Getting Around: Turtzi the Turtle — A 13-Year Saga
It’s a Painted Turtle, notice the caps. It’s not a drawing, not something covered in latex, and certainly not a thing of beauty, except for maybe in the eyes of the beholders.
St. James Episcopal Turns 50
Potomac Church on Seven Locks Road travels the “Via Media” or Middle Way.
It’s been a busy time at St. James Episcopal Church in Potomac; the Fall Rummage Sale takes place Friday-Saturday, Oct. 4-5, 2013, the Blessing of the Animals is on Oct. 6, 2013, at 5 p.m., and the church just celebrated its 50th anniversary on Sept. 21 and 22 with a family dinner and concert by Jason Gray.
Planting a Suburban Meadow Garden
Sustainable gardening at home.
These days, many of us are searching for alternatives to conventional lawn and garden care, a task that has become increasingly dependent on time and maintenance, as well as pesticides and other poisons. The suburban meadow offers a solution to this problem.
Choosing a Home for the Golden Years
Many options for retirement communities in the region.
Jim Harkin, 81, and his wife, Phyllis, 80, have little free time these days. Jim spends his days protecting and photographing wildlife on the 60-acre campus at The Fairfax, a Sunrise Senior Living Community, in Fort Belvoir. He helped build, refurbish and maintain more than 20 birdhouses on the grounds, including homes for tree swallows and purple martins.
Active Seniors Compete for Glory
fter 11 days of more than 50 events held Sept. 7-19, the Northern Virginia Senior Olympics finished with a golf event at Forest Greens Golf Course in Triangle, Va. Other events ranged from cycling, swimming and pickle ball to Mexican train dominos and Scrabble.
Column: Supporting Incorporated Brickyard Coalition
For the last two years, WMCCA has been deeply committed to saving the Brickyard School site from becoming a commercial sports enterprise on public land.
Diverse Needs, Desires Drive Mobility Solutions
Seniors increasingly seek innovative plans that embrace both the present and the future.
Russ Glickman was a traditional full-service remodeler until the late 1990s when he abruptly added a host of accessibility certifications to a long list of building industry credentials. The service extension was less about opportunity than a personal call to apply what he’d learned from personal experience in helping his son, Michael, who was born with cerebral palsy.
Documentary Highlights Wounded Warriors Program
Documentary Highlights Wounded Warriors Program
Wounded Warrior J.D. Hartley credits a horse for changing his life. “I was scared at first, but I haven’t had a nightmare since I met Peanut, my horse.
Saxenian Leads McLean School
New Head of School is a “builder, not a maintainer.”
“I was profoundly drawn to the mission of the school and a dedicated faculty that has extraordinary talent and a strong commitment to the institution,” said Michael Saxenian, who became the new Head of School at the McLean School in July. “I see a lot of opportunity to build on a wonderful foundation.”
Help Cure Ocular Melanoma on Sunday
This is a personal fight for Harvey Levine of Potomac, coordinator of the concert. His sister Sheila is fighting ocular melanoma – and he is doing everything in his power to raise funds for research.
Column: “Mor-Tality” or Less
Meaning, in my head anyway, the future and what there is left of it. More specifically, I mean life expectancy. When you’re given a “13-month to two-year” prognosis—at age 54 and a half, by a cancer doctor, your cancer doctor—the timeline between where you are and where you thought you’d be when becomes as clear as mud.
Residential Studios Put on Hold
Supervisors establish committee, plan additional public outreach.
At the recommendation of Chairman Sharon Bulova (D-At-Large) and Supervisor Michael Frey (R-Sully), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday deferred its Nov. 20 public hearing on a proposed residential studios (RSUs) amendment to conduct additional community outreach.
Shutdown: Towpath, Glen Echo Closed
Federal shutdown closes area National Parks.
The federal government’s shutdown has closed C&O Canal National Historical Park, Glen Echo Park, as well as use of the towpath from Washington D.C. through Potomac and to Cumberland.
Now What?
Fairfax County braces for “domino effect” of federal government shutdown.
“We live in a ‘company town’ and the company is the federal government, so most of us have family and friends who are federal employees or contractors impacted by this shutdown,” Long said in a memo emailed to county employees Tuesday. Long said his biggest concern was the “domino effect” the shutdown will have on the local economy, and “the short-term uncertainty that will impact business decisions.”
Social Justice Matters
SALT forum gives candidates a chance to tell voters where they stand on social justice issues.
But one group also thinks voters should know where candidates stand on social justice issues when they go to the polls Nov. 5. “Our elected officials have a great deal of influence on the common good, so it’s reasonable that we find out where candidates stand on these issues,” said John Horejsi, founder of SALT (Social Action Linking Together), a non-partisan, faith-based advocacy group started in 1983.
The Taste of Fall
Local chefs and nutritionists offer healthy recipes for tasty fall dishes using seasonal ingredients.
When the temperature starts to drop and leaves begin to turn red and orange, you can often find chef Susan Limb meandering through local farmers markets, sorting through rough-textured, knotty sweet potatoes; tough, waxy butternut squash; and dusty, rose-colored apples.
Column: A Study in Contrasts
The decision for yours truly to participate in a Phase 1 Study at N.I.H. or Johns Hopkins (depending upon availability and qualifications) discussed in last week’s column has been put on hold, temporarily. It seems that my oncologist was thinking about me over the holiday weekend and called me on Wednesday following Labor Day to say he had a diagnostic idea concerning me: a 24-hour urine collection (a “Creatinine Clearance Study”) which would provide a more accurate reading (than the regular lab work I have; from blood) of my kidney function.
Column: A Peculiar Existence
I’m not exactly pretending that I don’t have stage IV lung cancer (non-small cell, to be specific), but ever since my hospital admission on August 2nd, I have been treatment-free; no I.V. chemotherapy, no oral medication, no targeted treatment, no nothing. And during this sabbatical (I use that term loosely; being off chemotherapy has been as much about recovering from surgery and recuperating from my hospital “stay-cation” as it was anything necessarily intended), I have progressed from feeling crappy and being short of breath—while being infused previously, to where I have become relatively asymptomatic, breathing normally and for the nearly eight week treatment-free interval mentioned, have felt mostly OK.
Northern Virginia Supports Day to Serve
The Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC), a coalition of 14 counties, cities and towns that work together on regional issues, passed a unanimous resolution endorsing Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell’s call to participate in the 2013 Day to Serve.
New Nosy Recruits ‘Bolt & Silas’ Prepare for Duty
Although they are just a few months old and still in their bonding and training phases, two new bloodhound pups are preparing for the rigors of police work in Fairfax County. Bolt and Silas are the police department’s newest additions to their bloodhound team. The agency purchased the pups in August when they were just 6 weeks old. They join Shnoz and Cody, sisters from the hills of Northern Alabama who joined the agency in 2008 at 19 months old.