GARDEN: Purple, green and white

This seems to be a banner year for hostas. Mine are blooming like never before. In previous years the few flowers were pale and spindly and the leaves were droopy and slug-eaten. This year the flower stalks are full and brilliant and the leaves are healthy and shiny. I can't take any credit; I'm not doing anything differently. The sunlight and moisture conditions must just be hosta-friendly this summer.
 

EAST MARLBOROUGH: Sensible guys

Two motorcyclists were chatting at the picnic table outside the Landhope in Willowdale the other night, discussing some new protective gear one of them had just bought (cool yet tough, apparently a good combination). One asked the other if he still worked as an emergency medical technician, and the answer was yes.
"Thank you for that," replied the first man, earnestly, saying that he recently crashed and, although he totaled his bike, he wasn't hurt. He said at the accident scene "every single one" of the police officers and EMTs thanked him for wearing a jacket, jeans and a helmet so they didn't have to scrape him off the pavement.
The second guy nodded in understanding. He said he had been an EMT for 30 years and remembers "vividly" every fatal crash he has seen.

BRANDYWINE: Creek spuds

Last weekend we went tubing in the Brandywine for the first time this summer, putting in near Wawaset. The river conditions were perfect. The cleanliness and temperature were ideal, and thanks to the heavy rain we've had, the water depth was just right: we had to stand up and walk through a shallow area only once. We saw a few kayakers and anglers along the way, and as usual we encountered a young couple new to tubing. The woman had a tough time descending the steep, vine-covered bank and getting into the water, then almost lost a shoe in the mud. Much shrieking and cursing ensued. Fortunately she and her boyfriend calmed down and spent most of the trip lazily squirting each other with water guns.

RELO: A new Eagle Scout

Congrats to new Eagle Scout Richard Francis of Boy Scout Troop 31. His Eagle Scout project was relocating the tombstones of the old pet cemetery at Anson B. Nixon Park, which were in the middle of the disc golf course. Richard will enter his senior year at Unionville High School this autumn. His parents are Jayne Bair and David Francis (who was also an Eagle Scout!). Scoutmaster of Chadds Ford Troop 31, which was founded in 1948, is Raymond Coe.

UNIONVILLE: Hearing things

Like many others, a Unionville friend lost her electric power in the intense storm that blew through on July 2. Her gasoline-powered generator produces only enough juice to run the well pump for the animals, leaving her unable to shower, brew coffee or charge her phone. To add to her problems, her Verizon-powered internet was out. She felt unclean, undercaffeinated and unconnected with the world.
Then, while sitting at her kitchen desk, she heard a mysterious, barely audible mumbling but couldn't decipher the words.
"Oh, great!" she thought. "Now I'm hearing spirit voices."
She pulled herself together, looked around -- and realized the sounds were coming from her husband's radio headphones. He hadn't turned them off after mowing the night before.

EAST MARLBOROUGH: Awesome fireworks

Regular readers know that we watch the Longwood fireworks for free from the parking lot of the Shoppes at Longwood Village on Route 1, and the practice seems to be catching on: I've never seen the parking lot as full as it was on Wednesday, July 3. Even the Young Relative and his UHS friends showed up (so you just know it was the happening place to be). I'm told that the neighboring Walmart parking lot was also jammed with spectators.
A couple I know have found what they consider a perfect spot to view the fireworks but, casting a certain chill on our friendship, they steadfastly refuse to share the location.
The half-hour display was terrific, as always. My brother and I were intrigued by the ferning, branching fireworks and, per usual, are suckers for the super-loud ones.
Now, if only the shopping center management would kill the bright parking-lot lights during the fireworks, we'd be very grateful and our photos would be much improved.

MUSIC: What a wonderful world

While cleaning under the sofa I found a dusty $15 iTunes gift card and thought I'd better redeem it soon, considering Apple plans to change the way its music download store operates. Little did I know that doing so would take a full Saturday morning in front of the computer. First I had to download the iTunes app on my PC and my phone. Then I had to obtain an Apple ID, figure out (mostly by trial and error) how to download songs to my PC, and then finally to transfer all the music onto my Android phone. Finding an app to actually play the music was another struggle.
All the while I was painfully conscious that this would take the Young Relative literally seconds, with a few mouse clicks and much eye-rolling at the sad ignorance of people born pre-Internet.
The easy and fun part of the process was finding great music to purchase: iTunes has everything. I remember spending months in the 1990s searching obscure record shops for a jazz album by John Coltrane and Duke Ellington that contained the sublime "In a Sentimental Mood" -- and now I can listen to it while running errands.
The $15 was spent in no time, at $1.29 a song (well, OK, 99 cents for some less popular items like my guilty pleasure "Who Do You Think You Are" by Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods). Among my other first-day downloads were current rap/country hit "Old Town Road" (misconstrued lyric: "Take my horse to the hotel room"); Bob Marley's live version of "No Woman, No Cry," Ella Fitzgerald's magnificent "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" (which is playing as I'm typing; heavenly) and Luciano Pavarotti singing "Nessun Dorma." 
Prediction: iTunes will be a regular line item on my credit card statement from now on.