Risky turn

I've mentioned before how much I dislike turning left off Baltimore Pike into the Longwood Crossing shopping center (the one with Starbucks, Staples and Superfresh). It almost claimed another victim on Saturday afternoon. My friend was coming up to that turn when the light turned yellow. He started slowing down, but the car behind him didn't. He realized that he'd have to run the light if he didn't want to get rear-ended! And then the guy behind him ended up stopping at the light anyway.
It took my friend a good half-hour to calm down from this near-miss.
Awful intersection!
(As soon as I posted this, I heard from a few readers who had accidents here. It seems like every few weeks there's a new pile of refuse from an accident, some glass or broken trim, along the shoulder.)

Tough cookies

We hear a lot about how coddled and wimpy "kids these days" are, but that certainly wasn't the case with the hardy Girl Scouts who were selling cookies in subfreezing weather outside the Landhope in Willowdale this afternoon. I bought two boxes, Thin Mints and Shortbread. Stick with the classics!
Inside the store I said hi to a mechanic friend of mine who was just finishing up a Saturday at his garage. He was well wrapped up in thick cold-weather gear and a knit hat and said he vastly prefers working in the cold weather to the summer heat (he does work in a metal building). "This is like being in a cozy bed," he said of the cold snap.
I also spotted a woman wearing sandals, which looked very odd indeed -- but I suspect she had just had her toenails done and didn't want to smudge the silvery-green polish until it was fully dry.

Waste Oil Recyclers

My friends at Waste Oil Recyclers have added a wonderful video to their website, explaining how their company started and what it does. I had no idea how widespread their oil-collection business is -- they go all over the place! I got a sneak preview of the video when I stopped by their office in Modena last week, and the next day, while lunching at Hood's in Unionville, I was telling a friend of mine all about it.
The woman from the next table looked up suddenly: turns out she was Robin Mastrippolito, the proud mother of two of the Waste Oil guys. She pulled out her smartphone and we all watched the video, which is also available on YouTube.
Hood's, what a great meeting place! AND they sell The Kennett Paper.

Unionvillus in Nuntio

This morning I came across the tireless phrase "caveat emptor" (buyer beware) and it got me thinking about my years studying Latin in high school and college. What, I wondered, would be the Latin for a contemporary phrase like "email"? Well, according to the Latin version of Wikipedia (Vicipaedia), it's "cursus electronicus." SUCH an apt phrase!
In my search I also found that the ancient Roman poet Catullus figured in a sex-discrimination suit against a London hedge-fund manager, who is accused of emailing a particularly naughty snippet from one of his poems, in Latin, to a female underling. I remember translating that poem in high school and feeling secretly amazed we were allowed to do so.

Emily Litella

Living in Unionville, we can easily develop tunnel vision. Yesterday I was lunching with a friend who shares her home with three dogs, her "fur-children." She was scanning last week's Kennett Paper and came to a letter-to-the-editor about our Congressman with the headline (I'm paraphrasing): "Pitts to protect elderly." She thought a plan was being proposed to issue pit bulls to senior citizens for home-security purposes -- which she found to be a very sound idea. I burst out laughing, as did she, and she conceded that she had also misread a heading in my column, "2013 roster," as "2013 rooster." Did I mention she also keeps chickens?

Harp's delight

This looks great! On Friday, Feb. 1, at 7:30 p.m., Cochranville residents Kevin and Janet Witman will be presenting the "Astral Harp Experience."
The blurb describes the show as "an exciting multimedia event combining amazing astro-photography with stellar harp playing!"
Kevin, a friend of mine from the Jennersville Y, is a planetarium operator/lecturer at the North Museum in Lancaster. He frequently posts his photos of the planets and stars on his Facebook site and they are astonishing. His wife, Janet, is a professional harpist and directs the Brandywine Harp Orchestra.
The show will be held at the Kennett Friends Meetinghouse on North Union and West Sickle Streets, and admission is free (as it always is at Hadley Fund programs). I'm really looking forward to this show.

Stock up now!

Frequent readers know that I have some fearless friends who are more than familiar with the local ERs, have their orthopaedic surgeon on speed-dial and can list from memory all the local 24-hour pharmacies. I've almost gotten used to receiving their alarmingly nonchalant calls about falls, concussions, sprains, dislocations, bites, stings and other mountain-biking, gymnastic, power-tool-related and equestrian mishaps.
Well, apparently the marketing powers have done their data-mining and now have me pegged as an Amateur Helper: I just received a catalog that offers a do-it-yourself surgical kit (including a suture set) and "a Trauma Pak with QuikClot" ("Let's hope you never have a sucking chest wound on the job." Indeed!). Or maybe the company figured that sending a catalog to everyone with a Unionville ZIP code would be a smart move.
And did I mention the combination nail puller, wrench and bottle opener depicted on the very same page? It's called the Exhumer. Ooooo! Just order me a gift card!

484 and all that

Outside a nearby apartment house, I spotted a home-made "for rent" sign that gave the landlord's phone number. It consisted of nothing but the digits 4 and 8. It was as if it was a 10-digit binary code, but with 4s and 8s instead of 0s and 1s. There were no hyphens, no spacing, nothing to help the prospective tenant remember the number by "chunking" it into smaller pieces. You'd have to stop and write it down digit by digit or snap a photo of it, tough to do at a busy intersection. If the landlord doesn't get any phone calls, he or she will probably blame the economy.

Township business

The West Marlborough Township planning commission and supervisors will be having their monthly meetings on Tuesday, Feb. 5, starting at 7 p.m. I don't think there's much pressing business on either group's agenda, although the supervisors did mention at their January meeting that they are reviewing the fees that the township charges for various permits and hearings. I'll let you know if I hear that anything noteworthy will be discussed.

Cold

I can't remember the last time it was this cold for this long. I know that one winter back in the mid-90s it was so cold that the deck and the roof made weird creaking noises at night, and who can forget that hard winter when the thick ice on the roads would thaw, then freeze up again, and didn't disappear fully until spring.
A friend reports that her chickens were squawking at her this morning, as if she were responsible for the cold and could do something about it.
Still: daffodils have appeared in the floral section of the grocery store, the paperwhites I planted in pots weeks ago suddenly started growing and are flowering, and I just spotted snowdrops in bloom while I was outside refilling the bird feeder. And I've even received some gardening catalogs in the mail!
Also, my brother-in-law put our temps in perspective when he informed me that the high temperature -- the high, mind you! -- in his Minnesota town was minus 2. I believe he still rode his bike to work.

Good luck, Clancys

I was so sorry to see that "Steeplechase Times" is ceasing publication. As the press release put it:
"Steeplechase Times, a newspaper founded by Joe and Sean Clancy of ST Publishing, will become part of Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred, the monthly magazine published by the Maryland Horse Breeders Association effective with the March edition. The move brings to a close 19 years of print publishing for Steeplechase Times, but opens doors to more resources and expansion."
It took me a long time to figure out the racing jargon in the paper (I still haven't mastered the intricacies of how a claiming race works), but I admired the writing and photography from day 1. When the Clancys wrote about the untimely death of a horse or a jockey, or a great horse's retirement, the story came straight from the heart and reflected not only their deep insider's knowledge of the sport but also their love for it. And they had an excellent ear for the droll -- I always liked the list of timely witticisms they heard around town.

Country life

A tall, dark stranger came into my life on Saturday morning.
I was working at my desk when I heard whinnying. I knew that the foxhunters were meeting nearby, but this sounded REALLY close.
I looked out the window -- and there was a black horse standing in my driveway.
I'm an avid spectator of equestrian events but not much of a participant. But I did know enough to realize that I'd better try to get hold of him.
Without even saving what I had on the computer screen, I threw on jacket, hat and boots, walked outside and greeted my very handsome, very well-groomed visitor. He let me take hold of his lead rope with no fuss (thank goodness) and as I walked him down the driveway and onto the road I pondered where this guy might have come from and what on earth I should do with him. I knew he didn't belong to the ladies at the end of the road, because I know their horses well. Maybe he belonged to the trainer down the road?
First brilliant idea: I took his photo and posted it on Facebook, asking if anyone recognized him. A friend immediately chimed in, "Never look a gift horse in the mouth!" (So helpful, Rob; thanks.)
We walked up and down the road for about 15 minutes when I heard the sounds of a horse approaching -- sure enough, it was the grateful trainer down the road trotting up to collect his wayward horse. He told me that "Mr. Universo" is something of a rock star, likes to have his own way and has bolted before.
"This'll give you something to write about!" he said with a grin as I turned over the lead to him.
For sure! It was definitely an exciting morning for me -- much to the amusement of my friends who have all-too-frequent experience as horse catchers.
A pal of mine checked out Mr. Universo's pedigree and found that this Brazilian native has both Northern Dancer and Native Dancer in his bloodline. No wonder he's fast!

Wegman's

Wegman's has applied to build a supermarket in Concord Township, Delaware County, on the south side of Route 1 east of Route 202. The chain will need conditional use approval from the township supervisors before it can break ground. I'm not sure that this Wegman's would be a lot closer than the Downingtown one for me, but I'll bet it will be for a lot of my readers.
(Thanks to my friend Rich Schwartzman of "Chadds Ford Live" for this tip!)