Longwood Gardens just informed me that my membership would be expiring in a few weeks, and I immediately renewed. After all, visiting just a few times a year pays for your membership, and members get discounts on plays and concerts.
We're so lucky to have one of the world's great horticultural attractions so close by. I will occasionally pop by on a cold winter's day just so I can visit the staghorn ferns, the bonsai, the Venus flytraps, the roses, or the banana plants; stroll down the acacia passageway into the wonderfully humid, fragrant orchid room; and listen to the visitors from all over the world chatting in multiple languages.
Saturday, December 30, 2017
CHRISTMAS: The power of lights
People's Christmas lights were pretty remarkable this year. A lot of folks have bought those projectors that shine images all over the side of your house, either stationary dots of color or rotating snowflakes, snowmen or Santa Claus heads (which makes me a little dizzy). The ever-inventive manufacturers have even equipped these projectors with discs for multiple holidays: circling pumpkins for Halloween, or the Eagles logo for football season.
The workers at the SECCRA landfill always put up decorations on the chain-link fence along Route 41, and this year I noticed that they had installed a single lighted tree, like a beacon, on the very top what we call "Mount Trash."
Some bicyclists I saw a few nights before Christmas were getting into the holiday spirit (along with increasing their visibility). A group of six or eight were riding single-file westbound along Route 82 through "downtown" Unionville, with multicolored flashing lights on the spokes of their wheels. The effect was almost psychedelic.
But once again, some residents of Church Hill Road, south of Avondale, take top honors for their incredible Christmas lights display, which they put up in memory of their son. Each year they use a crane to hang large white lighted stars high up in the trees along the road, and the light is reflected in the water of the White Clay Creek below. It's a stunning and moving sight.
The workers at the SECCRA landfill always put up decorations on the chain-link fence along Route 41, and this year I noticed that they had installed a single lighted tree, like a beacon, on the very top what we call "Mount Trash."
Some bicyclists I saw a few nights before Christmas were getting into the holiday spirit (along with increasing their visibility). A group of six or eight were riding single-file westbound along Route 82 through "downtown" Unionville, with multicolored flashing lights on the spokes of their wheels. The effect was almost psychedelic.
But once again, some residents of Church Hill Road, south of Avondale, take top honors for their incredible Christmas lights display, which they put up in memory of their son. Each year they use a crane to hang large white lighted stars high up in the trees along the road, and the light is reflected in the water of the White Clay Creek below. It's a stunning and moving sight.
BAYARD TAYLOR: Happy Birthday, Bayard!
The Kennett Library will be celebrating Bayard Taylor's birthday on Thursday, Jan. 11. I'm told there will be birthday cupcakes for all, as well as a "literary open mic" program starting at 6 p.m. According to the library's website: "Come share a poem, short story, or excerpt of your own work, or read us one of your favorites from an author you admire. Don’t have anything to read? Just bring your mind and ears to support literacy in your local community."
The library is at 216 E. State Street. Bayard Taylor was born in Kennett Square on Jan. 11, 1825.
The library is at 216 E. State Street. Bayard Taylor was born in Kennett Square on Jan. 11, 1825.
Monday, December 25, 2017
WALMART: Navy and gold
It can now be written.
Back in November I got the idea of knitting winter hats in the Unionville High School colors, navy blue and gold, as Christmas gifts for two family members. I went to Walmart to buy the yarn, knowing they stock sturdy, washable yarns in a kaleidoscopic assortment of colors.
Too kaleidoscopic, in fact: I couldn't decide which was the perfect blue. I asked a fellow yarn shopper for help, but she had never heard of Unionville (I know; imagine!). I had better luck when I asked three nearby sales clerks. Not only had they heard of Unionville, but they even called up the UHS website and held up skeins of yarn next to the computer screen to get the closest possible match.
Excellent customer service --- and the hats turned out perfectly.
Back in November I got the idea of knitting winter hats in the Unionville High School colors, navy blue and gold, as Christmas gifts for two family members. I went to Walmart to buy the yarn, knowing they stock sturdy, washable yarns in a kaleidoscopic assortment of colors.
Too kaleidoscopic, in fact: I couldn't decide which was the perfect blue. I asked a fellow yarn shopper for help, but she had never heard of Unionville (I know; imagine!). I had better luck when I asked three nearby sales clerks. Not only had they heard of Unionville, but they even called up the UHS website and held up skeins of yarn next to the computer screen to get the closest possible match.
Excellent customer service --- and the hats turned out perfectly.
STINKBUGS: It's crunch time
Perhaps it was my later-than-usual bedtime the night before (with its larger-than-usual dessert intake), but I must have been groggy indeed not to notice the stinkbug sitting in my Christmas-morning bowl of Cheerios.
Until, of course, I bit into it.
I am here to tell you that stinkbugs taste exactly like they smell. You're welcome; thanks to my serendipitous misfortune, now you don't need to take part in the time-honored scientific tradition of self-experimentation.
On the upside, I got to cleanse my palate with some awesome chocolate fudge made by a kind neighbor.
Until, of course, I bit into it.
I am here to tell you that stinkbugs taste exactly like they smell. You're welcome; thanks to my serendipitous misfortune, now you don't need to take part in the time-honored scientific tradition of self-experimentation.
On the upside, I got to cleanse my palate with some awesome chocolate fudge made by a kind neighbor.
MARSHALLTON: Historic house destroyed
A fire that broke out at 6 a.m. Christmas Eve Day destroyed a c. 1800 house at 1408 West Strasburg Road in Marshallton. No one was hurt. The house was set back from Strasburg Road behind a high hedge, and the property backed up to Northbrook Road, next to the Martins Tavern historic site. All that remains is a white-painted stone foundation and a pile of charred timbers and lath, broken glass, and shingles.
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