The Crimson or the Tiger?

This certainly didn't happen back in my day!
A scholar/athlete family member who lives in Minnesota has been accepted at several colleges, and two Ivy League universities want him to enroll so badly that they have invited him to campus this week for a chance to put their best foot forward and impress him with their brilliance, friendliness and amenities. Will he pick School A (in Massachusetts) or School B (in New Jersey)?

Limestone

Residents of the Newlin Greene development off Route 842 alerted the Newlin Township supervisors to the piles of anti-skid material that have accumulated along the edges of their property after recent snowstorms, according to "The Newlin News." The residents said it's ugly and they couldn't clean it up properly or spread it by raking.
Supervisor Rob Pearson explained that the township road crews use the crushed limestone material to improve traction on the roads, and sometimes the spreader gets clogged and then will dump "an unusual amount of the material in one spot." He said he'll make sure that the bulk of it gets removed.
He noted that the limestone material "is more effective and less hazardous to vegetation than road salt."

Did you pay?

At their April 5 meeting, the West Marlborough supervisors reviewed a two-page list of residents who hadn't paid their 2010 $10 per capita township tax.
"This is the longest I've ever seen," said Supervisor Michael Ledyard.
Township secretary Shirley Walton suggested that because the tax bill includes both school taxes and the relatively tiny per capita tax, perhaps many residents simply sent the bill to their mortgage company for payment without noticing the additional tax, which the mortgage company doesn't pay.
The supervisors briefly weighed the cost/benefit ratio of collecting the back taxes, but agreed to have the township solicitor draft a letter to send to the residents.
And no, I don't know who the delinquents are, so don't even ask.

News-filled morning

Sinclair's Sunrise Cafe & Tearoom, 127 E. State Street in Kennett Square, is the place to see and be seen -- as I found out on a recent rainy Tuesday morning. I met borough council member Dan Maffei for coffee there to chat about his new landscaping business -- and ended up getting three additional stories while I was at it.
1. Dan's new business is Maffei Landscape Design  (http://www.danilomaffei.com/) After 15 years at W.D. Wells & Associates, Dan said he decided to go out on his own "in response to an evolving marketplace and the desire to provide a more personal, customized experience for my clients." Dan and I had a terrific, wide-ranging discussion that would have gone on into the lunch hour, were it not for my expired parking meter.
2. Sinclair's has had a lovely makeover. In the words of owner Lynn Sinclair: " `History and Heritage' is the theme, with plaid wallpaper resembling the Sinclair tartan and a bit of Kennett or family history tucked beneath each of the glass table tops."
3. Former borough council member Doug Stirling has started a new gig, doing the morning news broadcast on WCHE (1520 AM) weekdays starting at 7 a.m. In addition to now being a very early riser, Doug is a member of the Kennett Consolidated School District school board and pastor at Kennett Square Bible Methodist Church.
4. The West State Street restaurant formerly known as Challie's, which closed a few weeks ago, will become "Lily's Sushi Bar & Grill." And the former owner of Challie's will be doing his famous lunches just across the street at Portabello's restaurant.

Pointed

Some neighbors are having their dense, quarter-mile-long hawthorn hedge pruned back. It's a thankless task, considering that it's full of long, sharp spikes. As I was driving by toward the end of the day, I saw a tired-looking landscaper trudging back to his truck and stopped to sympathize.
He was sweaty and pretty scraped up but still cheerful.
"Whoever planted this should be shot," he said, his grin making it obvious he was just kidding. "No. Whipped first, then shot."
I remember who planted it, but my lips are sealed.

Yes, it's open

After a 15-month reconstruction project, Copes Bridge re-opened for good on March 31. The "official" ribbon-cutting was held March 12, but then the barriers went back up so that last-minute work could be completed.
The 1807 stone arch bridge spans the east branch of the Brandywine Creek on Strasburg Road, between Marshallton and West Chester.
The  $3,431,686 project involved rehabilitating the bridge "by removing the existing roadway and fill on top of the structure; stabilizing the arches and placing concrete above them; reconstructing the stone walls and wing walls; and resurfacing the deck," PennDOT said.
It looks great. However, although the approaches to the bridge were widened, the bridge itself could not be, which means there are no shoulders at all along most of the bridge. I foresee some scraped passenger-side doors.
I loved the "hugs and kisses" symbols on the bottom of this jubilant sign, which I spotted on April 3 at Strasburg and Lucky Hill Roads.
Of course, now the Northbrook Bridge over the west branch of the Brandywine is set to close on April 18 for a two-month, state-funded project.

On line

This time of year is so exciting. I love being able to hang my laundry out again without freezing my fingers.
And even though I know that in a few months I'll be spending hours trying to contain it, for now it's a thrill seeing the first tiny purple-green leaves of the perennial herb anise hyssop. This morning I spotted the first grape hyacinth and squill in my garden. Daffodils are in bloom on sunny banks all over, and the yellow marsh mallows are carpeting low areas near creeks. And don't miss the dozens of purple hyacinths planted in the traffic island in front of Unionville High School.
Early last summer I took piles of my favorite groundcover, lamium, from my garden over to some friends in Newlin, who have steep, stony banks along their driveway where nothing grows. After we planted it there was a long dry spell, so I was surprised and delighted to see that the lamium has survived and is actually coming up in several spots.
And judging from all the daylily foliage sprouting on the roadbanks, we're going to have an orange summer.

Personal use only

"It will not be a restaurant. It will never be a restaurant. It could not be a restaurant."
Those were the words of Michael J. Gladnick, an engineer working for Richard Hayne. Mr. Hayne is proposing to convert a stable on the former Thouron property into a freestanding 5,000-square-foot dining room and kitchen, and Mr. Gladnick presented the plan to the West Marlborough planning commission and supervisors on April 5.
"A freestanding dining room is not a typical situation," acknowledged Mr. Gladnick, but in response to pointed questions from the planning commission he stressed repeatedly that the dining room would be for Mr. Hayne's personal use only. He said it wouldn't be used daily: Mr. and Mrs. Hayne might have 36 people to dinner one evening, and then it would be unused for a month.
Mr. Hayne wants to get it built in time for a June wedding that he is hosting for an Urban Outfitters executive. Both the planning commission and the supervisors signed off on the project.
Mr. Hayne would not have needed permission for the dining room if it were attached to another building, but because it will be separate, the Chester County Health Department required him to seek special permission for its sewage system.
(Mr. Hayne, you'll recall, is the billionaire founder of the Urban Outfitters retail empire and has amassed a compound of properties near Springdell that he is redeveloping.)
In other Springdell news, township engineer Al Giannantonio dropped a few tantalizing hints that a new plan for Mr. Hayne's greenhouse complex on the former Tony Young property will be submitted for review in the near future. I'll keep you posted.

Ryder

One of the stars of Showtime's much-heralded new mini-series "The Borgias" is Jeremy Irons, who plays Rodrigo Borgia, better known as Pope Alexander VI. Tilda has adored Mr. Irons since she saw him in "Brideshead Revisited" 30 years ago. But did you know that he is also Joint-Master of the West Carbery Hunt in County Cork, Ireland?

Just a Shot Away

Wouldn't this be a good idea?
From my observations, Starbucks fans have one drink that they invariably order. Somehow, Starbucks should be able to encode on your card the details of that drink. That way, the barista could just scan your card and you wouldn't have to spell out your preferences each time.
Perhaps my brother will recall the time he and I wrote to Frito-Lay with what we thought was a brilliant idea for an ad. The song "Macho Man" by the Village People was a huge hit at the time, and we suggested that they buy the rights and change the words to "Nacho Man."
We received in response a polite letter with some Frito's coupons and a packet of dip mix.

Sanderson Museum

I can't believe that last week was the first time I ever visited the Christian C. Sanderson Museum on Route 100 in Chadds Ford. What a wonderful and quirky place! It's full of the stuff that "Chris" collected over his lifetime, from autographs to dried flowers to historical relics to little vials of water from exotic locales. It's a charming and refreshingly non-flashy, low-tech museum.
"From Revolutionary War history to childhood memories, from Chadds Ford artifacts to Civil War memorabilia, the Sanderson Museum represents a man's life and a nation's history," says the museum website (http://www.sandersonmuseum.org/).

It's open March through November, noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (though private tours are also available at other times). Admission is free but of course donations are welcome.

Still good advice

From a 1920s etiquette manual:
"Anyone who thinks well or ill of [a woman], in accordance with her income, cannot be too quickly got rid of!"