Memories of Bodkin Creek

By Diana Neidert

This book was born out of love for Bodkin Creek. It is a collection of vignettes from days gone by a much simpler time. Old photographs inspired daydreams about my childhood journey, both happy and sad, in and around what felt like my Creek. It is a tomboy's account of a world of imagination and wonder as introduced by her doting grandfather a major influence in her young life. Ultimately, the tomboy's passion for her creek overflows into a love affair tomboy marries the love of her life after 44 years together after the 2013 Supreme Courts ruling made same sex marriage legal in California.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 27, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524541224

Diana Neidert

Diana Neidert devoted 30-plus years to her job in the research and development industry managing the process for developing competitive proposals, starting with such projects as Pioneer-Venus through several of the Apollo mission programs and unmanned vehicles. This is her first book that was born out of her love for a quiet estuary off of the Chesapeake Bay, known as Bodkin Creek. Diana is an enthusiastic gardener, reader, cook, and traveler. She lives with her spouse, Patty Doyle, in Redondo Beach, California.

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 by Diana Neidert.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016914625

ISBN:      Hardcover            978-1-5245-4123-1

                Softcover             978-1-5245-4124-8

                eBook                   978-1-5245-4122-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Cover Art and Illustrations by Brian Tucker

Xlibris

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Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Bodkin Creek

Part One: Growing Up on Bodkin Creek

Let the Journey Begin

Roots

Brooklyn Row Home

Father, Charles (Charlie)

Mother, Edna

Lodestar

Shipley’s Cottage

Brian, First Best Friend

Sister, Edna Mae

A Place of Enchantment

Poplar Ridge Peninsula

Tomboy

Smokey, First Dog

Heni, Imaginary Friend

Chip, First Poplar Ridge Friend

Some Day My Prince Will Come

Circle of Gold

The Monkey Got Drunk

Summer

A Summer Place

Bonnie

A Simpler Time

A Country Doctor

Ice Cream Bells

Summer Rain

The Attic

Swimming

Chesapeake Bay Blue Crabs

Peace and Shelter

Kindred Spirits

Ties That Bind

JoAnne Houck

Diana Steinbock

Pauline McMahon

Bobby Malone

Spring, Autumn, and Winter

Spring

Autumn

Winter

A Visit with Santa

Christmas Eve

Sunrise, Sunset

Crossroad

My City Counterpart

Part Two: Bodkin Creek in the Rear View Mirror

Release and Let Go

Frozen

A New Dawn

Surrogate Parents

Kris T. Doyle-Neidert

Building a Bridge

The Tide Turned

Embers

Gone Too Soon

New Ownership

A New Ruling

The Supreme Decision

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Grandpop—you loom large in my memories of Bodkin Creek!

Patty Doyle — thank you for making every day better than the last!

Foreword

As a life-long friend of Diana’s, it has been a privilege to take part in the preparation of her book of memories. Perhaps it was inevitable we would be friends since our parents and grandparents were friends long before we appeared on the scene. I was honored when she asked me to design the book’s cover art, create the illustrations, and write this Foreword.

Growing up in the 40s and 50s, Bodkin Creek was a magical place in our eyes. Located between Baltimore (or Bawl-mer to Marylanders) and Annapolis, Bodkin Creek is not exactly a creek but a quiet estuary off the Chesapeake Bay — not far from the entrance to the Patapsco River. Diana and I would occasionally sit on the bank and watch fishing boats glide by on their way to the Bay. Sometimes we frolicked in the warm shallow water or built sandcastles on the beach. I remember the two of us sitting for hours in my grandfather’s row boat to catch hard shell crabs with baited lines until we were sunburned to a crisp.

Although Bodkin Creek isn’t as large or as well known as other places along the Chesapeake, to me it was a world of its own; and I will always cherish the memories it created. Just as I will cherish the enduring friendship and love Diana and I had for each other and our families.

Your friend forever,

Brian Tucker

Introduction

A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.

— Henry David Thoreau

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Introduction

This book was born out of love for Bodkin Creek. It is a collection of vignettes from days gone by — a much simpler time that I would like to share with you. These vignettes were inspired by a box of old photographs that triggered daydreams about my childhood journey, both happy and sad, in and around what felt like my Creek. The following pages present an honest and fragmented set of these recollections as best remembered through my mind’s eye…like cattails reflecting on the surface of shallow water. It is an account of a young tomboy, Mike, so nicknamed by my Grandpop Sanford. He loomed large in Mike’s young life.

It’s about Mike’s reverence for a quiet estuary known as Back Bodkin Creek, a 30-minute drive from Annapolis and an hour or so from Baltimore. Maryland’s extensive coastline edges the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. It is defined by, and riddled with rivers, bays, and creeks. The Bay has 896 acres of open water. The Bodkin Creek watershed is located on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, near the confluence of the Patapsco River and the Bay. Bodkin Creek resides within Anne Arundel County and is bounded by the Baltimore Harbor watershed to the west and by the Bay to the east. Bodkin Creek proper is composed of three small creeks: Back Creek, Main Creek, and Wharf Creek. We lived on Back Bodkin Creek. Ninety percent of these creeks are tidal, meaning the water periodically rises and falls or flows and ebbs with the tides. Back Bodkin Creek and Main Creek surround a community called Poplar Ridge, which is one of several smaller peninsulas in the region. The front of our house faced the unspoiled Back Bodkin Creek, while the back of the house faced woodlands. I had the entire peninsula of Poplar Ridge to explore at will in all seasons.

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Maryland General Highway Statewide Grid Map Bayside Beach Map No. E-13B Published 2017

As most Bodkin Creek watermen know, the word creek is misleading. It brings to mind a large brook; however, the Back Bodkin Creek is actually more like a river that varies in width and depth. It starts with a strong trickle of water seeping through the grassy earth as it makes its way downhill from its source in Pennsylvania. The head of the Creek is about 10 or 12 feet wide before it begins to expand into a creek approximately 300 feet at its widest point.

I lived in a world of imagination and wonder. I found pleasure in simple things: playful squirrels, dandelion bouquets, and dancing with wild abandon to my inner soundtrack. I was carefree child with an inquisitive mind and the need to explore.

Why did I write this book? First, I wrote it because I wanted to reflect on, and share, the simple pleasures of life as a tomboy growing up on a humble creek. It’s not unusual to yearn for one’s youth, to return in thought to a more innocent time, and to recall the happiness enjoyed with one’s family and friends.

Second, I wanted to share how my love affair with Bodkin Creek eventually spilled into a new life with Patty Doyle on and off the Creek.

This book is divided into two parts. Part One is a series of vignettes beginning at age three, as Back Bodkin Creek became part of Mike’s interior world. Her soul was convinced she had lived on the Creek in a previous life. What did I admire about the Creek? Its dignity. Its silence. The mystery of it and the untamed countryside around it. Part One also underscores the love and friendship shared by Mike and her wise Grandpop Sanford, who helped to make her childhood unforgettable.

Part Two begins with the sad news of Grandpop’s death. Mike revisits the Creek as an adult and finds that it is time to let go of her passion for Bodkin Creek. It is a talent of the soul to discover the joy in pain — remembering moments you long for and knowing those moments cannot be relived. Ultimately the story ends with my wedding day when dear friends from my youth travelled across the country to be with us here in California. This brings the story full circle.

Come with me now to Bodkin Creek and a simpler time.

Bodkin Creek

If I could paint a scene of Bodkin Creek…what would it look like? I think I would prefer using some blue, the shade of nostalgic yearning, and some splotches of mischievous yellow and a few grays of knowing sadness.

— Diana

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Back Bodkin Creek in dress whites!

Bodkin