Saturday, June 2, is the date for the annual Home & Garden Day tour to benefit the Bayard Taylor Memorial Library.
Last week I spent a delightful evening with a few of the ladies on the library's Special Events Committee, the volunteer group that runs the tour. I had earlier committed to buy an ad in the tour program: not only does the money go to a good cause, but I also assumed it would release me from any obligations of a tour-guide nature on the day.
Hah! I should have known better.
One of the ladies served me an ample portion of her homemade apple crisp with cranberries, topped with vanilla ice cream. It was delicious. Help yourself to more, she said graciously. I did so.
Then: WHAM!
"So where are you working at the garden tour this year?" she inquired point-blank.
I was ambushed. I hemmed. I hawed.
"I can see you're trying to make up an excuse," she observed, quite correctly.
Another of the ladies, no slouch herself when it comes to recruiting volunteers, shook her head at these take-no-prisoners tactics. She pointed out that issues her summonses via email to give her friends a chance to say no gracefully.
Long story short, it looks like I'll be seeing you at whatever house I'm assigned to on June 2. Fingers crossed for good weather!
(I am, of course, exaggerating just a bit: being a tour volunteer is good fun. And actually, I think they are still looking for parkers...)
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Devices and desires
One of the downsides of our increasing reliance on our smartphones is that if something goes wrong, we're at a total loss. On Tuesday afternoon, just after receiving an email with a giant attachment, my email app started acting up: about a second after I clicked on an email, the screen would turn black and I'd get an error message.
What to do? The young people I know were all away on spring break.
I waited to see if it would resolve itself, and I tried a couple of remedies I found online. But when neither course of action helped, I called Verizon at 6 a.m., when their troubleshooting line opens. To diagnose the problem, they said I'd have to contact them from another phone. But like many people these days, I don't have a landline anymore (I miss my old 869 phone number).
So I stopped by the Verizon Wireless store in the London Grove Village shopping center (across from Perkins on Route 41), and an enormously helpful young man solved the problem in under 3 minutes. I promised to bake him some cookies.
Now, once again, I'm available by email at home, at the gym, in my car. What a relief -- sort of.
What to do? The young people I know were all away on spring break.
I waited to see if it would resolve itself, and I tried a couple of remedies I found online. But when neither course of action helped, I called Verizon at 6 a.m., when their troubleshooting line opens. To diagnose the problem, they said I'd have to contact them from another phone. But like many people these days, I don't have a landline anymore (I miss my old 869 phone number).
So I stopped by the Verizon Wireless store in the London Grove Village shopping center (across from Perkins on Route 41), and an enormously helpful young man solved the problem in under 3 minutes. I promised to bake him some cookies.
Now, once again, I'm available by email at home, at the gym, in my car. What a relief -- sort of.
On the radar screen
Saturday afternoon I made a left onto westbound Route 926 at Willowdale and found myself behind a driver who applied her brakes every time she hit 30 m.p.h. It was a painfully slow trip out to the London Grove crossroads. As we approached Newark Road I was eager to see if she was going to continue west on 926 or head north on Newark Road; I was going to do the opposite.
Much to my surprise, she blew through the stop sign, not even braking and probably reached her highest speed in miles. She headed west on 926. I went north on Newark Road, so I can't say if she ran the stop sign at 841 as well. You just never know.
Much to my surprise, she blew through the stop sign, not even braking and probably reached her highest speed in miles. She headed west on 926. I went north on Newark Road, so I can't say if she ran the stop sign at 841 as well. You just never know.
Smiling, having fun
On Friday I had dinner with an old school friend who was in Media visiting his parents. I see George only once or twice a year, so we always have a lot of catching up to do.
So we were having a very leisurely dinner at a renovated old tavern in Springfield, and there was a lively party going on in the banquet room next door. One of the partygoers, carrying a beer bottle, passed our table en route to the bar, and I asked her what they were celebrating. She said it was her brother-in-law's 50th birthday.
"Can I ask you something?" she said. "Are you two married?"
No, we said, but we've known each other since the sixth grade; why?
She said she had seen us three times throughout the evening, and we were constantly smiling, laughing, and talking and clearly engrossed in each other's company. Apparently to her mind that was wholly incompatible with a marital relationship. She then proceeded to deliver a slightly tipsy but nonetheless sound defense of long friendships.
So we were having a very leisurely dinner at a renovated old tavern in Springfield, and there was a lively party going on in the banquet room next door. One of the partygoers, carrying a beer bottle, passed our table en route to the bar, and I asked her what they were celebrating. She said it was her brother-in-law's 50th birthday.
"Can I ask you something?" she said. "Are you two married?"
No, we said, but we've known each other since the sixth grade; why?
She said she had seen us three times throughout the evening, and we were constantly smiling, laughing, and talking and clearly engrossed in each other's company. Apparently to her mind that was wholly incompatible with a marital relationship. She then proceeded to deliver a slightly tipsy but nonetheless sound defense of long friendships.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Volunteers
Congratulations to Jeb Hannum and Jake Chalfin, the newest members of the West Marlborough Township planning commission. The township supervisors agreed to enlarge the commission from five members to seven members so that it would be easier to obtain a quorum of the group at meetings.
"Seeing they work for free," quipped supervisor Mike Ledyard about enlarging the commission, "I don't see much of a downside."
"Seeing they work for free," quipped supervisor Mike Ledyard about enlarging the commission, "I don't see much of a downside."
Billable hours
This is serious stuff, folks.
At their April 3 meeting the West Marlborough Township supervisors announced they are considering enacting a 0.5 percent earned income tax on township residents because of the skyrocketing legal and engineering bills that the township has had to shoulder.
If you read my column you'll remember the multiple zoning hearings last year brought by the actions of a group of Springdell residents (Joe and Cathy Huston, Gus and Linda Brown, Lew and Lynn Powell, Bea Cassou, and George Strawbridge) who are waging a vigorous campaign against the Whip Tavern, saying it has a negative impact on the village.
During each of those evening-long hearings the zoning hearing board had a lawyer present as well as a court reporter. The township had its own lawyer. The township's engineer was present for many billable hours.
All of these well-paid professionals were on the clock, and who picks up the tab? We, the township residents, do.
Ask the "Springdell 8" if they think this is fair, and they'll respond that they are township residents, too, and they also have their own attorneys' fees to pay. They say that they just want the zoning rules to be enforced equally, and if the township officials had done their job they wouldn't have to take all of this legal action.
The township in recent months hosted two closed-door meetings between the residents and the Whip to try to put an end to the dispute. Unfortunately, "it's apparent there is little opportunity to reach some sort of settlement between the parties," as Supervisor Bill Wylie announced at the April meeting.
"Something needs to be said about the financial condition of the township," Wylie went on. He said that for many years the township has run "a bare-bones operations" that required low taxes, but things have changed in the past few years.
"Professional fees have increased dramatically," he said. "We've had to borrow from other accounts. Our financial condition has declined, and now we need to look at other sources."
He said the biggest expense was the legal counsel for the zoning hearing board, which in 2011 was "close to $50,000 alone."
"We don't know how to budget for that," he said. "We have no control over that."
He said the earned income tax would raise an estimated $110,000 for the township each year.
"Our back is against the wall," agreed Supervisor Mike Ledyard. "This has made us look like California in terms of our bottom line."
Mr. Ledyard added that in past years legal expenses have been minuscule; in fact, in some years the zoning board did not have a single hearing. "So it comes as a real shock going from zero to 50,000."
(One might fruitfully ask what has spurred such an increase in the number of these hearings, and whether anything could have been done to prevent the situation from going so far.)
There will be a public hearing before any decision on the earned income tax.
As a sage longtime township resident said to me, "The hens are coming home to roost."
At their April 3 meeting the West Marlborough Township supervisors announced they are considering enacting a 0.5 percent earned income tax on township residents because of the skyrocketing legal and engineering bills that the township has had to shoulder.
If you read my column you'll remember the multiple zoning hearings last year brought by the actions of a group of Springdell residents (Joe and Cathy Huston, Gus and Linda Brown, Lew and Lynn Powell, Bea Cassou, and George Strawbridge) who are waging a vigorous campaign against the Whip Tavern, saying it has a negative impact on the village.
During each of those evening-long hearings the zoning hearing board had a lawyer present as well as a court reporter. The township had its own lawyer. The township's engineer was present for many billable hours.
All of these well-paid professionals were on the clock, and who picks up the tab? We, the township residents, do.
Ask the "Springdell 8" if they think this is fair, and they'll respond that they are township residents, too, and they also have their own attorneys' fees to pay. They say that they just want the zoning rules to be enforced equally, and if the township officials had done their job they wouldn't have to take all of this legal action.
The township in recent months hosted two closed-door meetings between the residents and the Whip to try to put an end to the dispute. Unfortunately, "it's apparent there is little opportunity to reach some sort of settlement between the parties," as Supervisor Bill Wylie announced at the April meeting.
"Something needs to be said about the financial condition of the township," Wylie went on. He said that for many years the township has run "a bare-bones operations" that required low taxes, but things have changed in the past few years.
"Professional fees have increased dramatically," he said. "We've had to borrow from other accounts. Our financial condition has declined, and now we need to look at other sources."
He said the biggest expense was the legal counsel for the zoning hearing board, which in 2011 was "close to $50,000 alone."
"We don't know how to budget for that," he said. "We have no control over that."
He said the earned income tax would raise an estimated $110,000 for the township each year.
"Our back is against the wall," agreed Supervisor Mike Ledyard. "This has made us look like California in terms of our bottom line."
Mr. Ledyard added that in past years legal expenses have been minuscule; in fact, in some years the zoning board did not have a single hearing. "So it comes as a real shock going from zero to 50,000."
(One might fruitfully ask what has spurred such an increase in the number of these hearings, and whether anything could have been done to prevent the situation from going so far.)
There will be a public hearing before any decision on the earned income tax.
As a sage longtime township resident said to me, "The hens are coming home to roost."
Monday, April 2, 2012
Splendor
So many flowers are in bloom this week out in the fields: the wild mustard (yellow), the garlic mustard (white), the purple violets, the dandelions. And it's so weird to see skunk cabbage and May apples flourishing next to each other; usually the former are shriveling in the heat by the time the latter pop up.
On the way home from the gym I stopped along my road to take a photo -- and I had one of those wonderful breathtaking "a-ha" surprises: there in the woods were two trout lilies (Erythronium americanum), a beautiful yellow flower with a green and brown mottled, orchid-like leaf.
Unfortunately, a few steps beyond was a discarded tire. Yuck.
On the way home from the gym I stopped along my road to take a photo -- and I had one of those wonderful breathtaking "a-ha" surprises: there in the woods were two trout lilies (Erythronium americanum), a beautiful yellow flower with a green and brown mottled, orchid-like leaf.
In the mix
I happened to be in Kennett Square on a recent Saturday morning and noticed what an absolutely bustling place it was. Folks were breakfasting or having coffee; men were waiting for haircuts; the library staff members were getting refreshments ready for a music program; shops were just opening up.
I mentioned this to a friend and she offered an interesting theory. Kennett, she said, is thriving because it has finally found the right mix of businesses. She said she doesn't mind driving around hunting for a parking spot because it's well worth it: she knows she's going to be spending more than just a few minutes buying clothes or jewelry or artwork or having a nice meal.
I mentioned this to a friend and she offered an interesting theory. Kennett, she said, is thriving because it has finally found the right mix of businesses. She said she doesn't mind driving around hunting for a parking spot because it's well worth it: she knows she's going to be spending more than just a few minutes buying clothes or jewelry or artwork or having a nice meal.
Bookmark
The Chester County Library System is looking for your feedback in its annual customer service survey. The deadline is April 15 (hmmm... somehow that date sounds familiar).
"We in the Chester County Library System are always looking for ways to improve our services and to ensure that you are finding everything you need for work, education and leisure. . . This year we are asking you to tell a story about how the library has helped you or your family in some special way. If you have an experience you would like to share, we would love to hear about it."
I intend to take the survey when I get a minute -- I can't say enough positive things about our library system. I love how you can reserve a book online and have it shipped directly to your local library for pickup.
The survey is online at www.ccls.org.
"We in the Chester County Library System are always looking for ways to improve our services and to ensure that you are finding everything you need for work, education and leisure. . . This year we are asking you to tell a story about how the library has helped you or your family in some special way. If you have an experience you would like to share, we would love to hear about it."
I intend to take the survey when I get a minute -- I can't say enough positive things about our library system. I love how you can reserve a book online and have it shipped directly to your local library for pickup.
The survey is online at www.ccls.org.
Transition
Long-time and much-loved London Grove Friends Kindergarten teachers Cindy Leahan and Jan Slough will be retiring at the end of this school year. Starting this fall, Deni-lyn Lane will be the new head and half-day class teacher, and Kerry Harper will be the new all-day class teacher.
The new teachers will have no trouble finding their way to work in the morning. Deni-lyn Lane attended kindergarten at London Grove; Kerry Harper is active in London Grove Meeting and her two children attended the kindergarten. Both have a master's degree in elementary education.
For more information about the school and its programs, look online or on Facebook. Telephone contact is 610-268-8466 and email is lgfriendskindergarten@hotmail.com. I know a lot of young people who have extremely fond memories of the time they spent at this wonderful kindergarten.
There's going to be an open house at London Grove Meeting on Saturday, June 2, to honor the retiring teachers.
Tree down
On Monday morning West Marlborough made the early traffic reports on the Philadelphia TV stations, which reported that a downed tree was blocking the intersection of Newark Road and Route 82. They were almost right: it was actually along Route 82 between Newark and West Roads. The tree caught fire and the firefighters from Po-Mar-Lin were out there before dawn extinguishing it. When I drove by at 10 a.m. on Monday, only a charred log remained.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Easter
Easter was always a great holiday when I was growing up. We'd have Easter baskets with jelly beans and chocolate eggs in colorful foil, with a big chocolate bunny. We'd dye hard-cooked eggs and then our parents would hide them around the house. I remember that a faint hint of the color would always show up on the white of the eggs when you'd crack them open and eat them.
And we always made a beautiful Easter-egg tree, saving half-shells and decorating them with ric-rac and ribbons, filling them with little chicks (not real ones) or flowers and hanging them on a carefully chosen branch. With a little Easter grass around the base, it made a spectacular dinner-table centerpiece.
My mother would bring out from its hiding place, for its once-a-year appearance, an old purple egg with elaborate pysanky decorations. You could shake it gently and hear the mummified yolk rattling around inside.
We also had these wonderful hollow sugar eggs (actually I think they were plastic) with a little viewing window at one end so you could peep inside and see the charming little diorama of an Easter bunny and his helpers. (You can replicate them, sort of; do a search for "panorama Easter eggs.")
One whiff of hyacinth and I'm back to those long-ago Easter Sundays.
And we always made a beautiful Easter-egg tree, saving half-shells and decorating them with ric-rac and ribbons, filling them with little chicks (not real ones) or flowers and hanging them on a carefully chosen branch. With a little Easter grass around the base, it made a spectacular dinner-table centerpiece.
My mother would bring out from its hiding place, for its once-a-year appearance, an old purple egg with elaborate pysanky decorations. You could shake it gently and hear the mummified yolk rattling around inside.
We also had these wonderful hollow sugar eggs (actually I think they were plastic) with a little viewing window at one end so you could peep inside and see the charming little diorama of an Easter bunny and his helpers. (You can replicate them, sort of; do a search for "panorama Easter eggs.")
One whiff of hyacinth and I'm back to those long-ago Easter Sundays.
A meal to remember
Had an outstanding dinner at The Whip on Saturday. The West Marlborough tavern tweeted that it was serving liver and onions this past weekend, and knowing how much a pal of mine likes that dish, I suggested we head over there. We got there just before 5, and it was perfect timing because the place (and the parking lot) really started to fill up after that. The liver and onions, I'm told, was wonderful, and my striped bass was just perfect. Highly recommended!
Voice of experience: If you are meeting friends for dinner at The Whip, I suggest carpooling. When we left, there was a fellow waiting eagerly to take our parking spot.
Voice of experience: If you are meeting friends for dinner at The Whip, I suggest carpooling. When we left, there was a fellow waiting eagerly to take our parking spot.
Ouch
Sending best healing thoughts and prayers out to champion jockey Paddy Young, who took a tumble in the Carolina Cup in Camden, S.C., on Saturday, got stepped on by the horse and suffered a broken ulna and radius. Paddy underwent surgery and sent out a reassuring post on Facebook first thing Sunday morning. We hope to see him back at work soon.
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