By Bob Tagert

The weather sure has been strange these past few months. I am writing this on February 23 and the temperature is 75 degrees and sunny. Tomorrow it will be a high of 37 and rain. No rhyme or reason. Kinda like a lot of things that happen these days.

With March being the month we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and the fact that Old Town won’t have the parade again this year, we added a touch of Irish in this issue with Dining Out at Murphy’s Grand Irish Pub and an interview with one of Old Towns favorite Irish lassies, Niamh O’Donovan in the Personality Profile.

The folks at the Caribbean Journal write about their favorite Caribbean islands in the Caribbean Connection while Doug Fabbioli explains “If it goes wrong, at least I will get caught trying” in his Exploring VA Wines column.Spring arrives this month and so does the annual sock burning in Eastport, MD. Check it out along with information about the Annapolis Oyster Festival in From the Bay. Let’s Get Crafty Timothy Long explains the difference between a Stout and a Porter in his column. Matthew Fitzsimmons enlightens us on the vermouth being produced in the Commonwealth and how it’s made. In her To the Blue Ridge column, Julie Reardon examines the virtue of a Party of One. Lori Welch Brown takes a look back at two years of covid in Open Space. In Take Photos, Leave Footprints Scott Dicken tells us about the wildlife experience in Costa Rica. Sarah Becker celebrates Women’s History Month while writing about Virginia Fitzhugh Wheat Thomas, a former Alexandrian, in A Bit of History.

I hope that you enjoy reading this issue of the Old Town Crier as we transition from winter to spring this month. In another month we will be thinking of springtime drives to the Bay and the Blue Ridge. It is a time of renewal. Use that time well.

Let’s not forget about the annual Cherry Blossom hulabaloo that will take place this month. Lots of stuff happening in Old Town and National Harbor this year as well as down at the Tidal Basin. The beauty of the trees always amazes me and seeing them never gets old.

In the meantime, dig out your shamrock bedecked t-shirts and everything green and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on the 17^th. Erin Go Braugh!