Glamorous wife

Comcast Corp. founder Ralph J. Roberts commissioned an impressive hardcover book to celebrate the (significant round number) birthday of his vivacious wife, Suzanne. It's full of photos of Mrs. Roberts in her roles as actress, model and TV hostess. Their wedding photo is charming, and I especially liked a black-and-white photo of Mrs. Roberts modeling a classic 1960s outfit: a white shift with contrast slant pockets, with low buckled heels. There are also photos of her with all kinds of celebrities through the years and a list of the A-list folks she interviewed on her TV show.
Happy Birthday to this Newlin resident!

New church

For years I've wondered what the half-finished structure was on the east side of Chatham Road, just south of Route 926, set well back off the road. Well, finally I know: it's the Stillwaters Presbyterian Church. The church members have been working on their new building for some time and held their first services there on Sunday, June 19.
"We are deeply grateful for the many workers who have brought this dream to life, and especially to our God and Father who has overseen the countless hours required to bring this to pass," says the church website. The pastor is Tony Stephens.

What happened

Wondering why there is a banged-up evergreen at North Union and Sickle Streets, and why the Kennett Friends Meeting sign in front of it has disappeared?
It's because on the morning of June 6 the driver of an SUV hit the tree head-on. Rescue crews had to cut open the roof to reach the driver, who was taken by helicopter to the hospital. Details and photos are on the Kennett Fire Company's website (http://www.firestation24.com/).

Reputation

Early this morning I was unfortunate enough to be stuck in traffic next to a pickup whose occupants were playing "classic rock" so loud that, literally, my ears were thrumming even with my windows shut.
The truck bore the name and website of a Delaware County business, and guess what? I probably won't be patronizing it any time soon. Small business owners with company vehicles, take note.

Just planning ahead

Overheard at the coffee shop this morning:
Three guys are having breakfast at a table, and Guy #1's cell phone rings.
He reads the text message out loud, it's about a concert they are attending that evening, and explains to his pals with some pride that he programmed in the message six months ago, when he bought the tickets.
Guy #2 starts to laugh.
"You had to remind yourself about the concert?" he asks, incredulously.
"Dude," says Guy #3 sadly. "You got issues."

Gardening secret

Monday was my annual Mulch Day, in which I spend a few hours spreading a pickup bed full of spent compost between the rows of my garden. Spent compost is the mulch-like substrate that mushrooms grow in, and it is truly marvelous stuff.

Pile it on 3 or 4 inches deep, and you won't have to weed the rest of the summer. It makes your garden look fantastic and professional. And when it decomposes, it enhances the soil.
And no, it doesn't smell bad.
You can get it from some of our local mushroom growers -- and visiting a farm is a great way to learn more about the business that is so important to our local economy.

Or you can visit the spot where the workers at Marlboro Mushrooms dump their spent compost each Monday after cleaning out the mushroom houses. It's on the south side of Route 842 (Upland Road) just east of Route 841. It's self-service: just drive in with your pickup, trailer or even bins and start shoveling. It's free!

Fine Print

I for one won't be happy if newspapers stop publishing hard-copy legal ads in favor of running them online. Where will I be able to such quirky items as this one, which appeared in the June 14 "Daily Local News"? It seems that a 77-foot-long fishing boat, the "Nha Trang," has been sitting at a pier in Gloucester, Mass., for more than 90 days, and unless the owner, a West Chester man, removes it, the state is going to sell it. The owner is asked to please phone the pier manager.
Nha Trang, by the way, is a city in Vietnam.

Downtown

My presence was requested for some business purposes last week in Conshohocken, so I drove in on the 30 bypass, Route 202 and the Expressway (no traffic lights all the way from Coatesville to Conshy!). It's only a 45-minute trip from Unionville, but I felt like I was in an exotic foreign country, in a fancy office building with revolving doors, elevators and an extremely polite doorman. The inhabitants wore natty business suits and polished shoes; one sported not only cufflinks, but bull-and-bear cufflinks!
And they definitely spoke a foreign language, with phrases like "closed-end bonds" and "universe comparison" and (my favorite) "zombie banks." My wonderful financial advisor dude was very patient with me, but I was definitely pushing the limits of "there's no such thing as a stupid question."
But I had a great time -- it's novel to be in an environment where Wellies, gym socks and grubby fingernails would be out of place. I stretched my mind, learned a few things about investments and even left with a pair of Phillies tickets. With reserved parking!

Rebuilding bridges

The iron-truss bridge on Allerton Road, crossing the east branch of the Brandywine Creek, has been closed since May 17 for repairs and repaving. The work was supposed to take only a month, but I stopped by to check on June 15 and I don't think it'll be ready on schedule. According to East Bradford Township's website, Jefferis Bridge is owned and maintained by Chester County and was originally a covered bridge but burned down in the early 1900s.
(By the way, I love Allerton Road: it's fun to drive and there are beautiful farms and a charming fairy-tale cottage set in the woods.)

The same evening, I stopped by the Northbrook bridge over the Brandywine, and I didn't realize the project was so extensive. The workers have installed low concrete curbs and have filled in the metal grating on the deck of the bridge. They've completely removed the steep north approach to the bridge and are rebuilding it from the ground up (see photo). I predict there is no way they will meet their June deadline.

Wisdom from 1930

"Why a man, because he has millions, should assume that they confer omniscience in all branches of knowledge is something which may be left to the psychologist to answer, but most of those thrown much in contact with millionaires will agree that an attitude of infallibility is typical of a fair majority. ... He seems to think that because he can pay for anything he fancies, he is accredited expert as well as potential owner."
(Emily Post, "Etiquette," 1930)

Name that stream!

Here's your chance! The Newlin Township supervisors are soliciting names for 13 currently nameless streams in the township. Send suggestions to the township office at info@newlintownship.org. Members of the stream-naming committee are Supervisor Bill Kelsall, Lindsay Scott, Janet Sidewater, Bill Steuteville and Harriet Tupitza.
Among other suggestions, the supervisors recommend that stream namers "use imaginative, distinctive names suggested by local history, folklore, topography, natural life." Alas, you're not allowed to name a stream after a living person or even to honor a recently deceased person.
A map showing the innominate streams is available in the May issue of the "Newlin News": http://mysite.verizon.net/bullaughey/NewlinNews/2011-05.pdf
The new names will be announced at the end of the summer.

Sign of the times

Along with the wonderful absence of stink bugs, I've noticed that the walnuts are falling off the big tree next to my house, very prematurely. Usually they start dropping at the end of the summer, but smaller, sticky ones, the size of ping-pong balls rather than racquetballs, have been banging down on the roof and the deck for the past few weeks. I'm not sure if this reflects the weather conditions of the past month or season or is an indicator of future weather, in a "Farmer's Almanac" sort of way.
The orange daylilies along the roadsides are starting to bloom, and I think the wild thistles are especially pretty this year. Their flowers are like a cloud of lavender atop the fields; the leaves, of course, are another story.

Mustang

Who knew?
The Ford Mustang was named not after the wild horse, but after the P-51 bomber, the World War II fighter aircraft. This despite the presence of the famous galloping horse logo on the car's grille!

My pal Susan has developed a fascination with the P-51 after seeing -- and hearing -- it at the New Garden Air Show and passed this tidbit along to Tilda.
Susan also suggested a plug for http://www.fullerfillies.com/, a UK-based company that sells clothes for riders who aren't 12-year-old girls built like praying mantises. Says their website: "With ladies the world over increasing in size year on year, it is staggering to conceive, but Fuller Fillies is the world's only fully-coordinated Collection dedicated to lady riders between sizes 16 – 24 (14-22 in the USA)." (Of course, gentlemen can wear some of their plus-sized togs, too.)

A little change

I'm a loyal Giant shopper, and about a month ago I noticed that a new peacock-ish logo had appeared on their store-brand products. I was pleased to see that there wasn't a huge splashy expensive PR campaign in place to inform shoppers about the new logo, as usually companies make a big deal out of something like this that we consumers really don't care much about. Good for the Carlisle-based grocery chain!

Here's the old logo and the new. And please don't give me grief about buying plastic bottles; I re-use them.