Glass

Inside Westminster Abbey, eight 20-foot-tall live trees lined the center aisle during the wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William. The trees transformed the space, doing what even the most elaborate floral arrangement could not — providing a natural, living sense of permanence and an air of drama. The move was unexpected, unpretentious and bold. A potted tree on your patio or deck can have the same effect. While not every tree is well-suited for a container, there are a surprising number of options, ranging from crape myrtles to hollies.

In honor of FlowerMart and its signature lemon stick treat, Ryleigh's Oyster in Federal Hill is featuring a limited edition Lemonstick Crush special Friday and Saturday. The Lemonstick Crush ($8) is made with Voli Lemon Vodka, a fresh squeezed lemon, a splash of simple syrup and a splash of Sprite. It's topped with a lemon half and soft peppermint stick. FlowerMart is Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m to 8 p.m. The Lemonstick Crush special is on all day Friday and Saturday at Ryleigh's Oyster . Officiallly, anyway.

If the Black Eyed Susan were a race horse, it would be a sprinter. It makes one strong move, then fades quickly. The strong move occurs this weekend when the cocktail will be in demand at Pamlico Race Track, during both the running of the Black Eyed Susan Stakes on Friday and the Preakness Stakes on Saturday. Over these two days, about 25,000 servings of the libation, poured into commemorative glasses, will be sold at $8 apiece, track officials say. But as soon as Preakness weekend ends, so does the does the local thirst for the Susan.

The Kentucky Derby, arriving seasonally as the mint is springing up, provides an excellent occasion for preparing and savoring a mint julep. So I offer you my recipe again this year. Do keep in mind that the julep is not some genteel lady's drink but a serious beverage that commands respect.  First, make sure to have decent bourbon in the house. Cheap stuff is too raw, and you probably don't want to use Booker's for this. Maker's Mark answers nicely, or Woodford Reserve if you're feeling particularly flush.  On no account use any ersatz bourbon from Tennessee.

The 19-year-old man charged with fatally stabbing Dennis Lane allegedly told investigators that his girlfriend had instructed him to kill her father and his fiancee, specifying the number of times each was to be stabbed in the throat - 10 for him and 15 for her. Jason Anthony Bulmer charging documents In a conversation at school hours before the Ellicott City blogger and businessman was killed, Jason Anthony Bulmer said, 14-year-old Morgan...

Even if you're not yet ready to retire, San Miguel de Allende is perfect for a vacation or long weekend getaway. Getting there United and American airlines offer connecting flights (via Texas) to San Miguel's two closest airports, Leon/Guanajuato (BJX), 90 minutes away, and Queretaro (QRO), one hour away. Round-trip airfares start around $600. Multiple airlines offer flights to Mexico City, which is three hours from San Miguel. When to go January may be the sole inclement month to travel, and even then it's nothing compared to a typical Baltimore winter.

Always, there were those lovely old country estates and gracious manor taverns with roaring fireplaces, but in the old days fine dining was associated with the city. Not so anymore. Now, there are more compelling reasons than ever for diners to cross county lines for a good meal. The 50 best county restaurants in Howard County, Anne Arundel County and Baltimore County is a mix of the old and the new, destinations for special occasions and joints for Monday night suppers, the chef-driven and crowd-pleasing.

I'm confused about choosing a color to paint my kitchen. I've heard that green is the color of the year. And then I hear about gray being the new neutral. What are the best colors to paint the kitchen? A kitchen should be an inviting gathering space, so warmer or brighter tones are ideal, such as deep ivories, rich coppers, luscious reds, golden yellows and yellow-greens. Be sure to take countertops, appliances and floors into consideration when selecting your color. You'll want something that complements these accents and flows naturally into the surrounding rooms of your home.

Amid the clatter and dust of huge machines connected by conveyor belts and catwalks, the newspapers, plastic bags, cardboard, cans and bottles come flying at workers who frantically pluck unwanted items from the recycling stream. Screens and spinning, star-shaped black plastic devices separate newspaper from cans and bottles. The fast-rotating stars push the paper higher up an inclined screen; the heavier, smaller cans and bottles tumble down to a different level.

They're romantic, elegant and ornate. They're hip, contemporary and stylish, too. Chandeliers are most definitely in, and they've moved beyond the dining room. These decorative light fixtures, which began simply enough as a place to hang a candle, have evolved. "Chandeliers are back and bigger than ever," says Heather Pins, spokeswoman for Bellacor, a St. Paul, Minn., company. "[You can] hang them over each nightstand, incorporate one into the canopy of your bed or hang a cluster of small chandeliers at different heights over a foyer table."

It might be hard to duplicate the anticipation and publicity that greeted the inaugural season in Everyman Theatre 's inviting new home on West Fayette Street, but that hasn't stopped the company from trying. "I want next season to be even more exciting than the first one," said Vincent Lancisi, Everyman's founding artistic director. "We've got three modern classics and three newer plays. Three of the works are by women. And three are Baltimore premieres. " The 2013-2014 lineup is the first full season in the new venue, which opened in January with an acclaimed staging of Tracy Letts' "August: Osage County.

Carole Lynn Maier, a stained-glass artist and former House of Ruth board president, died of an autoimmune lung ailment Feb. 24 at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Kingsville resident was 60. Born Carole Lynn Smith in Baltimore and raised in Kingsville, she was a 1970 graduate of Perry Hall High School. At age 18, while living her grandparents, she changed her name to theirs, Maier. As a young woman, she moved to the Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood. "She loved the city," said her husband, Mark Wiesand, who sells jet fuel for corporate aviation.

History's throwaways and discards emerged as coveted attractions Sunday when bottles, vials and flasks that spent decades buried in dumps and privies returned in translucent glory. Billed as the "largest one-day bottle show in the world," the Baltimore Bottle Club's 33rd annual sale and exhibit, held in Essex, drew container connoisseurs who didn't flip a cork over paying $750 for a rare cobalt-blue poison bottle produced at Carr-Lowrey, a factory on the Middle Branch of the Patapsco in Westport.

Old is new, new was old two weeks ago. For what it's worth, this is nothing ... new. Whether it be the churning tides of fashion, music - or in our case, alcohol - the contributions of shows (well, really just one show) like "Mad Men" have renewed an interest in the classics. Without exception, especially classic cocktails. The Harvey Wallbanger, the Old Fashioned, Box Car, Rob Roy and the granddaddy of them all: The Manhattan. The Manhattan is the very definition of "classic cocktail.

Hairdresser on Fire. You see that on Fleet Street Kitchen's craft cocktail menu and you're immediately intrigued. That's not a question. So you continue on to the ingredients. Mezcal? Smoky and potent. Check. Campari? Classic bitters - this is going to be strong. You're in. Sherry … sherry? Wait, what? Apologies in advance to chefs and old ladies, but sherry, to me, is a cooking ingredient at best … or maybe something my grandma would take a nip of on special occasions. Why would I drink that?

Kate Blom's glamorous old house is 125 years old this year and, not surprisingly, it is badly in need of repairs. The wood is rotting around the windows, the doors need replacing, the chimney brick work needs re-pointing and the floor in one room is worn and crumbling. So she is throwing a kind of "work party" this week, hoping her guests will pitch in and take on a job that's too big for just one woman. Kate Blom's house is the Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens in Druid Hill Park, the last of five Victorian glass houses that once graced Baltimore's parks and offered peaceful respite to the city's residents.

If you're going to see and hear David Sedaris read at the Meyerhoff on Sunday, keep this in mind: He'll most likely be watching you, too. "He goes on these tours and will read stories that he's working on, and I think there is a kind of feedback that he gets from the audience," says Geoff Kloske, who published Sedaris' first books for Little, Brown. His longtime agent Steve Barclay agrees that the tour is part of Sedaris' creative process. Sedaris is the best-selling author of six books, including Me Talk Pretty One Day and, most recently, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.

George H. Bacot Jr., a retired glass company vice president who was an avid ballroom dancer and golfer, died Monday of cancer at Gilchrist Hospice Care. He was 83. Mr. Bacot was born and raised in Baltimore. He attended McDonogh School and graduated in 1943 from St. James Academy in Hagerstown. From 1943 to 1947, he was stationed at Patuxent Naval Air Station, where he was an air cadet. After earning a degree from the Johns Hopkins University, Mr. Bacot went to work for Armco Steel Corp.

It's prime winter time and we here at b are always on the lookout for cocktails that conjure images of curling clenched hands around a mug, fire blazing and scarf draped upon neck - something that'll let you pretend we're actually having a winter here in Baltimore even when it's 56 degrees out in January. And while optimally the quintessential winter drink may come in a mug, sometimes you can find such a thing in a cocktail glass with fancy garnishes, much like Bradley's of Fells Point's aptly titled drink, Snowed In. Snowed In is interesting to say the least.

It seems as though every bar program in Baltimore touts a classic cocktail menu these days. The trend isn't surprising if you note the revival of early 20th century across popular culture (read: "Downton Abbey," "Boardwalk Empire," the upcoming "Gatsby" remake - even "Mad Men"). But what every menu does not offer is the mysterious, yet often forgotten classic: the Pegu Club. This cocktail is the stuff of legend - spanning more than 100 hundred years, several continents and even questionable behavior.