Mailbag - April 2025

FAR OUT Ajay Mandke took this photo of the Heart Nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. He created the image with a specialized telescope and camera, using filters to capture specific wavelengths of light. He carefully combined over 900 images (each made with a two-minute exposure) to produce the final picture. The Heart Nebula is 7,500 light-years away from Earth and is not generally visible to the naked eye. (Photo: Ajay Mandke Backyard AstroImaging)

Over the moon

It is a great article [Over the Moon: Amateur astronomers in Houston by Cheryl Ursin, March 2025] and I am sure readers will find it very informative. I personally learned some new information from other experts you talked to. 

I am so thrilled and “over the moon” to see my pictures in the magazine and I really enjoyed being part of the process. Once again, a big thanks to you and the Buzz team.

Ajay Mandke

Flour power 

Joni, I’m cracking up about your Editor’s Note in this month’s Buzz [March 2025]. I too started to make the pound cake [included in Recipe for a Sweet Space by Jennifer Oakley, Feb. 2025] and realized there was no flour measurement included! I just Googled another pound cake recipe and improvised. I ended up making pound cake cupcakes for my granddaughter, who loved them. Love the magazine coming into our home every month!

Gina Taylor

Editor’s note: Gina, thanks for your feedback and we’re happy to hear your improvised recipe turned out well – and we love that you turned them into cupcakes. As mentioned in the March Editor’s Note, we mistakenly left an ingredient out of the pound cake recipe in our Feb. issue. The missing ingredient is 3 cups of flour. Find the updated recipe online. We regretted our mistake – but enjoyed hearing from so many readers wanting to make this recipe. 

Memories 

Thank you for that amazing article [Last Hawaii Hurrah, Travel Buzz, March 2025]. It is so cool and even better than I imagined! Three people already contacted me after seeing it and are quite jealous – both of the trip and the fact that we were in The Bellaire Buzz! Seriously, great job and thank you again for all your hard work and helping us memorialize this family vacation even more.

Joseph Allen

Grateful 

I love Andria Dilling's stories! Fun, insightful perspectives that never fail to spark a little joy and renew my faith in humanity. Her A Gift of Gratitude piece in the Feb. 2025 issue captures perfectly my family’s thrill and pride over our mother’s second book – a children's book titled There Is a Little Toe [by Gem Rigsby] – and the special edition she created for Texas Children's Hospital. Thank you, The Buzz Magazines and Andria Dilling for highlighting the good things in this world! 

Lana Rigsby

Spotlighting Second Servings 

Thank you for highlighting the unique “community service” milestone birthday celebration that was the brainstorm of celebrant Linda Mendeloff [Buzz About Town, “Birthday gals give back” by Angie Frederickson, Jan. 2025]. While Linda introduced 50 of her friends and family to the Second Servings “PopUp Grocery Store” program, your Buzz Around Town feature introduced many more Houstonians to our innovative program, inspiring new volunteer signups. Seeing the enormous amount of high-quality food that would ordinarily go to waste is eye-opening, but knowing that it is now nourishing people is immediately gratifying. 

Barbara Bronstein, Second Servings of Houston 

Raising awareness

I’ve been reading The Buzz for many years and love the stories. It was fun to relive the 111 driving missions in “100 flights and rides for cancer treatment” spotlighted in the Jan. 2025 issue [Buzz About Town by Angie Frederickson]. Volunteers for Houston Ground Angels ended 2024 driving over 4,000 missions to/from airports. But we need more volunteer drivers as over 1,000 other requests went untaken. I met so many grateful cancer patients coming into town during my 400+ missions last year. This is one of the best volunteer opportunities I’ve ever run across as there is no required number of trips. You simply choose open requests off a website any day of the week as often as you’d like. See groundangels.org for more information.

Paul Marvin

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