Lace

THIS TIME of year, I dream of Christmases past.Lying awake at night, thinking of the tasks yet to be done before the big day, I clear my head of stress by mentally traveling back to the home I grew up in on a street that no longer exists, except in my mind's eye. During these waking dreams, I explore minute-by-minute the magical texture of the days I once knew as a child, when anticipation of Christmas was orchestrated by home and community traditions more...

Nike Inc. has radically redesigned its Air Jordan basketball shoe for next winter -- and the word in the industry is that it's a slam-dunk.According to financial industry professionals who were given a sneak preview of the ninth generation of the popular shoe last week, the 1994 model will soar above its recent predecessors the way its namesake flies toward a basket.Jennifer Black Groves has seen a lot of basketball shoes in the years she's followed the athletic footwear industry. But she's never seen anything like the new version of Michael Jordan's favorite footwear.

"This isn't the way we normally do business," said Caroline Houghtling."We usually set up private parties in people's homes. It's only been lately that I've done some shows in public places like restaurants and bars. The men love it."Houghtling was talking about the sort of event you'd get by crossing Frederick's of Hollywood with a Tupperware party -- the sort of event the Judge's Bench bar in Ellicott City presented last week as a Valentine's business promotion.As a sales director for Cameo Coutures Inc., a Dallas-based lingerie and loungewear manufacturer, Houghtling's job is to set up parties to sell the company's fashions.

You may not recognize Debbie Kowalski Wilson's name, but if you've opened a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue in the past six years, chances are you've seen her work. Wilson, who is from Edgewood and now lives in Hawaii, has had her Maui Girl swimsuits featured in the popular edition of the magazine 48 times - and more than 200 times in the online version. This year, Wilson's swimsuits were featured 14 times, including a centerfold with cover model Kate Upton in Antarctica. And with Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer here on the mainland, quickly approaching, Wilson is preparing for a busy season.

From her push-up bra to her square-cut bangs, the woman in the photograph is somehow both squeaky-clean and, in a sexual sense, a little bit dirty. Her undergarments are crafted from black lace. She's wearing 7-inch platform heels and an utterly unforced smile. She's bending forward, but not too far. Her arms are held behind her at an awkward angle as if her wrists are bound. When Claire Sharp of Severna Park fished the slide from the pocket of an old suitcase last year, she immediately recognized the subject as Bettie Page, the 1950s pinup queen.

THE ROLAND PARK Second Presbyterian Church looked absolutely stunning last Saturday for the wedding of Natalia Pia Melanie Sommer and Richard Matthew Dohler. Thousands of wildflowers, miles of lace ribbons and tulle, and window sills decorated with Singapore orchids set the stage for the nuptials of the daughter of pop music star Donna Summer and her first husband, Helmut Sommer,and the son of Dick and Bonna Dohler, he's an Ellicott City builder.The church was filled with the music of German trumpeteer Langston Fitzgerald and selections of Bach, Beethoven and Vivaldi, played by the church's music director Margaret Budd on the organ.

Q: After living together for four years, my boyfriend and I are getting married at last. The closest thing to a nightgown I've slept in during those four years has been a T-shirt. On our wedding night I want to surprise him by wearing something he'll remember forever. Any suggestions?A: Fernando Sanchez, who's designed lingerie in Paris and New York, says buy a glamorous gown. "I always design a bridal nightgown for the end of my show. It's the most glamorous one I do. This season it is in silk satin and lace.

Think of a young boy dressed in velvet and lace, his hair falling to his shoulders in long, golden curls, the personification of the pampered, effeminate mama's boy: Little Lord Fauntleroy. For one small boy, Fauntleroy was all too real. Vivian Burnett was the real-life model for the popular book written by his mother. In the public eye he was Fauntleroy, and Fauntleroy's fame haunted him to the end of his life. His mother was Frances Hodgson Burnett, the author of such children's classics as "A Little Princess" and "The Secret Garden."

Kevin Plank may have sold the first Under Armour shirts from the back of his car, but as his reach has grown, so too have his wheels: These days, he jets around the world, recently to five Asian cities in six days, but managed to get back home to Baltimore to watch a member of his celebrity-filled stable of athletes play in a game. That would be his 9-year-old son, James, playing in a Little League game in Baltimore County. Like any sideline dad, Plank showed off a few photos on his cellphone, scenes from a spring evening more Norman Rockwell than Under Armour, whose thumping ads feature glaring athletes seemingly in training not for a mere game but a coming apocalypse.

The leaves on my azaleas are turning white. They look dirty underneath, too. How can I stop this? Your azaleas are infested with lace bugs. These ubiquitous insects insert their mouth parts into leaf undersides and suck out the chlorophyll. Each piercing makes a pale spot, known as stippling, and eventually the entire leaf can turn yellow and fall off. The black dots under the leaves are fecal spots. Lace bugs themselves are hard to see because they have translucent "lacy" wings.