One little hour

"What a difference a day makes," croons Dinah Washington on the wonderful, smoky jazz CD that one of my gym teachers plays occasionally. I was thinking more like what a difference even an hour makes -- in terms of Unionville road conditions, that is, when it's sunny and above freezing. En route to lunch on Friday, even some of the main roads were still icy, especially in shady areas, and I crept along at 20 mph, much to the annoyance, I'm sure, of the guy in the pickup behind me hauling hay. On the way home, the pavement was bare and almost dry. Remarkable!

Tell me more, tell me more

I'll be spending some time at Unionville High School the next few weekends.
Feb. 21 and 22 is the always wonderful annual used-book sale in the high-school gym. Hours are from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, with the $8 "bag sale" to follow from 3 to 5 p.m. Snow dates are Feb. 28 and March 1.
And at 7:30 p.m. on March 6, 7, and 8 the high-schoolers are presenting the musical "Grease" in the UHS auditorium. Doubtless umpteen kids are spending umpteen hours memorizing their lines and dance steps, practicing their songs and music, hammering and painting sets, and tracking down Fifties props and costumes. And cementing life-long friendships; just ask this veteran of many, many musicals.

Welcome to the working world

I overheard two high-school girls talking in the locker room this afternoon and I couldn't help but smile to myself at their conversation.
The one said she really needed the forthcoming snow day; she felt burned out from all her sports, schoolwork and other activities and was looking forward to staying in bed and "just meditating" (even though she knew she'd get yelled at by her mother).
She speculated what it would be like when she got a job, though, and didn't get snow days or summers off any more.
"Yeah," her friend agreed, "but, like, at least you'll be doing something you like, and getting paid for it."
The first girl said that was certainly true, and she just didn't understand why people stayed in jobs they didn't like. "But, I mean, what do I know? I'm just a 14-year-old freshman."
Another funny I heard at the Y: two burly delivery men were wheeling in dollies of weights.
"Oh, the dumb-bells are here!" exclaimed one front-desk person.
Another said to her colleague she was glad she hadn't said anything, as she always mistakenly calls the weights "dumb-boys," and the delivery men might not have taken that kindly.

In a hurry

A loyal reader added another item to the perils of driving along Baltimore Pike 1 from Longwood to the Route 1 bypass:
"I have had SEVERAL cars fly by me on my right when I am about to exit Rt. 1 for Kennett Square. There is no lane there! They just go from the Walmart turn lane right through to the exit lane! I have been surprised several times as I am about to exit and see a car where there should not be one. Very dangerous."
She's right: stay alert. (But at least I haven't seen those annoying "charity" solicitors at that crossroads for a while.)

Magic trick

I did a little yard cleanup yesterday afternoon and came inside to find a three-inch-long scrape on my leg from a jagged branch -- even though was no hole in my leggings. It reminded me of that sliced-banana magic trick; have today's kids even heard of it? Take a needle or a toothpick and insert it into a brown spot on a banana. Push it straight in just until it touches the inside of the opposite peel; don't pierce the other side. Carefully wiggle it to create a slice, and then withdraw it. Repeat at even intervals along the banana. Then gather your family or friends and peel the banana, revealing that it has magically been sliced!

Route 41

PennDOT wants your opinion on Route 41 traffic! (I know you have one. Probably several.)
As part of their "transportation improvement study on intersections along Route 41 in southern Chester County" (specifically the intersections with Route 926, Route 841, White Horse Road and Route 796), they're running an online survey at www.pa41.com. Deadline for responses is February 28. A friend who took the survey reports that the questions ask how often you use these intersections and when, and any problems you've encountered. There's also room for comments.
Hard copies of the survey are available at the Londonderry Township office (103 Daleville Road, Cochranville) and at the London Grove Township office (372 Rose Hill Road, West Grove).

 

Cold comfort

Some East Marlborough friends who were out of power from Wednesday morning through Sunday morning reported that the lights were blazing the whole time at their neighbors' house across the street, which has a whole-house generator that clicks on automatically. What was especially vexing was that the neighbors were away the whole time, on vacation in Africa.
My friend adds that this lengthy power outage was the last straw: all the families in her area are getting together to see if they can negotiate a discount if they all buy their generators from one vendor.
Another friend whose farm was out of power for an equally long period of time said she didn't really need a thermostat to tell how cold it was inside her house: her Gummi candy became as hard as a rock. When the power returned, she could tell the HVAC was really cooking when the Gummi once again became pliable.
The day after everyone got their power back on, I was amused to see in my mailbox a catalog from an Ohio hardware store that featured an assortment of Feuerhand lanterns on the front cover. "Weather Any Storm," read the copy. "Perfect for When the Power Fails." How timely.

Chocolate

It was eating room only at the Kennett Chocolate Lovers Festival Sunday afternoon in the Kennett High School gym. It attracted so many people, in fact, that the event deserves to become a business-school case study in logistics: What's the most efficient way to move hundreds of people past scores of tempting chocolate entries set out on tables? Our strategy was to pick a random spot, wait until the crowd thinned and then compare the four or five choices we could see from our vantage point. As a result, unfortunately, we got to see only a small number of the offerings.
Two of the gentlemen in my party (neither with an MBA) came up with an ingenious idea involving parallel, variable-speed conveyor belts to efficiently move people past the selections and discourage loitering.
We figured out that the amateur entries were on two sides of the rectangle of tables and the professional ones (which cost you TWO tickets) were on the end. We didn't realize until we got home and saw the photos that there were also student entries! One of my samples turned out to be one of the overall professional winners, a fabulous hazelnut marjolaine, and I also had a delicious brownie topped with a maraschino cherry.
This was the second annual fest, and one baker who is a veteran of both said this year's was much better organized than last year's, and thankfully in a much larger venue. Even with the ample parking lots at the high school, we parked across South Street at the Y pool lot and had an excellent calorie-burning hike up to the gym.
The event benefits our local United Way, which appears to have hit on a hugely popular moneymaker. Kudos to the volunteer bakers, organizers and patient tong-wielding attendants.

Offline

The fortitude shown by my friends and neighbors this past week has been remarkable. Some of them have been living in cold houses, without light, heat or hot water, for four days now and counting. On Saturday morning at Hood's we caught up with two couples, still amazingly cheerful in the face of their difficulties. One woman noted that her house was so cold that even the squirrels who had been occupying her attic had fled. Another, even though she was suffering from a major head cold, managed to make toffee on her gas burner for the Kennett Chocolate Fest.
Two days in a row this weekend we ran into a fellow who is out of power -- on Saturday at the Kennett Walmart and on Sunday at Philter. He said how thrilled he was to get a hot shower at the Kennett Y and charge up his laptop at the coffee shop.
The pioneer spirit lives on in these hardy country souls! Nonetheless, I'm predicting a boom in generator sales.