Holding Langers in the light

I want to express my condolences to Bernie and Claudette Langer of Springdell on the loss of their son, Michael. Michael had a stroke over the winter and then suffered a series of complications, infections, operations and setbacks before dying the afternoon of Thursday, June 20, at the age of 54. His parents can be proud of knowing they got him the best care possible throughout his -- and their -- long ordeal. May he rest in peace.

Diego Garcia

On Thursday a pal asked if I'd join her for a free concert on Friday evening at Longwood Gardens.
Say no more: of course I would!
The performer was the Argentinian-American singer/songwriter Diego Garcia and his band (another guitarist and a cellist). I hadn't heard of them, but it seems their alternative/folky music is on frequent rotation on WXPN ("You Were Never There," "Laura") and hence they have a devoted local following (the open-air theater was full).
It was a great, fun, relaxed show and I became an instant fan. Their CD "Paradise" is coming out in October and they played a number of songs from it, some of which Diego claimed still had some rough edges (could have fooled me).
And the venue: Longwood Gardens on the first evening of summer. Magical.
Diego Tweeted the next day: "Thank u longwood gardens and Philadelphia for the love last night! One of my all time favorite shows."

Saturday lunch

I had a very pleasant lunch at The Whip today with three pals, one of whom had never been there before (he lives in Ardmore). He loved his duck confit sandwich, washed down with a pint of Saucony Creek Brown Ale, and said the tavern reminded him of the many happy hours he spent in pubs while he was "studying" overseas in Edinburgh a few years ago.

Fireworks hearing

As part of their monthly meeting on Tuesday, July 2, the West Marlborough Township supervisors will hold a hearing on the township's proposed fireworks ordinance. Under the ordinance, those wanting to have a fireworks display would have to submit a written application for a permit and would have to hire a "competent operator." The township's interest in regulating fireworks stems from a man's request to host a fireworks display at his daughter's wedding reception at The Stone Barn this coming September.
The hearing starts at 7:30 p.m. at the township building in Doe Run.

A quick meeting

Dick Hayne now has permission to build a steel box beam bridge so his cattle and farm equipment can cross the Doe Run Creek. The West Marlborough Zoning Hearing Board granted the Doe Run Farm owner a special exception in a June 20 meeting that lasted only about 10 minutes.
Board chairman Clayton Bright and Board solicitor Craig Kalemjian gave brief introductions, and Mr. Hayne's attorney passed out a thick packet of information to each Board member. Before he even started to lay out his case, though, Mr. Bright asked him if any of the plans had changed since Mr. Hayne's original bridge submission that they'd already reviewed earlier this year. When the attorney said nothing had changed, Mr. Bright called the Board into a huddle for an executive session. A few minutes later he called the meeting back to order and they unanimously granted the special exception. Meeting adjourned.
Mr. Bright praised Mr. Hayne's people for submitting such an organized and complete proposal.
"I commend you guys," he said to the team of engineers and lawyers as they dismantled their unused easels and packed up their displays and photos. Minimal billable hours for the taxpayers to pay, and an early night for all.
The bridge will be constructed near the S-curve of Route 841, east of Thouron Road.
I had decided to take advantage of the beautiful evening and walk over to the township hall for the hearing. Good thing I'm a fast walker (so to speak): had I taken my time I would've missed the whole meeting!
And in other Doe Run Farm news, I hear that Mr. Hayne was as distraught as anyone when he heard that That Tree had been blown over in a windstorm the morning of June 13. Just the day before he had purchased the Springdell property where the tree stood!

Dead Fest

The Fourth Annual Dead Fest is coming up Friday, June 28, from 6 til 10 p.m. at the Brandywine Valley Association on Route 842 (1760 Unionville-Wawaset Road). I was there last year and it was a hoot, with the tie-dyed outfits and laid-back friendliness you'd expect from a crowd that likes Grateful Dead music. Among the bands will be Montana Wildaxe, Mallory Square, the Cameltones and Origami for Addicts. Tickets can be ordered online at http://www.brandywinewatershed.org/2008/template/Bva_main.asp. Proceeds support the BVA's conservation programs.
I wonder if anyone else remembers a program I went to years ago, some time in the mid-90s, at the BVA where storyteller Annie Hawkins performed in front of a hillside field of corn that was planted in the shape of a giant heart?

Lavender Lady

Christine Mason wrote to tell me about a fragrant craft program she'll be leading at Stargazers Vineyard and Winery near Embreeville. She writes, "I grow lavender at Stargazers (well, it's a work in progress!) and as the lavender is now coming into bloom, I'll be holding lavender wand-making classes at the winery."
She'll provide "our own freshly cut lavender, ribbon and full instructions to weave a beautiful wand. Wine and cheese will also be available to purchase."
Classes will be held on Saturday, June 29, at 1 p.m.; Thursday, July 4, at 5 p.m.; and Saturday, July 6, at 1 p.m. Wands cost $5 each, with all proceeds going to "Waggies by Maggie and Friends" (waggies.org), "a non-profit dog treat business whose mission is to employ persons with intellectual disabilities." 
And what is the purpose of a lavender wand? Chris says they "have been used for centuries as a decorative way to carry the scent of lavender. They can be used in linen drawers to impart their relaxing scent or hung on doorknobs, bedsteads or windows as a decoration."
Preregister at fatspikelavender@gmail.com. You can learn more about "the Lavender Lady" on Facebook (Fatspikelavender) or her blog (www.fatspikelavender.wordpress.com).

Kennett Run

I see that The Kennett Run, which had a fantastic turnout this spring, is advertising for a race director for next year's event. You'll receive "a small stipend" for the "approximately 300 hours of community service to a charitable cause." They're looking for "a demonstrated commitment to community and some experience with athletic event management." E-mail Kennett Run Charities president Matt Genereux at matt@longwoodfuneralhome.com.

To the lost

A recent editing project of mine is a textbook for pre-law students, "American Constitutionalism," and it highlights famous legal cases and documents in our nation's history. One chapter was entitled "The Watergate Era" and it brought back long-forgotten names like Martha Mitchell, John Dean, John Sirica and Archibald Cox. I remember watching the Watergate hearings on video monitors set up throughout my high school, and our less hide-bound social studies teachers threw out their planned curricula in favor of the living history we were witnessing.
There was another poignant reminder of those times in the obituary column last week: the remains of Air Force Major Louis Fulda Guillermin of West Chester were finally identified, 45 years after his A-26 Invader plane crashed in Laos. The accompanying photo shows the handsome navigator smiling and wearing in a white dress uniform with a black bowtie. He was declared dead in 1978 after being missing in action for 10 years. I can't imagine what his family went through.
Major Guillermin was with the 609th Air Commando Squadron, 56th Air Commando Wing, 7th AF, United States Air Force. As a terse description that I found online reads: "Maj. (then 1st Lt) Luis Guillermin and Lt. Colonel (then Capt.) Robert Pietsch were flying an A26A aircraft over Laos when the plane was downed in Savannakhet Province, Laos. Their last known location was about 10 miles east of the city of Ban Muong Sen."

Tick ... tick ... tick

I've been alerting everyone I know that ticks seem to be rampant this year. For six days straight I found one each day crawling up my jeans pant leg -- and this after several summers where I saw none at all. Fortunately these were the "big" and easy-to-spot kind, not those insidious deer ticks. I keep a roll of Scotch tape on hand and just seal them up.
I know you're more accustomed to hearing me gripe about those foul stink bugs, but I simply haven't seen any. (Update: Not two minutes after I saved this item, I found another tick crawling up my right leg. After I finished the next item, there was one on my left arm. Honestly!)

Super-local

These storms we've had the past few days have been incredibly localized. At my house we got a few downpours, a little bit of wind, a few claps of thunder, absolutely nothing worth writing about, much less justifying the incoming "Flash Flood Alerts" that sound like an air-raid siren on my phone.
But friends who live only a few miles distant reported deluges of rain, gusts of wind, power loss and -- in one case -- some major erosion. The June 13 storm that took down That Tree clobbered the trees along Apple Grove Road, which was littered with branches and broken trunks. The intersection of Apple Grove and Green Valley was especially hard hit.
After the June 18 storm I made it to my class at the Jennersville Y without seeing any damage at all, but my classmates started trickling in late reporting that parts of Route 1 were shut down, as well as Route 41 between Chatham and Route 926 (the detour was Routes 841 and 926). One woman who lives on a farm along 926 was dismayed to see a parade of tractor-trailers on her road and wondered how she was going to get her rig out of her driveway.

Goin' to the chapel

At a graduation party in Unionville last weekend I was chatting with a young woman who is getting married in March in New Orleans. She is formidably organized and has already found her dress and her bridesmaids' dresses and lined up the venue, the caterer, the florist, the photographer and the DJ. The latter asked her to supply a list of 20 must-play songs and 20 must-not-play songs. We had fun coming up with suggestions for the latter, among them Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" (great song anywhere but at a wedding reception) and the Village People's campy "In the Navy" (the bride's uncle is a Navy veteran and would not react well).

A day for all fathers

Has Father's Day morphed from honoring one's own father to celebrating fatherhood in general (Fathers' Day, plural)? I used to wish a Happy Father's Day to just my own Dad; now I find myself expressing similar sentiments to friends' husbands who are fathers and even men who serve as nurturing "fathers" to their animals. At our Father's Day family dinner we raised our glasses to both Dads at the table.
I heard interviews with a few of the golfers competing in the U.S. Open at Merion on Sunday, and they mentioned the significance of playing in the final on Father's Day and how they strive to exemplify good behavior while out on the course, even after making two double-bogeys. Good stuff.

A Marvelous Night

The Natural Lands Trust threw an amazing outdoor gala on Saturday, June 15, to celebrate the opening of the Lenfest Center, its new headquarters at the 1,263-acre ChesLen Preserve off Route 162 and Cannery Road (named for the old Mastrippolito mushroom-canning factory) in Newlin Township.
Lots of my Unionville friends and neighbors were on hand to pay tribute to Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest, whose generosity helped to establish the nature preserve and erect the headquarters. After a "flash mob"-style chorus gathered everyone's attention by singing "Moondance," Molly Morrison, president of the Trust, gave a speech thanking the Lenfests and outlining the preserve's history.
While we were eating, drinking and chit-chatting, several hot-air balloons from the balloon fest at Plantation Field floated by. After the week's dramatic weather, we were fortunate to enjoy a calm, beautiful evening.
On the menu was delicious paella, chicken and sausage from local farms, fried plantains and rice and beans, mini-burgers, mushroom dumplings, bruschetta -- and I'm sure I didn't get to all the food stations. For dessert there were made-on-the-spot s'mores (terrific, but talk about sticky fingers!), fancy water-ices and strawberry rhubarb pie, with cappuccino shooters.
Well done, co-chairs Jeb Hannum and Katharine Maroney! And thanks for the invitation, Kirsten Werner.
The ChesLen preserve is open to the public, free of charge, from dawn to dusk seven days a week. There's an excellent map showing the hiking trails and places of interest. I will definitely put it on my list to explore.

Looking up

I spent part of Saturday night in a Cochranville parking lot marveling at the rings of Saturn, the huge star cluster M13 and the donut-shaped Ring Nebula, courtesy of my friend Kevin Witman, who is a serious amateur astronomer and photographer. In a program sponsored by Londonderry Township, Kevin brought out his two giant telescopes -- the bigger one, which he recently bought himself for his birthday, has a phenomenal 16-inch mirror -- and gave his neighbors a glimpse of the heavens. Kevin's enthusiasm for astronomy is positively endearing: every time he would bring into focus another heavenly body he'd exclaim in genuine delight (his wife, harpist Janet Witman, said he's always like this). He brought along a set of portable steps so that little kids could climb up to the telescope eyepiece, and he was patient with them and gave good explanations about why he had to keep adjusting the non-motorized scope (because of the Earth's constant movement).
Thanks, Kevin, Janet and Londonderry Township! I had a great time out there as the sky got darker and more stars -- and even a satellite -- became visible.

Longest Day

"Do you always watch for the lonest day of the year and then miss it?" asks Daisy Buchanan near the beginning of "The Great Gatsby." "I always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it."
If you are like Daisy, here's a reminder: the longest day of the year is Friday, June 21, the summer solstice. After that the hours of daylight gradually start to decrease.
(I was amused to read the would-be insightful notes I wrote next to this passage in my college edition of "Gatsby": "perfect pose ... the longest day is an illusion!")