Bonnie Augostino

The Annemarie Garden is currently running the exhibit Sailor Made: The Art of Woolies in the New Arts Building.

A woolie is a hand stitched needlepoint created by British sailors in the 19th Century portrait of a sailing ship made from wool thread.

In the days of tall ships, sailors were required to know more than just seamanship. They were also expert with a sewing needle. Sailors needed to know how to "wheedle a needle" in order to repair sails and their own clothing.

During the long months at sea many sailors used their talent with the needle to create what would become treasured works of art. The woolies, for the most part, depict pictures of the ships they sailed and sometimes the ports they visited.

When the needle work was completed, the sailors gave these crafted works to their mothers, wives, other family members or friends.

The sailor folk art currently on display at the Annemarie Garden is on loan from Donald Berezoski, a Huntingtown resident. The display also includes three American-made woolies, which are much more rare, as most woolies were made by British seamen.

These works of art currently on display are certainly worth a visit. The exhibit runs until February 1 in the Mezzanine Gallery at the Annemarie Garden.

Annemarie Garden website

Chesapeake Bay.com has reported that once again the Maryland Transportation Authority Police and maintenance employees will be supporting the Toys for Tots campaign.

December 11 through December 13 between the hours of 6 a.m. - 9 a.m. and during the afternoon hours of 3 p.m. - 5 p.m. commuters can donate new unwrapped toys at the Fort McHenry (I-95) and the Baltimore Harbor (I-895) Tunnels.

There will also be a collection point at the Port of Baltimore's Dundalk Marine Terminal Main Gate. The hours for toy donations at this gate are between 6 a.m. - 9 a.m and again at 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Please note the collection points and times. Toys will only be accepted during the specified times at the drop off points. Toll lanes are exempted and will not accept donations.

Businesses and organizations in Frederick County are also working to spread holiday cheer by collecting toys for their Toys for Tots campaign.

This holiday season, Hampton Inn and Suites in Frederick , Celebree Learning Center in Spring Ridge, Little Gym of Mount Airy and West Winds Tennis and Fitness Center are participating in the Toys For Tots campaign. Each will be acting as collection points for those who wish to donate new toys to less fortunate children in the Frederick County communities.

The West Winds Tennis and Fitness Center will be hosting a special event for the Toy for Tots campaign on December 13 (6 - 9 p.m.). The event is a social mixer featuring tennis games. This year for the first time there will be Marine personnel at the event to help out.

Toys for Tots was founded in 1947 by Major Bill Henricks, USMCR, along with a group of other Marine Reservists in the Los Angeles , California area. That first year, the Marines distributed about 5,000 toys to less fortunate children. The organization has grown greatly since those early days; now over seven million families are helped annually.

Toys for the Toys for Tots campaign are collected by local businesses and organizations and then distributed to children in the community by the U.S. Marine Reservists (and volunteers).

The participating businesses and organizations throughout Maryland are hoping that even though many families have made the choice to scale down their Christmas giving this year that the Toys For Tots campaign will be on their gift list.

Give a gift from the heart this Christmas season, give a new (unwrapped) toy to Toys for Tots.

You can find your nearest contact person in Maryland or anywhere in the nation when you visit the Toys For Tots Foundation website (http://toysfortots.org/default.asp). You can also make donations online to the Foundation

The Huntingtown High School 's marching band, the Marching Hurricanes, have received top honors again!

On November 15th, the Marching Hurricane became "Gold Finalists" in the Tournament of Bands Atlantic Coast Championship which was held in Allentown , PA. The band placed fourth in their division.

This was the second award won by the Huntingtown High School Band. The Marching Hurricanes also won the 2008 Maryland State Group II - Chapter IV Championship on November 1. The Marching Hurricanes also won this award in 2007, making this their second consecutive win.

Football teams seem to get the glory while the marching bands entertain us during the game. In actuality, these musicians train just as hard or harder than any athlete with a much smaller margin of error.

Athletes can leave the field to the cheers of the crowd even after missing an important play. If a player misses a play, only that player is considered to have given a poor performance and only for that moment. The whole team is not judged by the performance of one player.

If a musician misses one note, their performance is considered to be poor. If a band member makes a mistake, it is not the musician that receives the "bad mark" but the whole band. Marching bands are judged as a unit (a team) not as individuals. In addition, marching bands are not only judged for their musical performance, but on their visual performance as well.

The recent wins by the Huntingtown High School Marching Hurricane demonstrates that this band knows true team spirit, dedication, commitment and music.

Drum-roll, please... now a great big cheer for an awesome group, Huntingtown's own, The Marching Hurricanes.

The State of Maryland is offering hope and possible relief to those currently facing foreclosure.

In a continued effort to keep Maryland families in their homes, the State of Maryland and six major servicing companies have reached an agreement to streamline the loss mitigation process. The agreement comes after months of negotiations with loan servicing companies. AmeriNational Community Services, Citi, GMAC ResCap, HSBC, Litton Loan Servicing and Ocwen have agreed to make their loss mitigation process more responsive to those facing foreclosure.

The servicing companies have promised that homeowners will receive an answer from their loss mitigation departments within 75 days of submitting a loss mitigation package. They have also agreed that in most cases they will halt foreclosure proceeding, and foreclosure penalties will not accrue during the loss mitigation process. The loan servicers may also offer incentives to their staff for successful work-out plans with homeowners.

Maryland 's Foreclosure Prevention Assistance Network via "Team Maryland " (designated representatives of the servicing companies) will be the direct contact point for homeowners in crisis. The agreements will assist the state's HOPE counselors to increase successful work-out plans for homeowners. The HOPE counselors are a part of the "Bridge to HOPE" loan program. This program provides small gap loans to distressed homeowners at a zero percent interest rate.

Maryland has been working since 2007 to help its homeowners retain their ownership and has lead the nation in creating reforms to battle the rising tide of foreclosures. The state has passed legislation to reform lending practices including a requirement for lenders to verify a borrower's ability to pay, banned pre-payment penalties, made mortgage fraud a crime, toughen mortgage professionals' licensing requirements, and extended the foreclosure process to an approximate 150 days. The Washington Post has called these laws "among the most sweeping in the country".

The State of Maryland is the first in the nation to pass regulations that requires mortgage loan servicers to "a duty of care". Mortgage loan servicers must now respond in a timely manner to homeowners seeking information and help in regards to their loans. In addition, mortgage servicers must pursue loss mitigation whenever possible.

Mortgage Late? Don't Wait:

Call "HOPE" at 1-877-462-7555 or visit the website MDHOPE.org

Note: Servicing companies manage the loan payments and foreclosure proceedings for the lender. The loss mitigation process is when the lender/servicing company works with the borrower to avoid foreclosure.

The long awaited opening of Calvert County 's new elementary school is finally here. Barstow Elementary School , will be ringing its bells and opening its doors for the first time on Wednesday (November 5).