Over the dam

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, my 1950 postcard of the Conowingo Dam is going to be part of a talk at the Smithsonian Institution!
"Explain yourself, Tilda!" you demand.
The father of my late (and much-missed by all of us) "significant other" John was a DuPont engineer who in the 1920s helped to construct the hydroelectric dam, which spans the Susquehanna River in Maryland. He and his wife paid a visit to the dam on Feb. 12, 1950, and purchased a postcard as a souvenir.
Flash-forward to 2005: After their deaths and John's death, I inherited all the family scrapbooks, a treasure-trove of snapshots, memorabilia, and details of Eastern Shore farm life in the mid-20th century. In March 2012, when I was writing a blog entry about the bald eagles at the dam, I remembered the postcard, scanned it and used it to illustrate the item.
So on Friday evening, more than 63 years after that visit, I received this e-mail from J. Patrick Megonigal, Senior Scientist & Deputy Director at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland:

"Tilda, I am writing for permission to use an image you posted on your blog: a post card of the Conowingo Dam. I will be talking about the dam in a speech to the Smithsonian Institution on Monday (20 May) and would like to use it to illustrate the dam. The speech is called the “Coastal Anthropocene” and it involves sediments running into the Chesapeake Bay. I believe my speech will be posted online for posterity."

Is that cool or what?! Of course, I immediately gave him permission to do so.

 

Order on the court

My tennis partners and I pretty much stank up the joint on Saturday: I double-faulted three times and we all missed easy shots. You could tell how things were going by our increasingly implausible excuses for our poor performance. One opponent blamed her sunglasses; she took them off, and then the next game complained the sun was in her eyes. Another claimed the swirling wind was working against him. The wind can certainly be a valid excuse on some days, but yesterday it amounted to little more than a zephyr.
But I may have concocted the lamest excuse of all: I hit a serve into the net and promptly blamed it on a Holstein mooing at the Fishers' farm next door. Yeah, right.

Case closed

The Cypress Street hedge blocking the view of motorists pulling out from Race Street is no more! The homeowners cut it down promptly after borough officials discovered that it hindered drivers from seeing oncoming traffic. Thank you to Borough Council Member Dan Maffei for following up on my initial concern and for keeping me and my readers informed!

The Hours

The summer hours are in effect at the Unionville Post Office. The window is open from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7 a.m. to noon Saturday. As always, access to post office boxes is 24/7/365.

Barn foundations

I've noticed that since Seth Hinshaw's talk about historic barns in Kennett Township, I've been paying much closer attention to all the barns I see while driving around. Mr. Hinshaw, an architectural historian, spoke to a standing-room-only crowd (I was one of those standing) at a May 16 lecture at the Kennett Township building sponsored by the Kennett Township Historical Commission.
His theme was that barn styles evolved over the years because of three factors: livestock, grain and agricultural implements.
In 1780, he said, the average farm had two horses, two cows and three sheep. By 1850, those numbers had risen to three horses, four dairy cattle, seven beef cattle and three sheep, and the animals were bigger due to the introduction of new breeds and the use of selective breeding. Grain production increased because farmers were growing higher-yield crops, rotating crops and using fertilizer. And with improvements in harvesting equipment, like the grain drill and Wiley plow, both invented locally, farmers could harvest more acres of grain.
Thus, farmers needed more barn space to accommodate not only larger animals but also larger harvests and expensive new equipment.
To illustrate his lecture, Mr. Hinshaw used slides of barns along Chandler Mill Road, McFarlan Road, Burnt Mill Road, Bayard Road, Kaolin Road, Sills Mill Road, Hillendale Road, Pennfield Drive, Bucktoe Road, South Union Street, Old Kennett Road and Longwood Gardens.
He said that while preparing his talk he pored through Futhey and Cope's definitive book on Chester County history but couldn't find any Kennett Township images: "Can you believe it?" he asked.
In the crowd I saw members of the township's historical commission and the planning commission, former township supervisor Tom Nale, my friend Bill Landmesser, Police Chief Albert McCarthy and his wife Cheryl, and Unionville residents Ruth Thompson and her son, Larry.
Before the program Sara Meadows, who chairs the Historical Commission, presented Jay Roland Minshall with a plaque honoring him for his years of service. Commission member Marion Guthrie's lovely paintings of Kennett Township scenes were also on display.
Thank you to the Historical Commission for an educational evening! The cookies were good, too.

Freebie

How often does this happen: my credit card company just sent me a $5 Starbucks gift card! (I had a choice of Dunkin Donuts and Panera Bread, too.) Wonder if Barclaycard's largesse had something to do with my recent computer purchase, which  wasn't an extraordinary amount but certainly marked an variance from my routine line items of Giant, Landhope, L.L. Bean, and various local dining spots.

Swan song

How can it be that I just attended The Young Relative's final elementary school concert? Where did the time go? As always the Hillendale musicians and their teachers put on a fantastic, most entertaining show. "Aunt Rhodie's Appetite" and "Wipe Out" were particularly cute numbers.
And -- OK, I'm getting choked up just writing this -- I will so miss seeing the principal, Steve Dissinger, in action. He is the very model of an elementary school principal. Watching him interact with the kids, displaying such warmth and respect, restores my faith in our educational system.
Onward to Patton Middle School! (I have it on good authority that the musical programs there are pretty cool as well.)

Ouch

You'd think I'd be used to the toughness of equestrians by now, but it never ceases to amaze me. Over lunch at Hood's yesterday a pal was ticking off this past season's horse-related injuries: a concussion, a broken ankle, and torn ligaments.
"What about your broken toe?" I asked.
She looked up in genuine astonishment.
"Oh yeah!" she said. "I'd forgotten all about that."
And on his blog, one of our local superstars in the eventing world ran a couple of photos taken during his ankle surgery at Christiana Hospital. It was fascinating to see how neatly the surgeon repaired his torn tendons.
And you wonder why there are always advertisements for orthopaedic surgeons in the programs at equestrian events!

Brakes

Hey motorists, when you're driving through Unionville on Route 82, please do me a favor and slow down when you're passing the URA ball fields. They are VERY heavily used this time of year, but some drivers seem oblivious to that fact and just speed through.

A weighty discussion

At the gym class yesterday we were doing an upper-body exercise called "W's," so named because you start with dumbbells in front of your face, then bring them down to your shoulders, and then way up and out.
The sole Republican member of the class, said, in a nostalgic tone, "Aww, W, my favorite president!"
A less conservative classmate quickly responded: "You MUST mean Washington."

In the garden

Last night I had a great time walking around the garden at my parents' new house, identifying plants and trees. The previous owner was a spectacular gardener, and because this is the first spring my folks have lived in the house, it has been an adventure watching what's blooming and what wildlife is visiting (lots of birds, fox, deer, and a truly massive groundhog). My mother and I were delighted to find lots of jack-in-the-pulpits, and she didn't realize that there was a sweet gum tree in the front yard.
Back here, I'm trying a thunbergia (Black-Eyed Susan Vine) as my climbing vine this year, and so far so good: I planted it last week and already I've had to tie its little tendrils up twice as it starts to encircle the lamp-post. Last year's moon-vine was wonderful, but it didn't flower until the very end of the summer. This one is supposed to blossom earlier.
No signs of pumpkin sprouts yet. I'll give them another week before I replant. The four types of sunflowers are coming up like gangbusters, though!

A walk in the park

Kennett is a really small town sometimes. On Saturday I went out for a walk in Anson Nixon Park with a friend of mine, and yes he happens to be good-looking and of the male variety, and afterward we stopped off at the Half Moon for some refreshments.
The very next morning I got an email from a mutual friend saying he had spotted the two of us, and was there something romantic going on (at this point he added about five question marks, indicating his avid curiosity). I assured him that no, there wasn't. Yeesh!
By the way, during our walk we noticed that Anson Nixon Park has its own "green light on the dock," just like in "The Great Gatsby." It's just a tiny green indicator light on some kind of equipment attached to a wooden platform, but from the other side of the lake, by the amphitheater, the light looks as big as a beacon.
My companion was the first to spot it, and he nudged me and pointed. "Gatsby," was all he needed to say.

End of the road

Yesterday, heading into Unionville for lunch, I saw our West Marlborough road crew working on Tapeworm Road at Route 82. I stopped to chat and found out they were improving the footing on the gravel road for a few yards so that motorists wouldn't spin out as they entered the paved road (we've all done that!). I saw similar improvements on other gravel roads, too.
In other local roadwork, I think PennDOT workers were the ones who cleaned up the shoulders of Route 842 between Newark Road and Route 82 on Tuesday.

Family

This was the first Mother's Day for a young friend of mine -- and it was a double celebration. Last May she and her husband had no children; now they have two, a boy and a girl. While they were in the process of adopting an orphaned girl from Africa, my friend discovered that she was expecting. The new family -- and they are so adorable together! -- spent Mother's Day going to church, taking a hike and getting ice cream.

Willowdale

The Willowdale Steeplechase committee obviously has some pull with the Higher Power: the weather on Sunday was perfect for an afternoon of racing and tailgating. The crowd was big, but it never "felt" crowded.
The races were very exciting, and what's neat about Willowdale is that you can see almost the whole race without hurrying from one side of the course to the other. The outriders, from River Hills Fox Hounds, saw quite a lot of action, as several horses unseated their jockeys and went running off, with the outriders in hot pursuit. (One member of my party, not a shabby rider himself, said he greatly admired their horsemanship: "I mean, you have to be able to take a jump AND grab the horse's reins at the same time!") One loose horse stayed in the race, riderless, until almost the finish line.
I saw lots and lots of friends and neighbors, many of whom were kind enough to feed me extraordinarily well: filet of beef sandwiches and amazing shrimp at one party; a Capriotti's "Bobby" sub at another (turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce); vegetarian wraps and wonderful desserts at the third. A lot of the ladies wore festive hats, although the wind presented a bit of a challenge; one of my hostesses, a high-school teacher, kept her beautiful black hat in place with a long (and practical) hatpin as she poured out mint juleps to her guests.
Compliments to the Willowdale committee on another well-organized event!

I am so sorry!

Readers, I want to apologize and explain something that appeared in my column in last week's Kennett Paper.
I wrote about the overly revealing prom dresses that some girls were wearing this year and how standards have fallen since I was in high school. Unfortunately, the Kennett Paper editor chose to illustrate the item with a photo depicting four lovely and appropriately dressed young women who could serve as absolute models of good taste. The photo was NOT part of my blog and was put in without my knowledge after I submitted the column. In no way should readers assume that my item referred IN ANY WAY to these young women.
My heart sank the instant I saw the photo in the paper, but I know it was nothing compared to what the girls and their families and friends felt. I'm told they are honor students and involved in all kinds of volunteer activities. I am so very sorry that the paper ran this photo, and I am very cross with my editor for doing so.