UNIONVILLE: New signs in the traffic circle

A Tilda reader objects to the one-way signs that were installed in the Unionville roundabout this past week. He writes the following:
 

"We drive always on and to the right in this country. Today someone placed three ugly one-way signs on high poles ON THE CIRCLE for who knows what reason and totally obliterated the beauty of the circle. What a bureaucratically stupid act that could if necessary (which it isn’t) have placed 3 one-way signs low to the ground (a fourth isn’t necessary). Drivers’ tests do cover rotaries. What’s next? Garage sale signs on the rotary along with Beat Beethoven, cheaptree and political signage. Sign, sign, everywhere a sign! We have a significant signage problem in Southern Chester County that has crept silently upon us destroying beautiful views in our area. Where’s our Lady Bird Johnson? Am I losing it?"

 

UNIONVILLE: Phase II of the park

Several people have asked me what's going on next to the Po-Mar-Lin firehouse in downtown Unionville. The next phase of the Unionville Community Park is being built.
A brick sidewalk, crosswalks and street trees will be added right along Route 82, just west of the firehouse. And small entry plaza, a rain garden, eight parking spaces, landscaping and 750 feet of new walking trail will be installed in what is now the sunken-appearing field next to the firehouse.
There are complete details about the park on East Marlborough Township's website.

WEST MARLBOROUGH: Science fiction double feature

Driving home through West Marlborough on Friday evening at about 9:30 was magical and weird. On Earth level, the fireflies lit up the fields. Up in the sky, there were still some thunderstorms around, and the lightning would periodically light up the clouds. Occasionally I'd see an actual bolt of lightning rather than the general glow. It reminded me of some Saturday-afternoon mad-scientist movie where the experimental brain pulses with light.

HAIR: Customer service, good and bad

Over breakfast yesterday a Unionville friend told me a very funny anecdote that could serve as a business-school case study for why those no-appointment chain haircut places have become a booming franchise.
She said she was 10 minutes late for her appointment at the upscale, expensive salon she has patronized for years (the delay involved cattle), and from the moment she walked in she got nothing but dirty looks and attitude. (Her imitations were priceless.)
Desperate for a haircut, she headed to a strip-mall place, had her hair cut, and was out of there, shorn, in 5 minutes. The bill: $13. And her hair doesn't look bad at all.
Somebody just lost a customer, and somebody else just gained one.

CHATHAM: Median strip plans are online

The photographs that I took of the median strips being proposed for Chatham didn't make it into last week's newspaper (space was short), so if you're interested you can see them online at the website www.pa41.com.
In an email, engineer Rob Nuss said that "These designs are still conceptual in nature while the PennDOT project team optimizes the designs to achieve the desired traffic calming effect while accommodating all vehicles and minimizing impacts. ​We are open to additional public feedback for the gateways along PA Route 41."

MUSIC: Three outdoor concerts in one week

Earlier this week I found myself enthusiastically singing Mumford & Sons' big hit "I Will Wait for You" and was baffled as to how that song had gotten stuck in my brain. Then I remembered: on June 25 we saw a band, the Vulcans, whose harmonies sounded a lot like the Mumfords.
The Vulcans, who are three young men from Mechanicsburg, played as part of the series of Saturday-night summer concerts in the apple orchard at the 1719 Hans Herr House in Willow Street, Lancaster County. We have gotten accustomed to the macabre situations that represent a time-honored staple of folk music lyrics, but even we were a little taken aback when the band announced their next song by saying, "Does everybody know what patricide means?"
I feel confident in declaring that this past week's concert at Anson B. Nixon Park by Kid Davis and the Bullets will be one of the summer's highlights. We went to the show with two great friends, and if you grew up in the 1970s like all of us did, Pink Floyd's classic album "Dark Side of the Moon" was a significant part of your adolescent soundtrack (I have owned the album in eight-track, vinyl, cassette, and CD format). So when the Bullets broke into an out-of-left-field rockabilly version of "Brain Damage," our jaws dropped in amazement and we were helpless with laughter. Absolutely loved it!
Our third outdoor concert of the week was by a bluegrass/gospel group named Cousin Jake at the Myrick Center on Unionville Wawaset Road (at the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance, the former BVA) on June 30. The Lancaster County band just couldn't catch a break. The mandolin player was seriously delayed and didn't show up until after intermission. The electricity went off about 45 minutes into the show, so we all moved our chairs close to the stage and the band played an acoustic set without microphones or speakers. The power came back about 10 seconds before the end of the show.

BRAZIL: Locals on Team USA!

Don't be surprised if you see some familiar town names on the screen while watching the Summer Olympics: several people from our little corner of the world will be heading to Rio de Janeiro to represent the United States.
Phillip Dutton, riding Fernhill Cubalawn, and Boyd Martin, riding Blackfoot Mystery, are members of the Olympic eventing team. It's the sixth Olympic Games for Phillip (his third riding for the United States) and the second for Boyd. Both are native Australians but now live in the Unionville area.

Cierra Runge of Cochranville is on the swimming team; her event is the 400-meter freestyle relay. Cierra's name and the record-setting times she set during her early days of Y competition are on the wall of honor at the Jennersville YMCA.
Midfielder Katelyn Falgowski of Landenberg will play on the field hockey team. A graduate of St. Mark's High School in Wilmington and the University of North Carolina, this is her third Olympic Games.
Para-equestrian dressage rider Margaret "Gigi" Macintosh, who rides out of Blue Hill Farm in Newlin Township, will be participating at the Paralympic Games with her mare, Rio Rio. Her teammate para-rider Becca Hart (a former barista at the Kennett Starbucks) also trained out of Blue Hill Farm until she recently moved to Florida.
Wheelchair athlete Amanda McGrory of Kennett Square is heading to Rio as part of the 2016 U.S. Paralympics track and field team.
Long-time Tilda reader Laura suggests that I also mention several foreign riders who train locally and are short-listed for their country's teams: Ryan Wood (Australia) and Waylon Roberts (Canada) train at True Prospect Farm; Ronald Zabala has qualified for the Ecuadorean team; and Nilson Moreira da Silva has a chance to represent Brazil on Muggle, a horse owned by Melissa Stubenburg.