OVERSEAS: Kindergarten teacher and her son travel to China

Bob Connolly was kind enough to write and tell me that his wife, Joanne Connolly (a teacher at the Mary D. Lang Kindergarten Center) is in China for three weeks teaching English. This summer she took along their son, Kennett High School senior Sean Connolly, as her teacher's assistant.

The travelers are keeping a blog about their travels and adventures at http://www.blogster.com/americanteachersinchina3.

I especially enjoyed reading one entry from Joanne:

"I have to say that I am proud of Sean.  He's tried every single food that has been placed in front of him no matter how disgusting it looked.....and with chopsticks! He is a hungry boy so his fine motor skills have improved significantly over the past couple of days."
Replied Bob: "Meanwhile. . . Dad goes hungry."

 

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GROCERIES: Goodbye to the Superfresh store

You've probably heard the news that the Superfresh grocery store in the Longwood shopping center is going to be closing, possibly within a few months, as part of the bankruptcy filing of its parent company, A&P.
It's a shame for the employees who will be laid off, and for the regular customers. For me, the Giant (either New Garden or Jennersville) is my go-to store. I dash into the Superfresh only if I need a few items urgently (say, Gilbert the Guinea Pig is out of baby carrots, a situation that Must Not Happen) and I'm on that side of town.
What will move into the vacant store? I've always thought we need a Trader Joe's closer than Concord Pike. Speaking of vacant stores, there's a rumor floating around that an indoor target-shooting range is moving into the old Boomers in Avondale. I haven't been able to pin it down. As one wag quipped, "At least they'll be able to keep the name."

MUSIC: Mason Porter, Kategory 5 and One Alternative

Outdoor concerts are a wonderful part of summer for me, and I've been to three in the past 10 days. At Anson B. Nixon Park, local favorites Mason Porter played a terrific set on July 15 (with a delicious fried chicken dinner by the Kennett Inn), and on July 22 a band called Kategory5 ("Kat" is Kat Pigliacampi, the lead singer) covered classic hits from my youth: great stuff from Heart, Kansas, Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac, the Doobie Brothers and lots of others. No one needed to be encouraged to sing along; we knew all the words by heart. Loved their versions of "Hotel California" and "Rocket Man"!
It's always fun to hear the emcees at these Anson B. Nixon shows. Kennett merchant Doug Harris did his inimitable high-energy intro for Mason Porter, and Bob Listerman gave a spirited pitch for the local Rotary groups to open the July 22 show.
On July 23 we headed over to the Brandywine Valley Association to hear the jazz fusion band One Alternative (bass, guitar, oboe and drums). A couple we know attends these shows every Thursday, not only to hear the music but also to pick the wild raspberries that flourish back in the woods. They pointed us toward the brambles before the show started (after, of course, securing their own two pints). As the sun set it became actually blanket-worthy chilly, a far cry from the temperatures in the 90s just a few days earlier.

FERRARI: A prancing pony of a different sort

Both the Young Relative and the Cranky Friend have mocked me since day 1 for writing about daily events they consider wholly trivial, and I can just imagine their sneering

reaction to this item: "Gee. You saw a car parked in a parking lot. Great."
Yeah, but, dudes: that was not just a car, it was a gray Ferrari convertible, in the first spot of the Kennett YMCA parking lot early Thursday afternoon. Some Internet research identified it as a 1982 308 GTS Quattrovalvole model.

The young boy who walked past it as I was taking a photo did not need the Internet to tell him that this was one special vehicle. He just stopped and stared at it. "He knows cool cars when he sees them," explained his mom.

LIBRARY: A plea for "civil civic discourse"

I had a Tilda item all ready to go about the nasty dustup between Bayard Taylor Library board president Susan Mackey-Kallis and Kennett Township supervisors' chairman Scudder Stevens, full of accusations and rebuttals and intemperate language on both sides. Juicy stuff!
But you know what? I decided not to run it.
I was on the library board during the bitter controversy 15 years ago, and one of the (many) life lessons I learned from that grueling experience was that politeness and cooperation get you a lot farther in the long run than pettiness and snarkiness, as tempting and satisfying as the latter may be at the moment.
And "the long run" is what the library board should be focused on: making friends and cultivating donors.
Of course the library board's first reaction is to fight back, and with as much spin as they can muster
("Save the Library!"). And that's understandable; the board members feel they're under attack.
But wouldn't it be a lot more constructive if, instead of devoting all that energy to generating spin, they did some serious thinking instead? "Wow. What have we done to tick off so many people? And how can we redeem ourselves?"
Hatred and divisiveness take a very long time to heal in a small, tightly knit community like this. Name-calling, ad hominem arguments, and "he said/she said" are not going to get us anywhere we want (including a good night's sleep).
As my friend and fellow board member the late Stefi Jackson used to say, "What has happened to civil civic discourse?"
One thing that everyone can agree on -- and that's worth repeating -- is that the library staff does a great job. When I was there for a meeting the other night, the perpetually enthusiastic children's librarian burst into the hallway, inviting me to attend an "egg drop" that was happening in five minutes. I was sorry the meeting was starting! And I just got an email about an Insta-Con event that's going on at the library this weekend, full of comic book and robot programs designed for teens. It's great to see the place packed full of kids.
Those of us who were on the library board back around the year 2000 spent countless hours at meetings, at community events, at our computers, at cocktail parties, lobbying for a new library.
Please. Let's not mess it up this time.

LIBRARY: More twists and turns than a complicated spy novel

The more-than-a-decade-long saga over where the new library should be located continues.
Last year, the board changed its mind about building on an "in-town site," said the library was definitely going to build at the Ways Lane site that the board bought 15 years ago, and took the five-acre Ways Lane lot off the real-estate market.
But at their July 21 meeting, they voted to work with the borough to investigate purchasing the Weinstein site, which is just down the block from the current library. (It's named for the former Weinstein plumbing store.)
Board vice president Geoff Birkett acknowledged that the change would be perceived by the public as "flip-flopping," but "it's flip-flopping because of external influences." The board will obtain bids to have the Ways Lane site and the Weinstein site appraised and said they think the current library site would sell readily because of its desirable location in the middle of town.
The Weinstein site, which was rejected by two past library boards because of lack of parking, would accommodate a two-story library with underground parking.
What has changed?
Board president Susan Mackey-Kallis said there is the possibility of more parking and grant funding. She said if the Weinstein deal comes to fruition, the board would sell the Ways Lane site and the library's current site.
But can the library board raise the money for a new library, no matter where it is located?
The board had on its meeting agenda "Feasibility Study Results" but did not discuss the results. The study was conducted by MacIntyre Associates to assess the public's attitude toward the library and to determine how much money the board could raise.
Also at the meeting, the board welcomed Jeff Yetter and Bill McLachlan, the board members whom Kennett Township recently appointed. Kennett Township also removed its sitting member, Rosa Quintana, in favor of the two gentlemen, but the board appointed her immediately as an at-large member. The board also voted to approve Chris Britt of Kennett Township as an at-large member.

HOLINESS: What am I hearing in the background?

On my errand run today, every radio station was playing nothing but "Shut Up and Dance With Me," "Honey I'm Good," "Style," or "Sugar." Even the predictably offbeat college station at the bottom of the dial was playing the ubiquitous "Uptown Funk."
So I switched over to the religious station out of Lancaster and heard a woman telling a story about how, after work one day, she decided to watch a DVD that she had heard was good but had a lot of cursing in it (she didn't give the name). While she was watching it, she got a call from a client, an executive in a prominent religious organization. She felt terribly guilty about doing something impure and took this as a reminder that God was watching her.
My immediate thought was more temporal than spiritual: did she mute the TV when talking to the guy?

EGGS: Avian flu outbreak causes the egg market to fluctuate

The effects of the avian flu outbreak are being felt here, even though no Pennsylvania flocks have been affected. A sign at Saladworks in Jennersville said due to the national egg shortage caused by the outbreak, eggs would temporarily be off the menu. And prices are rising at the grocery store. Thank goodness for my friend who raises hens; she gives me eggs and I give her cookies, vegetables, flowers, lunch at Hood's or the occasional muscle power to help with farm chores.

TICKS: The creatures are rampant in Chester County

You've heard it many times, but based on my experience this past weekend, it bears repeating: Watch out for ticks! Our hour-long stroll through the woods on Saturday netted eight ticks on two people, one already embedded. Everyone around here seems to have a family member, neighbor, or friend who has either been on antibiotics for tick bites or has been diagnosed with full-blown Lyme disease. Do a tick check on yourself and your animals.