Gift Shop

WASHINGTON -- In the packed gift shop at the Central Intelligence Agency, as holiday music tinkles, employees jostle for a peek at the $175 gold CIA logo earrings. They eye the Christmas ornaments decorated with the faces of former agency directors, and gently finger the champagne flutes with the agency's famous eagle-faced emblem in gold filigree.They are on a mission. A mission to shop.As they do every year, the hordes have descended on the government's gift shops. The booty, emblazoned with federal logos and steeped in patriotic themes, is a favorite of the Washington crowd.

Sarah "Virginia" Littleton, a retired nurse and part owner of a Baltimore County pharmacy and nursing home, died Thursday at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson of renal failure complicated by a stroke. She was 83. Mrs. Littleton, born Sarah Meyer in Baltimore, was raised in Highlandtown by a grandmother, Sarah Pugh Meyer. Mrs. Littleton's father, a shipbuilder for Bethlehem Steel, also lived with them. As a young woman, Mrs. Littleton worked for General Motors as an operator of a comptometer, a mechanical calculator, but she quit her job to care for her terminally ill grandmother.

Constance L. "Connie" Cucina, a longtime volunteer at Stella Maris Hospice, where she had been a familiar figure in the gift shop helping patients and their families for more than 20 years, died Monday of pancreatic cancer at her Towson home. She was 78. The daughter of a wholesale produce broker and a homemaker, Constance Lee Demarco was born in Baltimore and raised on Cold Spring Lane and Springhill Avenue. She was a 1951 graduate of Seton High School. Four years later, she married Samuel D. Cucina, who was also in wholesale produce.

Whether a pianist, guitarist or someone who enjoys listening to great sounds, these gifts for musicians will bring a happy note to the holidays. 1. The Otamatone Musical Instrument from Maywa Denki is an easy-to-play electronic musical instrument. Perfect for someone to dabble in an unusual gift idea. Just push on the stem to play a note, slide fingers up and down the stem to change pitch, and give a squeeze to the face for dramatic vibrato. Has three octaves and two volume settings.

I HAVE just returned from a visit to the famous Luray Caverns in Virginia, discovered in 1878 by a tinsmith who gazed at the awesome subterranean formations before him and thought: Someday this will be the site of a really cheesy gift shop. Actually, I hadn't been in a cave in years, not since a fifth-grade field trip to the famous Howe Caverns and its cheesy gift shop in upstate New York. But touring the Luray Caverns with my wife and 8-year-old son, I was again reminded of that old caving axiom: If you've seen one stalactite or stalagmite, you've pretty much seen them all. Oh, sure, the formations are breathtaking in their beauty.

A Mass of Christian burial for Genevieve F. Fitzpatrick, a longtime Roland Park resident who worked for many years at the Ambassador Gift Shop in the Ambassador Apartments in Roland Park, will be held 9 a.m. tomorrow at St. Philip and James Roman Catholic Church, 2801 N. Charles St.Mrs. Fitzpatrick, who lived for many years in the 3800 block of Greenway, died Friday at Keswick after a long illness. She was 81.Born in Baltimore, the former Genevieve Fink graduated from high school in Suffern, N.Y., and received a bachelor's degree from Rosemont College in Rosemont, Pa. in 1932.

Tucked behind tall trees on a quiet winding road on Rogers Avenue in Ellicott City is a spiritual epicenter for local Roman Catholics and other Christians.In this blue, isolated house known as Our Lady's Center, Catholics gather for midday Mass, seminary students purchase religious books, and worshipers come to pray and light candles."We're the only traditional Catholic gift shop and chapel in the area," said Veronica L. Henson, the center's manager. "A lot of people come down on their lunch hour.

Saying politically correct government officials are trampling his rights, a blind proprietor of an Emmitsburg gift shop is battling to sell sexually suggestive T-shirts and cards in a federal building.O'Leary's Emporium at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg lost part of the battle yesterday when U.S. District Judge William N. Nickerson ruled that, at least for now, owner Donald J. Morris must keep the items off his shelves.More than 15,000 firefighters from around the country go to the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg each year to study the science of battling fires.

ON A RECENT Tuesday in the Casino Bargain Basement at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, Marianne Kesting and her group of volunteers were sorting, pricing and tagging clothes, toys, furniture and all manner of donations to be sold in this thrift shop in the hospital's Casino Building.Kesting is the volunteer chairman of the shop, which is open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The volunteers of the hospital's auxiliary give their time to this and two other shops at the hospital.

Royal V. McKenna, a former gift shop owner and an Easton resident, died of pneumonia June 4 at Memorial Hospital at Easton. He was 76. Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Mr. McKenna served in the Navy during World War II. He worked in sales before opening a gift shop in Savannah, Ga., in the early 1970s. He closed the business in 1978 and moved to Easton. He was an avid fisherman. Mr. McKenna was a communicant of SS. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in Easton, where a memorial Mass was offered Friday.

Constance L. "Connie" Cucina, a longtime volunteer at Stella Maris Hospice where she had been a familiar figure in the gift shop helping patients and their families for more than 20 years, died Monday of pancreatic cancer at her Towson home. She was 78. The daughter of a wholesale produce broker and a homemaker, Constance Lee Demarco was born in Baltimore and raised on Cold Spring Lane and Springhill Avenue. She was a 1951 graduate of Seton High School. Four years later, she married Samuel D. Cucina, who was also in wholesale produce.

A neighbor and friend of mine sent her first grader to camp at the Maryland Science Center, or as she refers to it now, the Maryland Shopping Center. Seems the campers are making regular visits to the gift shop. Here's what the friend, Janine Holc, a political science professor at Loyola University, posted on Facebook: "I am livid! Anthony is in a science camp at the Maryland Science Center. Just found out the counselors take the kids through the gift shop every day and urge them to buy toys.

Could Seacrets be heading to Baltimore? Annapolis? Columbia? I don't see why not now that the Ocean City favorite has announced plans to offer franchises of the popular beach-themed restaurant, bar, hotel and nightclub. Seacrets unveiled its plans to coincide with the celebration tonight of its 23rd anniversary, which will include fireworks and a performance by Little Feat. For its franchise plan, the company will first focus on the Mid-Atlantic region before moving on to nationwide and perhaps, international locations.

Gertrude Gabrielle "Gebby" Fellows, a painter and volunteer, died Jan. 20 of a stroke at Gilchrist Hospice Care. She was 92. Gertrude Gabrielle Gephardt was born in Somerville, N.J., and raised in New York City and on Long Island. She attended Cornell University and studied art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y. Her first job was working as a synchronized swimmer in Billy Rose's Aquacade, which performed at the Great Lakes Exposition in 1936 and 1937, and later at the 1939 New York World's Fair at Flushing Meadows Park.

Nancy Christie, a retired interior designer and manager of the Baltimore Museum of Art 's gift shop, died July 21 of complications from Alzheimer's disease complications at the Blakehurst retirement community in Towson. The former Roland Park resident was 85. Born Nancy Kidder in Charlottesville, Va., she was a 1943 graduate of St. Anne's Belfield School. She earned a degree from Parsons The New School for Design in New York City and later opened an interior decorating business in Charlottesville.

1. Hit the boardwalk. Rehoboth Beach's boardwalk has an eight-block section newly renovated in 2010. 2. Chill out by the water. Delaware Seashore State Park is bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and on the west by Rehoboth Bay and Indian River Bay. This 2,825-acre park is a beach-goers' delight. (destateparks.com) 3. Share a toast with friends. Fenwick Wine Cellars is the area's newest award-winning winery. Visit its gift shop, which carries specialized wine products and monthly specials.

A badly singed "Closed" sign swayed in the charred window of Hazel'sGifts and Cards yesterday after a three-alarm arson fire gutted the store in a Glen Burnie shopping center.While shoppers stopped to stare, firefighters chopped down still-smoldering roof beams, and theowners of surrounding stores began cleaning up damaged merchandise.Investigators sifted through the rubble for more clues to the blaze that ripped through the gift shop about 12:30 a.m. and sent a county firefighter to the hospital.