Articles by Sandra Olivetti Martin

What’s in a Name?

Your dog’s name may say more about you than about him or her

We love our dogs. Forty-six million of us share our homes with 78 million dogs. So when the constellation Sirius brings us the Dog Days of summer, Bay Weekly goes to the dogs to pander to that audience. Chuck or Chester; Cheyenne or Cassie; Mack, Magic, Max or Moe; Nipper or Norman; Roscoe or Rusty; Winston or Whiskey; Brandy or Bourbon; Brown Dog or Bruno; Poncho, Polly, Peaches or Peanuts; Sandy or Sophie; Sugar or Scamp; Snuffy or Sparky; Dexter, Tucker, Cooper or Caper....

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/18/11

This Week’s Creature Feature ... Travels with Buck

Like John Steinbeck, this osprey wanted to see America

In between migrations most osprey are homebodies. Conventional wisdom holds that male osprey almost always return to the vicinity of their nests to breed. Not every osprey is conventional. That’s the latest from osprey scientist Rob Bierregaard, who’s been studying the birds since 1969. Since 2000, he’s been tagging juvenile and adult birds with satellite transmitters and following their lives and adventures. Each bird has its story, and...

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/11/11

Eat Local, Read Local

Locavores need loads of newsprint

On Sundays, my husband — a lifelong print newspaperman — can imagine himself happy in a world of paperless newspapers. That’s because I’ve never managed the skill of neatly refolding a read newspaper. “How can a tidy person like you throw your newspapers on the floor in a heap?” he asks. Husband Bill is not tidy by my standards, except in his management of perused newsprint. Even so, he does not live up to his tidy father’s standards...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/11/11

Lighting the Way

Celebrate National Lighthouse Day right here on Chesapeake Bay

A couple of hundred years ago, the Congress of the United States of America could get things done. On August 7, 1789, that august body passed an act establishing and supporting lighthouses. Mariners and their families rejoiced. Between 1791 and 1910, the dangerous waters at 74 sites on Chesapeake Bay were illuminated by over 100 cottage, tower and screwpile lighthouses. Moving ice and shifting sands unseated some of those lighthouses...

Article - History & Lore; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/4/11

Don’t Hold the Applause

Rod ’n’ Reel’s Cancer Crusade and Annapolis Rotary’s Crab Feast are acts worth clapping for

Fishing for compliments was one of my mother’s seven deadly sins, and she passed along her aversion. So I cast a fishy eye at all the liking social media specialists urge on us. I’m not much more comfortable at events — from Major League Baseball to business booster meetings —where you’re told who to clap for, when and how loud. In my book, as in my mother’s, applause wants to rise spontaneously. When I feel like...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/4/11

If You Can’t Stand the Heat ...

Follow these local chefs out of the kitchen

Wilting weather is not dampening the prodigal enthusiasm of vine, branch and stalk. Bursting into ripeness are apples, beans, cukes, eggplants, figs, grapes, honeydews, interesting squash, jalapenos, kohlrabi, limas, melons, nectarines, onions, peaches, root vegetables, sweet corn, tomato, varieties of hot and sweet peppers, watermelons, yams and sweet potatoes, zucchini. They’ll never taste better than they do now, when their abundance puts them at...

Article - Cooking; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 7/28/11

Eat ’Em While You Can

With summer’s bounty upon us, we’re running to keep up

The many stories about food and feast featured in this week’s paper may lead you to think we’ve forgotten our timing and brought you our Thanksgiving feasting issue four months early. We’re not confused; we’re just keeping up with the harvest, which reaches its peak this time of year. Hungry as I’ve been for Maryland tomatoes and corn — two crops unequaled by any import — I’m still amazed at the speed with...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 7/28/11

Annapolis: Maryland’s Biking Capital

The city’s new Bicycle Master Plan may earn it that title

If Annapolis’ Bicycle Master Plan ever gets off the drawing board and onto the streets, our capital city could be Maryland’s biking capital. The thoughtful plan, introduced last week, is the work of the Toole Design Group whose specialty is moving people, have created bike plans across the country, from Washington, D.C., to Seattle, Washington — including Baltimore, Philadelphia, Winston Salem and Asheville. Envisioned is a cross-city...

Article - News; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 7/28/11

This Week’s Creature Feature ... Beating the...

Whether mammals sweat or pant, heat gets us all down

You’re not the only species suffering in this summer’s dog days. Farm animals overheat much the same way you do, according to the Maryland Farm Bureau. So Maryland farmers get creative to keep their charges cool. You can’t sweat like a pig because, like dogs and cats, pigs don’t sweat. The species’ natural remedy, mud, not only cools them down but also works like sunscreen. When the temperature climbs...

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 7/28/11

How Walk- and Bike-Friendly Are Our Roads?

Not nearly so safe that we can let our guard down

How are the walking and the biking where you live? Annapolis is a town designed for walking, former two-term Annapolis mayor Ellen Moyer tells us in this week’s Capital City, her occasional Bay Weekly column. But, she convincingly argues, it’s got a way to go to be a Walk-Friendly Community. Annapolis wants to be a Bicycle-Friendly Community, too. Achieving first bronze, then silver recognition from the League of American Bicyclists are two of...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 7/21/11