Windowsill gardening

What do you do with your avocado pits? In our family, we always poke toothpicks in them (the pits, not family members) and suspend them over jars of water, with just the bottom end touching the water, in the hopes that they'll be inspired to sprout and become new avocado plants. Sometimes they do, which is a fun mini-miracle, but most of the time they're duds and just get moldy. Which is why you see so many attempts on my kitchen windowsill above.
The plant on the right is not an avocado; it's one of those hydroponically grown basil plants you buy at the supermarket. Put it in a glass of water and it stays fresh for lots of pesto batches.

Nice people!

I want to mention three instances of above-and-beyond service that I experienced in the past few days, even in the thick of the "Christmas rush."
1. The clerk at Staples ran out into the parking lot after me to give me a $5 rebate form that I didn't even know I was entitled to. He totally didn't have to do that.
2. I asked the waitress at the Half Moon for a large glass of water because I was donating blood the next day and needed to ingest lots of fluid. Not only did she bring me a huge glass, but she kept it topped off throughout the meal.
3. When she brought my chicken Caesar salad, the waitress at Perkins apologized because the kitchen was out of croutons. I told her no problem, I'd just snitch some of my dinner companion's bread instead. She wouldn't hear of it and brought me two rolls instead.
Well done, all. Thank you.

New signs at London Grove

New traffic signs went up at the London Grove intersection (Route 926 and Newark Road) on Friday, Dec. 20. This wasn't a surprise: West Marlborough Township supervisors have been talking about the new signage for a few months. Motorists can no longer make left turns from southbound Newark Road onto eastbound Route 926 (heading toward Willowdale). And there's a sign warning westbound Route 926 motorists that if they continue straight, they will hit an embankment at Newark Road.

The liberal arts

When I got home from college on Christmas break in the late 1970s, after days of intense studying and exams, I was always a zombie, barely able to defeat my brother at Pong (then the height of video game technology). So I was impressed the other day to chat with a current college student who had just arrived home on break but still showed amazing enthusiasm for her anthropology coursework on Amazonian tribes, just hours after taking her exams and completing her final essays. It always took me weeks of recuperation after semester's end to be able to even think about Hegel or eutrophication or "The Aeneid" without gibbering.

Cabela's is coming

Hunters, anglers and campers -- really, outdoorsy people of all types -- will doubtless be delighted to hear that a 110,000-square-foot Cabela's outdoor store will be opening next spring near the Christiana Mall. The nearest Cabela's is currently in Hamburg, up in Berks County. Cabela's is looking to hire some 250 staff and will be holding a job fair Jan. 13 to 17 at the Sheraton Wilmington South Hotel in New Castle.
According to a press release from the company, here's what the new store is going to look like: "The store will be built in Cabela's trademark style with an exterior of log construction, stonework, wood siding and metal roofing. Large glass storefronts will allow customers to view much of the store's interior as they approach the building."

Road crew

A fellow who is just learning the ways of West Marlborough is surprised at how well our township road crew treats us, compared to his more populous municipality. Not only do our road guys salt and plow the roads, but they also keep us posted via Facebook about the latest road conditions (good and bad), downed limbs (there was one at Springdell in the last storm), power outages, black ice and so forth. Greatly appreciated!
Speaking of sloppy weather, the Mr. Wizard Car Wash on Mill Road was the place to be on Friday afternoon. Extra attendants were there to help with traffic flow as motorists like me descended on the place to get rid of  the encrusted salt and mud on our vehicles. (On the way home I even avoided taking my usual unpaved roads so that I could keep the car clean for as long as I could.) I'm told the DIY car wash in Toughkenamon was so busy on Sunday that an inch-thick sediment of salt, gravel and debris had accumulated around the drain.

Middle School

The teachers at Patton Middle School continue to present an excellent challenge to the Young Relative and his fellow students. He's studying mutant cells, polynomials, the Revolutionary War (they're staging three scenes, including the Boston Tea Party) and Nobel Prize winners (about whom he has to write a report in the form of a newspaper article -- YAY!) as well as surprising his Secret Santa recipient and serenading his classmates with Christmas songs.
Over dinner the other night he repeated that oft-heard complaint about algebra: "When am I ever gonna use this?!"
"On your next test," replied his father immediately. Snap!
Our united front on behalf of algebra, however, was lessened considerably when neither his father nor I could remember the long-ago-memorized Quadratic Formula and had to look it up online. (OK: can YOU remember it?) The Young Relative said that when he becomes a world-famous Nobel Prize winner himself and writes his autobiography, he will note how he had to overcome the handicap of having such mathematically challenged family members.

Christmas Carols

I had a great time at West Grove Friends Meeting's Carol Sing on the evening of Dec. 16. Maybe 20 people gathered in the candlelit meetinghouse, and we started with a period of silence in the manner of Friends, which is always a welcome break from the daily chatter.
Mary Sproat read aloud the traditional verses from the Book of Luke about Jesus' birth, and after another time of silence (broken by an occasional, and adorable, coo from one of the babies), one man got the singing started with "Silent Night." After the first words we all joined in, and after that, another person started another carol, and so forth.
I was ashamed of how many words I'd forgotten. I could get through the first verses of the songs pretty creditably, but after that my memory gave out. I wanted to start "Do You Hear What I Hear?" but I simply couldn't remember how it started!
It was such fun singing, and the room's great acoustics made even my off-key voice sound passable -- although singing skill isn't the least bit important at this event, enthusiasm is. Afterward we chatted and enjoyed Christmas cookies and cake and fellowship.
Because of the iffy footing (mud, ice and snow), the decision was made to hold the Carol Sing at the meetinghouse in West Grove proper rather than its traditional site, the tiny old State Road meetinghouse, which has no electricity or heat other than a woodstove. It has great atmosphere, but I think it was a smart move.

Indian Hannah

A huge thank you to "Unionville in the News" reader John, who was nice enough to alert me to a forthcoming book about Indian Hannah entitled "A Lenape Among the Quakers: The Life of Hannah Freeman." It's by Dawn G. March, an assistant professor at Purdue University.
According to the blurb on Amazon, "A Lenape among the Quakers reconstructs Hannah Freeman’s history, traveling from the days of her grandmothers before European settlement to the beginning of the nineteenth century. The story that emerges is one of persistence and resilience, as “Indian Hannah” negotiates life with the Quaker neighbors who employ her, entrust their children to her, seek out her healing skills, and, when she is weakened by sickness and age, care for her. And yet these are the same neighbors whose families have dispossessed hers. Fascinating in its own right, Hannah Freeman’s life is also remarkable for its unique view of a Native American woman in a colonial community during a time of dramatic transformation and upheaval. In particular it expands our understanding of colonial history and the Native experience that history often renders silent."
"A Lenape Among the Quakers" will be published March 1, 2014, by the University of Nebraska Press.
Indian Hannah was a Lenni-Lenape woman who lived in Chester County in the late 18th century. There are several historical markers in her memory, including a recently dedicated monument at the Embreeville Center, where she spent the last years of her life. Newlin Township has a road named in her honor.