Friday, August 19, 2011
Sanford estate
In April I wrote that Dick and Sheila Sanford had their 43-acre Chadds Ford estate on the market. Well, according to the Pennsbury Township newsletter, it looks as if it's going to become Windmill Hollow, a ten-lot subdivision. The plan "has completed the plan review process but has not received final approval." The property is on Brinton's Bridge Road.
Like thunder and lightning
For me, excitement is optional at social events. I love good company, good food and drink -- but drama, not so much.
Oh well: we got all of those, and in spades, last Thursday evening at a picnic at the idyllic Plantation Field. As soon as I arrived I saw heaps of friends I wanted to chat with, and people were just starting to tuck into the terrific buffet under a tent set up on top of the hill. What could be better? Hey, let's check out the new dressage ring and ignore those rumbles of thunder in the distance!
Well, at about 6:45 a classic summer thunderstorm broke. Lightning was flashing all around, the rain was pelting down and the fierce wind sent table covers, baseball caps, plastic cups and water bottles flying all over. The temperature dropped by probably 15 degrees in a few minutes.
A lot of people went dashing for their cars, but I stayed on; I hadn't had dessert yet. I tried to make sure there was a large person standing between me and the rain, but with the wind it was pointless; my cotton dress got sopping wet.
When I started shivering, and after I had had a piece of the wonderful cake, I headed back to the car.
Alas, I had left my driver's side window down about two inches; the inside was damp all the way over to the passenger seat.
Oh well: we got all of those, and in spades, last Thursday evening at a picnic at the idyllic Plantation Field. As soon as I arrived I saw heaps of friends I wanted to chat with, and people were just starting to tuck into the terrific buffet under a tent set up on top of the hill. What could be better? Hey, let's check out the new dressage ring and ignore those rumbles of thunder in the distance!
Well, at about 6:45 a classic summer thunderstorm broke. Lightning was flashing all around, the rain was pelting down and the fierce wind sent table covers, baseball caps, plastic cups and water bottles flying all over. The temperature dropped by probably 15 degrees in a few minutes.
A lot of people went dashing for their cars, but I stayed on; I hadn't had dessert yet. I tried to make sure there was a large person standing between me and the rain, but with the wind it was pointless; my cotton dress got sopping wet.
When I started shivering, and after I had had a piece of the wonderful cake, I headed back to the car.
Alas, I had left my driver's side window down about two inches; the inside was damp all the way over to the passenger seat.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
How did it get there?
You know those colorful pennants you see at the grand openings of banks and gas stations? The plastic strands with red, yellow, blue, and green triangles that flap in the breeze?
There is one tangled in the top of a tall beech tree in my parents' woods. How did it get there? It's unlikely that it would have blown up there, because it would have caught on many other branches en route. But what aircraft would have dropped such a thing?
My mother thinks there is some kind of writing on one of the triangles, but even with her binoculars she can't quite decipher it. As you might expect, it's driving her crazy.
There is one tangled in the top of a tall beech tree in my parents' woods. How did it get there? It's unlikely that it would have blown up there, because it would have caught on many other branches en route. But what aircraft would have dropped such a thing?
My mother thinks there is some kind of writing on one of the triangles, but even with her binoculars she can't quite decipher it. As you might expect, it's driving her crazy.
Chester County Master Gardeners
Regular Facebook users like me know that there is a lot of junk to sort through every day. But one page that I always look forward to reading is Chester County Master Gardeners. They run lovely photos and amusing plant-identification quizzes, pose tricky diagnosis problems, and offer helpful advice about things like preventing powdery mildew on your phlox (welcome to my life). Yesterday they reminded me that it's potato harvesting time.
Stargazer
Sounds like there's all kinds of excitement going on in Newlin Township. And not just the bridge repair on Powell Road, either.
Dozens of residents turned out for a recent township meeting to discuss the purchase of the property next to the Stargazer's Stone on Stargazer Road in Embreeville, and I'm told that tempers flared to the point that the supervisors had to adjourn the meeting.
After months of discussion, the township signed an agreement to buy the five-acre property, which it would keep as open space, contingent on receiving state grant money to do so. But some neighbors are objecting vehemently, fearing that it will increase traffic and have a negative impact on their lives, especially one woman who shares a driveway with the property in question.
"Newlin hasn't had this much excitement since we did our subdivision & zoning ordinances years ago," reports one of my Newlin pals.
Dozens of residents turned out for a recent township meeting to discuss the purchase of the property next to the Stargazer's Stone on Stargazer Road in Embreeville, and I'm told that tempers flared to the point that the supervisors had to adjourn the meeting.
After months of discussion, the township signed an agreement to buy the five-acre property, which it would keep as open space, contingent on receiving state grant money to do so. But some neighbors are objecting vehemently, fearing that it will increase traffic and have a negative impact on their lives, especially one woman who shares a driveway with the property in question.
"Newlin hasn't had this much excitement since we did our subdivision & zoning ordinances years ago," reports one of my Newlin pals.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Strangers
I knew something was up when I turned into my normally quiet road at 11 on a Sunday morning and saw a row of cars coming toward me. If it had been 4 p.m., quitting time for the farm workers down the road, that would have been different. Plus I didn't recognize the drivers, and they didn't even wave: definitely outsiders.
I got home, checked Facebook and found out what was going on: a tree had fallen across Route 82 near West Road early that morning, blocking both lanes and knocking out power (but not to us, for a change). The hard-working road crew cleared the tree by that afternoon, and our road was back to its normal calm once again.
I noticed the same thing the following Saturday morning: there was an unusual amount of westbound traffic on Upland Road (Route 842). Then I got to Newark Road and realized why: a tree had fallen just north of Route 926, blocking Newark Road from the London Grove intersection north to 842.
I got home, checked Facebook and found out what was going on: a tree had fallen across Route 82 near West Road early that morning, blocking both lanes and knocking out power (but not to us, for a change). The hard-working road crew cleared the tree by that afternoon, and our road was back to its normal calm once again.
I noticed the same thing the following Saturday morning: there was an unusual amount of westbound traffic on Upland Road (Route 842). Then I got to Newark Road and realized why: a tree had fallen just north of Route 926, blocking Newark Road from the London Grove intersection north to 842.
Corner Cafe
Tilda's sister-in-law reports that her coffeemaker, though only four months old, is defective: instead of dripping the brew into the carafe, it goes all over the countertop. Morning coffee is vital to both her and her husband, so on Sunday she asked him if he wanted her to go out and get two cups.
No, he said, what he wanted was a full pot.
Being a resourceful woman, she took the carafe to Mushrooms Cafe, the new place at Hickory Hill Road and Route 1 (where the White Barn was years ago), and explained the situation. The owner very kindly brewed an entire pot using her carafe, much to the amusement of the people having breakfast there.
So my sis-in-law left with a pot of coffee, which was still hot by the time she got home, and also some gazpacho.
I stopped by for coffee and an "everything" bagel the other morning and found Mushrooms to be a delightful place for breakfast or lunch, with lovely farmhouse-style tables and lots of country antiques for sale. They sell fresh mushrooms and also make their own mushroom soup, which a member of a mushroom-growing family tells me is very good. And there's Wifi!
No, he said, what he wanted was a full pot.
Being a resourceful woman, she took the carafe to Mushrooms Cafe, the new place at Hickory Hill Road and Route 1 (where the White Barn was years ago), and explained the situation. The owner very kindly brewed an entire pot using her carafe, much to the amusement of the people having breakfast there.
So my sis-in-law left with a pot of coffee, which was still hot by the time she got home, and also some gazpacho.
I stopped by for coffee and an "everything" bagel the other morning and found Mushrooms to be a delightful place for breakfast or lunch, with lovely farmhouse-style tables and lots of country antiques for sale. They sell fresh mushrooms and also make their own mushroom soup, which a member of a mushroom-growing family tells me is very good. And there's Wifi!
Truth, unity and concord
Two friends of mine asked me about a big building they spotted along Route 1 in Concordville. I knew the one they were talking about, it's on the south side of Route 1, just beyond Route 322, and I remembered years ago seeing a sign that the property belonged to some kind of a church.
Well! With a little online digging, what a sleazy and sad story I discovered. The church, called "Church of the Savior," was active in the 1970s and was run by a preacher from South Africa named Frederick Drummond. He soon faced accusations of squandering church money, bullying and beating his followers (as well as his children and his dog), falsifying his credentials, among even more unseemly acts, chronicled in fairly sickening detail in a collection of local newspaper articles at http://www.cosnews.org/.
Drummond's spin on the story? He writes on his personal website:
"His best learning experiences were gained in the school of hard knocks during his thirty-three-year tenure at the church in Concordville. It was there that he came to grips with himself, the angels in the attic and the demons in the basement."
Drummond appears to be involved with a Ft. Lauderdale church now. "Beginning in 1978, after a terrible church split that was mostly my fault, God began to teach me about His grace," he writes in the section of his new church's website modestly called "How God Qualified Me to Take My Place in the Kingdom as an End-Time Prophet."
The former church property on Route 1 now seems to be serving a happier function, as Concord Township offices and a community center.
I told a few old-time local reporter pals about this lurid story and it was news to them, as it was to me.
Well! With a little online digging, what a sleazy and sad story I discovered. The church, called "Church of the Savior," was active in the 1970s and was run by a preacher from South Africa named Frederick Drummond. He soon faced accusations of squandering church money, bullying and beating his followers (as well as his children and his dog), falsifying his credentials, among even more unseemly acts, chronicled in fairly sickening detail in a collection of local newspaper articles at http://www.cosnews.org/.
Drummond's spin on the story? He writes on his personal website:
"His best learning experiences were gained in the school of hard knocks during his thirty-three-year tenure at the church in Concordville. It was there that he came to grips with himself, the angels in the attic and the demons in the basement."
Drummond appears to be involved with a Ft. Lauderdale church now. "Beginning in 1978, after a terrible church split that was mostly my fault, God began to teach me about His grace," he writes in the section of his new church's website modestly called "How God Qualified Me to Take My Place in the Kingdom as an End-Time Prophet."
The former church property on Route 1 now seems to be serving a happier function, as Concord Township offices and a community center.
I told a few old-time local reporter pals about this lurid story and it was news to them, as it was to me.
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