Saturday, March 15, 2014

Acres of green

I'm actually not sure I'd ever been to a St. Patrick's Day celebration until this past Saturday, when I went to the St. Patrick's Church party at the Red Clay Room in Kennett. The place was packed and lively, with almost everyone wearing something green: there were green Mardi Gras beads, green sweatshirts and sweaters, sky-high green-and-white Cat-in-the-Hat-style hats, sparkly green bowler hats and -- my favorite -- a tiny leprechaun hat set at a rakish angle atop a bald head.
The delicious dinner included the traditional corned beef and cabbage, ham and green beans and Irish potatoes; dessert was brownie cakes and sugar cookies encrusted with green sprinkles on both sides. There were a lot of very cute and well-behaved little kids toddling around. Around the room were tables with silent auction items from just about every business in the area -- two special items were a dinner cooked by the parish priest, Father Victor Sharrett, and a limo ride in Kennett's Memorial Day parade.
We heard some of the Irish songs but unfortunately had to leave before the troupe of Irish dancers performed -- they were warming up in the lobby as we left.
One of the organizers, the local Knights of Columbus, told us that they were thrilled with the turnout for this year's event. As well they should be -- the parking lot was full and I don't think many more revelers could have fit into the room!

Brown sugar

This item has nothing to do with Unionville at all, other than it saved me from an unexpected trip to the grocery store this afternoon. I rarely use brown sugar in my baking, so when I went to make a batch of chocolate-chip cookies today, the brown sugar in the pantry consisted of three large, diamond-hard clumps. I vaguely remembered some old hint that you could soften brown sugar using a slice of apple; alas, I didn't have an apple. I'd tried grating the clumps previously and that hadn't worked out well at all.
So I tried the hint on the side of the brown-sugar box -- and it worked great. Put the hardened sugar in a Tupperware-clone dish and cover it with damp paper towels. Seal the lid. Nuke it for 30 seconds and try unclumping it with a fork (it'll be hot). If needed, nuke for another 30 seconds. It took a total of a minute for the sugar to crumble.
(I hear that the questions on the SAT college-entrance exams are being revamped to make them more relevant. Perhaps useful information like this might be added?)

On the fence

I've received a few emails from people interested in participating in the Unionville Cemetery's fence project and wanted to pass along this announcement to them: "The next meeting of the Unionville Cemetery Assoc. will be held at the cemetery (weather permitting) on Saturday May 17th, starting at 9 a.m. This will also be a work day to do more work under the fence prior to blasting and painting. General cleanup will also be done. Donations are still being accepted for the fence restoration project. All volunteers are welcome! We will also have a picnic for all workers that day."
You can contact the organizers on the cemetery's Facebook page or at uca13@yahoo.com.
This is the cemetery on Route 82 right across from the Unionville Post Office and the Po-Mar-Lin fire station.

Friday, March 14, 2014

Nee Jacksonville

How did Unionville get its name? A reader wanted to know, and try as I might I can't seem to find out; I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable will contact me (uvilleblogger@gmail.com). According to the East Marlborough Historic Commission's website, the town was originally called Jacksonville, after a prominent family of settlers, but the name was changed to Unionville in the early 1800s.
"In 1979 Unionville Village Historic District was named to the National Register of Historic Places, as an example of a 19th-century rural village which has kept much of its early appearance and character."
               

Spring events


Three excellent events are coming up that are already on my schedule!
1. Baily's Dairy at Pocopson Meadow on Lenape-Unionville Road is having a spring celebration from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, April 19. "We will have all of our newest Spring babies out for the first time. Just like last year, we will have chicks, ducklings, bunnies, lambs, kids (goats) and calves out for pictures with the kids." (I, for one, greet as many creatures as I see every time I stop in for Baily's fresh milk -- especially the bunnies.)
2. The folks at Waste Oil Recyclers in downtown Modena (aka "Mogreena") are having their Sixth Annual Energy Independence Day from 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday, May 18. This is always a fun afternoon, with music, food, exhibits and some of the nicest and coolest people around.
3. And on May 17th and 18th there's going to be a very special event commemorating the Battle of the Brandywine: hundreds of historical reenactors will recreate the pivotal Revolutionary War battle on the actual ground where it was fought back in 1777. Proceeds benefit The Wounded Warrior Project and Birmingham Battlefields Preservation. There's more information on www.brandywine2014.com.

Farm Girl

In return for taking care of their animals (one aged collie, one cat, and a coop full of chickens) for a few days while they took a mini-break, two friends of mine gave me not only all the wonderful fresh eggs I could collect but also a far-too-generous gift card to Kyoto, the sushi and Asian restaurant on Onix Drive, east of the Kennett Wal-Mart.
I'd forgotten that Kyoto offers a terrific lunch special: two of their sushi rolls for $6.99. After cleaning up from my mid-day farm duties on  Monday, I had a tuna roll and a smoked salmon/cream cheese/avocado one, along with a seaweed salad. FYI, there's also a Subway sandwich shop and the Plaza Azteca Mexican restaurant (great guacamole!) in that little strip shopping center.
I lucked out in terms of chicken duty: it was mostly above freezing, which meant the feeding and watering chores were easy (if muddy), I could spend some extra time "bawk-BAWKing" with the chickens without freezing, and the egg yield was exceptional.

Nothing that Spring won't cure

What an array of ailments I've been hearing about in the past few weeks from my "walking wounded" friends! Nagging sinus headaches and infections; a badly wrenched back from snow shoveling (the "chiropractor's friend"); and protracted sleep deprivation due to a new puppy in the home (a Boxer named Rocky). I found out about the latter when two of the puppy's minders, a mother and daughter, yawned simultaneously in gym class the other day.

Mr. Chips

Tree services and property managers (paid and de facto) are going to be BUSY this spring. The strong winds the other night brought down still more tree limbs, and not only ones that had been weakened in February's major ice storm. Mother Nature actually did some housekeeping in the white pines behind me, bringing down some limbs that had been broken off but were just hanging there precariously -- like the sword of Damocles. (Naturally, though, the black oak limb that has been looming over Route 842 between Byrd and Mill Roads for a few years now remains perfectly intact.)
On Wednesday I stopped by to visit two friends who live on a back road in Cochranville. I hadn't heard from them for a while, and when I got to their house I saw why. They were out of power for five days during the ice storm, and since then they've been clearing limbs from their property pretty much nonstop. So many of the trees along the road came down that it looks like there's room for a nice walking path; goodness knows they have enough pine chips for the footing.
Here's the problem: I play tennis against these two, and their upper-body strength is going to be formidable after all that manual labor.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Looking up

Things are looking up here in West Marlborough Township: in the past few days I've received two emails from neighbors sharing their avian news.
One was nice enough to sent me a video she took showing flocks of black birds flying past the bare trees, chirping away like crazy. She wrote: "Every Spring, we get literally thousands of little birds that swarm through our property for just one day. They are so noisy that we can hear them from inside the house, even with the doors and windows shut. It really is magical!"
Reports another: "I am so very EXCITED - I heard the Canada geese begin their northern migration on Monday over the farm.  Every year they make a particular sound as they migrate north or south over the farm. I put that on Facebook and several said it was no big deal, but then another friend who is really into birding posted photos of the migration which he saw over towards the Oxford area.  Then the migration continued yesterday and this morning  - TRUMPET SOUND!!!!!!" She adds that there are Purple Martins building nests in her back-yard Purple Martin house. "Spring is really on its way!"
I think we are ALL ready for spring. Didn't it feel positively balmy when the thermometer rose above freezing for a few days? Muddy, yes, but warm!

The optimum ride

Each spring I receive a thick, glossy catalog of summer programs from a New Age retreat center. Among the varied offerings on yoga, telepathy, cleansing, memoir-writing, shamanic journeying, empowerment, and meditation, one might be of particular interest to some Unionville readers: "Conscious Horseback Riding." According to its description, the goal of this class is to learn "how we create our own experience" and to "achieve the optimum ride" using "a series of mounted asanas and breathwork." There are two hours of instruction in the mornings and "some bareback work" in the afternoons.
Perhaps they could offer a special deal if you take that class along with "Soul-Level Animal Communication" ("Learn about animal soul contracts and how animals use them to assist and heal us") and the numerous courses that are offered about spiritual healing from chronic injuries, trauma and pain.

Staples removed?

I saw a newspaper story about how Staples is planning to close many of its office-supply stores and reduce the size of the remaining ones; no word on whether the Kennett store will be affected. Staples management is saying that, like many retailers, to remain competitive they need to reduce their brick-and-mortar footprint because so much buying has shifted to the Internet. But as the Cranky Friend commented, who wants to buy a box of paperclips online? I always appreciate the helpful staff at the local Staples, too, who met the significant challenge of helping me buy and configure a new computer last year.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Grease

We saw the Unionville High School production of "Grease" on Saturday night. It was super; what a talented, energetic bunch of kids! The singing and dancing in the big production numbers were just terrific, and I loved some of the clever background "business," like when the greaser boys stacked tires around the hapless nerd Eugene.
After the curtain call, the cast presented flowers and thanks to the adults who directed the show (and what a logistical challenge that must have been, with all the snow days this winter!). It was so sweet when Jackie Tremblay, who did a marvelous job playing the cynical, hardened Rizzo, choked up when she gave director Betsy Ballard her bouquet.
Huge congratulations to everyone involved in this terrific production, and I hope you had an awesome and memorable cast party. You will be happy to know that my date did a doo-wop shuffle on the way back to the car, and I found myself belting out "Hopelessly Devoted to You" in the shower this morning.

Levi Weaver

Singer Levi Weaver presented a fascinating show at the Hockessin Baptist Church on Friday night. He used a suitcase full of digital gadgets to create amazing aural effects; he recorded snippets of his voice and then played them back while singing along with himself, adding layer upon layer of harmony. One mike that he used made his voice sound like an ethereal choir encircling around the room.
Levi, a gangly fellow with a shock of dark hair, hails from Texas, is the son of a rodeo cowboy, and now lives in an RV with his wife and kids. Between songs he spoke about his struggles with keeping religious faith (after all, the concert was in a church hall). He said that a few years ago he was diagnosed with depression and checked "yes" to almost all the boxes on a depression survey the doctor gave him. Then they asked for his occupation: "I wrote down, `Musician'. It was kind of like extra credit."
Headlining the show was an adorable and earnest young couple, Jenny & Tyler. They sang some very sweet love songs, including one about how Jenny gave up her beloved one-eyed cat because Tyler was allergic to him.

Harry Sighting

On Daylight Savings Sunday morning (possibly afternoon) I stopped in at Hood's for a breakfast sandwich and was delighted to run into my old friend Harry Wackerman, who runs the Kennett Senior Center's used bookstore on Union Street in downtown Kennett. Harry was telling me how much he enjoys living out here in the beautiful West Marlborough countryside.