This weekend we celebrate Memorial Day, our national day of remembrance of those who gave their lives fighting for the United States across the world.     All over the country, patriotism abounds as festivities and events both large and small mark the day. Locally, the weekend marks the commissioning of a new crop of officers from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. The weekend is also the beginning of summer fun. Families spend the long weekend trying out barbeques, pools and the outdoors season.

Memorial Day gets due honor at Chesapeake Beach. The annual Stars & Stripes Festival, now in its fifth year, remembers the soldiers and sailors, Marines and fliers who have given their lives defending the United States of America.     “The meaning of the day was becoming lost,” said Connie O’Dell, who manages special events for the Calvert County town.

Some Southern Anne Arundel County students are taking the adage bloom where you’re planted more than a few steps further. Fifth-graders at Shady Side Elementary are planting oysters to help restore the Bay’s oyster population.     “We need oysters to clean the Bay,” said Lacey Wilde, 11, the daughter and granddaughter of working watermen.

Next time you cruise down Cedar Park Road in Annapolis during school hours, you may well do a double-take as you pass the field next to Phoenix Academy. You’re likely to see rabbits munching greens in a sturdily built hutch, hear nanny goats bleating or glimpse teens carefully weeding a row of curly-leafed kale. Three years after a Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education was launched at this K-12 Anne Arundel County public school, there’s plenty of evidence that impressive hands-on learning is going on both within and outside the school walls.

If you’ve ever biked or driven down Muddy Creek Road in Edgewater, you may have caught a glimpse of its namesake: a small stream called Muddy Creek, roughly half a mile south of Mill Swamp Road.

Annapolis has a really strange layout. Is it on purpose or due to hundreds of years of use and expansion? Church and State Circles are close together by design. Their proximity serves as an illustration that church and state were linked in Colonial times.

Spirited conversation keeps the atmosphere companionable at Zü Coffee, home of the friendliest wait staff as voted by readers of Bay Weekly. At the Waugh Chapel location, customers chat with the staff about their spirit animals.     Spirit animals arise from the shamanic tradition where they are paired with initiates to the practice, who can then turn to them for guidance in their lives. Informally, New Age seekers may identify with spirit animals that represent qualities they wish were theirs.

Stand at home plate, close your eyes, tilt your head just right and you can hear the whoosh of a fast ball, the sharp crack of a wooden bat connecting for a line drive down centerfield and the echoes of cheering fans.

How did Parole get that odd name?     Today’s sprawling malls at Festival Plaza and the Annapolis Towne Center at Parole are built where once sprawled a Civil War prisoner of war camp, called Camp Parole because the prisoners had given their promise, their parole, not to escape.

Plunge into the Water      Are you thick skinned enough to run into the January Bay? On Jan.1 at 1pm, join the plunging crowd at North Beach. Register ($25) to raise funds for Meals for Wheels with the reward of a T-shirt and I Plunged certificate. Or plunge for fun and free. Warm up after with hot drinks and a bonfire on the beach. rsvp: 301-855-6681.