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.
...

Editor’s Note: Traditions return at holiday time to knit our pasts and present into a ­garment we wear comfortably into the future. At Bay Weekly we’ve made it a ­holiday tradition to tell you a story of how the season’s memories are ­celebrated in our extended family. This year, as Melissa Driscoll Krol takes her turn, you’ll feel your reward for any gift you’ve made under an Angel Tree.

It’s a great time of year to take up or enhance the hobby of bird feeding, especially since we can watch outdoor birds from the cozy warmth of the great indoors with hot drinks, field guides and binoculars. It’s good for the birds, too. When ice and snow cover everything in sight, providing food, water and grit (bits of sand, stone, or shell that birds need for digestion), may mean survival for our backyard birds.
...

In the Festival of Trees, Calvert Hospice forged a link between their end-of-life mission and joy in the world.
    For 27 years, on the day after Thanksgiving, Hospice volunteers have created a magical forest of Christmas trees adorned in whimsy and wonder.
    “It’s a wonderful event that really kicks off the season and gets everyone in the spirit of the holidays,” says Hospice board president Gail Gibson.
...