An amusing friend of mine has been known to tell an occasional tall tale, but with such a straight face that it seems perfectly plausible. Knowing this tendency of his, I rolled my eyes and expressed utter skepticism the other day when he explained that "giving him the cold shoulder" originally meant showing displeasure for a guest by serving him cold mutton rather than a more palatable freshly prepared meal.
I went home, checked online and was chagrined to discover that -- he is right. That's exactly where the saying comes from.
Sorry, Bob!
Saturday, September 23, 2017
KENNETT: Multicultural Night
The Kennett Y hosted "Multicultural Night" on Friday, with food, clothes, flags, music and artwork presented by Y members hailing from a dozen countries. The most exotic was probably the Seychelles, an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean.
Wearing my "England" soccer jersey from last year's UEFA competition, I traveled down the hallway to the festival immediately after my gym class was finished, just in time to hear a Mexican singer and watch some wonderful Indian dancers. I ate a delicious chicken dumpling (an arepas), a traditional Venezuelan dish, and a pita sandwich with nuts and mint from Iran, as well as some crunchy chickpea snacks from India. One of my gym teachers offered me some Swiss chocolate, promising that we would work off the calories during his next class.
Wearing my "England" soccer jersey from last year's UEFA competition, I traveled down the hallway to the festival immediately after my gym class was finished, just in time to hear a Mexican singer and watch some wonderful Indian dancers. I ate a delicious chicken dumpling (an arepas), a traditional Venezuelan dish, and a pita sandwich with nuts and mint from Iran, as well as some crunchy chickpea snacks from India. One of my gym teachers offered me some Swiss chocolate, promising that we would work off the calories during his next class.
OBEROD: A hilly morning
On Saturday we watched the Young Relative and his Unionville cross-county teammates compete in the Oberod Invitational on Burnt Mill Road at the Pennsylvania-Delaware line. The course is beautiful but notoriously challenging, with one especially steep hill dubbed "The Oberod Beast."
"These hills are outrageous!" I overheard one boy exclaim while warming up, and I heard the word "brutal!" several times at the finish line, as the spent runners guzzled water and headed to the cooling mist tent.
In the boys' race, youths from Tatnall (the host school) took first and second, but the UHS boys nabbed three of the top 10 spots. In the girls' race, again a Tatnall runner was first, but two of the UHS girls (as well as a Kennett girl) were in the top 10.
Oberod, by the way, is a a former DuPont estate that now serves as a training facility for the Wilmington-based laboratory informatics company LabWare.
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"These hills are outrageous!" I overheard one boy exclaim while warming up, and I heard the word "brutal!" several times at the finish line, as the spent runners guzzled water and headed to the cooling mist tent.
In the boys' race, youths from Tatnall (the host school) took first and second, but the UHS boys nabbed three of the top 10 spots. In the girls' race, again a Tatnall runner was first, but two of the UHS girls (as well as a Kennett girl) were in the top 10.
Oberod, by the way, is a a former DuPont estate that now serves as a training facility for the Wilmington-based laboratory informatics company LabWare.
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MUSIC: Donna Beech recitals
Pianist Donna Beech from Kennett Square will be giving two local lecture-recitals this week to mark the release of her book "Piano Music of Ann Wyeth McCoy": at
3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 1, at Lower Brandywine Presbyterian Church (at the intersection of Old Kennett Road and Route 52), and at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 3, at the Ware Recital Hall in the Swope Music Building at West Chester University. The suggested donation is $5 for the church concert; the university concert is free.
Donna writes: "Few people know that Ann Wyeth McCoy -- sister of world-famous
painter Andrew Wyeth, daughter of American painter N. C. Wyeth, wife of
painter John McCoy -- was a composer and an accomplished pianist, in
addition to being a gifted painter, and that music
was a very important part of the Wyeth household."
Donna's book includes 12 of McCoy's piano works, reprints of the N. C.
Wyeth paintings that inspired her, and commentary linking
the two genres.
Friday, September 22, 2017
KENNETT SQUARE: A Pet Blessing
Ellen Struble invited me (and my pets!) to attend a Pet Blessing at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 1., at the Church of the Advent, 401 North Union St., Kennett Square .
She writes: " All pets are cordially invited to receive a blessing of good
health and great happiness. . . . Pets of all faiths are welcome as are their people. Even if you don’t have a pet, you are
cordially invited to enjoy the animals. Please bring your pets leashed or caged for the safety of
all."
EAST MARLBOROUGH: Respect for the neighbors
A resident on Federal Walk has taken exception to the meetings of a local car club, Nex Gen Motors, in front of the vacant Superfresh store next to his neighborhood. I happened upon one of the car shows by chance back in April and wrote about it in my column, noting that many of the drivers were "showing off their cars’ acceleration by peeling out of the parking lot with high-revving engines and squealing tires."
My reader was not at all impressed with the noise and told me he plans to contact local and state police as well as the shopping center owner to express his concerns.
The club's Facebook page describes the group as "a car club that promotes RideRespect, in which our philosophy is based on the idea of respecting your vehicle as well as the ones around you."
My reader was not at all impressed with the noise and told me he plans to contact local and state police as well as the shopping center owner to express his concerns.
The club's Facebook page describes the group as "a car club that promotes RideRespect, in which our philosophy is based on the idea of respecting your vehicle as well as the ones around you."
WEST CHESTER: Planetarium programs
A longtime reader was kind enough to send me information about the Friday-night public programs that are being offered this autumn at the Dr. Sandra F. Pritchard Mather Planetarium at West Chester University.
The hour-long programs start at 7 p.m. Tickets are $6 per person (children under 5 can sit on a parent's lap for free) and can be purchased at the door or online. The planetarium is in the Schmucker Science Center at the corner of Church St. and Rosedale Ave. in West Chester.
Live shows -- "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" on Oct. 13 and "Once in a Blue Moon" on Nov. 3 -- "are given by a PhD astronomer and consist of an overview of what is currently visible in the night sky. In addition, each show focuses on a specific aspect of astronomy."
On the other Friday nights, students in the university's Department of Earth and Space Science will present "a live 20-minute overview of the current night sky followed by an educational and entertaining movie, roughly 30 minutes in length": Sept. 29: "Back to the Moon For Good"; Oct. 20: "Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity"; and Oct. 27: "Oasis In Space." The website notes that "Parents with young children may find these presentations more suitable for their family than the live shows."
Free parking is available after 5 p.m. for those attending the programs in the lot behind the Sykes Student Union building (Lot K), located on Rosedale Ave.
The hour-long programs start at 7 p.m. Tickets are $6 per person (children under 5 can sit on a parent's lap for free) and can be purchased at the door or online. The planetarium is in the Schmucker Science Center at the corner of Church St. and Rosedale Ave. in West Chester.
Live shows -- "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" on Oct. 13 and "Once in a Blue Moon" on Nov. 3 -- "are given by a PhD astronomer and consist of an overview of what is currently visible in the night sky. In addition, each show focuses on a specific aspect of astronomy."
On the other Friday nights, students in the university's Department of Earth and Space Science will present "a live 20-minute overview of the current night sky followed by an educational and entertaining movie, roughly 30 minutes in length": Sept. 29: "Back to the Moon For Good"; Oct. 20: "Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity"; and Oct. 27: "Oasis In Space." The website notes that "Parents with young children may find these presentations more suitable for their family than the live shows."
Free parking is available after 5 p.m. for those attending the programs in the lot behind the Sykes Student Union building (Lot K), located on Rosedale Ave.
WEST GROVE: A dance party!
I just got word that popular local band the Dukes of Destiny will be returning to West Grove Friends Meeting House for a dance party on Saturday, October 21. In the words of the band: "This is a place we have played for almost 20 years, starting back in
the days of the wonderful Turtledove Folk Club. Nonalcoholic, it is an all-ages crowd of people who love to dance, sing along and have great fun. . . . If you have seen us
here over the years you know how special this place is. If you haven't, you
need to have the experience."
Tickets are $15 at the door. The music starts at 7 p.m. and goes until 10 p.m.
Sunday, September 17, 2017
PLANTATION FIELD: The Real Rider Cup
During the Sunday lunch break at the Plantation Field International Horse Trials, trainers, jockeys, veterinarians and owners took part in a celebrity show-jumping competition in an attempt to win the first-ever "Real Rider Cup."
Each team had five members, and their times were totalled, with a penalty of four seconds added for each fault. In keeping with Plantation Field's focus this year on the versatility of retired racehorses, all of the horses in the competition were off-the-track thoroughbreds, and many of them were age 12 years and up.
The trainers (Leigh Delacour, Tim Keefe, Chuck Lawrence, Sanna Neilson and Joe Sharp) ended up taking the blue ribbon with the winning time of 326.98 seconds. The owners clocked in at 327.19 seconds, the jockeys 329.79 seconds, and the vets 386 seconds. Jockey Mark Beecher, the first to ride, also recorded the fastest round of the day: 49.2 seconds, and no faults.
The competition was light-hearted and entertaining. At one point the announcer misidentified renowned New Bolton Center surgeon Dean Richardson as one of the jockeys.
"Do I LOOK like a jockey?!" Dr. Dean called out with a laugh as he cantered past the announcers' booth.
Each team had five members, and their times were totalled, with a penalty of four seconds added for each fault. In keeping with Plantation Field's focus this year on the versatility of retired racehorses, all of the horses in the competition were off-the-track thoroughbreds, and many of them were age 12 years and up.
The trainers (Leigh Delacour, Tim Keefe, Chuck Lawrence, Sanna Neilson and Joe Sharp) ended up taking the blue ribbon with the winning time of 326.98 seconds. The owners clocked in at 327.19 seconds, the jockeys 329.79 seconds, and the vets 386 seconds. Jockey Mark Beecher, the first to ride, also recorded the fastest round of the day: 49.2 seconds, and no faults.
The competition was light-hearted and entertaining. At one point the announcer misidentified renowned New Bolton Center surgeon Dean Richardson as one of the jockeys.
"Do I LOOK like a jockey?!" Dr. Dean called out with a laugh as he cantered past the announcers' booth.
COCHRANVILLE: Canine Partners open house
We were bowled over by the open house at Canine Partners for Life in Cochranville on Saturday, which was very well attended by both humans and service dogs.
We watched fascinated as Krystal, paralyzed from the waist down from a spinal cord injury, demonstrated how her service dog Teddie helps her to live independently. Teddie is trained to pick up the young woman's keys if she drops them, take her wallet to a cashier, open doors, closets and drawers and even alert her when she's about to experience a migraine or a drop in blood pressure. The love between the two was obvious and heartwarming.
Although the open house was held on the grounds of Manor Presbyterian Church, busses took visitors just up Faggs Manor Road to the CPL campus itself. The campus tour highlighted the major renovations that have been underway since March as part of the Marian S. Ware Program Services Center, including more wheelchair-accessible parking, more accessible bathrooms, additional office space, and a larger harness shop (we got to chat with Gerry Ortega, a longtime volunteer who crafts the custom-made harnesses the service dogs wear). Our guide pointed out that some of the ceiling tiles will have embossed paw prints.
(The improvements are part of an $8.5 million capital campaign, The Partnership for Independence Campaign. More than $5.4 million has already been raised, and when the rest of the funding is secured, work will begin on the Mollie and Minor Barringer Training Center.)
Unfortunately we couldn't visit the kennels because kennel cough was going around.
What an impressive organization Canine Partners is, not only in terms of the amazing services they offer but the way they pulled together such a well-run event -- with a tasty free BBQ lunch, to boot (of course we left a donation). Months of work must have been required to plan the facility tour, schedule the multitude of volunteers, set up the sound system, coordinate with the church and vendors, hire the shuttle busses, design the programs, print the cow bingo tickets, map out the parking, and manage all the other vital behind-the-scenes details.
We watched fascinated as Krystal, paralyzed from the waist down from a spinal cord injury, demonstrated how her service dog Teddie helps her to live independently. Teddie is trained to pick up the young woman's keys if she drops them, take her wallet to a cashier, open doors, closets and drawers and even alert her when she's about to experience a migraine or a drop in blood pressure. The love between the two was obvious and heartwarming.
Although the open house was held on the grounds of Manor Presbyterian Church, busses took visitors just up Faggs Manor Road to the CPL campus itself. The campus tour highlighted the major renovations that have been underway since March as part of the Marian S. Ware Program Services Center, including more wheelchair-accessible parking, more accessible bathrooms, additional office space, and a larger harness shop (we got to chat with Gerry Ortega, a longtime volunteer who crafts the custom-made harnesses the service dogs wear). Our guide pointed out that some of the ceiling tiles will have embossed paw prints.
(The improvements are part of an $8.5 million capital campaign, The Partnership for Independence Campaign. More than $5.4 million has already been raised, and when the rest of the funding is secured, work will begin on the Mollie and Minor Barringer Training Center.)
Unfortunately we couldn't visit the kennels because kennel cough was going around.
What an impressive organization Canine Partners is, not only in terms of the amazing services they offer but the way they pulled together such a well-run event -- with a tasty free BBQ lunch, to boot (of course we left a donation). Months of work must have been required to plan the facility tour, schedule the multitude of volunteers, set up the sound system, coordinate with the church and vendors, hire the shuttle busses, design the programs, print the cow bingo tickets, map out the parking, and manage all the other vital behind-the-scenes details.
WEST MARLBOROUGH: Local cheese makes good
The Farm at Doe Run's St. Malachi cheese took second-place honors in the "Best of Show" competition at the American Cheese Society's annual conference in Denver. The cheese is made from the milk of the cows who live at Dick Hayne's farm here in West Marlborough Township.
In its account of the winners, the Wall Street Journal described St. Malachi thusly: "A hybrid Gouda/Alpine-style cow's milk cheese, aged 11 months in the farm's stone-quarry cave, it's a nutty brown-butter bomb with a firm, crumbly paste, made by a team that's leading the evolution of the state's artisan cheese industry."
St. Malachi and other Doe Run cheeses are sold at the Country Butcher in Kennett Square.
FYI, first prize went to a cheese named "Tarentaise Reserve" from Spring Brook Farm in Vermont.
In its account of the winners, the Wall Street Journal described St. Malachi thusly: "A hybrid Gouda/Alpine-style cow's milk cheese, aged 11 months in the farm's stone-quarry cave, it's a nutty brown-butter bomb with a firm, crumbly paste, made by a team that's leading the evolution of the state's artisan cheese industry."
St. Malachi and other Doe Run cheeses are sold at the Country Butcher in Kennett Square.
FYI, first prize went to a cheese named "Tarentaise Reserve" from Spring Brook Farm in Vermont.
KENNETT: Picnic in the park
As regular readers know, every Wednesday evening in the summer we visit Anson B. Nixon Park for the concert series. But even though the concerts have finished for the season and the days are getting much shorter, we took a picnic supper (from the China Garden restaurant in West Grove) to the park last week and had a delightful time. After eating, we took a stroll around the lake, quacked at the ducks, watched a dad teach his son how to cast a fishing line (the boy did a great job!) and admired the tomatoes and peppers ready for harvest in the community gardens.
JENNERSVILLE: National exposure for Dansko shoes
Dansko shoes, headquartered right here in southern Chester County, got a rave review -- in a backhanded sort of way -- in the fashion magazine "Vogue." The reviewer, Emily Farra, called them "a new ugly-chic shoe to covet" and described them as "the latest patently hideous, yet wildly comfortable shoe to get the high-fashion treatment."
She writes: "I’d argue they’re less ugly than Crocs, but definitely more polarizing than Birkenstocks, which actually look chic with slip dresses and dark-rinse jeans. . . . Danskos have long been part of the eccentric-Upper-West-Side-lady equation, and I recently saw a hipster girl wearing them with vintage Levi’s and a cropped sweatshirt at a Toro y Moi concert in Bushwick."
LONGWOOD: Great fireworks
An ever-enthusiastic friend from Wagontown joined us on Saturday for the Longwood Gardens fireworks, which, being cheapskates, we always watch from lawn chairs in the parking lot of the Longwood shopping center. Sue said she actually enjoyed it more than watching the display from inside the Gardens, even though we nonpaying spectators don't get to hear the music and don't get to see the lower-altitude fireworks.
I especially liked the skyful of flashing red fireworks, which reminded me of an onslaught of camera flashes. This must be what's it's like to be a celebrity walking down a red carpet, a fashion model gliding down a catwalk or a "perp" being paraded before the media. Not that I'm likely to experience any of those.
I especially liked the skyful of flashing red fireworks, which reminded me of an onslaught of camera flashes. This must be what's it's like to be a celebrity walking down a red carpet, a fashion model gliding down a catwalk or a "perp" being paraded before the media. Not that I'm likely to experience any of those.
STINK BUGS: They're back
Like clockwork, the stink bugs start invading my house on the same day each year: the Saturday of the Plantation Field International event. Sure enough, I spotted four of them crawling on my screen door Saturday morning and immediately sucked them up with my Bugzooka vacuum device (which I highly recommend).
But it was nothing like the memorable September of 2012, when I returned home from Plantation Field to find the west wall of my bedroom covered with dozens of the smelly arthropods.
It's still warm enough that the stink bugs can move quickly; in a few weeks they'll be logy and won't fly off.
But it was nothing like the memorable September of 2012, when I returned home from Plantation Field to find the west wall of my bedroom covered with dozens of the smelly arthropods.
It's still warm enough that the stink bugs can move quickly; in a few weeks they'll be logy and won't fly off.
AVONDALE: Wawa set to reopen Oct. 6
The Longwood Wawa is back in operation after its summertime facelift, much to the relief of those who rely on it for coffee, snacks, gas, and bathrooms, but now the Avondale Wawa is shut for remodeling as part of an extensive company-wide updating program. The extremely busy (I speak from experience) convenience store at Route 41 and Baltimore Pike closed on Sept. 5 and is set to reopen Oct. 6.
WEST GROVE: Mindful motion
The Light Within yoga studio will be moving at the end of September from its current location on Exchange Place in downtown West Grove just a few blocks west to the northeast corner of Evergreen Street and Guernsey Road, the former location of the Curves exercise franchise.
According to the studio's website, the new space "will provide more practice area, fewer parking issues, a much easier entrance to navigate, and many other upgrades. . . . We know many of you really love our space at 11 Exchange Place. We do too. It has been a wonderful space and will always have lots of incredible memories, but it is time for growth through change!"
According to the studio's website, the new space "will provide more practice area, fewer parking issues, a much easier entrance to navigate, and many other upgrades. . . . We know many of you really love our space at 11 Exchange Place. We do too. It has been a wonderful space and will always have lots of incredible memories, but it is time for growth through change!"
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