Emerson Egg Hunt Saturday on April 4th

Emerson's Annual Egg Hunt will be on Saturday, April 4th in Sterling Park.

Bring your baskets and cameras and join the Easter Bunny!

Date: Saturday, April 4, 2015
Time: 12 PM - 1 PM
Location: Sterling Park

Emerson Clean Up Day on April 11

Emerson's next Clean Up Day will be on Saturday, April 11th from 9 AM to Noon. This will be the 6th Annual litter pick-up day in our community.

This event is organized by a volunteer Emerson resident, one of our neighbors next door in Skylark Ridge, and counts upon your participation for its success!

• Litter pick-up tools, gloves and trash bags will be available.
• Refreshments will be provided for volunteers.

Date: Sat. April 11, 2015
Time: 9 AM to 12 PM
Location: Meet at the Clubhouse

Cherry Blossoms in HoCo and DC

Washington, DC is famous for the cherry trees around the Tidal Basin, given to the city as a gift of friendship from the Japanese government over 100 years ago, and the 2015 National Cherry Blossom Festival will run from March 20 to April 12.

But Howard County has started its own cherry tree tradition via its Blossoms of Hope program, combining charitable giving with beautification of the County's parks and roads.

Howard County's cherry trees typically bloom a couple of weeks after the ones in Washington, ideally through the month of April.


Washington's Cherry Trees

BWI Observation Park

On the south side of BWI Airport about 25 minutes from us is a quirky little pocket park on the BWI Trail that sits practically underneath the approach path for the southeast runway of the airport.

As incoming planes descend to cross MD-176 (Dorsey Road) they pass within about 100 feet of the Thomas A. Dixon Observation area, a small parking lot with some benches under a wooden trellis as well as a playground.

The other function of the location is parking for the trail, though the main attraction is plane-spotting.

Many people simply park their cars facing east toward the flight path and watch the planes coming in from their vehicles.

The facility is only open from sunrise to sunset, but the area is too dark and isolated at night to remain in any event.

The BWI and B&A Trails

Howard County Schools Last Day June 19th

Here's a quick summary of the schedule for Howard County Public Schools for the rest of the 2014-2015 school year, now that decisions have been made for how to handle the snow-related closings and delays:

• HCPSS has announced that the last day of school will likely be Friday, June 19, 2015.
• The last day of classes was originally scheduled to be June 10th.
• June 17 will be a full day, and June 18 & 19 will be half days.
• A waiver is still needed from the State of Maryland for the following Monday (June 22). 
• Maryland requires students to attend school for 180 days each year with 1,170 hours of instruction.
• In addition to the snow days, HCPSS is also 4 hours short at this point.
• The schedule had 5 possible inclement weather make-up days at the end of the year. 
• With 8 snow days this year, HCPSS needed to either make up an additional three days or get a waiver from the state. 
• Last year HCPSS requested a waiver for 4 days and got approval for 2.
• The last day of school for seniors is still TBD.

Georgetown Cupcake

It's not often that we highlight a business 30 minutes away (in DC Beltway-years) -- but then not every cupcake shop has its own national cable TV show (DC Cupcakes on TLC).

Georgetown Cupcake was started in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. by two sisters who decided at the beginning of the gourmet cupcake trend to create cupcakes with a fanatical devotion to finding the finest ingredients.

A second store was opened in Bethesda, MD (not coincidentally, near Discovery Channel headquarters, the parent of TLC).

The stores have now gone national as well, selectively expanding to open single locations in New York City (Soho, with a small auxiliary outpost in Times Square), Boston, L.A., and soon, Atlanta. They also ship nationally.

There's only one more thing we can do over the Internet, and that's show you some pictures and assure you that: Yes...yes, they ARE that good.

The Bethesda shop is 30 minutes away via the DC Beltway. ;)

Spring Forward This Weekend!

Don't forget to Spring Forward this weekend!

Daylight Savings Time takes effect on Sunday, March 8th at 2 AM. Set your clocks ahead by one hour the night before so you won't be late.

And for those who can't wait...the first day of Spring 2015 is on Friday, March 20th!

Dutch Country Farmer's Market (Laurel, MD)

Laurel, MD may be about 100 miles away from Amish Country, but it has one of the best Amish markets in this region -- the Dutch Country Farmer's Market on MD-198. And yes, the staff is mostly Amish.

With the motto "Fresh from PA Dutch Country," the market serves up fresh produce, baked goods, dairy products, organic meats, and candies.

Social Dancing in the Washington Metro Region

One of the advantages of living halfway between Baltimore and Washington, DC is the wealth of things to do, some of them fairly unique to the area. 

You might be surprised to learn that the Washington, DC Metro region has one of the largest social dancing communities in the country, with a particularly strong presence in various types of swing.

Maryland's Gregory Scott (a WCS and Country champion) at Swing Fling

DC is often regarded as the birthplace of a style of swing dance known as Hand Dance, but today there are also very active communities in West Coast Swing (WCS), Lindy Hop, Ballroom, Salsa, Country Line & Couples Dancing, and Hip Hop as well as some smaller niches such as Hustle (and even Scandinavian Folk Dancing!).

Here's a sampling of some local dance communities:

• West Coast Swing (WCS)
• Lindy Hop
• Country Line & Couples

Notes: Emerson HOA Meeting 2/17/15

Summary of the Emerson HOA meeting which was rescheduled from January 2015:

1. Board selects its 2015 Emerson HOA Officers
2. Town Halls to engage residents on issues and initiatives - perhaps as early as April
3. Activities
1. Children's events went well but want to have activities for older children and adults
2. Picnic planning beginning, to include interactive events for residents
4. Clubhouse Renovation
5. Security
6. Architectural Covenants
7. Finances
8. Miscellaneous
1. Parking
2. Tennis Courts
3. Playground Replacement
4. Stormwater Pond Management
5. Pool Contract

Details:

Snow Emergency Declared in Howard County

(Update 7 AM: It appears the snow was on the low side of predictions in our neighborhood, closer to 2 inches, but trash collection has been cancelled and it remains very cold at 15 degrees.)

Right now it appears that forecasts for the most significant snow of this season (as much as 5 inches, depending on the forecaster) may be accurate. A list of closings will be updated here:

• Howard County Public Schools are closed for Tuesday, 2/16. All evening activities are cancelled.
• Howard County Libraries are closed Tuesday. Most County offices will open late at 10 AM.

Autumn Walk Winter Pruning

While you were sleeping (or at work) on Thursday, one of the Autumn Walk landscaping services was performed for you.

The winter pruning of the common area shrubs and rose bushes was performed by our landscaping contractor...and, because we all elected to participate in the extension of the contract to our own homes:

Local History: Freestate Raceway

Has it ever occurred to you to wonder why Lincoln Center, the shopping center off Gorman Road and Freestate Drive where Weis Supermarket stands today, displays cutouts of a jockey in a harness racing cart (called a "sulky")?

Why Is Emerson Using VOLO Village?

(Update 2/26/15: Emerson has clarified that your email information is not automatically transferred into your VOLO Village account, and they are requesting your help.

Please log into your account so they can get rid of the old mailing list. It will make it much easier for the management team to keep you informed and you will also have the option to get real-time alerts about emergency situations, such as gas leaks.)

Please contact CMC Management in the Emerson Clubhouse if you have lost your login information (sfelder at cmc-management dot com).

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You should have recently gotten a letter from Emerson HOA with login information for VOLO Village. To clarify the purpose of this service:

• VOLO Village allows Emerson to quickly and efficiently send out emails, text messages, and phone calls to everyone in the community
• You only need to log in to choose which types of messages you want, and update your contact information. It's not a portal you need to log into frequently.

It's just a fast means for Emerson to pass information to you, especially emergency notifications (e.g., tornado warnings) which you can also choose to receive through the automatic Thundercall service.

We suggest you do the following:

Of Foodies and Food Trucks

Not so many years ago, this area's cuisine could be better described as "hearty" and "good value" than gourmet, but in recent years we've seen the arrival of some excellent restaurants as well as a burgeoning food truck scene.

(Though if you still want crab cakes with huge mounds of crab meat, we still have those in this area too!)

Bistro Lunch Box offers blackened crab cakes, spicy Sriracha lamb
sandwiches, ahi tuna fruit wraps, and cheese fondue fries

Food Trucks
Los Angeles (or as we "hipsters" would say, "L.A.") is generally credited with starting the national food truck trend, serving very good, distinctive and sometimes unusual food out of the window of a large mobile kitchen (often without a corresponding brick-and-mortar restaurant).