Remember the fateful scene in Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" when Tess slips an important letter under her lover Angel Clare's door, and it actually goes under the carpet, not to be found until it's too late?
The 21st-century equivalent just happened to me.
Earlier in the day I asked a friend to meet me for dinner at La Pena Mexicana, the great taco place in Kennett, at 6:20 p.m. I didn't hear from him, so I ate a boring salad here at home.
At 7:30 p.m. he phoned and said, with some irritation, "So where were you?"
"You never got back to me!" I protested, and immediately checked my e-mails.
Sure enough, he had, and if I had scrolled down sufficiently in the message I would have seen his RSVP, and I would have had a delicious meal. Like he did ("that burrito, it was like a bolster on a sofa").
That sound you hear is me wailing.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Red-faced
I was changing in the locker room at the Kennett Y yesterday when a guy came striding in. I thought, oh, it's a college kid home on break who doesn't realize this is the ladies' locker room. So I went up to him and said, "Excuse me, sir? This is the ladies' room."
It wasn't a guy. It was a tall, slim woman with close-cropped hair, wearing a gray T-shirt, baggy shorts and high socks, with a tight elastic binder around her chest.
Thank goodness, she didn't seem to mind in the least being mistaken for a man. I apologized immediately, and I'm still mortified. Who knew I'd get a lesson in gender definition in the locker room at the Y?
(And more power to her for dressing whatever way she wants.)
It wasn't a guy. It was a tall, slim woman with close-cropped hair, wearing a gray T-shirt, baggy shorts and high socks, with a tight elastic binder around her chest.
Thank goodness, she didn't seem to mind in the least being mistaken for a man. I apologized immediately, and I'm still mortified. Who knew I'd get a lesson in gender definition in the locker room at the Y?
(And more power to her for dressing whatever way she wants.)
Hillendale send-off
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
So This Is Christmas
Here's hoping everyone had as merry a Christmas as I did. For the second year in a row (does that constitute a tradition?) the whole family met for lunch on Christmas Eve day at the Greathouse at Loch Nairn Golf Club (wonderful food and service), and then on Christmas day we went to my brother's house for a marvelous feast (lobster tails, roast beef, just-picked Marlboro Mushrooms and Champagne) prepared by my sister-in-law and her mother. After dinner we played a cut-throat game of "Greedy Santa."
My parents' welcoming new neighborhood has a festive tradition of setting out luminaries along the entire length of the cul-de-sac, including around the center island. We put them out as directed along our stretch of the lane, and father and grandson went out to light them just as it started to get dark. Of course, the snow then promptly extinguished them.
A few nights before Christmas I went to a very nice neighborhood open house at Dick Hayne's Doe Run Farm here in West Marlborough. We sampled the delicious cheeses that are made there and got to peek into the underground stone caves where they are aged. Mr. Hayne's cheesemaking staff were there explaining the process of turning milk from his animals into the award-winning cheese, which is sold at the Country Butcher and Terrain. I don't know a lot about milking parlors, but the man next to me said it was the cleanest one he had ever seen. I had fun visiting with not only a lot of my neighbors but also a Jersey calf named Henry, and two energetic goat kids, who jumped up on visitors and walked up and down the back of a woolly black sheep.
My parents' welcoming new neighborhood has a festive tradition of setting out luminaries along the entire length of the cul-de-sac, including around the center island. We put them out as directed along our stretch of the lane, and father and grandson went out to light them just as it started to get dark. Of course, the snow then promptly extinguished them.
A few nights before Christmas I went to a very nice neighborhood open house at Dick Hayne's Doe Run Farm here in West Marlborough. We sampled the delicious cheeses that are made there and got to peek into the underground stone caves where they are aged. Mr. Hayne's cheesemaking staff were there explaining the process of turning milk from his animals into the award-winning cheese, which is sold at the Country Butcher and Terrain. I don't know a lot about milking parlors, but the man next to me said it was the cleanest one he had ever seen. I had fun visiting with not only a lot of my neighbors but also a Jersey calf named Henry, and two energetic goat kids, who jumped up on visitors and walked up and down the back of a woolly black sheep.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Looking back
At the end of 2011, I had an easy time coming up with a list of the year's momentous events. I'm having a harder time for 2012. Here's what I have so far:
1. The bitterly divisive presidential election. It went far beyond the pale of civil discourse, even locally. There is absolutely no reason to call a candidate "an idiot," no matter how much you may dislike him or her. Yet otherwise nice people did, every single day. The vitriol was appalling. A funny and oh-so-true picture was going around online in December: "I've saved so much money on Christmas presents by discussing politics on Facebook."
Not that I'm always moderate in expressing my opinions. But a few weeks ago I lunched with a neighbor who holds many political positions that are polar opposites of my own. And guess what: we found plenty that we agreed on -- in politics and in life -- and we had a lovely time.
2. Snow was a no-show during the 2011-12 winter. Ironically, I replaced my sports car with an SUV because the former, although it was four-wheel-drive, had absolutely no ground clearance and was pretty much useless in anything over an inch of snow. I think we got more snow this Christmas Eve than we did the whole prior winter.
3. We lost some good people this year, way, WAY too early. I'm thinking of Sarah Thomas and Paul Rowland. I love seeing how Sarah's family and friends are remembering her with bonfires and kickball tourneys, not to mention how her spirit lives on through her organ donations. And we said goodbye to others who led lives fully lived, like Dr. Ramsay Buchanan, Bill Dreisbach, Bob Hennes, Jody Shoemaker, and Artie Yeatman. Miss them all.
4. Before a packed house, the West Marlborough supervisors joined almost every other local municipality in enacting a earned income tax. The township needs to raise more money because of decreased income from real-estate transfer taxes and increased legal fees due to various zoning spats, mostly in and around the village of Springdell.
5. It was great to see our world-class local horsemen and women competing in the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London this summer. And back in Unionville we enjoyed the usual round of equestrian/social events: the Cheshire Races, various competitions at the beautiful Plantation Field and an injury-free Pennsylvania Hunt Cup held on a windy, freezing day that challenged even the hardiest spectators (i.e., me).
6. In the wake of Occupy Blow Horn in October 2011, Anne and John Moss erected a replacement "Blow Horn" sign in their front yard at Routes 82 and 841, just across from the old and now-erased/eroded sign. Three for the mill!
1. The bitterly divisive presidential election. It went far beyond the pale of civil discourse, even locally. There is absolutely no reason to call a candidate "an idiot," no matter how much you may dislike him or her. Yet otherwise nice people did, every single day. The vitriol was appalling. A funny and oh-so-true picture was going around online in December: "I've saved so much money on Christmas presents by discussing politics on Facebook."
Not that I'm always moderate in expressing my opinions. But a few weeks ago I lunched with a neighbor who holds many political positions that are polar opposites of my own. And guess what: we found plenty that we agreed on -- in politics and in life -- and we had a lovely time.
2. Snow was a no-show during the 2011-12 winter. Ironically, I replaced my sports car with an SUV because the former, although it was four-wheel-drive, had absolutely no ground clearance and was pretty much useless in anything over an inch of snow. I think we got more snow this Christmas Eve than we did the whole prior winter.
3. We lost some good people this year, way, WAY too early. I'm thinking of Sarah Thomas and Paul Rowland. I love seeing how Sarah's family and friends are remembering her with bonfires and kickball tourneys, not to mention how her spirit lives on through her organ donations. And we said goodbye to others who led lives fully lived, like Dr. Ramsay Buchanan, Bill Dreisbach, Bob Hennes, Jody Shoemaker, and Artie Yeatman. Miss them all.
4. Before a packed house, the West Marlborough supervisors joined almost every other local municipality in enacting a earned income tax. The township needs to raise more money because of decreased income from real-estate transfer taxes and increased legal fees due to various zoning spats, mostly in and around the village of Springdell.
5. It was great to see our world-class local horsemen and women competing in the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London this summer. And back in Unionville we enjoyed the usual round of equestrian/social events: the Cheshire Races, various competitions at the beautiful Plantation Field and an injury-free Pennsylvania Hunt Cup held on a windy, freezing day that challenged even the hardiest spectators (i.e., me).
6. In the wake of Occupy Blow Horn in October 2011, Anne and John Moss erected a replacement "Blow Horn" sign in their front yard at Routes 82 and 841, just across from the old and now-erased/eroded sign. Three for the mill!
Monday, December 24, 2012
Book sale Feb. 22 and 23
I'm already thinking about what books I'm going to donate to the annual Unionville High School used book sale, which this year will be held Friday, Feb. 22 (5-9 p.m.) and Saturday, Feb. 23 (9-2:30 p.m. or 3-5 p.m. bag sale).
The book drop-off date this year is Saturday, Jan. 26, from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the high school, near the kitchen entrance. Starting Jan. 28, books can be dropped of at all the district buildings; marked boxes are provided at the schools' main entrances.
Here's what the sale organizers will accept: "Items which are in good condition, clean, dry, mold-free; books with covers; audio books, music, movies; DVDs, CD's, VHS, tapes with original labels; trade size paperbacks, paperbacks, hardbacks." But they WON'T take "items which are unhealthy to handle or dirty, moldy, smelly, burnt, chewed or wet; books missing covers; National Geographic magazines and maps; magazines; encyclopedias, encyclopedia year books, reference sets; Reader's Digest condensed books, EXCEPT large type edtions; law case, statute, and regulation books; catalogs; AAA Travel Guides except for the 5 most recent years; children's board games or puzzles; stationary items, notecards, calendars; and DVDs/CDs/VHS tapes that are missing their original labels."
There is lots more information at http://uhsbooksale.org/
The book drop-off date this year is Saturday, Jan. 26, from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the high school, near the kitchen entrance. Starting Jan. 28, books can be dropped of at all the district buildings; marked boxes are provided at the schools' main entrances.
Here's what the sale organizers will accept: "Items which are in good condition, clean, dry, mold-free; books with covers; audio books, music, movies; DVDs, CD's, VHS, tapes with original labels; trade size paperbacks, paperbacks, hardbacks." But they WON'T take "items which are unhealthy to handle or dirty, moldy, smelly, burnt, chewed or wet; books missing covers; National Geographic magazines and maps; magazines; encyclopedias, encyclopedia year books, reference sets; Reader's Digest condensed books, EXCEPT large type edtions; law case, statute, and regulation books; catalogs; AAA Travel Guides except for the 5 most recent years; children's board games or puzzles; stationary items, notecards, calendars; and DVDs/CDs/VHS tapes that are missing their original labels."
There is lots more information at http://uhsbooksale.org/
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