LONDON GROVE: A bell choir to ring in the season

The Belles and Rose Joyful Ringers Bell Choir will perform at London Grove Friends Meeting at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, with refreshments and social time to follow. London Grove member Grace Pfeifer describes the family-friendly evening as "a joyful start to the holiday season." The meetinghouse is at Route 926 and Newark Road. Carpooling is encouraged because parking is limited. 

BVVH: A new owner for Dr. Moss's practice

It's official! Dr. Marc Daniel, DVM, has purchased Dr. John Moss's Brandywine Valley Veterinary Hospital on Strasburg Road.
Dr. Daniel lives outside of West Chester with his wife, three cats, a rescued dog from Haiti, chickens, and honey bees. He and his wife have two sons in college and two daughters at home.

He writes, "I am honored to have the opportunity to assume the ownership of Brandywine Valley Veterinary Hospital. Dr. Moss and his associates have been providing high-quality and compassionate veterinary care to the community for many years and I hope to continue what he has started. I feel that practice ownership will allow me to further fulfill my desire to care for people, their pets and the staff that work under my guidance."

Dr. Daniel already gets high marks from me. I met him last month at BVVH when our elderly rescue cat, Clarence, was very sick. Dr. Daniel immediately spotted a large abscess and took care of it. A week later, to our delight and relief, Clarence was back to his normal self,  yowling, jumping up on the bed, and curling up on his blue fleece blanket.

THANKSGIVING: A lot of gratitude

I wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers. Thanks for reading my column, thanks for supporting your local newspaper (unfortunately, a rarity these days), and thanks for offering your feedback and contributions all year long.
I want to offer my special gratitude to the long-suffering Dearest Partner (who didn't know what he was getting into), student/athlete/all-around great kid the Young Relative, my feline buddies Tina and Clarence, and my dear neighbors and friends for inspiring and starring in so many "Tilda items" and adventures. And, as always, in loving memory of Mum and Dad, my most faithful readers (Dad: "Wait . . .  you mean YOU'RE Tilda!?").

WEST MARLBOROUGH: Another deer-vs.-vehicle collision

En route to a New Bolton Center lecture on Thursday evening, I came upon two vehicles with their blinkers on, pulled off to the side of Route 842 near the Stone Barn's pond. I stopped, rolled down my window and asked if everything was OK.
The woman thanked me for stopping and said they were unhurt and just waiting for a tow truck. 
"These deer, they just jump in front of cars!" she exclaimed. Sure enough, there was a deer carcass along the road and, not coincidentally, one of the cars had some obvious front-end damage. I'm sure this scenario has played out many times along Chester County roads in recent weeks.

AVONDALE: Qfix, an international business amidst cornfields

On Nov. 19 I spent an interesting hour visiting Qfix, an Avondale business, and talking with CEO and Chief Technology Officer Dan Coppens and a few members of his team. 
The company's motto is "Positioning Patients for Life," which pretty much describes their product line: they design, engineer, manufacture and market devices used to position patients receiving radiation therapy. With more accurate and consistent delivery of radiation, the total dosage can sometimes be decreased, thereby reducing the risk of side effects, the cost of care and the number of times the patient has to travel to the medical facility. Dan said the staff members are very mindful of the fact that their products can improve patients' and families' quality of life during a very rough time.
Qfix, which employs about 160 people, operates out of several buildings on its 440 Church Road campus, which is surrounded by cornfields. Sales reps travel frequently to trade shows, and about half of the company's products are exported outside the United States.
Dan, who lives in the Inniscrone development in London Grove Township, said staffers are quick to pick up on any "sightings" of Qfix products, either in medical centers or in the media. For instance, their proton-beam therapy equipment appeared in Ken Burns' recent PBS documentary "The Mayo Clinic: Faith, Hope, Science," about 15 minutes into the program.

Qfix is located at 440 Church Road, Avondale.

UHS: The Art Gala

On display at the UHS PTA's annual Unionville Art Gala this past weekend were works by numerous local artists, everything from landscapes and still lifes to jewelry, pottery, woodworking, collages, 3-D works and sculpture. The featured professional artist was Diane Cannon, whose work was showcased in the lobby, and the featured senior artist was Sophia Mayer (honorable mention went to Ashley Kirk and Claire Favor). When I stopped by on Saturday, I especially enjoyed seeing the display of artworks by the students and overheard one woman pointing to a senior's painting and saying fondly, "I had her in third grade!"
Outside the high school I was amused to see a different kind of art: Calculus students had graphed the solutions to differential equations on the sidewalk in colored chalk. Maybe I would have understood calculus better in the open air!

THE Y: Not just a place to work out

An athletic friend who has been going through some domestic upheaval told me that going to the YMCA is helping her immensely as it provides her with some much-needed consistency. Seeing familiar faces, rooms and fitness equipment, as well as working out hard, is keeping her on an even keel. She even referred to it as her "medicine."

OXFORD: A gathering in Lower Oxford Township

Sunday evening, driving home from Oxford, we made a wrong turn and presently crossed over the Route 1 bypass, which was, of course, the highway we wanted to be on. No matter. We found ourselves in a dark, rural area, but up ahead was a yard full of what I thought were Christmas lights and inflatables, as brightly lit up as a used car lot. Wow, they got started early on the holiday, I said.
Dearest Partner disagreed, saying they weren't Christmas decorations; rather, it must be a construction site with barricades and signage.
As we got closer, we discovered we were both wrong. It was a gathering of probably 15 parked Amish buggies, all equipped with ample safety reflectors.

WHODUNIT: A sellout for the ACT Players

We were looking forward to seeing the ACT Players' production of the Agatha Christie classic "And Then There Were None," especially since neither of us could remember who the murderous villain turned out to be. But as soon as we pulled into the parking lot of the Kemblesville United Methodist Church on Saturday evening, the attendant informed us the show was sold out. It was unfortunate for us, but certainly good news for the local amateur theater group.
The ACT Players' next show is a revue called "Broadway Moments" at the Kennett Flash at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25, and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26. You might want to make reservations!

WILLOWDALE: A win-win situation

"Clear Your Clutter for a Good Cause," read the post about Rep. Christina Sappey's Nov. 16 event in Willowdale, and I took that as a command.
I spent an afternoon going through my kitchen drawers and cabinets and packed up unwanted gadgets, extra pots and pans, a rice cooker, excess tea towels, a double boiler, pie plates, and a springform cake pan (used once). How did I ever accumulate so many baskets? I cleaned out the pantry of jars of spaghetti sauce. I went through my closets and culled everything I hadn't worn in the past year or so (good-bye, purple wool Jones NY winter coat). 
Amidst my trunkload of stuff, I actually had enough items to donate to each of the nonprofits represented at the event: Green Drop, the Brandywine SPCA, David's Drive, the Food Bank, and the Marine Corps' annual Toys for Tots collection drive. Worthy causes all.