Those who fish — and I’m sure it’s true of those who hunt and hike — have a habit of naming familiar places in the great outdoors, branding them in some personal way. Gunpowder River Along the Gunpowder River in northern Baltimore County, most anglers know where to find Whale Rock. Given the large boulder … Continue reading An old tradition: Naming places on rivers and trails
WWYD: What Would You Do?
So you park your car in the shopping center parking lot, a couple of safe spaces from a carriage corral. You get out. You grab a carriage from the carriage corral. As you do this, you notice a double-roll package of paper towels in the lower tray of one of the other carriages. Having watched … Continue reading WWYD: What Would You Do?
Charging people to park at Baltimore Peninsula?
Nobody asked me, but charging people to park their cars on a surface lot at Baltimore Peninsula, a new neighborhood still waiting to happen in South Baltimore, is one of the most daft ideas I’ve seen within the city limits. Does Kevin Plank know about this? The sign accompanying this post stands on a mostly … Continue reading Charging people to park at Baltimore Peninsula?
The best three-fish day of fishing ever
Fishing Journal Entry: Sept. 1, 2025, Labor Day Sometimes you just want to write things down so you don’t forget them, and that’s the case today: I just need to describe what the day was like and how it ended so that my son and I will have a record should one day memory fail … Continue reading The best three-fish day of fishing ever
Roadside assistance for a fellow angler who “ain’t from around here”
I had just come from the river when a big man in a big pickup truck pulled suddenly off the main road after spotting me in the parking lot, where I was about to take my waders off. He stopped in a cloud of dust and rolled his window down.“How’d ya do?” he asked, which … Continue reading Roadside assistance for a fellow angler who “ain’t from around here”
Afishionado: A ‘large minnow’ that builds and shares a spawning bed
It’s always the first example of an oxymoronic phrase — jumbo shrimp. Here’s a new one — large minnow. Yes, there is such a thing. It’s called a fallfish, a silvery species that swims in rivers of the U.S. Northeast and Canada. It’s a chub of the family Cyprinidae, and the largest minnow species native … Continue reading Afishionado: A ‘large minnow’ that builds and shares a spawning bed
The Susquehanna Swarm
It might seem like a freak of nature, a bizarre phenomenon set off by the latent effects of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident 50 miles (and more than 46 years) upstream. But it’s actually a natural phenomenon and a sign of environmental health. Workers at Conowingo Dam, on the Susquehanna River, were recently awed … Continue reading The Susquehanna Swarm
In praise of San Marzano
Our San Marzano tomatoes, the Champagne of plum tomatoes, are starting to come in, though apparently it’s a violation of European Union rules to call them San Marzano tomatoes when they are grown in a Baltimore backyard or anywhere other than in the Sarno Valley of Italy. The Italians will dispatch consiglieres and Carbiniere if … Continue reading In praise of San Marzano
July in Baltimore: One night, twelve plays
Rapid Lemon Productions will continue its 2025 season in July with Variations on Night, an evening of 12 short plays by local authors. Produced each year since 2005, The Variations Project is an annual highlight of the Baltimore theatrical calendar. Performances will be at Strand Theater, 5426 Harford Road, Baltimore, MD 21214. Tickets are general … Continue reading July in Baltimore: One night, twelve plays
A century-old sycamore: Pardon me while I stare
There are some old photographs, hanging in libraries and published in books, of the final days of giant trees that lived hundreds of years in the East before the pioneers and colonists arrived, before the farmers and lumberjacks, before the railroads and the highways -- way back, in the words of Gordon Lightfoot, "when the … Continue reading A century-old sycamore: Pardon me while I stare
Dan Rodricks 