Come Saturday, Oct. 3, Highland will host its annual Highland Day festival. This year, our little town will celebrate its "semiquincentennial" anniversary.

Way back in November 1759, local resident Robert Wells was issued a license to operate an "ordinary," or tavern, at what has become our crossroads community of Highland.

The crossroads was an important stop on the journey to and from what was the county seat at Annapolis. The inn that was located here became a focal point for the community. It was here that locals and travelers gathered to socialize, drinking, gossiping and sharing local, regional and national news.

This year, the Greater Highland Crossroads Association will kick off a year of anniversary observances in recognition of this auspicious occasion. As always, Highland Day takes place at the crossroads and begins at 11 a.m. Some of the planned events are a "shoppe of horrors at the Highland Groomery," hayrides, pumpkin decorating at Living Dolls, a Halloween costume parade, games and activities at the Kids' Zone including a moon bounce and more, dog obedience demonstrations, a car show at The Grey Pony and much, much more. Hope to see you there.

A couple weeks back, the parish of St. Francis of Assisi, in Fulton, had their annual parish picnic at the APL picnic area at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. The parish provided the hot dogs, hamburgers, rolls and soft drinks. The Knights of Columbus did the cooking while those that attended each brought a dish to share. Some special guests showed up, one of which was the Oriole bird.

The Bird posed for pictures and handed out autographs. He really hammed it up. The Kangaroo Kids also performed their jump ropes routines. That was fun. And a local Tae Kwon Do club put on a demo.

My wife, Jennie, and I volunteered to work as servers. One of the other volunteers, Diane Padden, along with her husband Al, participated in a dinner club put on by the parish. We got to meet and socialize with them over a meal last year. Al, who is a colonel in the Army, has been in Iraq now for almost a year and is coming home in about a month. Diane is really excited about his homecoming.

"I was able to meet Al in Ireland when he went there for two weeks of (rest and relaxation)," she told us.

Well, that's all I have for this week. Look after your neighbors. Commit a random act of kindness. Say a prayer for our troops who are serving in harm's way. And remember their families too.

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