A spot of bother

Because of a little bump that turned out to be NOT the innocent skin tag it looked like, I recently visited the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where they do a nifty, precise skin-cancer procedure called Mohs surgery.
You can imagine my joy about having to haul all the way into Philadelphia, but let me assure you: the people who run the Penn health system TOTALLY roll out the red carpet for us timid suburbanites. I am almost certain they hosted a catered focus-group session and asked, "What would it take for you to come to our hospital?"
From my very first contact, I was impressed. The scheduling guy was polite, intelligent, well-spoken and professional. He connected me to registration without dropping the call. He e-mailed the doctor a question I had, and called me back with the answer sooner than he said he would. 
A few days after I made the appointment I received a nice-looking folder with a graphic of the Perelman Center on the cover. Inside, the first thing I saw was the hospital's statement of ethics, all about care and compassion and respect. There's a personalized booklet explaining the procedure, not the blurry WhiteOut-ed photocopies that pass for patient education at some other facilities.
Of course, driving and parking are big concerns for us suburbanites, so they provide precise driving directions that don't take you through any even remotely questionable areas. Valet parking is available, although I opted for one of the parking garages (they validate your parking).
As soon as I got out of my car and walked toward the elevator, someone was there asking me if I needed directions.
And this was all before I set foot in the gleaming new hospital itself! Once there, I met the head (!) of Dermatologic Surgery, Dr. Christopher Miller, who introduced himself simply as "Chris." You can check him out on the "Men's Health" magazine website; there's a video of him doing the same procedure on a "Men's Health" editor that he's going to be doing on me, and another of him giving anti-skin cancer tips.
He was kind, matter-of-fact, reassuring, efficient and -- how else can I say this? -- human, and the nurses were great. I'm not surprised this practice draws patients from far and wide. All in all: If your doc advises going into the city for something special, DO NOT be deterred by the distance, or the drive, or the minor inconvenience, or the fact that you won't recognize anyone. It is really impressive.
Oh, and keep an eye on any funny skin spots you may notice.

Cease & desist overturned

Breaking news on this Friday afternoon (July 20): The Chester County Court of Common Pleas has overturned the cease-and-desist order against The Whip Tavern in Springdell. That means the Whip can go back to using the property next door as an office and for storage. It's a victory for common sense over the litigation-happy neighbors -- the "Springdell 8" -- who have nearly bankrupted West Marlborough Township.

Quoting from The Whip's Facebook posting:

"The cost to the taxpayers of West Marlborough to return us to exactly where we were before all of this hullabaloo? Nearly $100,000.00. Residents may want to attend the 7/30 public hearing on the proposed 0.5% earned income tax, which will be used to pay the township's ballooning legal bills."
I couldn't have put it better, and I hope my fellow township residents come out in force for this hearing. See you on Monday, July 30, at 8 p.m. in the township building in Doe Run. (There's also a hearing the same night at 7 p.m. for the proposed Springdell and London Grove parking ordinance.)
 

Errands

A friend and I weren't in much of a work mood on Friday, so we decided to run errands and have lunch. At our first stop, a neighbor's farm, we joined parents and grandparents to watch some adorable kids riding in their first horse show. It's amazing to think that in no time at all those little girls will go from hesitantly jumping crossed rails to vaulting fearlessly over the huge fences at Plantation Field.
Then we headed east on Route 926 to check out the Brandywine Ace hardware store, which is where Unionville Feed has moved. They're still in the process of combining stores, so we can't really render a verdict yet, but they already had in stock everything on my friend's supply list except for a halter for the donkey. The helpful clerk gave us our loading ticket and we drove out back into the big storage shed, where Bob loaded our shavings and bags of feed into the pickup.
We asked him for a lunch recommendation and he suggested Lenape Pizza on Route 52 in Pocopson. We stopped in and while we were at the counter looking at the menu, another customer assured us that everything they make is delicious. We had an eggplant parmesan sandwich and a meatball sandwich, and so far he was correct. It's a nice little lunch place and while we were there we watched the press conference about the dreadful Aurora shootings. How impressive were the governor and the police chief! They were both so well spoken in a nearly impossible situation.
After lunch we stopped off at Baily's Dairy for milk and local corn (it was very tasty). It was too bad I was full from lunch; normally I buy a little container of chocolate milk for the road.
All in all, an excellent way to spend a few hours on an overcast Friday!

Relief

Why, you ask, is there a portable toilet sitting alongside Route 82, between Doe Run and Blow Horn?
It's for the PennDOT workers who have been reinforcing the concrete underneath the small metal-grid bridge that crosses the Doe Run. Seems to me it's been sitting there a really long time, though.

Number, please

On Monday my parents made settlement on their adorable new home in East Marlborough, so we've all been over there regularly helping them to move in. On this evening's trip we pointed out to the Young Relative the old-fashioned rotary phone that the previous owner had left behind. He knew what it was, like my generation would be able to identify, say, a Victrola, but we had to show him how to operate it.
I had not seen a rotary phone in action for years, and we all stood watching mesmerized as the dial spun back into place with each number. I'd forgotten how annoying it was when your finger slipped out of the hole JUST as you were dialing the last digit of the seven-digit number -- and you had to hang up immediately and start over.
I asked him if he wanted a vintage phone like that instead of a smart phone.
"No!" he exclaimed emphatically. "It's too hard! It's too slow!"

On the river

I got a call yesterday from Josh Christopher, the front man for the band I Am Love and one of the brains behind the first-ever Brandywine Folk Festival, which is going to be held from 2 to 11 p.m. Saturday, July 28, at Brandywine Outfitters in Mortonville.

I asked Josh how he came up with idea for the festival, and he said it was a collective attempt to bring together local bands with higher-profile ones. One "given" was that it simply had to be held along the river because "we spend all summer in the Brandywine."
"By inviting national and internationally touring bands to play alongside local, this festival aims to collude the tasteful stylings of many different musicians, while creating a family friendly atmosphere, giving back to our community, and providing aid for charity," says the festival's website.
The lineup will be Paleface, the Pretty Dittys, Kit Colt, Tim Celfo, Sidney Joseph, The Hundred Acre Woods, Pedro & Pearl, Echoes Talk Back, Pete Bush and the Hoi Polloi, and (of course) I Am Love.
Funds from the festival will go to a nonprofit agency that benefits Haiti, an issue that is close to Josh's heart: he has been to the beleaguered nation several times and is planning to make another relief trip this fall.
Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 on the day. Josh said they are being sold at Fennario's coffeeshop and Moonflower, both in downtown West Chester, and at Del Bittle's music shop along Route 842 near Unionville. Lots more information is on the website.

Play on

My instructor at the gym today forgot to bring her iPad with her, so for music she had to rely on the CDs that were in the aerobics room. It was a mixed bag, kind of like the books that a clueless hostess would leave on a bedside table in the guest room: a collection of Patti Griffin's slowest ballads; "Halloween Sounds of Horror" ("those are our ab muscles screaming," commented one classmate); faux-reggae adaptations of pop hits; and a playlist for a Body Combat class that consisted of jacked-up versions of "Rollin' on the River" and "Because the Night" played at triple speed.
We urged her not to forget her iPad again.

Fluids

What kind of a divorce settlement did Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes reach?
Don't ask me: as soon as I picked up a "People" magazine while waiting at Tolsdorf Oil Lube Express, the tech guy told me my car was already done. Excellent, speedy service, polite employees, free Keurig coffee, a clean waiting room -- and they vacuum the inside of your vehicle!

Tolsdorf has several locations; I went to the one on Route 1 near Longwood Gardens.

A fishy story

When the Michoacana Grill was closed for a week to clean up from the fire in the adjacent building, several people told me how much they'd miss the restaurant's fish tacos. I was determined to try them as soon as the place reopened.
I now see what they were talking about. Oh my gosh, they are good! Fish steaks, salsa (I asked for the spicy kind), cilantro, shredded lettuce, onions and "fish sauce," wrapped in your choice of a flour, corn or crunchy taco. Three for $7.50.
The Grill -- yes, it's run by the same folks who run the popular Michoacana ice-cream shop -- is at Cypress and Union Streets, and there's a parking lot right next to the restaurant. You can eat at the sidewalk tables or get  your food "to go."

In the drink

More fallout from Friday the 13th!

An apparently disturbed woman wandered onto a Lamborntown Road farm here in West Marlborough, started up a old farm truck and drove it into the pond. State police and firefighters showed up with all their "water rescue" paraphernalia, but she had already gotten out of the truck -- the pond isn't a deep one -- and wasn't hurt. She was fortunate not to encounter the snapping turtle who lives in the pond; I'm told he's so gigantic that the water level drops by six inches when he hauls himself up onto the bank.
Township road crew member Hugh Lofting sent me this photo.

Cold

Remember when you were a kid and you'd lend a book or [record album/cassette/CD] to a friend and never, ever get it back? Your friend always had an excuse: "I haven't finished with it" or "My brother's listening to it."
Now, in middle age, it's those reusable ice packs. A few weeks back I took one to a friend's house to put on my elbow after tennis and -- foolishly -- left it there in his freezer.
He used the ice pack on his sore knee and said he especially liked the practical sleeve that I knitted for it to keep it in place.
Once his knee was feeling better, I asked for it back.
"I got stung by a bee," he said, voice quavering piteously. "I still need it."

Those nice bright colors

I got a very late start with the flower garden this year, but the flowers seem to be catching up, despite all the dry, hot weather! Last year's crested celosia and statice were an epic fail, but this year's plants seem to be doing much better. And for my money no zinnia beats the "Cut and Come Again" variety for arrangements, but for some reason it's getting really hard to track down.

Good taste

One of Tilda's best pals was at a West Chester-area state store on Saturday and happened to pick up the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board's free quarterly publication, "Taste." While reading through it, she was delighted to see that K. C. Kulp, one of the owners of The Whip Tavern in West Marlborough, is quoted in an Olympics tie-in story about the food and drink of England!
K. C. gives his recipes for a drink called "The Whipster" (cucumber slices, mint, gin, soda water and lemon-lime soda) and Whip classic Bubble and Squeak (a potato, leek and cabbage dish).

In with the new

Rave reviews so far for the new Genuardi's-turned-Giant grocery store in East Marlborough. I didn't have enough experience with the old store to compare, so I asked two family members for their opinions.
My mother said the new Giant is "twenty times better than the old store, at least!" She plans to make it her primary supermarket.
And my sister-in-law agreed, singling out for special mention the produce and the improved traffic flow of the store.