Pagoda

The Friends of Patterson Park are holding their 8th annual Wine Tasting at Sunset event on Thursday night around the historic Marble Fountain and Pagoda. Wine tastings and food samplings are coming from Chesapeake Wine Co. , DiPasquale's , Bistro Rx , V-No and  Todd Conner's . The evening includes an acoustic performance by Rob Fahey and silent and live auctions. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased on the Friends website or by calling the Friends office at 410-276-3676.

A DAY AT HARBOR EAST For an afternoon filled with music and art, visit the Harbor East Fine Arts and Music Festival Saturday. The free outdoor festival showcases local and regional musical talent, including the Duhks, the Pale Stars, Judd and Maggie, and Rob Thorworth, as well as artists displaying and selling their works. Festival-goers can also watch street performers, visit the kids' arts and crafts area featuring activities from the Baltimore Museum of Art and Port Discovery, purchase food and more.

Self-serving agencies for handicappedI am writing in regard to Wiley Hall 3rd's recent column about the young lady who, despite being intelligent and well-educated, has difficulty in securing a position because she has cerebral palsy.I would suggest that those so-called human service agencies that purport to serve the handicapped get their own houses in order as a first step in rectifying unemployment among the handicapped.Many of these agencies are run for the benefit and convenience of the directors and administrators.

For 27 years, nothing stopped Jimmy Eng from serving juicy Shinto chicken and lo mein to hungry Army regulars on Route 175's Boomtown strip across from Fort Meade. His Pagoda House survived military force reductions. It outlasted the dingy taverns and porn shops, the strip's sporadic fires, the lawlessness and the reign of fast food. It hung on long after the pawnshop and Chinese restaurant on either side closed, making Pagoda House the only open business on a boarded-up block. But after Fort Meade became a restricted post in August 2001, Eng's customers stopped coming.

My sister, daughter and I toured Japan last summer and were captivated by Kinkajuji, or the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. One of Japan's architectural masterpieces, the pagoda was started in 1397 when Ashikaga Yoshimitsu abdicated in favor of his son and began to build this villa as a retreat. By 1407 it was a large complex and village with numerous pagodas and temples. Upon his death a year later, the Golden Pavilion became a Zen temple. The temple was destroyed during a civil war in 1467, rebuilt, and destroyed again in 1567.

When the Su family chose a burial plot two years ago, it had all the traditional elements valued in their native Taiwan. The site, protected by a hill, faced the sun in the south and overlooked a scenic lake at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens in Timonium. Family members, who visit the site weekly, are delighted that there are so many more of the Asian designs and symbols that for centuries have honored the dead and comforted the living. The Sus now walk through a polished granite pagoda to the cemetery's Garden of Tranquility, which will be formally dedicated Wednesday.

After figuring out that his girls had won the team title at yesterday's seventh annual Knights' Invite, Notre Dame Prep coach Ed Donnellan glared at his note pad, shook his head and lamented: "Just think what we would have done if Carrie Kroll was here."Kroll, the Pirates' No. 1 runner and one of the premier harriers in the Association of Independent Schools, couldn't make the trip to Baybrook Park because of a stress fracture in her right leg that is expected to sideline her for "at least four to six weeks."

After figuring out that his girls had won the team title at yesterday's seventh annual Knights' Invite, Notre Dame Prep coach Ed Donnellan glared at his note pad, shook his head and lamented: "Just think what we would have done if Carrie Kroll was here."Kroll, the Pirates' No. 1 runner and one of the premier harriers in the Association of Independent Schools, couldn't make the trip to Baybrook Park because of a stress fracture in her right leg that is expected to sideline her for "at least four to six weeks."

Years ago, when I moved to a town whose main street is lined with flowering dogwoods, I was disappointed that the leafless trees weren't bigger, broader, more majestic. Then the end of April rolled around. Suddenly, the dark, rough-barked branches of the 12-foot trees burst into abundant bloom. The effect was marvelous, like pink and white petticoats on parade from one end of town to the other. "Flowering dogwood is spectacular when it's in flower," says Jane Baldwin, president of Cylburn Arboretum Association in Baltimore.

Next year will mark the 100th anniversary of the Pagoda, the 60-foot octagonal observatory tower standing near the highest point of Patterson Park. Fitting preparations are being made for the centennial: the whole neighborhood is pulling together to restore the landmark.Patterson Park is one of those urban oases that is taken for granted.Before air-conditioning, it was a place where whole families would spend the night on sweltering summer evening, hoping to catch some catnaps under the stars.