Trunk dialing

A Cochranville friend reports that her son fractured his wrist when he fell out of a tree while texting her. I have no idea what the moral of this story should be. Playing outside? Adventurous? Keeping in touch with his mother? All highly praiseworthy qualities in a boy -- just maybe not together.

Local soldier

Congratulations to Mikael Wood, son of Diana and Frank Wood of Cochranville, who survived Army basic training! Diana, a longtime gym friend of mine, told me that she and Frank attended his graduation ceremonies at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in early September and were beyond proud that their son made it through the mental and physical hardships of boot camp. She said she was impressed by the show that the Army put on for the families and enjoyed meeting some of her son's new buddies.
Mikael, who graduated from Avon Grove High School in June, will next be attending Quartermaster School at Ft. Lee, Virginia.

Movie time

Here's some good news: Brett Irwin is organizing an independent film series at the Back Alley Theater at The Flash in downtown Kennett. The series kicked off on Sept. 7 with "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" and the next film, "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," will be shown at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 27. Future films are "Moonrise Kingdom" (7:30 p.m. Oct. 25) and "The Intouchables" (7:30 p.m. Nov. 15)
Good luck to him! The cozy Flash is a great venue for movies. As the Facebook page says, "Sofas and saucer chairs...can't get those at the multiplex!"
For ticket information and trailers, visit the "Films at the Flash" Facebook page. The Flash is at 102 Sycamore Alley, behind the restaurant that used to be Newton's and is now La Verona.

State Line (and Kreston's and Total Wine)

"Liquor buyers cross state line," read the page A2 headline in a recent "Wall Street Journal."
This grabbed my attention -- but, no, they actually weren't talking about Pennsylvania imbibers heading south to Delaware or Maryland to stock up. It seems that Washington state has privatized the sale of hard liquor, thus jacking up the cost with additional state fees, so Washington state residents are now traveling to neighboring Oregon to buy their liquor.
Gee. Who could have seen that one coming?
One Rainier, Oregon, liquor store owner told the newspaper that she hired more employees and expanded hours to accommodate the booming demand. "You know how the week is before Christmas? It's like that every single day," the reporter quoted her as saying.

Swine and roses

Each month at our West Marlborough Township meeting, the supervisors hear about the building permits that have been granted, including requests for demolition.

I thought of this when I saw a real-estate ad in the newspaper for Stacumny House, a 19th-century estate near Dublin, County Kildare, Ireland. It boasts all the amenities you'd expect in a $6.4 million property -- plus "an old piggery."
Who knew? Even pig sheds can become a selling point! Don't tear them down!
Here's the complete description from the Christie's website (I love the way British real-estate agents write): "A splendid and attractive Georgian mansion house set within manicured pleasure grounds, extending to some 6 acres and quite idyllic. The accommodation within the mansion house extends to some 8,000 square feet but is further complimented by a leisure complex with pool, sauna and gym, a private theatre with traditional pub and catering kitchen and further accommodation in a loft house, the old piggery and a gate lodge. A further stone outbuilding comprises a suite of private offices. The grounds include a walled garden, tennis court, kitchen garden, water garden and manicured lawns interspersed with mature trees and shrubs."
I especially like the grass tennis court, which is surrounded by a stone wall. That would certainly cut back on running to retrieve the ball; it would bounce off the stone and roll right back to you!

Little Free Library

Reader and Facebook friend Diane sent me a link to something called Little Free Library and said, "I would love to see these springing up around Southern Chesco and beyond." These "libraries" look like a cross between a colorful birdhouse and a bookshelf; everyone is encouraged to drop off books they've read and take ones that they haven't.
As their Facebook page explains, "We're building and promoting "Take a book, leave a book" structures that fit in a front yard, by a sidewalk, coffee shop or park and are just big enough to hold 20-30 books that kids and adults can give and take. Built with recycled materials, designed and decorated by neighborhood groups."
And according to their website, "If this were just about providing free books on a shelf, the whole idea might disappear after a few months.  There is something about the Little Library itself that people seem to know carries a lot more meaning.  Maybe they know that this isn't just a matter of advertising or distributing products. The unique, personal touch seems to matter, as does the understanding that real people are sharing their favorite books." 
The website for the group, based in Wisconsin, offers information about organizing, building, finding a site for and maintaining a Little Free Library.

The impatiens disease

I was waiting for "Kennett Paper" gardening columnist Duane Campbell to address this topic, but he hasn't yet so I will take up the charge. It seems that a disease called downy mildew has been wreaking havoc on impatiens this summer. The cause is a water mold, and symptoms are yellowing of foliage, stunting, defoliation and a whitish powder on the undersides of the leaves.
According to the newsletter from Groff's Plant Farm in Kirkwood, "Unfortunately there is no cure and once plants are sick, the only thing to do is bag them up and put them in the trash. DO NOT compost diseased plant material." Groff's advises not planting impatiens in any affected soil for 3 to 5 years; you can substitute begonias, New Guinea impatiens and coleus, which are mildew-resistant.

Hard work and horseplay

One of the places where I play tennis adjoins a large Amish farm, and we were playing on Tuesday afternoon while the hard-working farmer and several children were out there cutting cornstalks and hauling them away on horse-drawn carts. The stark contrast between their labor and our play made me feel both frivolous and extremely fortunate. My sole connection with the soil that day had been purchasing and planting two astilbes, two lungworts and a brunnera in my new shade garden.

Turn turn turn

As regular readers know, the senior Tally-hos moved house over the summer. I volunteered to get rid of their big box of old record albums ("vinyl," as I believe it's known these days). Nostalgic friends quickly snatched up the Mary Poppins movie soundtrack and the Flyers' Stanley Cup commemorative album (underwritten by Girard Bank), and a former colleague has put in dibs for the Herb Albert 1960s jazz LPs, but the rest are still up for grabs. Drop me an email at uvilleblogger@gmail.com and they're yours, any or all of them!
-- Classical: Vivaldi, Four Seasons; Bach, Brandenburg Concertos 1, 2, 6;
Handel, Water Music & Fireworks;Ravel, Bolero; Rimsky-Korsakoff, Scheherazade.
-- Jazz: Ramsey Lewis Trio, Hang on Ramsey; Al Hirt, Sugar Lips, Cotton Candy; Maynard Ferguson, Live at Jimmy's, MF Horn 2; The Complete Bunny Berigan (2 records in plastic); Sounds of the Great Bands; Original Big Band Theme Songs; Maynard Ferguson, Conquistador; Sidney Bechet & Mezz Mezzrow; Mugsy Spanier, "Hot Horn"; Judith Kay (Wilmington jazz singer); Doc Severinsen, "Night Journey"; Ella Live (Verve); Best of Dixieland.
-- Christmas: Christmas Song, Nat King Cole;Little Drummer Boy, Harry Simeone Chorale.

-- Pop: Burt Bacharach; Maureen McGovern, And the Envelope Please, The Morning After; Billy Joel: Greatest Hits, Turnstiles, The Stranger, 52nd Street; Barbara Streisand Greatest Hits; Snoopy Vs. the Red Baron, The Royal Guardsmen.
-- Soundtracks: The Graduate; Camelot ("Living Strings"); "All in the Family" excerpts and soundtrack, 1971, with booklet; "Emmanuelle" soundtrack; Magnificent Motion Picture & Love Themes."
-- Disco: A Taste of Honey; Salsoul Orchestra: "Nice & Nasty"; Salsoul (with Strawbridge & Clothier price sticker)
-- Other: Promotional album by German laboratory equipment company Rudolf Brand; "Listening in Depth: An Introduction to Columbia Stereo Sound" (stolen from somebody named Gary Jenkins); "Stereo Action Unlimited" by RCA Victor; "Ebb Tide" stereo demonstration by Frank Chacksfield & Orchestra; "Moods in Music: Music for Relaxation."
Act now and I'll even throw in a bunch of cassette tapes! That email again: uvilleblogger@gmail.com.

Food for birds and people

Faithful and observant "Unionville in the News" reader Jim sent me an email urging me to keep my hummingbird feeder replenished with nectar through the end of September: "They may not have left for the season. This morning I would have written that I saw one last Wednesday, but now I shall report that I saw one just an hour ago sitting on one of my feeders. It is possible that the summer residents have departed, but now we have migrants to think of."

Jim also contributed his two cents to the ongoing Genuardi's/Giant compare-and-contrast discussion: "I believe that when Genuardi’s was sold to Safeway (or whoever), the prices went up and the quality went down. Three cheers for the Giant; especially for the gas discount!" 

Jim's thoughts are echoed by another of my correspondents, who said she stopped going to Genuardi's "except when they had a good sale" or she wanted their olive bread.

Fungus fest

I am sure the Mushroom Fest will be covered amply elsewhere in these pages by my colleagues, so I will just say here that it was a good time and Kennett put its best foot forward. Obviously the organizers have things down to a science: just when I needed to throw out a napkin or a soup cup (the Kennett Square Inn's cream of mushroom soup!), there was a trash receptacle waiting. I was amused to see that residents in the neighborhoods "reserved" their on-street parking spaces with chairs, just like you see in South Philadelphia after snowstorms.