Bay Life

Plotting the Days of Our Lives
Seven Calendars for 2005, Home-Grown in Chesapeake Country
by Carrie Steele

A sailor wouldn’t leave dock without charting a course; road-trippers never leave home without a trusty highway map; and a hiker always welcomes trail markers to maneuver through the woods. Where’s your map through life’s uncertain future?

Our journeys — at least through the next year — are mapped out conveniently in calendars, with only the blanks for us to fill in.

Mesoamerican cultures created the first calendars, theirs in concentric circular forms rather than our rectangular grids, tracking the days and years with surprising accuracy for their time and technology.

Calendars are the great timekeepers, where we find time mapped out on a convenient grid of days, each one neatly placed and spaced to aid us in organizing our chaotic lives.

Besides helping us plan ahead, calendars are art, decorating our walls with images that change every month.

Before 2005 gets a head start, Bay Weekly reviews seven local calendars — one for every day of the week. Choose the best to plot your next 365 days, or pick a gift to help a friend add order to the coming year.

Sunday
Maryland

Photographs by Steve Uzzell
Though billowing sailboats breezing by the Bay Bridge span the cover, this calendar takes a photographic journey through much of our state’s breathtaking scenery. Former National Geographic photographer Steve Uzzell reveals Maryland’s natural beauty — rivers and rushing water — through Calvert County, Baltimore City and our State Forests.

This 16-month calendar began in September, but you still have a whole year’s worth left.

Available at local bookstores or online. Published by Graphic Art Center Publishing, Portland, Oregon. $13.99; www.gacpc.com.

Monday

Discover Archeology
Designed by John Kille for Lost Towns Project

Lost Towns Project’s annual calendar does more than help you plan ahead: It teaches you of the past. The year’s progression of photos and information delve into the archeological roots of colonial Anne Arundel County .

This year’s calendar highlights London Town colonial Lord Mayor David Macklefish, who owned lot 74 in the 18th century. Modern archeology crews began excavating in 1996, uncovering postholes. His reconstructed house at Historic London

Town and Gardens is May’s photo. In other months, you’ll find shards of elaborate pottery recovered from 17th-century sites; Dutch floor tiles excavated from a 1600s site; and a spiral of prehistoric arrowheads and spear points. Archeological finds are artfully arranged on black matte backgrounds.

As you keep important future dates handy, this calendar also marks significant historical dates, such as September 13 (when in 1814, the bombardment of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry inspired Francis Scott Key to write the National Anthem.)

Proceeds help the Lost Towns Project keep on digging.

Available at the Environmental and Cultural Resources office, 2nd floor, Heritage Office Complex, 2664 Riva Rd., Annapolis. Or make checks payable to ACT/Lost Towns Archaeology Project, P.O. Box 1573, Annapolis, MD 21404. Donation of $11.95; or $30 for 3 calendars: 410-222-7441; www.losttowns.com.

Tuesday

Chesapeake Beach 2005
Splash into 2005 with Chesapeake Beach’s fifth annual calendar. Water, Water Everywhere is the theme this year, with photos taken entirely by local volunteers. The mayor-appointed committee selected photos to create a calendar that’s clearly Chesapeake Beach.

The cover shot, by Tom Herritt, captures the town’s waterpark celebrating its 10th anniversary. Month by month, the colorful array beckons you to flip through the pages. Swimming with color photos, the calendar highlights scenes from Chesapeake Beach, including resident geese storming toward the camera at a town crosswalk; a scenic sunrise awakening the town; canoers paddling Bay waters; icy shots of Chesapeake Beach residents braving the cold; and Santa riding a holiday-decked boat.

Inside, you’ll also find Chesapeake Beach events marked so you’ll not miss out on the holiday lights or the Independence Day fireworks.

Find one of the 11,000 copies of the Chesapeake Beach 2005 calendar around the town in local businesses, libraries and town hall. If you’re a resident of Chesapeake Beach, expect one in the mail. free: 301-855-8398.

Wednesday

Chesapeake Bay Naturally
With a variety of color scenes, Eastern Shore photographer David Harp, formerly with National Geographic, reveals Chesapeake Country: Snow blanketing wetlands at dusk; Watermen work sunset at Shanks Island; Autumn wetlands rich in color; The Blackwater Wildlife Refuge at moonrise. Explore Chesapeake Bay, month by month, with Harp’s stunning pictures.

Proceeds benefit The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, a group dedicated to providing unbiased information and serving as a neutral source for Bay-related discussions.

Available at local shops or contact the publisher. Published by Tide-Mark, Windsor, CT. $12.95: 800-338-2508; www.tidemarkpress.com.

Thursday

Aerocatures
By Hank Caruso

Fly through 2005 with Hank Caruso’s Aerocatures, cartoon-ish drawings of airplanes with attitude. These drawings aren’t just for kids, though: Over 30 years of engineering experience with Navy and Air Force squadrons and instructing for the Navy Fighter Weapons School makes Caruso a technical expert. His expertise lends accurate and intricate detail to his works, with each drawing containing truths from real situations and events with Caruso’s personified characters and aircraft. You’ll find planes developed for World War II as well as aircraft leaving U.S. runways today. His A-10 Warthog taxiing down the runway resembles a wild warthog.

Even if you don’t know a Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker from a Saab JA 37, you can appreciate the plane characters and the explanatory and witty captions. Bonuses are two color prints stowed in the center and quotes by various personalities, from Jessica Simpson to Dogbert, that will keep you cracking up each month.

To order, call or visit website. Published by ForeFeathers Enterprises, California, MD: $15: 301-863-9939; www.aerocatures.com.

Friday

Bawlmer: Why We Are the Greatest City in America
Baltimore City 2005 Calendar; by Daniel Vong

Annapolis artist Daniel Vong traveled north to Baltimore, where he captured people and scenes in simple watercolors. This is the fourth calendar from this artist who has designed past Eastport Yacht Club Light Parade posters and this year’s First Night Annapolis poster.

Vong’s 2005 calendar is called Bawlmer in honor of the city’s native pronunciation. The cover’s Orioles and Ravens fans draw you in; each month’s artwork keeps you turning the pages: Incoming art at the Baltimore Museum of Art; Paddle boaters near the National Aquarium; Ice skaters at the Inner Harbor Ice Rink; Musicians at Mount Vernon; An aerodynamic red train by the B&O Railroad Museum; Afternoon at Fort McHenry.

Vong’s representation of the city — from art to sports to history — may convince you that just maybe Bawlmer is the Greatest City in America.

Available around Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, or order from the publisher. Published by White Rose Printing, York, PA: 800-441-3346.

Saturday

Chesapeake Bay Watermen
The Bay’s watermen are working hard — from sunrise to sunset, night and day, in icy cold and sweltering heat — to bring home the bounty of the Bay. But not all the Bay’s watermen are men and not all are fishermen; men and women work the water in many ways, and Chesapeake Bay Watermen 2005 includes a ferry and a battleship to make that point.

In this 12-month calendar, now in its 14th year, you’ll see the art in the work of these men and women as well as brilliantly colorful sunsets, snow-bound workboats and fisherman whose daily work has been captured by local photographers, including Marion Warren and David Harp. This year’s calendar brings you crabpots from Crisfield, sunrise oyster-tonging on the Chester River and cars crossing on the Jamestown ferry.

Find tide times for the head and the mouth of the Bay. In the back of the calendar are Bay recipes for each month so you can make P.E. Pruitt’s Oysters Rockefeller to warm you in January and Old Maryland Baked Apples for your Thanksgiving feast.

Available at local bookstores and shops. Published by RatMink, Inc., Hampton, VA. $13.50: 757-722-7712.