Editorials

from previous publications, the most recent havredegrace Magazine and the earlier Lockhouse to Lighthouse publication.

Spring 2005 – Thoughts on Community

The coming of spring nudges my thoughts towards community. I look forward to seeing more folks using our benches to read a book, paint a picture, or drink coffee with a friend. I look forward to the little café tables in front of various restaurants, hearing the talking and laughing of folks having a good time as I walk by.

As much as skateboards and bikes can be frustrating to pedestrian and driver, I also see them as refreshingly simple pleasures. Do you remember years ago looking forward to dry sidewalks so we could roller skate? (Of course, first you had to find your skate key!)

The other day I walked up the street chuckling to myself as I watched four young adults tossing a football in the street. I know. I know. I can hear the complaints. But, just as I still enjoy the sight of fresh laundry hanging on a clothesline in the sunny outdoors, I enjoy listening to children and adults playing in their neighborhood streets and yards and vacant lots.

Community. Sometimes it’s messy. But then, so is life! So let’s get messy and start playing.

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Spring 2004 - Porches

This spring I’ve been noticing porches a great deal. Maybe it’s because I was closed up in a warm house all winter and the beckoning of a front porch inspires me. The porch teases me to get outdoors, to take a few moments to relax and renew my spirit, to smile and say “Hi there” to a passerby. Yes, I even wave at cars whether I know who’s in them or not! (After all, how can I meet people if I don’t wave.)

But there’s something else about porches. I think it may be a sense of community and neighborliness in a time when the news tries to tell us the world isn’t like that anymore. Porches become the spring living room as folks share a drink and conversation, kids laugh and giggle, teens play their music and get excited about their summer plans.

I notice that the sound of children playing on a porch takes me back to early childhood when no one was frightened if a dozen or more kids were playing in the streets and in the yards. Do you remember those days? Those were the days when you could play ball in the streets. We’d have ‘spotters’ keeping an eye on traffic. Many times our parents were gathered on one of the porches laughing and talking.

Let’s bring those days back. I think we can change our fears into a strong sense of community when we sit on our porches again. We can enjoy our children playing in the street with their careful ‘spotters.’ I know. I’m going to hear from someone telling me how dangerous it is. But let’s be real! You know what I’m saying.

Let’s get back to our senses. No, I don’t mean mentally. I mean emotionally, spiritually. Let’s find our playfulness, our desire to know our neighbor, to communicate in the simple ways of greetings and sharing a story and some laughter. Let’s listen once again to the laughter of our children, the songbirds in the trees.

Sure, we can have neighborhood watch and police patrolling the streets. But what would happen if we all just stepped out on our porches, gathered on our decks, waved at our neighbors, and remembered to smile and laugh and really mean it when we say, “Hi, how are you?”

I’m noticing the porches. Some have chairs and tables. Many have plants and candles. All we need to do is add warm, laughing bodies. We can take back our communities and find our connections. Hey, when can we meet on your porch?

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Spring 1998 – the Havre de Grace experience

Those of us who live here have had a difficult time trying to define what the ‘experience’ means since each of us feels a little bit differently from the next person. We encourage every traveler passing through our town to explore their very own Havre de Grace experience.

Havre de Grace is a community of variety – in personality, skill, gifts and texture. Whether you enter by boat, tour bus, car, motorcycle, bicycle or hiking boot (did I miss anything?), and seaplane!, you will find something special to remember us by. That’s what I think the Havre de Grace experience really is.

From the volunteers at the various museums, the shopkeepers, and the restaurant folks to the smiles you’ll meet as you meander through our streets, you’ll find unique and varied personalities ready to welcome you to our town.

The pace here may be a bit slower than you’re used to, but don’t be fooled. Though we may take the time to joke with a neighbor as we pass, stop in for a hug from a friend working at a shop, or sip a cup of coffee mid-day as though we’d been retired for years, we are very much aware of such modern complexities as cyberspace, cellular phones and voice-mail, and squeezing 25 hours out of a 24-hour day.

But it’s the water that seems to draw us a bit closer to nature, restoring our inner clocks and quieting our busy minds. Rich with artists, entrepreneurs, professionals and a wide variety of skilled labor, we are always eager to share local events such as the brief watches of the ‘mommy duck’ that adopted 21 ducklings one summer. Yep, anytime you walked the Promenade someone would update you on the latest ‘count’ and no one was left of this saga. That’s all part of the Havre de Grace experience.

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