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Talbot Bird Club Outings for January

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The Talbot Bird Club welcomes your participation, even if you can join for only part of the bird watching outing. If you can only join us for a couple of hours, we don’t mind if you need to leave early. If you want to leave early, you are welcome to drive separately or carpool with others who may also be leaving early.
Or if you want to join the group sometime other than the departure time, please contact the trip leader to arrange a time and place to meet the club during the trip. Note: Individuals are responsible for bringing lunch, drinks, snacks, sunscreen, bug spray, and all other personal items.
Wed, Jan 1- 6:30 am. All-day trip
Cape Henlopen, Coastal Delaware
Start the new year by a trip to coastal Delaware for waterbirds, Snow Buntings, Ipswich Sparrows, and whatever else might show up.
Leader: Jeff Effinger (410 443-5016) – jkeffinger55@gmail.com Depart: Easton Acme at 6:30 am
Sun, Jan 5- 6:30 am. Length TBD
Rarities Roundup. Respond to rare bird sightings (within a reasonable distance). Based on eBird
alerts, Christmas Bird Count results, or rare or target birds reported through the Talbot Bird Club hotline (talbotbirdhotline@googegroups.com). Leader: Vince DeSanctis (410 886-2009) – vdesanctis@verizon.net Depart: Easton Acme at 6:30 am
Sun, Jan 12- 7:00 am
Half-day trip. Talbot Fields and Landings. Explore the surrounding fields for Horned Larks, pipits and sparrows. Leader: Charles Hopkins (443 786-6332) – chopkins54@goeaston.net Depart: Easton Acme at 7:00 am
Sun, Jan 19 -7:00 am. All-day trip
Harriet Tubman to Hooper’s Island
Head south to Dorchester County, starting at the Harriet Tubman Visitor Center for sparrows, continuing out to Hooper’s Island for diving ducks, grebes, and  loons. Leader: Jeff Effinger (410 443-5016) –jkeffinger55@gmail.com Depart: Easton Acme at 7:00 am
Sun, Jan 26- 7:00 am
Half-day trip. Caroline & Queen Anne Field Birds. Explore nearby Caroline and Queen Anne’s counties for Horned larks, pipits, sparrows and raptors. Leader: Danny Poet (410 827-8651) – birder231@hotmail.com Depart: Easton Acme at 7:00 am; Danny will meet the group at the park and ride at the intersection of Rt. 50 and Rt. 404.

Prager Family Challenge Met for Flying Cloud restoration

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The Flying Cloud Log Canoe Preservation Trust has met the $75,000 challenge grant from the Paul B. Prager family of St. Michaels, Md. by raising more than $95,000 from others towards the restoration of the historic sailing log canoe.

Joanne Prager and Capt. Kenneth Reightler, Flying Cloud log canoe

Joanne Prager and Capt. Kenneth Reightler stand in front of Flying Cloud

Recognized on the National Register of Historic Places, Flying Cloud races under the No. 22, and is the second largest racing log canoe in existence today, requiring as many as 18 crew to campaign her.

Earlier this year, the new non-profit Trust began organizing and financing the critical work required to return Cloud to competitive sailing form for the 2020 racing circuit. In October, the Paul B. Prager family of St. Michaels, Md., pledged to donate $75,000 towards Flying Cloud’s renovation, once the Trust raised $75,000 from others. A USNA graduate, Paul Prager is CEO and Chairman of Beowulf Energy and principal of Bluepoint Hospitality Group. Making up the Trust are members Ned Hennighausen, Allan Noble, Hon. John C. North II, Capt. Kenneth Reightler, Alexa Seip, and Langley Shook.

“With a $20,000 donation from an anonymous donor, and very generous help from artist Marc Castelli, we have met and exceeded our fundraising obligation under the very generous Prager family challenge,” said Trust President Ned Hennighausen. “Our target of $150k provided some buffer for sails and other refit items, and with our fundraising now in excess of that, we can provide for a small endowment for Cloud.”

Hennighausen says Marc Castelli donated 25 limited-edition prints of one of his Flying Cloud paintings, which were of great help with fundraising efforts.

“We’re also pleased to announce a new Prager Family Trophy, to be awarded at the end of each sailing season to the log canoe winning the most sanctioned races on the Miles River,” continued Hennighausen. “The Prager Family Trophy, now under development, will include a unique sculpture of Flying Cloud, with the annual winners receiving a keeper trophy to commemorate their victories.”

During all races, Hennighausen says Cloud will fly a distinctive pennant of Navy blue and gold with a “Blue Peter” inset in honor of Paul Prager, a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. The pennant is based on an original design by Marc Castelli.

Retired astronaut, U.S. Naval Academy’s Distinguished Chair in Space Science, and log canoe sailor Capt. Kenneth Reightler, Jr. was named skipper of the log canoe this past October.

Flying Cloud was built on Tilghman Island, Md. in 1932 by the legendary John B. Harrison, who also built Flying Cloud’s sister ship, Jay Dee, a year earlier. Reightler also has an important family connection with Cloud—Harrison is his great-grandfather.

The restoration work is taking place at Campbell’s Boatyards in Oxford, Md., and is being completed in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s guidelines for the Restoration of Historic Vessels. Restoration is expected to be completed by June 2020, with a launch party celebrating the occasion.

The Trust continues to accept donations in support of Flying Cloud’s endowment. Donations to the Flying Cloud Log Canoe Preservation Trust can be mailed to P.O. Box 130, Oxford, Md. 21654. For more information, please follow the Flying Cloud Log Canoe on Facebook and Instagram, or contact Ken Reightler at kreightler@gmail.com or Ned Hennighausen at ned.henn@gmail.com.

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YMCA’s Robbie Gill Receives Anthony Community Service Award

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(l-r) Rotary Past President (& son of J. Howard Anthony) Jack Anthony, Robbie Gill, Jennifer Gill, Nancy Anthony, & Rotary Award Chairman, Tom Hill

YMCA Chesapeake CEO, Robbie Gill, was chosen by The Rotary Club of Easton to receive the 2019 J. Howard Anthony Community Service Award. Given yearly to the Talbot County citizen who best exemplifies Rotary’s motto of “Service above Self,” Robbie was characterized as a “man who can move mountains” by the award committee’s chairman, Tom Hill. When asked when he interviewed 15 years ago about what his objective was in seeking the position, Robbie distinguished himself by answering, “to glorify Christ through the YMCA movement,” and that’s what he’s done in the ensuing 15 years. In 2004, there was one YMCA in Easton with 5000 members. Today YMCA Chesapeake has eleven facilities with 40,000 members and is the largest non-profit on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Most importantly, Robbie has always found a way to make membership a reality for those who need it most, and this is a case in point:

Several years ago, two boys—aged 9 and 11—walked into his office to join the Y. Robbie asked them to have their parents fill out the membership forms and sign them. They returned with forms obviously not signed by any parent. When asked why, they replied, “Because our dad is in prison, our mom is on drugs, we have no place to go, and if we don’t get into the Y, we’ll become just like them.” Robbie got them scholarships and YMCA memberships, and a large mountain was moved in those boys’ lives. And he has done that and more over the years, making a decided difference in life on the Eastern Shore—moving mountains for those least able to do it.

J. Howard Anthony as a devoted Rotarian, was a man of immense integrity whose word was always his bond and who served the people of Talbot County, and that’s why Rotary’s Community Service Award is named after him. Robbie Gill is the same sort of person and joins a list of Talbot County luminaries who have also won this award. People such as J. McKenney Willis, Jr., George Murphy, Bill Corkran, Lloyd L. Beatty, Sr., Moorhead Vermilye, Henry Purdy, Sylvia Gannon, Bob Willey, and many more. It can be said of Robbie Gill—as it has been of the others on that list—that he left Talbot County better than he found it.

Don’t miss the latest! You can subscribe to The Talbot Spy‘s free Daily Intelligence Report here. 

Operation Christmas Spirit Launches in Easton

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Christmas is Coming. Can You Help?

For many of us, this is the most wonderful time of the year. With parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting and, well you get the idea. But for others right here in our community this time of year is a real struggle. Resources are scarce and expectations are high. Who doesn’t enjoy a hot cooked meal on Christmas Day or the joy on a child’s face as she unwraps a present?

Enter Operation Christmas Spirit, a local tradition of helping those in need in our community on Christmas day. Organized and sustained for 41 years by Lord Sheldon ‘Scotty” Scott, Operation Christmas Spirit offers hot meals, groceries and children’s toys and clothes, all of which are donated by local people and businesses. This year, Scotty expects to feed nearly 1,000 people, both at the Firehouse and by delivery to the elderly and to families who don’t have the ability to travel to the Easton Firehouse.

Donations and volunteers are still needed for this year’s Operation Christmas Spirit. Non-perishable food items and toiletries will be packed in boxes and delivered with hot meals to 200 households in Talbot and Dorchester counties on Christmas morning. Donations of peanut butter, canned soup and vegetables, canned tuna and chicken, macaroni and cheese, pasta and food that can be easily prepared by students are appreciated.

Food boxes will include two new things this year: fresh fruit and a dozen homemade Christmas cookies. Christmas cookie donations are needed and can will be dropped off on Christmas Eve at the Easton Firehouse from 10 am – 2 pm.

Other donations still needed are toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, shampoo, deodorant, toilet paper and laundry detergent are also needed for senior citizens and new, unwrapped toys for children up to 12 years old.

Volunteers are needed at the Easton Firehouse on Christmas Eve from 10 am – 2 pm to help pack boxes of food for delivery and on Christmas Day from 11 am – 1:30 pm to wrap presents, deliver food boxes and hot meals and help with hot meals served at the Firehouse.

For more information about how you can donate or volunteer, call Scotty at 410-310-6090 or email susanlangfitt@gmail.com.

Don’t miss the latest! You can subscribe to The Talbot Spy‘s free Daily Intelligence Report here.

UMMS Board Members Lobbied for Deals for Themselves

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Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh’s and other former University of Maryland Medical System board members  used their positions and relationship with former chief executive Robert Chrencik as a clearing house for deals to benefit their personal businesses, based on a report just released by the medical system, writes Rachel Chason in the Washington Post.

Don’t miss the latest! You can subscribe to The Talbot Spy‘s free Daily Intelligence Report here. 

It’s Harp And Soul Time at the Mainstay on Sunday December 15

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The Mainstay holiday tradition continues as Meredith Hadaway and Harp and Soul present songs for the season. Tickets are $20 online/advance and $25 by phone reservation and at the door. Information and advance ticket sales are available on the Mainstay’s website at www.mainstayrockhall.org.

Celebrate the Songs for the Season with the lovely and lively traditional songs, dance tunes & carols from the British Isles, Celtic lands & beyond. The core group of Harp and Soul includes Meredith Hadaway (Celtic harp & concertina), Ben Bennington (guitar & vocals), Rebekah Hardy (oboe), Bob Ortiz (percussion), and Nevin Dawson (viola).  Special guest for the afternoon will be singer/songwriter Pam Ortiz who will add some of her originals to the mix as well as adding her voice to the group. This will be an afternoon of delightful and unusual songs for the season and lots of holiday cheer.

Information and advance ticket sales are available on the Mainstay’s website mainstayrockhall.org.

Sunday December 15, 4pm
Mainstay
Rock Hall

Don’t miss the latest! You can subscribe to The Talbot Spy‘s free Daily Intelligence Report here. 

Temple B’nai Israel And WC’s Institute Present Inter-Religious Solidarity December 8

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On Sunday December 8th at 4:30 P.M., Temple B’nai Israel in Easton and the Institute for Religion, Politics and Culture of Washington College present a panel conversation and community forum on inter-religious solidarity.

Held in honor of long-time community leader Fred Israel, this forum on inter-religious brotherhood and will bring together faith leaders from a variety of traditions as we seek to forge a positive future of mutual understanding and active engagement to advance the good of our region, our country, and the world.

The event will take place at Temple B’nai Israel, located at 7199 Tristan Dr, in Easton. A light reception will also be held.  The following will serve as panelists:

Peter Hyman, Rabbi of Temple Binai Israel
Joseph Prud’homme, the Burton Family Chair in Religion, Politics and Culture, director of the Institute for Religion, Politics and Culture, and professor in Political Science and Affiliated Faculty in Religious Studies, at Washington College in Chestertown.
Dr. William T Wallace Sr., pastor of Union United Methodist Church in St. Michaels
Fr. James Nash, priest of the Wilmington Diocese and pastor of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Easton
Dr. Benjamin Sax, the Residential Jewish Scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies in Towson.
Hallah Attallah, Visiting Muslim Scholar in the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies in Towson.

The event is free and open to the public. Are all welcome.

Brotherhood Forum At Temple B’Nai Israel

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Scholars from each of the major religions will speak on how their theology sheds light on the need to emphasize brotherhood in a world that is increasingly divided.

The program, “Brotherhood Not Tolerance” will take place Sunday, December 8, 4:30 PM, at Temple B’nai Israel, the Satell Center for Jewish Life on the Eastern Shore, 7199 Tristan Drive in Easton. The program is open to everyone. Please RSVP at temple18@goeaston.net or 410-822-0553.

Cottingham Farm Kicking off Holiday Season

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Cottingham Farm in Easton will be kicking off the holiday season with a harvest festival and cocktail hour on Tuesday, November 26, 2019 from 4 to 7pm.  Visitors can browse the farmers market featuring Cottingham Farm Organic vegetables, prepped veggies, take-and-bake sides, and ready-to-serve appetizers for the Thanksgiving feast.  Lyon Distilling will sponsor a tasting of locally-made spirits and cocktails and local nutritionist Dr. K Virdee is sharing a Fire Cide-r chat that focuses on keeping your immune system strong through the sometimes stressful holidays.  Live music will be provided by Ampersand, an Americana and blues duo from Denton.  Pre-ordered Black Bottom Thanksgiving turkeys and sides can be picked up during the farmers market. 

Originally settled in 1658 by families from “Cottingham” in Yorkshire, England, the Cottingham farmland (now about 160 acres) features healthful, sustainably grown and locally distributed fruits, vegetables and herbs. Produce at this Certified USDA Organic farm is grown using organic methods, with no synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides, surrounded by buffers of wildlife habitat and buffers for the Chesapeake Bay.  In addition, the farm includes over fifty acres of Conservation Reserve practices including an eighteen acre wetland which is a habitat for teal, black duck and other disappearing native waterfowl; thirty acres of warm season grass buffers around all fields to prevent water, sediment, nitrogen and phosphorous runoff as well as provide habitat for the disappearing native quail; two acres of native trees and shrubs on the water’s edge; over twenty acres of cover crops; and almost ten acres of meadows.

Lyon Distilling Company is a nano, craft distillery located in Saint Michaels, Maryland.  A founding member of the Maryland Distillers Guild, LDC spirits start with intentionally-sourced raw ingredients, and are truly hand-crafted – mashed, fermented, and double-distilled in small pot stills – every step of the way.  Favorite spirits include white rum, coffee rum, Sailors Reserve rum, and overproof French-Oak finished rum. 

Dr. K. Virdee’s naturopathic family practice, based in Easton, provides thorough medical evaluation and diagnostic testing, coupled with compassionate care, with the goal of educating and empowering patients to improve their health naturally.

Local musicians Beth Lawton and Dick Hogle are the core of Ampersand, a family-friendly string band that plays a variety of songs and tunes from early colonial America through the blues of the 1920s and 30s, on up to modern folk music.  They support their rich vocal harmonies with guitar, mandolin, banjo, and hammered dulcimer.  

The Black Bottom Farm Collective began as a Kent County sustainable pastured livestock farm selling at the Easton Farmers Market. Owner Kim Wagner began the Black Bottom Farm Collective in 2017 and now offers an online local food market with home delivery in the Easton and St. Michael’s area. The Collective partners with local sustainably-minded farmers and food makers to offer produce, meat, pantry staples, and ready to eat food through their online platform and at local pop up markets. They are excited to collaborate with Chesapeake Harvest, another local food distributor and agricultural support network, on this event and future endeavors to further strengthen the local food system.

Drop by for a quick bite to eat, impromptu market shopping, visiting with your local farmers, listening to some music, turkey pick up, or all of the above! For more information, please check out Cottingham Farm’s website (www.cottinghamfarm.com) or call 410-763-8385.  Holiday dinners never tasted so good (or were so easy!) as with local ingredients!

 

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