Meetings

This month's West Marlborough Township meeting will be on Tuesday, Sept. 4. I don't think anything pressing is on the agenda, but it's worth coming out to the township hall/garage anyway. There's always something that makes me put down my knitting or phone (yes, there's Wi-Fi) and pick up my pen and reporter's notebook (or, um, whatever paper I can scrounge. Last month I forgot my notebook and got caught pinching a piece of office paper from the road department's desk).
The Planning Commission meets at 7 p.m., with the supervisors' meeting to follow.
If you should happen to have something else to do that evening (imagine), you can always read my account of the meeting in these pages the following week.

AAA rating

Kennett Square's Mushroom Festival (Sept. 8 and 9) made it into the September/October issue of the AAA Mid-Atlantic magazine! "You've waited long enough," reads the item. "The first-even All Pro Eating-sanctioned Fried Mushroom Eating Championship will be held during the Mushroom Festival in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. In the region where 65 percent of the country's mushrooms are grown, enjoy farm tours and exhibits, cooking demonstrations and plenty of fungi prepared every which way, including frozen in ice cream."
In the same magazine there's an ad for a Lancaster County hotel that cautions visitors: "GPS note: If you have a problem with Bird-in-Hand PA, try Ronks PA." GPS makes some odd choices sometimes.

Nothing new

A friend asked if I had heard anything new about equestrian writer and photographer Sarah Libbey Greenhalgh, 48, who was found dead in her burning home in Upperville, Fauquier County, Virginia, on July 9. No, I haven't. No new details have been released, and although police and the FBI are treating her death as a homicide, as far as I could find out no arrests have been made. I saw that the story was even picked up by the "Daily Mail" in England.

UCF Wants You!

My friend and neighbor Berta Rains is putting out a plea for volunteers to help with the Unionville Community Fair at the beginning of October.

She said that directors are needed for the following divisions:

1. Youth and Adult Wood and Metalwork

2. Adult Art, Handcrafts and Holiday Crafts

3. Adult Models

4. Youth Models (Legos)

5. Youth Pottery & Ceramics

6. Youth Baked Goods

7. Adult Pottery and Ceramics

Being a director is a lot of fun and it's not hard. Each position involves about 15 hours: accepting entries at the Fair on Wednesday afternoon/evening (Oct. 3), helping with judging on Thursday (Oct. 4), and then helping out on Sunday (Oct. 7) when the exhibits are taken down.

Also needed is an auction coordinator for the Denim & Diamonds Benefit Dinner and Auction (Thursday, Oct. 4).

Berta writes: "These positions are the backbone of the Fair and many have been doing the same job for years and are just waiting for other people to step up. Part of the problem is we do not seem to have a way to educate the community at large about this aspect of the fair, the contests. We want to encourage people to enter their home products, art creations, needlework, vegetables, flowers, etc. But there are so many "new" people in the area who have no idea what the fair is about that the best we seem to do is to get them to come."

So many of us live in our own little circles, and volunteering at the Fair is a great way to branch out and get to know a much broader cross-section of our community, old-timers and newcomers alike.

Visit the Fair's website for a lot more information: www.ucfairinc.org.

Going to the dogs

The American Kennel Club is looking for a new chief operating officer, and their help-wanted ad in the Aug. 15 "Wall Street Journal" amused me. It sounds almost as if they're expecting a sea of resumes from people who think they'd be qualified for the job just because they love dogs: "In-depth knowledge of and experience in the sport of purebred dogs over and above mere dog ownership... is a huge plus," according to the ad.

X again

A few weeks ago I wrote about a less reputable member of our community who was convicted of a mean-spirited crime a few years back but has resurfaced. For a brief moment I thought, well, perhaps X has indeed seen the light and is leading a reformed life.
Apparently not. I was just at a local self-service hay and straw farm and saw X's name listed on the Wall of Shame, and not just for a couple of bales: X owes them $130.

Sharing

I was relaxing in my hammock the other afternoon when up jumped one of my backyard squirrels. I have to admit, they're pretty entertaining, even if they do scarf up the bird seed and suet and dig up my window boxes.