by Mary Helen Sprecher
newsroom@baltimoreguide.com

Ask anyone for their image of Ethiopia, and you’ll probably get the same answers: poverty, drought, flies, starvation.

The members of Abbott Memorial Presbyterian Church have additional answers: Friends. People they know. People they hope to visit again.

For the past several years, the church has been taking part in the Addis Ababa AIDS Homecare Project, a project that provides medical, economic, emotional and spiritual support to HIV-positive individuals in the city of Addis

by Mary Helen Sprecher
newsroom@baltimoreguide.com

Whiffle ball, anyone?

No, it’s not a typo. No, it’s not a hallucination. The Mimi DiPietro Ice Rink—the same people who brought you broomball and iceless hockey—have something cooking for spring: the first-ever Wednesday Night Adult Whiffle Ball League.

“It’s for ages 21 and over,” said Mark Burke, recreation director at Patterson Park. “And we’re playing inside the rink.”

At least for now.

“We’ll keep on playing until it gets too miserably hot to

Playing in the park: Children from General Wolfe Elementary School practiced their chess in Patterson Park on Saturday. The school, which has 45 members in its chess club, finished seventh in state competition this year. Tony Araviakis, 9, plays Noe Villaloves, 9. Noe is a member of the chess team; Tony does not go to General Wolfe but saw the children playing and stopped by for a game.

Photo by Anna Santana

Games People Play: The Games Club of Maryland presents Game Days at the Days Hotel, 9615 Deereco Road, Timonium. Festivities begin noon on May 3 and run until May 6 at 8 p.m. Over 200 games provided, from backgammon to Dungeons and Dragons, historical games, wargames and more. Movies for kids, discussions, vendors, silent auction, food and more. Prices vary. Info: www.gamesclubofmd.org or 443-629-5585.
Fallen Heroes: Fallen Heroes Day, to honor police officers and firefighters who died in the

by Mary Helen Sprecher
newsroom@baltimoreguide.com

Talk about having a tiger by the tail.

When the Baltimore City Health Department proposed some new regulations about the keeping of exotic pets, it wasn’t prepared for the reaction.

“We received well over 100 detailed responses,” said Ingrid Antonio, public information officer for the department.

The health department released its proposed regs in early February, and asked for comments by March 2.

They definitely got what they asked for. Maybe even more than

by Mary Helen Sprecher
newsroom@baltimoreguide.com

Note: Have a comment on this article? Post it at www.baltimoreguide.com.
Documentary films—for so long a subculture in the movie industry—have gone mainstream. From “March of the Penguins” to “Fahrenheit 911” to “An Inconvenient Truth,” the movies have emerged from art houses and into big theaters.
Horror movies, by contrast, have always been mainstream, and B-horror movies have always had a cult following. So what will be the reaction to a hybrid

“Good, but not as good as last year.”
-The traditional remark from Fr. Luigi Esposito, at his annual tasting during the Highlandtown Wine Festival.

The winners of the 2007 Highlandtown Home Vintner Competition are as follows:

Red
1st-Dominic Petrucci: 50% Zinfandel 50% Merlot
2nd-Dominic Parravano: Barbera, Zinfandel
3rd-Pepino Gizzi: Barbera

White
1st-Dominic Parravano: Trebbiano
2nd-Dominic Petrucci: 80% Chardonnay, 20% Malvasia
3rd-Guitana Altobelli: Chardonnay

Best Label
Dante Gizzi

The festival took place on Sunday, April 22, near Our Lady of Pompei Church.

Boats! The Bay Bridge Boat Show is held on April 26, 27 and 28 at the Bay Bridge Marina in Kent Island, Maryland. Adult admission $12, kids under 12 $6. Kids can enjoy knot tying lessons and there are demo boat rides for all. Info: 410-268-8828 or www.usboat.com.
Shore Thing: Want an Eastern Shore experience? Head to the Fifth Annual St. Michaels Food and Wine Festival, to be held April 26-29 on the grounds of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime

Kim Kramer-Zamenski contemplates a pile of trash in a Highlandtown alley during last weekend’s Super Spring Sweep Thing. The Baltimore-Highland Community Association swept alleys and cleaned storm drains during the citywide cleanup.

Photo by Anna Santana

by Mary Helen Sprecher
newsroom@baltimoreguide.com

Got books?

Those who are doing some spring cleaning, and who have found themselves with more books than they have shelf space, can lose a few volumes over the next week. From now until May 2, the Friends of Canton Library

by Mary Helen Sprecher
newsroom@baltimoreguide.com
Gimme an “Arrrrrrr.”

For those who can’t wait until the end of May for the next “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, there’s Fells Point’s annual Privateer Day. The event, which runs this Saturday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m., celebrates all things maritime, historic and, yes, piratical. All events are held

by Mary Helen Sprecher
newsroom@baltimoreguide.com

Pagoda? Check.
Marble fountain? Check.
Swimming pool and adjoining bath house? Check.
Playground, Boat Lake, Pulaski Monument? Check, check, check.
What part of Patterson Park has remained untouched and unimproved so far? The Extension. Only the Extension.
The Patterson Park Extension (the part of the park bordered by Linwood, Eastern and Ellwood avenues, and Baltimore Street) is the smaller end of the park, and over the last few years

by Mary Helen Sprecher
newsroom@baltimoreguide.com

Okay, SoBo. Consider yourself warned. You have a week and a half to reroute any driving plans you might have for Saturday, May 5. That is, unless you really want to share road space with a paddle boat with an intentionally misspelled name, a sugar-eating alien, an enomous pink poodle or an elephant bearing Gandhi.
Um, right, you’re thinking. I’m either having a Salvador Dali-influenced nightmare or it’s time for the Kinetic Sculpture

Simon Messing, a Friends of Patterson Park volunteer, hoists a shovel full of bottom muck from the Patterson Park boat lake during Saturday’s cleanup. Organizers and volunteers were pleased to find that there was not much trash in the lake.
Photo by Anna Santana

by Mary Helen Sprecher
newsroom@baltimoreguide.com

The city greets the warmer season (or what is hoped will soon become the warmer season) with brooms, dustpans and garbage bags. Those who are participating in Saturday’s Super Spring Sweep Thing have numerous options.

by Mary Helen Sprecher
newsroom@baltimoreguide.com
Photo by Anna Santana

The backup starts here.

As work begins on the Eastern Avenue underpass, drivers have been experiencing delays as they pass through the saddle area between Greektown and Highlandtown.

by Mary Helen Sprecher
newsroom@baltimoreguide.com

It’s really all about the vino, hon.

Not that that stops non-drinkers from enjoying the Highlandtown Wine Festival. This weekend, the fest returns, and with it, all those traditions so unique to HiTown. There’s the judging of home-made wines, the ability to taste other wines, the petting zoo, the bocce tourney and the ability to mix, mingle and socialize at one of the first outdoor community events of the spring.

by Mary Helen Sprecher
newsroom@baltimoreguide.com

It’s My Job is an occasional feature in The Baltimore Guide, highlighting residents with unusual and interesting jobs. Have a suggestion for an It’s My Job feature? E-mail newsroom@baltimoreguide.com.

There’s something Tim McFadden wants to make clear at the outset. Martini glasses? They’re hard work. Not to mix, not to fill, certainly not to drain—but to create.

“Stemware is the hardest, most technical thing to make,” said McFadden. “It’s something that takes a lot of practice.”

McFadden should know. As the owner of McFadden Art Glass on Eastern Avenue, he has created everything from Christmas ornaments to modernistic lamps, from vases to tumblers, and everything in between including, yes, stemware. And he has created it the old-fashioned way—with a furnace, blowpipe and a number of other tools of his trade. And these days, he makes a living not just selling pieces of his art, but teaching others how to master it.
Pretty good for a guy right out of college—particularly one whose initial higher education goals didn’t really include fine art.

by Mary Helen Sprecher
newsroom@baltimoreguide.com

The checks are in the mail.

The Southside Marketplace grants for 2007 have been announced, and the recipients—and the projects they intend to fund—are as diverse as the community itself.

The grant provides $10,000 in funds a year to organizations that offer services to the South Baltimore Peninsula. The grant’s history goes back to 1992, when the developers of the Southside Marketplace agreed that the shopping center would make payments to benefit the community

by Mary Helen Sprecher
newsroom@baltimoreguide.com

For some people, according to the State’s Attorney’s Office, recovering from being the victim of a crime is harder than others.

After all, some have little money to spare and no homeowner’s insurance— and the losses incurred during a robbery or burglary might be overhelming. Even repairing broken locks or replacing smashed windows, not to mention trying to recuperate losses in personal property, can be difficult on a fixed income.

For those individuals, according