Ellicott CIty Couple Starts New Valentine's Day Tradition: Spread The Love

Instead of the traditional gifts, this couple wants to use Valentine's Day to help others.

Banneker Museum & Park Nature Series: Hearts & Craft

Make heart shaped bird feeders for our feathered friends and receive a Valentine's gift for you, too!

Ellicott City Couple Says 'Spread the Love' this Valentine's Day

Instead of the traditional gifts, this couple wants to use Valentine's Day to help others.

Jeffrey Daro and his wife, Sandra, have been together for 24 years and, Daro said, he doesn’t think they’ve ever gone out for a Valentine’s Day date - although she does cook him nice dinners.   This year, the Ellicott City couple wants to do something extra special. “I don’t really remember where the initial idea came from,” Daro said. He and his wife may have been sitting on the couch, watching a greeting card company ad, when the topic of buying cards for Valentine’s Day came up.  “We said, ‘why don’t we start something where everybody donates to charity instead of buying knick knacks?’” This year, the couple are asking people to Spread the Love and donate to charity instead of spending money on flowers and chocolate.  “I’m kind of a …

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Messages of Love

Nineteenth-century love letters and modern sweet tweets prove that communication for couples is timeless.

By Allison Goldstein, Capital News Service When U.S. Navy Surgeon David Shelton Edwards was serving at the Washington Navy Yard in the late 1830s, he kept the spark in his marriage alive by writing eight love letters home to his wife, Harriet Eliza Henry. "Your letters are a sweet cordial to this loving heart of yours, for there can be no substitute for them until I have your own dear self here," Edwards wrote in a July 1835 note to Henry. Over a 13-year span from 1835 to 1848 working in Washington, Pensacola Navy Yard, FL, and aboard several Mexican-American War naval vessels, Edwards wrote his “dearest Eliza” more than 40 notes now part of the National Postal Museum’s collection of thousands of letters in Washington. Today, Skype and …

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Cupids and Canines and More in Howard County this Weekend

Looking for something exciting to in Ellicott City or around Howard County do this weekend? Check out some of the fun things going on around town.

Each week, Patch puts together a list of local activities and events going on in your area this weekend.  Check back weekly and tell us in the comments if you know of any additional activities coming up. To submit an event in the Patch events calendar, click on “Events” at the top of the page and then click on the green "Add an event" button on the right side of the page.    Fifth Annual Cupids and Canines Family Sweetheart Dance   Peralynna Dinner Club Event   8th Annual Bull & Oyster Roast - Knights of Columbus   Elkridge Auto Auctions   Basket & Bags Bingo   Sweethearts Ball

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Classic Books to Share with Your Children for Valentine's Day

From Charlotte's Web to Where the Wild Things Are, share these classic books with your children and encourage their love for reading.

“Where’s Pa Going with that Axe?” The Enduring Quality of Children’s Classics By Anita Silvey Courtesy of James Patterson's Read Kiddo Read Foundation The opening line of E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web— “Where’s Pa going with that axe?”—has now been read by adults to eager young listeners for more than 60 years. Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time and Ezra Jack Keats’s The Snowy Day have been picked up with enthusiasm for more than 50 years. For 75 years, parents have shared The Hobbit, and this year Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are turns 50. These books and others like them (Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Virginia Lee Burton’s Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, and L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables) bring …

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Contest: Are You Howard County's Cutest Couple?

Are you and your partner the epitome of cute? Enter our contest to win a gift card to Famous Dave's!

Howard County Tourism Contest: A Year of Dates

Oen person will win a year of dining, activities and pampering.

How do you keep the spark alive? One word: dates. Howard County Tourism thinks there are plenty of local places to take a new flame or your long-time sweetheart for a romantic get-together and is offering one person the chance to see first-hand. To promote Streetline's Parker application, which shows available parking spots in the Historic District, Tourism is running a promotion - prove you have downloaded the application to your smartphone and you could win a year of free dates. Just download the app and bring your phone into the Howard County Welcome Center on Main Street, or take a picture of your phone running the app and share it on the Howard County Tourism Facebook page.  The winner will receive an substantial gift package …

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Wine Bin Staff Pick: Valentine's Day Grab Bag

Check the Wine Bin's monthly staff pick(s) in time for Valentine's Day.

Looking to try something unusual for Valentine's Day?  No, no, no ... not like that. Why not try a new wine? This month's "What the Heck is That" wine six-pack from the Wine Bin features an assortment of "unusual" wines, according to owner Dave Carne.  For an unmasking and preview of what's in the bundle, check out the store's video on YouTube. And to watch a professional saber a bottle of Champagne, check out this video, or stop by the store Sat., Feb. 11, where you can see it happen live every hour from noon to 6 p.m.

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