Citrus

The produce aisle always tends to spark conversation. I picked out two navel oranges yesterday at the Jennersville Giant and moved aside so the next lady could select hers. "No, keep going," she said. She was surprised when I explained that I really wanted only two; she said she can't keep enough of them in the house.
"Wow, you have a healthy family," I commented.
"Yes," she agreed. "But they're a dollar apiece!"

The Simpsons

Using a relaxed definition of what the Main Line comprises, "Main Line Today" magazine features Colleen and Wayne Simpson's Marlboro Village home in its February issue. The Tuscany-inspired home was on the Chadds Ford Historical Society's Christmas tour; maybe you remember it if you took the shuttle-bus part of the tour. The two designed the home: Wayne is an architect and Colleen is an interior designer.

Rubbing it in

An Embreeville resident, by sheer good fortune, picked this frigid, snowy week for her winter vacation in the Dominican Republic. She wasted no time sending back gorgeous photos of hammocks slung from palm trees, white sand beaches and the sparkling aquamarine sea.
"The color of the water is amazing," she wrote. "The photo doesn't really do it justice!"
Later in the day, however, she posted a photo of her sunburned torso; apparently her sunblock wasn't strong enough for the tropical sun.
We're all very fond of her, but it really shouldn't have been a surprise that she got absolutely no sympathy from her Chester County neighbors.

Uriah Heep

Wow, hats off to the high-school kid staffing Foxy Loxy the other day. The place was really busy, with flocks of people ordering drinks, food and ice cream, but she managed to handle everything with a poise beyond her years. I would've been verging on the frantic.
My coffee partner and I took our drinks into their cozy living room, and our discussion led to this week's funniest auto-correct. I ordered the Quiche Lorraine, which made my pal think of the old song "Sweet Lorraine" -- except he couldn't remember who sang it. In the course of Googling, the 1970s rock band Uriah Heep (yes, named after the Dickens character) came up, and when I was texting this info to another 70s music fan on my smart phone, "Uriah Heep" morphed into "Irish Jeep."
(Long story short: it turned out that the extremely grim song my friend was thinking of was actually "Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine" by Country Joe and the Fish, from their 1967 album "Electric Music for the Mind and Body.")

Visiting time

Today I had the pleasure of visiting two senior citizens, parents of a friend, who just moved to one of the new assisted-living facilities in our area. The older couple and I had a nice visit in the large, comfortable, sunny reception room, which had a built-in fish tank and a big-screen TV playing afternoon talk shows. I talked up the attractions of our little town. They both wanted to get library cards, and I told them how easy it is to do that.
I heard all about the facility's food, the welcome freedom from supermarket shopping, cooking and cleaning up, and the avidity with which the residents approach the elevator to go downstairs at mealtime.
My friend's mother told me how much she loves to see visitors, especially when they bring pets with them to cuddle. It was too cold to take my guinea pig Binnie outside, but I promised I'd bring her in the spring.
I noticed how very careful the facility is about keeping germs away from their residents: there were antibacterial hand wipes at the front desk and plenty of signs and pamphlets urging visitors not to put residents at risk.

Owl

Received this Jan. 21 dispatch from a Cochranville outdoorsman: "Out in the woods today, had a Great Horned Owl fly past me 15 feet away, six feet off the ground. Amazing to see its face so clearly ... Saw it coming 2 feet off the ground from 60 yards away. Cut through the opening in the trees where I was standing. Not a sound, barely moved its wings. Disappeared into the woods below. Once watched one for at least three minutes, sitting in a branch about thirty yards from me."

Refund

A friend of mine bought a $100 gift card for The Orchard restaurant as a Christmas present for her son, but as I reported a few weeks ago, the place closed its doors on Jan. 1. Does anybody know how to contact the former owner/chef, Gary Trevisani? My friend wants her money back, and understandably so. Please email me at uvilleblogger@gmail.com if you have any contact info.

Winter hours

Just a heads up that winter hours are in effect at Barnard's Orchards on Rt. 842, which means the wonderful farm market is not open on Sundays until spring. So be sure to get there between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday!

On the road

I thought I'd been on most of the back roads around here, but on Saturday I found a new one: Valley Creek Road, between Boot Road in Downingtown and Route 322. It's a lovely scenic road along the creek and passes by East Bradford Township's Paradise Valley Nature Area.
Also on Saturday's wide-ranging travels I was once again amused by the blinking-light sign on the Route 1 bypass at Newark Road: "Hiring Winter Temps." Yes, I know they mean "road crew," but my immediate reaction is always, "They need to hire winter temperatures???"

Heron

A Unionville reader was kind enough to share the following item with me: "There is a heron of some sort who struts around the meadow on Rt. 926 between School House and Northbrook Rd.  He's lovely. If you're driving by there try to spot him."
"I don't know about `lovely'-- maybe `lonely'!" commented another friend who has also seen the heron. He said the bird, which he identified as a great blue heron, was "maybe 10 feet from traffic during rush hour, and staring intently at something in the grass -- from which I deduce they eat more than fish, as there were no fish along Route 926."
He said he (my friend) did a double-take when he saw the out-of-place bird so close to the road.