are for sale. Orders can be placed by calling 410-867-9567. They will also be available at the Shady Side Market, Renno's Market and Grauel's Office Supply. The eggs come in four cream flavors: butter cream, chocolate, coconut and peanut butter. They cost $2.50 each.

Like President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao of China, Verizon and I recently engaged in a summit. I called The Big V — truly, a communications superpower — to cancel my home phone. Rachel took the call for the company and put up pleasant resistance for nearly an hour. It became a test of wills and power. I want to drop my home phone, I told Rachel, but keep my Verizon Internet service. "May I ask why?" said she. Because I'm not using the land line.

If 2010 was the year of anything, it was "The Year of the Leak. " Or "leak year," if you prefer. From the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to the WikiLeaks dump of government secrets on the Internet, this was the year we learned that nothing is secure — and once it is out, there is no containing it. From the feet of (maybe) New York Jets coach Rex Ryan's wife to the private parts of (maybe) Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre, new meaning was given this year to the phrase "naked truth.

I would like to know if anyone still darns socks. Please call and leave your name and number at 410-332-6166. It's for a study I've launched — how many Americans darn socks in the 21st Century. Please specify if you've always been a darner or if you've taken up the craft since the Great Recession. That's important to the study. Of course, if you're of a certain age, you don't even know what I'm talking about. In downloading the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby," you might have heard reference to Father McKenzie "darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there.