Occasion

Pylesville. -- It is graduation season again, and under the oak trees in the courtyard of North Harford High School the Class of '95, gowned in green and gold, is poised to take flight.The class is the 45th to graduate from North Harford. It is a small class, at least by metropolitan standards.About 220 members will receive their diplomas on this hot June evening. And the ambiance of the ceremony, like that of the community the school serves, is distinctly non-metropolitan.North Harford was built to serve the most rural section of what was then an entirely rural county.

Having won approval in both chambers of Maryland's General Assembly, a landmark bill to abolish the state's death penalty awaits only Gov. Martin O'Malley's signature before becoming law. It is a tremendous political and moral victory for Mr. O'Malley, a long-time opponent of capital punishment who campaigned for a repeal during his first term only to come up short. That leaves only one major item of unfinished business on his agenda regarding the issue: Commuting the sentences of the five men currently on Maryland's death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

LONACONING -- On the steep slopes of the Alleghenies, where for generations coal miners and their sons burrowed into the rock-hard earth, lived an independent man who refused to dig for a living. His name was Robert Moses Grove, otherwise known as Lefty, who threw a baseball with extraordinary effectiveness and thus found a comfortable way to enjoy days in the sun by not having to put on a lanterned helmet and go underground.He had incredible speed, amassed enormous strikeout totals and pitched his way into the Hall of Fame.

Thursday marks the International Day of the Girl. As part of Garrison Forest School's Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) partnership with the Johns Hopkins University, we spent this past spring and summer as the first interns at Jhpiego, the JHU-affiliated nonprofit addressing health issues of girls, women and their families worldwide. We talked via email and Skype with girls around the globe and discovered just how similar our perspectives are. The GirlSpot posts we wrote for the Jhpiego Facebook page detail these common bonds — and highlight the differences in our lives, differences that often have tragic consequences for our global peers.

Start with a purpose: Is it a special occasion or just a friendly gathering? Sort out duties to avoid collisions: Communicate. Before divvying up responsibilities, figure out cooking strengths of each individual -- who's best at side dishes, hor d'oeuvres, main dish and desserts. If holding a get-together for friends, it's fine to be more restrictive on invitations and invite only friends who know each other. Have a menu in mind and ask guests only to bring wine or beer. Keep in mind, the more formal the occasion, the less helpful it is to share responsibilities.

I am one of a set of identical triplets now in our 30s. For the first time since we were children, we want to dress alike.The occasion is a cocktail party reception where our father is being honored for his civic work.Growing up, we three constantly fought over clothing, and this is no exception. Because we are all tiny I want us to wear white. But they insist white should be worn only after Easter.Since you are all small, white or ivory suits would be appropriate for the occasion. White -- or winter white as it is often called -- is one of the most popular designer colors for winter.

Cardinal William H. Keeler remembered Mother Teresa yesterday not just as the living saint that much of the world perceived her to be, but as someone of indefatigable energy, with a great sense of humor."

A great big thank you to all you greeted me with much enthusiasm when I collected door to door for the Fourth of July celebration. Even the dogs were cooperative! In one house I saw an entire family chatting and sitting at their table having dinner. It looked like a Norman Rockwell scene. (I didn't bother them). I collected more than $821. Once again there was an opportunity to share Catonsville with very special people who rose to the occasion. Margaret Milleker Batimore

One afternoon, as I was driving to my home in Guilford aftercompleting several errands, the announcer on my car radio reported that the temperature was 102 degrees with the humidity at 42 percent. It did not surprise me, therefore, to notice a number of women walking along the street with their umbrellas up. This provided them protection, in a small way, from the direct rays of the sun.At the Civil War memorial service which was held at the monument in Loudon Park Cemetery June 1, there were a number of lovely ladies dressed in Confederate costumes, complete with hoop skirts, be-ribboned bonnets, lace fans and fringed parasols.

People aren't just "googling" at Google.com. They're also ogling, thanks to the artwork of Dennis Hwang. Hwang redesigns Google's logo on special occasions, turning the search engine's familiar four-color logo into fresh eye candy. For instance, to commemorate Leonardo da Vinci's birthday last month, Hwang changed the logo's colors to the chalky red tones of da Vinci's sketches, and replaced one "O" with a smirking Mona Lisa. Though Hwang, a former art student at Stanford University, likes celebrating artists best, his tweaked logos also have given birthday nods to Albert Einstein and Ray Charles, among others.

Gertrude's has been picked again to represent Maryland in a national promotion for Rainier cherries. For National Rainier Cherry Day on July 11, Northwest Cherries has commissioned one restaurant in each state to create a menu item featuring Rainier cherries. Gertrude's represented Maryland in the Tree to Table promotion last year with executive pastry chef Doug Wetzel's cherry almond tart served with sour cream ice cream. This year, Wetzel has created a peach cake with Rainier cherry ice cream.

Looking for some new places for your eating-out repertoire? We caught up with some of chefs in town to find out where they go when they're not dishing out fare at their own spots. Note: All restaurants are in Baltimore unless otherwise indicated. Ted Stelzenmuller, Jack's Bistro Favorite ethnic spot: "Without a doubt, my favorite is Joung Kak. There is no better place to go with a group of like-minded chefs. Eating great Korean barbecue and washing it all down with soju.

In a game that was dedicated to fundraising for cancer victims and their families, Calvert Hall coach Bryan Kelly's heartfelt speech to a full house at Paul Russo Stadium before his No. 3 Cardinals faced archrival and No. 2 Loyola on Friday night was well received. Part of Kelly's speech was about Stacey Del Bene, whose son Michael is a sixth grader at Loyola and husband Tom was a 1976 graduate of the school. Michael plays club lacrosse with Kelly's son, Jacob. "If I was starting a team, Stacey would be the first one I would pick," said Kelly, alluding to how hard she fought breast cancer before succumbing Feb. 12. As inspirational as the speech was, it seemed to have more of an effect on Kelly's club than on the Dons, who were riding a three-game Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference winning streak and had won nine straight overall.

During the week after Christmas, my family and I returned to BWI on a military rotation flight after 10 days of leave in Germany. After passing through customs we were met by several hundred people enthusiastically cheering service members returning from Iraq. There were parents and grandparents and veterans and Girl Scout troops. I tried to hurry my family along as quickly as possible, feeling that this amazing welcome was not for us. But it was impossible not to smile. The gratitude and enthusiasm of that crowd of welcomers was palpable.

It's no mystery how high the stakes will be for the Ravens in their regular-season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. But what is a mystery - and will likely remain one until kickoff - is what kind team is going to show up. How much will injuries and the team's track record of inconsistent play on the road this season affect Baltimore's chances of securing its first division title since 2006? That's the question no one can answer right now, even Ravens coach John Harbaugh.

We were in high day-before-the-move-gear on Tuesday. I was in the Rodgers Forge house where my sister moved on Wednesday, when I felt a heavy thud. I thought the two men who had come to clean the rug had turned on the nozzle from their truck full throttle and the vibration was the jolt I felt.   The rug cleaners thought the painters had dropped something heavy or broken through a wall. “It's an earthquake,” I heard one of them say. “I saw the bushes move.” Within seconds, several of the men had received cell phone calls from their spouses.

A Mount Airy man was given a four-year suspended sentence yesterday in Carroll County Circuit Court after pleading guilty to raping his juvenile girlfriend, now 16, on many occasions between January 1996 and October 1997. The girl, who is not being named because of her age, had run away from her Mount Airy home several times to be with the 21-year-old defendant, said prosecutor Tracey A. Gilmore. The girl's mother told Circuit Judge Raymond E. Beck Sr. that she did not know about her daughter's sexual relationship with the man until after the girl had gone to Virginia Beach, Va., with him. The woman said that on another occasion, her daughter ran away from home and was hidden by the man's family.

Andy Wakshul's penchant for poems has landed him in the Doggerel House, but he's happy to be there -- that's the name of the east Columbia man's business of rhyming for dollars.The 46-year-old poet-for-hire composes personal poems for any occasion -- from a silly birthday rhyme to a romantic ballad.Although he's been writing poetry since he was 6 years old, Mr. Wakshul just recently turned his home in Kings Contrivance village into the Doggerel House."Doggerel is comical, lower-class poetry.

If you're looking for a unique spot for a first date, a romantic setting for a proposal, a special place to celebrate your 50th wedding anniversary or even your 100th birthday, then why not try a hot air balloon? For 30 years, Mike Gerred, chief pilot and president of Light Flight Hot Air Balloons in Bel Air, has been taking people on the “ride of a lifetime.” Gerred describes the aerial adventure as a “quiet, calm respite from the everyday hectic lives we lead.” While floating 1,000 feet in the air may seem a little nerve-wracking at first, Gerred assures riders there is no reason to worry.

A great big thank you to all you greeted me with much enthusiasm when I collected door to door for the Fourth of July celebration. Even the dogs were cooperative! In one house I saw an entire family chatting and sitting at their table having dinner. It looked like a Norman Rockwell scene. (I didn't bother them). I collected more than $821. Once again there was an opportunity to share Catonsville with very special people who rose to the occasion. Margaret Milleker Batimore