What can you say about a bright, summery Saturday in October about the Chester River harbor filled with tall ships hoisting their sails to high-energy bluegrass music in the background and crowds of visitors participating in maritime delight? Nautical bliss?

That’s just one snapshot of the cinematic Saturday that is a part of the annual Sultana Downrigging Weekend, a festival that has become one of Maryland’s most famous maritime celebrations.

Throughout the weekend, from Friday’s fireworks over the illuminated masts and rigging of the AJ Meerwald, Maryland Dove, Kalmar Nyckel, Pride of Baltimore, Virginia, Lynx, Sultana, and Sigsbee to ship excursions, maritime-themed exhibits and authors readings at Sultana Foundation’s new Lawrence Preserve, and packed Music Festival and Village, Saturday unfolded as a feast for thousands of visitors.

Sunday, the festival continues until the tall ships parade home at 3 pm. Come join the fun.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more about Sultana Foundation, go here.

Fall’s here and that means the Academy Art Musuem’s annual craft show is here as well. Over Saturday and Sunday, the AAM is opening its doors to 70 of the finest crafts artists working today.  We sent a Spy over last night for a quick report.

This video is approximately one minute in length. For more information about the Academy’s 26th Annual Craft Show please go here.

Charlotte Hayley, whose daughter and sister had battled breast cancer, introduced the concept of a peach-colored breast cancer awareness ribbon. Peach was Charlotte Hayley’s favorite color. In the early 1990’s, the sixty eight year old Haley began making peach ribbons by hand at home in SimI Valley, California. She distributed thousands of ribbons at supermarkets with cards that read: “The National Cancer Institute budget is $1.8 billion, only 5 percent goes for cancer prevention. Help us wake up our legislators and America by wearing this ribbon.” Charlotte wanted better funding for research, and to promote self-exams and testing.

As the word spread, executives from Estee Lauder and Self magazine asked Haley for permission to use her ribbon. Haley refused saying the companies were too commercial. Self magazine really wanted to have her peach ribbon. Lawyers were consulted and Self was advised to choose another color. It chose pink, a color that focus groups say is comforting and healing—a far cry from what breast cancer really is. Soon, Haley’s grassroots peach ribbon was history, and her original idea became the pink ribbon that has come to be known as the worldwide symbol for breast cancer.

Kathy, my neighbor, introduced herself to me as the movers were unpacking my furniture upon my arrival in Honolulu in 1979. She and I quickly became close friends, we would swim at the pool then drink gin and tonics at the Pearl Harbor Naval Officers Club at Happy Hour on Fridays. Kathy found a lump, had a biopsy, and was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1980. Kathy had a difficult time bouncing back from her double mastectomy, she rarely left her house. We would drink gin and tonics on Fridays at her house as Kathy was too weak to swim. The last time I saw Kathy, I brought chocolate cake. We sat on her lanai and she had two bites of cake and several sips of her drink. Kathy hadn’t eaten in a week as she was suffering with ascites (painful swelling of the belly, due to end stage cancer). Kathy was thirty years old.

Before the Susan G. Komen “pink washing controversy” I ran in a Race for the Cure for my friend, Kathy. It was my first with my running group. My youngest was in preschool three mornings a week and a fellow Navy wife suggested we join an organized running group. The group met at the base of Diamond head every Wednesday morning to run/walk the almost two mile round trip. The Diamond Head ascent is a combination of dirt paths, steep stairs (ninety nine stairs close to the top), switchbacks, a lighted tunnel, and World War Two bunkers. Reaching the summit of Diamond Head was the gift of a three hundred sixty degree postcard view of Oahu, Waikiki, and passing humpback whales. The descent was the most challenging part of the work-out.

It was pitch black outside the morning of The Susan G. Komen race. I watched with interest as my fellow runners were slathering Vaseline on their legs, underarms, and all over their feet. I had “carbo loaded” at the previous night’s spaghetti dinner but had missed the Vaseline part of pre-race requirements. The race was uneventful and fun except that my running partner and I were so non-competitive that a group of elderly race-walkers crossed the finish line before us. Upon removing my shoes at the end of the race, I understood the importance of the Vaseline, I had blisters on my heels and toes. I kept my Race for the Cure t-shirt all these years as a memento of my first race and my eldest daughter wears it now and then.

My running partner and I continued to run in races for a good cause/fund raisers. We eventually moved on to bi-athalons; open water swimming at Waikiki then running a 5K. My first half marathon was a challenge, the course was a gorgeous run through the hills of the waterfront town and golf course of Hawaii Kai. A group of tiny Japanese women who were running behind us the entire race, picked up their pace and crossed the finish line ahead of us. After the race, we treated ourselves to a relaxing afternoon of swimming and “plate lunch” (Huli Huli Chicken, two scoops of white rice, and a scoop of macaroni salad) at the food truck on Sandy Beach.

Upon moving to Maryland, I began attending annual walks for Cancer Awareness. My first was held at Cambridge South Dorchester High School. We walked for hours through that October evening on a track lined with luminarias honoring loved ones with cancer. Due to the COVID -19 pandemic, many annual walks have been virtual. This year there are three “Walks for Wellness” in St. Michaels, Denton, and Easton this month sponsored by the YMCA of the Chesapeake.

In 2008, a friend and I joined a knitting group and began knitting soft, pink hats for Breast Cancer patients. That friend was diagnosed with colon cancer a month after joining the knitting group so I began knitting hats for my darling friend as she had lost her hair to chemotherapy. She died quietly in Hospice care, a week before Thanksgiving, a year after being diagnosed.

I have since had three friends diagnosed with breast cancer who never made it to remission. Stage Four Lung cancer was another dear friend’s diagnosis, she was in her fifties and died within months.

It was October of 2021 that Susan, my mother-in-law was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. My husband and I were in total shock as Susan was the healthiest person we knew, she was thin, exercised daily, abstained from alcohol, and was a vegetarian. Susan debated about going through the treatment with its long list of side effects. At the strong urging of her oncologist, Susan chose chemotherapy and her battle was a brutal one that involved a colostomy bag and eight months of debilitating infusions. Her beautiful long hair fell out in huge clumps, her diet was restrictive, and she suffered from foot neuropathy. A month after the last chemo treatment, Susan had her colostomy bag removed only to learn that the surgeon had found another tiny spot of cancer on her colon.

After two months of chemotherapy for the colon cancer, Susan’s health began to decline and she was hospitalized. Susan would have good days when she spoke of going home and bad days of excruciating pain. It wasn’t until Susan agreed to Hospice Care that my husband and I learned how serious Susan’s cancer diagnosis had really been. Susan died on June 10, 2023 after an almost two year battle with cancer.

Every Monday I would text my most recent story to my mother in law, Susan, she would send me a heart emoji to let me know that she had read my story. Once or twice, Susan commented on my story and I felt so honored. I really miss Susan and those heart emoji’s.

It’s been forty three years since my friend, Kathy died of breast cancer and close friends continue to be diagnosed. I was so naive the day I ran my first “Race for the Cure,“ I thought my getting hundreds of dollars in donations and running the race would help end breast cancer. According to Web MD, cancer cells can move to nearby tissue, lymph nodes, or the bloodstream before surgery. These weakened cancer cells can remain in your body after treatment. They start to grow and multiply again.

Web MD suggests eating a diet filled with cancer fighting foods such as green veggies, beans, and nuts. Get outside and take your Vitamin D, as a Harvard study reports that patients who took vitamin D had a 56% five year cancer survival rate. Patients with low vitamin D intake had only a 23% survival rate.

The Spy asked Scott and Madeleine to stop by the Spy Studio yesterday to learn more.

This video is approximately six minutes in length.

Find out more about how you can get involved in this exciting public arts initiative at our brainstorming and information session, and help us make the Life Cube project engaging, exciting, and meaningful for our entire community.

RSVP to reserve your place, as seating may be limited: jlevy@talbotarts.org 

The bright, blue Packard convertible takes center stage in the “home movie” of my parent’s wedding day. It is March of 1951, after the reception and my parents, in their honeymoon clothes, are running through a shower of rice to the Packard. My parents lovingly reminisced about that car with its power windows and leather interior, it was their luxurious honeymoon/newlywed car.

The 1948 (previously owned) Willys Jeep Station Wagon was added to the garage when my sister was born. My Mom would comment that the Jeep drove like a tank, great for ice and snow covered roads in winter. The Jeep was replaced immediately after my older brother released the emergency brake and the car rolled into traffic while my Mom was picking up the dry cleaning. I was sleeping in the baby car bed in the back seat as my brother and sister played “car” in the driver’s seat during my Mom’s five minute absence. The Wild West days before seat belts and car seats, passenger safety standards weren’t passed until 1978.

My Dad was on a business trip when my Mom bought the cherry red Pontiac station wagon. It was a sporty car with power steering and automatic transmission. My brother’s little car seat, with a steering wheel and a red plastic horn for honking, hung over the middle spot of the front, bench seat. Finally one child was corralled in the car. That winter, after a day of skiing, the brakes of the Pontiac “went out” on one of the “hairpin” curves going down the mountain. My Dad managed to safely drive the brake-less car that afternoon without any of us knowing of that harrowing decline.

A silver Buick Sport station wagon was the car in our “home movies” the summer we took a camper trailer to Yellowstone Park. Our first night at the trailer park, a family of bears opened the Coleman cooler on the picnic table and ate all of the deviled eggs, ham sandwiches, and brownies that my Mom had packed. We kept that red cooler with the “bear dents” on the top and sides, for decades. My parents discovered quickly that camping would be a one-time experience for our family. The camper didn’t have heat or a bathroom and it got into the 30’s that first night. We froze walking to the campground bathroom in the middle of the night, and by morning, the inside walls of the trailer had frost on them. We spent the rest of our Yellowstone vacation in a little motel that had both a bathroom and heat. The motel was situated in the woods, inviting long walks. We found pockets full of Indian arrowheads while out exploring those woods.

The Buick Vista Cruiser was our first car with air conditioning and a third seat. It was the perfect car for long road trips. We drove to New Mexico to visit family one blistering summer, staying cool in our car. We were guests at every Holiday Inn on the trip, perfect family motels. Great kid food, big swimming pools, and connecting rooms. The “home movies” of the trip to New Mexico include our cannonballs and flips into the pools, running around historic Mesa Verde in Colorado, and eating enchiladas in Old Town Albuquerque.

In 1970, my parents bought the ugliest copper colored Mercury station wagon. It was comfortable for a growing family of six and two St. Bernard’s. Both my older brother and I were in accidents in that car, sliding down steep, icy hills in winter, trying to stop. My Mom made me take that station wagon to college my first year, it had survived two accidents so my Mom deemed it the safest car for a seventeen year old coed. I managed to drive that car at a comfortable ninety miles an hour all over Wyoming and Colorado. It was perfect for drive-in movies and fit a load of skis, poles, and passengers, no problem.

The Packard was replaced by a green 1958 Renault Dauphine, then an aqua colored Renault Caravelle convertible. My Dad would pop off the hard top of the Caravelle and hang it on brackets on the garage wall. This “home movie” is of a Sunday morning in spring, in the Caravelle, top down, kids and Dad driving down the driveway, heading to church. My Dad loved convertibles. With a growing family, he traded the Caravelle for the roomier Ford Galaxy, his first car with automatic transmission. The Ford had “bucket” seats and the gearshift was on the floor between the seats.

In 1968, my Dad bought a Pontiac Le Mans convertible in a metallic green, with an eight track tape player and power windows. The center console held some of my Dad’s music favorites, Tom Jones and Neil Diamond. This would be my Dad’s final convertible but I drove that car everywhere in high school. Three girlfriends and I drove the Le Mans from Casper to Laramie to a basketball tournament in March of 1973. We hit a spring blizzard heading home, snow was blowing so hard that the windshield wipers stopped working and we had to pull over in Rock River. There was a solitary bar/gas station sitting close to the highway. Every single bar patron turned on their stool as my three friends and I, covered in snow, “blew” into the dimly lit bar looking for a phone. After a quick phone call home, we sat at the bar drinking Cokes and eating French fries, waiting out the storm. A two and a half hour trip took six hours that day.

With some money that my grandmother left me, I bought a Pontiac station wagon while living in Coronado, California. My three older children’s car seats (with seat belts) fit perfectly in the back. The eight track tapes in this car were Kenny Rogers and Bread. That car was a part of “home movies” at every beach on Oahu and school carpools.

A 1975 Volkswagen bus named Buttercup was the bane of my children’s existence in the drop off line at school. Their classmates called it a “clown car” and “the Sweet Pickles” bus. If it weren’t for the tiny stalling and heating problems, I’d still have that bus today. We have memories of “Buttercup” stalling on the Bay Bridge and in Route 50 summer traffic. My teenage children would jump out, push, I’d pop the clutch, they’d jump back in, and off we’d go. In winter, the children would snuggle in sleeping bags while scraping frost off of the windows.

Our next van was a Mitsubishi box that felt like it was going to blow over in strong winds. My husband and youngest son spent an icy afternoon in February, on Route 50, doing unintentional “donuts” until they landed safely in the median. They watched as their fellow travelers made icy landings inches away. An unforgettable three hour drive from Easton to Cambridge.

We then bought a Dodge Caravan, boring but warm, reliable, heavy, and comfy. We drove that van all over the east coast. We enjoyed our Jeep Wrangler, it was perfect for top down beach adventures and dried out quickly after a summer rainstorm. My husband became a pick up truck owner and loved hauling things. Furniture, mulch, bikes, you name it. It is true that if you own a truck, everyone asks to borrow it.

A beautiful Volkswagen van features prominently in a video as part of Stage Fright 1964. The clip was posted on the instagram page of @perfectstormstagecraft last week, which inspired this “walk down memory lane” of my family’s cars. Cars are such a huge part of our history.

“Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car.” -E.B. White

Kate Emery General is a retired chef/restaurant owner that was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming. Kate loves her grandchildren, knitting and watercolor painting. Kate and her husband , Matt are longtime residents of Cambridge’s West End where they enjoy swimming and bicycling.

Not long after this wine and tap room restaurant opened in April, the Spy took a long look (June article) at the enterprise. As we enter the fall, a look by one of our spies seems in order and one slipped in recently on a quiet Monday afternoon. Monday is mentioned because one great advantage (at least for now) is that the Fool’s Lantern is open seven days a week.

One of the first thing one notices after strolling into this St. Michaels establishment is that you can utilize your personally issued plastic card to choose from among 12 different beers and 24 bottles of wine! However, a dining experience goes way beyond beer and wine. A full menu provides creative offerings of all sizes. Some can be shared and some are larger offerings for an individual diner.

Our spy reports that their own combination of shrimp, grilled chicken and Brussels Sprouts provided a welcomed and filling lunch. What proved too tempting was a dessert described as a cheese cake into which one dips graham crackers along with fruit. All were creative and delicious made all the more enjoyable with a glass or two of wine.

Whether you’ve been before or driven by and wondered just what was inside, a stop at the restaurant is well worth it; and, you will be honoring a bit of history at a time in our past when “The Town that Fooled the British” succeeded in thwarting a British invasion during the War of 1812 because St. Michaels’ residents brilliantly hung lanterns above town to misdirect gunfire, sending British cannon volley far above their intended targets.

October was originally the eighth month of the Roman calendar. It comes from the Latin word “octo” meaning eight. Later it became the tenth month when January and February were added to the calendar. The Anglo-Saxons called October Winterfylleth and in early Germanic, October was known as Weinmond, meaning wine month.

Libra (September 23 – October 22) is the zodiac sign for October. Libra is an air sign represented by the scales (interestingly the only inanimate object of the zodiac), an association that reflects Libra’s fixation on balance and harmony. Libra is obsessed with symmetry and strives to create equilibrium in all areas of life. Libras can navigate virtually any social situation, effortlessly resolving conflicts by simply turning on the charm. Libras are cooperative, diplomatic, gracious, fair-minded and social. Libras are most compatible with Aries and Sagittarius.

Opal and pink tourmaline are the birthstones of October. The opal represents amplification, higher hope, deeper spirituality, and divine purity. With its high vibrations, spectrum of colors, and healing vibes, it invites the wearer to stay calm and balanced. Pink tourmaline has amazing healing powers, fueling your emotional body with positive energy. Each one of your chakras can benefit from the power of this lovely pink crystal. Pink tourmaline is said to bring out artistic creativity in the wearer. It is also believed to be a protective stone, helping to shield the wearer from negative energy.

The flower that has come to represent October is the calendula or marigold. When we see this bright yellow/orange flower we think of a fall sunset or the changing leaves. Marigolds represent comfort, healing, and protection. Marigold petals have been used for medicinal purposes since ancient times, including by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. Marigold petals were often used to treat stomachaches and skin inflammation.

There’s a lot happening in the sky during the month of October. On October 14 there is a rare “ring of fire” solar eclipse. October 21 and 22 look overhead and toward the south between 2 and 4 AM for the Orionid Meteor Shower as it reaches its peak on these two mornings. October 28 is the Full Blood Moon and partial lunar eclipse. Look for Jupiter to the Moon’s lower left. And… there’s a Friday the 13th this month, making it the spookiest October yet.

Weather Lore becomes very prevalent in October, there are so many sayings about the weather in October affecting winter months. For example, “warm October, cold February” and “if October brings frost and wind, January and February will be mild.” “Gnats in October are a sign of long, fair weather “ and “when leaves fall early, winter will be mild…when leaves fall late, winter will be severe”.

National Book Fair Month is held each October. It was created in 2003 to honor the country’s best books and authors. This month long celebration focuses on the importance of reading, writing and literature. One of the best ways to participate is to start a new book and then share it.

October is National Pizza month, it began in October of 1984 and was created by the publisher of Pizza Today magazine. The least popular pizza topping is anchovies and the most popular is pepperoni, then extra cheese, mushrooms, and onions. Connecticut is the state that loves pizza the most and Hawaii is the state that dislikes pizza the most. More pizzas are ordered on Halloween with the Super Bowl coming in with a close second.

Pumpkins are the unofficial mascot of fall. The U.S. produces 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins every year. Over 50% of the U.S. population buys a pumpkin in October. The pumpkin industry reported sales of over $700 million last year. Every state grows some pumpkins but most of our supply is grown in five states: California, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

During an Autumn exploration walk through Pickering Creek years ago I learned that the first Jack-o-lanterns were made from turnips. There is an Irish folk tale about “Stingy Jack” trying to trick the devil into paying for his bar tab. After Jack died, the devil wouldn’t let Jack cross over to the afterlife. Jack was forced to wander the Earth at night, his light a single lump of coal carried in a hollow turnip, earning the nickname, “Jack of the Lantern.” When Irish immigrants moved to America, they found pumpkins much more suitable for carving than turnips, and the modern Jack-o-Lantern was born.

Kate Emery General is a retired chef/restaurant owner that was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming. Kate loves her grandchildren, knitting and watercolor painting. Kate and her husband , Matt are longtime residents of Cambridge’s West End where they enjoy swimming and bicycling.