On Saturday we visited Phoenixville, which was hosting its annual Firebird Festival, the climax of which is the burning of a huge wooden phoenix at Friendship Field on the north side of the borough. All afternoon there were musical performances in the shops on Bridge Street and Church Street, and we had a great time wandering around being tourists and stopping in here and there to warm ourselves up. We especially liked the Barn Swallows, a guitar-and-dobro duo who played at the Soltane Bridges Café and Bakery.
Later in the afternoon Morris dancers, cloggers, and hobby-horse dancers performed outside the Colonial Theater -- it was like we were in an English village! -- and while we were eating our dinner at XPress Pizza we could see fire jugglers spinning their blazing batons across the street.
Up at Friendship Field medieval warriors from a group called Barenheim were staging mock battles. We noticed that some of them quickly put down their weapons and went AWOL when the pizza delivery guy arrived with his white boxes.
Judging from the number of businesses and restaurants in town and the big apartment complex that is being built, Phoenixville seems to be a thriving town. It was also a remarkably friendly one. While we were at the coffee shop we asked where the phoenix bonfire was going to be held, and several helpful customers chimed in, giving us good directions and informing us about the shuttle bus (we walked instead). Random people we encountered on the street smiled and said hello, and even the folks who were asking us about parking (right, like we knew!) were polite.
Sunday, December 4, 2016
PETITIONS: Just a way to collect email addresses
It seems like I'm always being asked to sign petitions for this, that, or the other cause on social media. I always refuse, and in a Dec. 3 posting the political website The Daily Kos provided an excellent explanation of why: "Petitions are sign-up forms for your organization. They are a way to build a contact list of like-minded people, so that you can send those people emails with more impactful actions on related topics at a later date."
In other words, you might think you're just lending support to a single good cause championed by a friend, but what you're really doing is adding your name to a mailing list and asking for an avalanche of emails. No thanks!
In other words, you might think you're just lending support to a single good cause championed by a friend, but what you're really doing is adding your name to a mailing list and asking for an avalanche of emails. No thanks!
Saturday, December 3, 2016
UNIONVILLE: Social hour before the hunt
Lydia Bartholomew hosted a splendid "tea" in the barn at her Plumsted Farm on Saturday morning to thank the local landowners who let the Mr. Stewart's Cheshire Foxhounds hunt on their properties.
I got to say hello to lots of friends and neighbors, enjoyed cider, chili and a pastry, and watched the hounds and foxhunters set off for their day's adventure. Lydia told me that the Cheshire club has grown to the point that there are now three "fields" (meaning groups) of foxhunters, each with its own fieldmaster. There's also an athletic fellow named John who follows the hunt on foot and, I'm told, actually manages to keep up with them!
I ran into Clipper LaMotte at the brunch table and pestered him about when he is going to finish up his second Thaddeus Pennock crime novel for our reading pleasure. He compared the writing process to pulling teeth.
I got to say hello to lots of friends and neighbors, enjoyed cider, chili and a pastry, and watched the hounds and foxhunters set off for their day's adventure. Lydia told me that the Cheshire club has grown to the point that there are now three "fields" (meaning groups) of foxhunters, each with its own fieldmaster. There's also an athletic fellow named John who follows the hunt on foot and, I'm told, actually manages to keep up with them!
I ran into Clipper LaMotte at the brunch table and pestered him about when he is going to finish up his second Thaddeus Pennock crime novel for our reading pleasure. He compared the writing process to pulling teeth.
BLUEGRASS: The sunny side of life
On Dec. 2 we went to a concert by the bluegrass band the Red Squirrel Chasers down in Newark. (Hint: you know you're in the right place for a old-time music show when you see a license plate that says "Fiddler.")
The four musicians were a cheery bunch, but the songs they played represented a catalogue of abject misery: a double-fatal house fire, a woman who dies after visiting her son ("I'm Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail"), a suicidal fellow suffering from unrequited love ("No Letter in the Mail Today"), and years of marital stress ("Cold Rain and Snow").
At one point, after playing yet another grim song ("Short Life of Trouble"), the mandolin player (Jim Collier) turned to the guitarist (Jim Nelson) and said, "How did we come up with this set list?!"
On a brighter, and, they insisted, more characteristic, note, they finished with a rousing singalong version of "She'll Be Comin' Around the Mountain."
The four musicians were a cheery bunch, but the songs they played represented a catalogue of abject misery: a double-fatal house fire, a woman who dies after visiting her son ("I'm Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail"), a suicidal fellow suffering from unrequited love ("No Letter in the Mail Today"), and years of marital stress ("Cold Rain and Snow").
At one point, after playing yet another grim song ("Short Life of Trouble"), the mandolin player (Jim Collier) turned to the guitarist (Jim Nelson) and said, "How did we come up with this set list?!"
On a brighter, and, they insisted, more characteristic, note, they finished with a rousing singalong version of "She'll Be Comin' Around the Mountain."
ART: A show and sale at The Gables
My artist friend Patsy Keller asked me to mention an art show and sale on Sunday, Dec. 11, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. upstairs at The Gables restaurant in Chadds Ford. Patsy will be displaying her fused art glass and jewelry. Jack Marshall will bring his oil paintings (yes, THAT Jack Marshall; he is an artist as well as a musician and music teacher). Other participants are jewelry maker Philice Ray (“Philices’ Pieces”), photographer Daphne Longo-Okcuoglu, and Mindy Blackman (drawings and paintings).
Patsy writes: "The goal is to showcase local artists, while offering
the community a relaxed setting where they can enjoy the creative surroundings,
and find unique gifts for their family and friends."
RELIGION: Revisiting Quakerism 101
Kevin Arnold, former Clerk of London Grove Friends Meeting, gave an excellent talk about Quakerism on Nov. 29 at West Grove meeting as part of their ongoing "Faiths of Our Neighbors" series. As he observed, though, he was "preaching to the choir"; I recognized almost everyone as active members of the local Quaker community.
Kevin was an exceptionally interesting speaker and gave an overview of Quaker history in England and America. He talked about the basic tenets of the religion (summarized using the acronym SPICES: simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship); Quaker worship and decision-making methods; and the current problems facing the faith.
I had an interesting conversation after the lecture about the balance in Quakerism between politics and civil activism versus God and traditional spirituality -- an old, old debate.
Kevin was an exceptionally interesting speaker and gave an overview of Quaker history in England and America. He talked about the basic tenets of the religion (summarized using the acronym SPICES: simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship); Quaker worship and decision-making methods; and the current problems facing the faith.
I had an interesting conversation after the lecture about the balance in Quakerism between politics and civil activism versus God and traditional spirituality -- an old, old debate.
CARLISLE: Another voice heard from
I still follow the news from Carlisle, the central Pennsylvania town where I went to college and walked my first newspaper beat. It seems a lone protestor named Ernest Perce showed up in the center of town the other day and attracted much attention for his anti-Israel sign (misspelled) and the fact that he was dragging an American flag on the pavement behind him.
In a sentence every reporter would love to write, "Perce wound up on the hood of a vehicle and was carried down Hanover Street, police said."
The protestor said he was from the Flat Earth Ministries. Of course I had to check out their website, which contains all manner of way-out-there arguments, including the "Moon Landing Hoax." And who knew that Stanley Kubrick's movie "Eyes Wide Shut" is chock-full of coded evidence for Globe Earth propaganda? But I have to admit, they managed to get a pretty good pun in their slogan: "The Plane Truth About the Flat Earth."
In a sentence every reporter would love to write, "Perce wound up on the hood of a vehicle and was carried down Hanover Street, police said."
The protestor said he was from the Flat Earth Ministries. Of course I had to check out their website, which contains all manner of way-out-there arguments, including the "Moon Landing Hoax." And who knew that Stanley Kubrick's movie "Eyes Wide Shut" is chock-full of coded evidence for Globe Earth propaganda? But I have to admit, they managed to get a pretty good pun in their slogan: "The Plane Truth About the Flat Earth."
EAST MARLBOROUGH: The fall of a Bread Lady
Here's hoping that Bread Lady Barbara is feeling better soon. It seems she took a bad tumble on some pavement and was feeling so battered that she just couldn't handle any bread making, so the Bakers at Red Lion shop was closed this past weekend.
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