Scene from an Italian restaurant

Overheard at Floga Bistro the day after Thanksgiving: The chef came out to greet some customers, who asked about his Thanksgiving. He told them he had gotten up at 5 a.m. and spent the day in Philadelphia, cooking Thanksgiving dinner for homeless people. (What a really nice thing to do!)
When he returned home, he said, his wife asked if he wanted turkey. No, he told her, he had spent the whole day serving turkey; what he really wanted was a nice plate of spaghetti and meatballs.

Brake lights and headlights, too

Just a reminder that Longwood Gardens' extremely popular Christmas lights display is up and running, so plan your late-afternoon/evening trips along Route 1 accordingly. Traffic has been known to back up all the way to Chadds Ford.

Trendy

My hipness quotient peaked 30 years ago (at a below-average level even then) and has fallen ever since. Even my father knew what the rap lyrics "fly like a G6" meant. (A G6, it seems, is a Gulfstream G650, a luxury private jet.) I thought a G6 was an international summit meeting and puzzled over how to reconcile this with the song's chorus: "Popping bottles in the ice, like a blizzard, When we drink we do it right."
But hey, at least I'm on top of one trend: that ubiquitous Justin Bieber-inspired haircut is on its way out. I was getting my hair done the other day when a teenage boy sporting the brushed-forward style came in for his appointment.
"So what are we doing today?" his stylist asked him.
He showed her a photo of a drastically shorter haircut.
The stylist looked thrilled at the prospect of creating a different look.
"Cool!" she said, nodding vigorously with approval. "Yeah, we can do that."

Coffee break on the Internet

This "helmet-cam" video of the cross-country competition at the World Equestrian Games in Lexington is just amazing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frbETD7Eh74

Economy

In one of my favorite Agatha Christie mysteries, "A Murder is Announced," a Chipping Cleghorn resident informs a policeman that it's the village custom to drop off knitting patterns and vegetables at each others' houses, whether or not the recipient is home.
"I just brought up some of my quinces," explained Mrs. Swettenham. "Miss Blacklock wants to make quince jelly and she hasn't got a quince tree here. I left them in the dining room."
Sergeant Fletcher is not at all happy to hear this, as it will greatly complicate his investigation into the murder at Little Paddocks.

Unionville has a very neighborly barter system very similar to that in Chipping Cleghorn. I love to bake, and people seem to like the results (especially my ginger snaps). So, in just the past few weeks, I've swapped my home-made baked goods for a friend's home-raised eggs (they won a Best of Show ribbon at the Unionville Fair, how cool is that!), home-made strawberry jam, just-harvested mushrooms, and even greeting cards made by a photographer friend. I don't like white meat turkey and a friend does, so I exchanged the remains of my Thanksgiving bird for her egg salad with dill and mustard.
When friends ask me to do proofreading or editing work, it just doesn't feel right to charge them, so I'll barter for a nice lunch instead. Both parties in the transaction seem happy.
I learned the power of barter way back in high school when I noticed that if I brought goodies to the attendance ladies (could even be Entenmann's) they'd be much more likely to overlook certain self-initiated alternative educational experiences. A useful life lesson.

Simplify

Perhaps the only upside of this autumn's stink bug invasion was that I got rid of a LOT of old clothes. To dislodge the reclusive little critters, I had to remove each item from the closet and shake it violently. As I was doing so, I realized I had clothes that I hadn't worn in literally years; I simply don't wear suits and other office clothes anymore (thank goodness!). Yes, the pink suede skirt was fun for a while, but it also required expensive and frequent leather cleaning. And that turquoise frock with the tag still on it? If I haven't found a place to wear it in three summers, odds are really good I'm not going to.
I was ruthless, not letting original cost or sentimental value get in the way. And soon I had an enormous pile of clothes to give away to charity. (I wanted to donate to a group that provides professional outfits for women trying to get back on their feet, but alas they needed only plus-size clothes.)
So now I have a lot less stuff, no stink bugs, and a lot more space in my closets, all of which is very satisfying.

Bulbs

The middle of December is just about the latest you can plant bulbs around here, which is why the few remaining bulbs left at garden centers are deeply discounted. What I've always heard is that you should get bulbs in six weeks before the ground freezes so they have a chance to form roots.

Some of the allium bulbs my mother was planting were so small that she couldn't tell which was the top and which was the bottom. So she compromised: she planted them sideways and then exhorted them, out loud, to sprout the correct way. And they'd better.
(The spectacular flowers pictured here are my parrot tulips, which I grow every year. I buy my bulbs from White Flower Farm in Litchfield, Connecticut.)

Rut-Road

On Nov. 22 I took this photograph along White Horse Road, south of Route 41, at PECO's Daleville Substation in Londonderry Township. I posted a blog entry fretting that it was only going to get worse over the winter.
By Nov. 24 it was fixed -- completely level and smooth.
Whether it was just a coincidence or speedy service by the road crew, I for one am very grateful.

eBay entrepreneur

I wouldn't be surprised if Jared Mizrahi, Unionville class of 2006, went really far.
While still a student at Patton Middle School, he started his own eBay business, selling golf balls that he collected from the fairways of a golf course near his house. He received stellar feedback, became one of eBay's elite sites, and branched out into selling other items, expanding his business while going through high school and college (Millersville 2010). Now, in addition to teaching math at J.P. McCaskey High School in Lancaster, he has launched http://www.mizauctions.com/.
Jared is one impressive and multi-tasking young man.
For two years he taught classes on online selling at Chester County Adult Night School, and now he teaches them at Harrisburg Area Community College's York and Lancaster campuses. He's an education specialist trained by eBay, and also a Pennsylvania-licensed and bonded eBay Trading Assistant ("this is the fancy way of saying that I am certified to go to client's houses, research items, take those that will sell for $30 or more on eBay, list them, ship them and send the clients a check").
A few years back I gave Jared a few items to sell. He photographed them, provided accurate online descriptions, priced them competitively and took care of the shipping and collections. After the sale, he promptly sent me a check and a detailed, accurate summary of the transactions.
Good luck to him!

A Purist

Overheard Nov. 20: Customer, after completing his transaction at the Giant's pharmacy counter: "Happy Thanksgiving! I refuse to call it `Turkey Day.' "