Tuesday, November 3, 2015

WEST MARLBOROUGH: Routine township business

Just a few items to report from the West Marlborough Township supervisors' November meeting:
1. Gus Brown resigned from the township Planning Commission.
2. George and Gretchen Wintersteen were granted zoning permission and a building permit to build a solarium over an existing porch at their Ryan Road house.
3. Police Chief Robert Clarke reported that he issued eight speeding tickets and three parking tickets in the township in October.
4. The township road crew completed a project to install pipes along Thouron and Hicks Roads. They received a state grant (administered through the county) for $25,000 but had a $10,000 cost overrun due to unexpected problems that they encountered.

Monday, November 2, 2015

HUNT CUP: A beautiful afternoon in Unionville

Every year, my friends and I remember the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup for one particular reason. In 2014 it was the strong wind that felled a port-a-potty. The year before, our dogs didn't get along, in somewhat spectacular fashion. And the year before that, the freezing temperatures sent one of us home on a rescue mission to bring back warm socks and Irish coffee for everyone.
This year the weather was warm and sunny and we brought only one dog, so I suspect we'll remember the event for the absence of a well-loved member of our party, who had a death in the family the day before and had to help sort out the myriad of funeral details.
Although it just wasn't the same without him (he would have loved seeing the tiny Papillon and the gigantic but gentle deerhound), we still had a great time watching the horse races, especially when we knew the jockeys, and socializing with friends in between.
It was fun to see Ivan Dowling and Kelly Merette bring out the "Cheshire Beauties," the foxhounds of the Cheshire Hunt.
Food is always an important component of the event. I baked two kinds of cookies, and the other members of our merry band brought caprese salad and turkey meatballs (which turned out to be a wonderful and not-too-unnutritious combination). At other people's tailgate parties I enjoyed marvelous chili, marinated asparagus, and smoked salmon.
Hats off to the members of the Hunt Cup committee, who work long and hard to organize this yearly tradition, and thanks to the landowners who let us invade their lovely property.