Methodist ministers used to be called circuit riders, for their calling — and their horse — took them to preach to a circuit of congregations.     On Solomons Island a century ago, the preacher came by boat, traveling to neighboring watermen’s communities.     With the nearby harbor off Drum Point a sheltered anchorage, Solomons became a center for shipbuilding and repair, seafood harvesting and provisioning.     On May 20,...

When we last checked on The Volvo Ocean Race, the racers had taken a wild ride from New Zealand across the South Pacific and around South America to Brazil. On a stormy Saturday in Itajaí, Brazil, French team Groupama won its first in-port race. Telefónica led all the way — until rounding the wrong mark near the end.     Team Puma finished third in port, but the Americans led the race to Miami on the 4,800-mile leg from Brazil. Then the fleet separated laterally over a...

The human actors who’ll bring Avenue Q to the stage of Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre from July 5 to 29 are already hard at work. They’ll invest over 100 hours in the production before the high intensity of tech week begins June 28, according to Theatre president Carolyn Kirby. But, she says, you’ll hardly have eyes for them.     Your eyes will be on actors of another species. Despite their striking resemblance to the species whose trademark is held by Walt...

“Why am I always stuck in the mud?” asked five-year-old Xavier Dailey. Xavier was one of the youngest in the group of rummaging herptile hunters on the annual pilgrimage, this year to Kings Landing Park in Calvert County in search of amphibians and reptiles.     When Xavier wasn’t mucking through the creek, he was exploring rotten logs and hunting herps with gusto in a search organized by Andy Brown, Calvert County Department of Natural Resources naturalist. It...