Green

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.

“Would you like to buy a carbon offset with your purchase today?” That's a question you hear more often when you rent a car or buy groceries at MOM'S Organic Markets. Now, you also have that option when you buy natural gas to heat your home. Here's the lowdown on carbon offsets, and two “green natural gas” suppliers that offer to conveniently reduce your carbon footprint.   What is a carbon offset? A carbon offset is when you pay for greenhouse gas reductions elsewhere equal to the amount of those gases you're generating from a particular activity or purchase.  Greenhouse gases (chiefly carbon dioxide and methane)

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 was very happy to see that additional development was barred at Green Spring Station and that common sense prevailed in our county's decision making. Anyone who travels through this intersection during the week days, especially rush hours, can tell you this is a failing intersection that it fully deserves its "F" rating. To those legislators who upgraded it as a "D" rating, I would suggest that without major improvements in place beforehand, any further development at Green Spring Station would overnight decrease its rating to a "F". For this reason, I believe the restriction that prohibits development only near "F" rated intersections should be expanded to include "D" rated roadways and intersections; this is only common sense, guys.

The average golfer enjoys water about as much as the Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz . " Those teeing up at Eisenhower Golf Course, a tree-lined public layout in Crownsville, might have even worse nightmares than the norm. Thick, native grasses up to 3 feet high surround every creek and pond, reaching toward the sky as though part of a fiendish plot to snag wayward shots. "I tell the players we have great sales at the pro shop," says course superintendent Mike Papineau in joking reference to the fact that golf courses resell the balls they find in hazards.

The U.S. Department of Labor announced Wednesday it has awarded $4.6 million for "green" job training to dislocated workers and others in Baltimore and Prince George's counties. The grant recipient, H-CAP Inc., will provide training to prepare job seekers and entry-level environmental services for "new and emerging green occupations" in the health care industry, the department said. The grant also will cover workers in California, New York, Washington and the District of Columbia. Separately, the Associated Builders and Contractors announced it has received a $90,000 grant from the Turner Foundation in Atlanta to help provide training in green building and sustainability practices.

N o doubt, many environmentalists around the Chesapeake Bay wish Howard Ernst would go away. His recent criticism of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and suggestion that its president, William C. Baker, resign, isn't the team spirit they'd hope for as green organizations rally for vital federal clean water legislation in 2010. Mr. Ernst, a Naval Academy professor and author of the new book, "Fight for the Bay," may be the skunk at the garden party, but from bad oysters to gas leaks, we ignore unpleasant odors at our peril.

On March 5, Mr. Green Visitation Wednesday, 2 to 8 pm., 2140 N. Fulton Ave. Services Thursday, 12:30 wake, 1:00 funeral.

On May 18, 2008, ROBERT VAN GREEN; beloved son of Elizabeth J. Green and the late John A. Green, Sr.; survived by devoted brother, John A. Green; nephew, John A. Green, IV, and a host of other relatives and friends. On today, friends may call VAUGHN C. GREENE FUNERAL SERVICES, 5151 Baltimore National Pike from 4-8 P.M. Private funeral services and interment will be held on Thursday. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to First Mount Carmel Christian Church, c/o Robert V. Green, 2900 W. North Avenue, Baltimore, MD, 21216.

On Tuesday, December 2, 2003, ISADORE GREEN, devoted brother of Florence Green, Carl Green and Bess Weinstein and the late Reuben Green and Nathan Green, beloved Uncle of Faye Harting, Stuart and Bonnie Weinstein, Sharon Green, Len and Lisa Weinstein and Inez and Nathan Schapiro, beloved great-uncle of Todd Weinstein, Matt Weinstein, Brooke Weinstein, Jeremy Harting, Alex Schapiro, Elizabeth Schapiro, Austin Weinstein and Madeline Weinstein. Services and Interment at Tifereth Israel Anshe Sfard Congregation Cemetery, Rosedale on Thursday, December 4 at 12 Noon.

A Roland Park resident has created a "passport" to Druid Hill Park. Janet Felsten, founder and director of the nonprofit group Baltimore Green Map, introduced the green-colored passport April 19 at a Baltimore Green Week kickoff party in the conservatory. Felsten said she created the 20-page, passport-shaped booklet on cover stock paper as a companion to a detailed map of Druid Hill Park that she made in 2010. The purpose of the map and the new passport is partly to point out places of interest in the 745-acre park, which is home to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, Druid Lake and the Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens, among other attractions.

A vote by the Baltimore County Council on Monday will bar new development at Green Spring Station in Lutherville for the near future. Developers cannot build near intersections graded "F" under the county's "basic services maps," which identify deficiencies in public infrastructure throughout the county. The council approved the maps Monday. The intersection of West Joppa and Falls roads near Green Spring Station — which has shops, restaurants and offices — had been labeled failing for about a decade, and the planning board recommended "F" again this year.

How bad is traffic at Falls and Joppa roads in Baltimore County? It depends whom you ask, and the answer could determine whether the county allows additional growth near the intersection. A dispute over the intersection near Green Spring Station, a collection of shops, restaurants and offices in Lutherville, was the subject of a County Council discussion last week. Council members are scheduled to vote Monday on the county's "basic services maps," which identify deficiencies in the county's sewer, water and transportation infrastructure plans.

Before Green Day won over Broadway with an ambitious anti-war album, it was a simple-minded punk trio from Berkeley with an album called "Dookie" and song titles such as "Geek Stink Breath" and "Words I Might Have Ate. " While the band's sound has evolved greatly since forming in 1987, Green Day has maintained a knack for writing songs with lasting appeal. Here are five that still hold up well. "Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?" (from 1992's "Kerplunk!") This isn't the best song for name-checking the protagonist of "The Catcher in the Rye" (that honor belongs to Piebald)

Michael Mayer knows a thing or two about coming of age. The Maryland-born director won a Tony Award for his work guiding the 2006 Broadway hit "Spring Awakening," which chronicles teens getting a grip on their budding sexuality. In 2010, he directed "American Idiot," a punk rock musical based on the Green Day album of that name, which follows a group of cynical, spent youths as they seek excitement in a big city. Mayer didn't just direct the latter, but collaborated on the book with Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong.

Leave it to Stevenson coach Paul Cantabene to find a scoring threat in a former defensive player. After spending the first three years of his career as a short-stick defensive midfielder, Peter Green has blossomed as a weapon for the No. 4 Mustangs (15-2), leading all midfielders with 27 goals and 38 points. The Hereford native and graduate has scored three more goals than the combined number of shots he took in his first three seasons, but to hear Cantabene - who has built some of Division III's most prolific offenses in recent years  - talk, this is what he and staff anticipated from Green.

Mercifully, I receive few e-cards, and when one appears in my in box, I delete it - I don't even want to know the sender. While many pride themselves on being "so green" ("More people are dreaming of a green Christmas," Dec. 23) I interpret it as being "so cheap." There nothing wrong with saving money at Christmas - the holiday has become little more than a shopping fest. But the reason I send Christmas cards (and photos along with them) is because this is the one time of year you can catch up with friends and acquaintances.

You don't need to be a scratch golfer to enjoy Mountain Branch Grille & Pub. Though the restaurant is located on the grounds of Mountain Branch Golf Club in Joppa, it is open to golfers and non-golfers alike (the course is open to the public, too, and golf memberships are also available). It's no surprise that Mountain Branch is a popular spot for weddings: The space - with exposed rafters, stone accents and enormous windows overlooking the course - is jaw-dropping. Fortunately, the food and service are just as impressive.

It was Dirty Finger Club Day at Linton Springs Elementary School, near Eldersburg. Out in the vegetable garden - one of a dozen "outdoor classrooms" in the meadows, wetlands and woodlands of school's spacious grounds - Anna Letaw, a volunteer who has been the dynamo behind Linton Springs' Environmental Education Program, was giving a kindergarten class a primer on gardening. "Oh, look what I found!" Letaw called out as she knelt. "An earthworm .... Can anybody tell me what earthworms do?"