Saturday, May 12, 2018

WEST MARLBOROUGH: Plants and people

We arrived at the neighborhood spring social (aka the London Grove Friends Meeting Plant Sale) not long after 7 a.m., the official opening time, but Mark and Anna Myers's field was already filled with cars and customers were already lined up at the cashier's station.
We caught up with lots of friends, ate breakfast sandwiches, and snagged some herbs and excellent Rocket Mix snapdragons. All the plants for sale looked very healthy.
Everyone seemed relieved that the morning was cool and overcast rather than either (a) sweltering or (b) pouring, both of which had been predicted.

Thursday, May 10, 2018

KENNETT: Domestic enemies

Dearest Partner and I were taking a pleasant stroll through Kennett after dinner when we saw two notices tacked up on a utility pole. The first words that caught my eye on one of them were "Microwave Harassment."
"Why would anyone want to harass their microwave?" I asked in confusion (you can tell I've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen recently). "I mean, what would you say anyway, `You didn't defrost that very well, now, did you'?"
D.P. joined in, offering his own insults: "You call that a beep!" and "I've seen better popcorn poppers at the movie theater!"
He then explained that some conspiracy theorists (including, apparently, those who posted the notices) believe that spy agencies are transmitting microwave energy to gain control over our thoughts for their own world domination purposes.
He heard it on AM radio; it must be true.

AVONDALE: State Street bridge update

According to a report presented at the May 2 London Grove Township meeting, the State Street bridge project is on schedule to be finished on May 25. Reopening the strategically located bridge will relieve a major traffic bottleneck that has plagued commuters not only in Avondale but also in London Grove, West Grove and Penn Townships since last summer. 
I drove by on May 10 and saw lots of heavy equipment and trucks and about a dozen workers, some standing on the new bridge deck and others digging a ditch. 
According to the bridge report on the township's website, "Latest construction meeting was held 4/12/18, project is on schedule for 5/25/18 completion date. Diaphragms were placed 4/10/18 and the bridge deck was poured 04/23/18. The County, Avondale and London Grove continue to work with PECO to elevate any potential delays from the gas line cut-over."
The county's website is less specific, saying only that the bridge will be reopened in "late spring 2018."

KENNETT: A dark chocolate fan

A little guy was shrieking his head off outside the Kennett Y this morning. His mom gave me an apologetic look as I walked by. "He's very, very angry with me," she said ruefully.
Why is that? I asked.
She explained that she had been feeding the child pieces of Peppermint Pattie and eventually . . . ran out and had to stop.
Who could blame the poor kid for protesting?

Sunday, May 6, 2018

SWARTHMORE: Music, politics and astrology

On May 5 we went to the WaR3House 3 in Swarthmore to see Francis Dunnery perform a solo show, just him and his acoustic guitar.
The day before the show was the first time I had heard of the British singer-songwriter, although I later found out that he played at the Kennett Flash as recently as last autumn. But the audience members around us knew all the words and sang along, and several begged for him to play their requests.
Between songs Dunnery talked about his interests in astrology, psychology and politics. A revolutionary time as world-shaking as the late 18th century is coming soon, he predicted. He said everyone suffers a major trauma between ages 3 and 6, and it sets the course for their lives (the man behind me grumbled, "I paid a lot of money to forget about that").
Dunnery's political advice, which basically amounted to "Don't fall for the polarizing hype," got a lukewarm reaction from the college-town audience. This amused him.
The singer also told some hilarious stories about his wild days as a rock star with a 1980s band called "It Bites." Apparently you don't know what hard drinking is until you've partied with the heavy metal band Motรถrhead. Dunnery said he knew he was in trouble when Steve Jones, a guitarist for the punk-rock band the Sex Pistols, showed up at his hotel-room door and literally dragged him to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. (At this anecdote Dearest Partner was laughing so hard he got a stitch in his side.)
I'd never been to the WaR3house 3 before, a tiny venue down an alley off Park Avenue. It's like walking into the prop closet of a community theater, full of bric-a-brac, fencing masks, 1960s lighting fixtures, license plates, old concert posters, framed portraits, bikes hanging from the ceiling, and old library card catalogs. There's room for maybe 30 people to sit on wooden folding chairs; everyone else has to stand.