TUFFIES: Looking for some info on this pennant

My friend Joan is looking for information about this handsome "Toughkenamon" pennant that someone donated to the New Garden Township Historic Commission.

"I want to get it framed to hang in our history room In the NG Twp. building and would like to be able to put the information with it. I thought if you would mention it in the Tilda Tally Ho column we might have a good chance that someone will recognize it and provide its history."
Joan also posted a photo of the pennant on the "You Know You're from Kennett Square" Facebook page and some readers said it may have been for the "Tuffies" baseball team, which played in the 1940s. Another person recalled that "After the War, Toughkenamon and Kennett Square played an annual Thanksgiving Day football game. It was quite a big deal locally. I'll take a guess and suggest this: That pennant dates from the football rivalry."
Readers, does anybody have any more information? Let me know at uvilleblogger@gmail.com if you do!

SCHOOL BOARD: Looking for a new school board member

Keith Knauss' recent resignation has created a vacancy on the Unionville-Chadds Ford school board for a resident of East or West Marlborough Township. You can get an application from the Superintendent's Office (call 610-347-0970, ex. 3315); pick one up at the District Office weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.; or download one from the district website. Applications are due by noon on Friday, Nov. 6 The board will interview candidates at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9, and will name the new board member at their meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16.

COOKIES: Really good and easy to bake

If you're looking for a terrific autumn cookie, here's my blue ribbon-winning recipe for ginger cookies. The bones of the recipe come from "Philadelphia" magazine probably 15 years ago. I adapted it when my neighbor was having oral surgery and I wanted to make him a cookie with a softer texture.
People have told me that this is not only the best cookie they've ever had, but the best food of any sort they've ever ingested in their entire lives.
Let me know how it turns out for you. I use standard store brands for the ingredients unless noted.

1. In a small bowl mix 2 C flour, 2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 2.5 tsp ground ginger (McCormick's), 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves.

2. Melt 1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter in microwave. In a large bowl, add the butter to 1-1/8 C white sugar. Add 1 standard-size egg (local of course!), 1/4 C molasses (Brer Rabbit mild flavor), 3/4 tsp vanilla extract.

3. Beat with electric mixer and add the dry ingredients. Make sure all flour is incorporated (otherwise you will have weird markings on cookies).

4. Let the batter stand to thicken for a few minutes.

5. Form batter into balls (about 1 T each) and drop onto cookie sheets covered with parchment paper (this is key to the cookies' appearance). They spread, so space them widely! 

6. Bake on top rack (in my quirky oven, at least) at 350 degrees. The timing is critical. If you want them to be chewy, bake for 9-10 minutes. For crunchier, bake for 12 minutes.

7. No special cooling protocol.

STATION 36: Come out and help the volunteer fire company

I had a terrific tour of the Po-Mar-Lin firehouse on Monday night, thanks to firefighter Rob Mastrippolito and his mother, Robin. Rob showed me the company's vehicles (which are much bigger when you're standing next to them!) and some of the heavy-duty tools of the trade. I took off my boots and tried on some bunker gear, which is really heavy and bulky (of course, photos of me showed up on Facebook within minutes). I can't imagine climbing up a ladder in it; these are some crazy strong people!
Rob also demonstrated a very cool smartphone app that the firefighters can use to signal they're on their way to the station in case of a call; a list of those who are en route shows up on a screen, which helps make the company's response as efficient as possible.
Every Monday at 7 p.m. is "work night" at the station, and I was pleased to see so many young men and women showing up (and what a nice bunch they seemed!). Robin asked me to spread the word that the company is always looking for more volunteers. "Even if they just show up to ask questions about what commitment is involved, training, etc.," she said.

LIBRARY: Seems to be a disconnect here

It was a little surreal sitting at the Bayard Taylor Library board meeting on Oct. 20, listening to the board members talk with great excitement about architects, land deals, appraisals, and so forth -- when they just got pretty much the most negative feasibility study possible, telling them there was no way they were ready to start a capital campaign.
The only part of the feasibility study the board seems to be paying attention to is the consultant's recommendation to embark on a massive communication program. The board seems confident that hiring a communications person and doing some newsletters, emails and focus groups will do the trick in terms of improving their tarnished reputation and winning back support from the community.
Board President Susan Mackey-Kallis said, "If we show a commitment that we're serious about moving forward, if we send that message, that might be the way to show we're past the back-and-forth, back-and-forth."
At the meeting John Cacciola of the Aegis Property Group gave a presentation about steps needed to get the building project for the new library moving. He talked about the positive discussions he has had with officials from Kennett Square borough over the Weinstein property on East State Street (the latest site the library is eyeing for its new building). It all sounded great -- except for the key caveat that the board seemed to skip over: "assuming funding is positive along the way."
I don't want to sound churlish, but that's a big "if."
I heard no hint among the board members that they really "heard" the negative statements about the board and its chances for raising millions of dollars that came out loud and clear in the feasibility study. I didn't hear, "Wow! We really need to take a look at how we messed up."
Instead there were optimistic discussions about when to put the Waywood site back on the market, when to embark on the "silent phase" of the fundraising campaign, and whether the board should use Dropbox to share documents among themselves.

LIBRARY: The historic clock will stay at a board member's house

Some good news came out of the Bayard Taylor Library meeting on Oct. 20: it seems as if the 1911 Wanamaker clock, donated to the library by the Darlington family, is in a safe place.
Board Vice President Karen Ammon said the clock had to be removed from the library during renovations. She had the clock moved to her house and tuned up by The Moon Dial. The board agreed that it should stay at the Ammon home until a suitable and safe place could be found for it back at the library.
Karen Darlington Halstead, whose uncle donated the clock, said she was satisfied with the outcome. She wrote:
"I have faith that the Darlington family clock will be in safe hands until a new home is found. Karen has been in touch with me to keep me in the loop. She had the clock moved professionally to her home temporarily. My uncle envisioned the clock to be a centerpiece of the other historical artifacts stored within to keep the history of Kennett Square alive and relevant." 
Ms. Ammon said she was concerned that the fate of the clock had become a contentious issue on social media, adding to the library's PR problems.
(May I offer a suggestion on how the situation should have been handled? As soon as the library became aware that people were getting upset, someone from the board should've jumped in immediately and said, look, here's where the clock is, it's being taken care of, there is nothing underhanded going on. Instead the only reaction was a statement from the library director saying the discussion shouldn't be taking place on social media.)
The bigger issue, of course, is the perception among the public that a board that would strip Bayard Taylor's name from the library has no respect for, interest in, and even knowledge about the library's history and heritage. Unfortunately, that perception was reinforced at the end of the Board meeting on Tuesday, when the board members admitted they have no idea what is in the library's valuable historic collection, which was painstakingly gathered over the years by former library director Joe Lordi. Ms. Ammon did said she plans to reach out to Mr. Lordi and former library board Bill Landmesser to learn about the collection. Gold star, belatedly. 

FORMS: A bumper sticker beyond my comprehension

There's a great line in Kingsley Amis's dated but still funny novel "Lucky Jim": "Dixon fell silent again, reflecting, not for the first time, that he knew absolutely nothing whatsoever about other people or their lives." (A friend had just told him that "of course" she informed her husband about her infidelity.)
I was reminded of that this morning at the Kennett Y when I saw the following bumper sticker: "Read the forms, yo!"
My first thought was the "Daily Racing Form," but that hallowed periodical is singular, not plural.
Then I thought of concrete forms; perhaps the advice was directed to construction workers (hence the Philadelphia idiom "yo")?
Or was it "tax forms" that were meant? Was the car driven by a tax lawyer fed up with his lazy clients?
Of course I Googled the phrase, but nothing popped up. Baffling.

MEMORIAL: A fitting service for Brian Shultz

It was standing room only at London Grove Meeting on Thursday for Brian Shultz's memorial service. Brian worked for Waste Oil Recyclers, that merry and close-knit band of good folks based in "Mogreena," and I'm guessing not much used oil was collected that afternoon, given how many of his colleagues came to pay their respects.
Brian's son Dan and daughter-in-law Jen were both so eloquent as they talked about Brian's values and spirituality. Dan read from Psalm 42 and from a young adult book that he said spoke powerfully to him, "The Monster in the Hollows" from Andrew Peterson's Wingfeather Saga.
The stories that Brian's friends shared at the service were so colorful: about a porcupine head he offered, quite sincerely, as a gift; about the office bathroom he built, complete with revealing windows; and about the large snakes he kept at his home. The common thread was his love for nature and what a loyal, generous friend he was. And how very much he will be missed.

SICK BAY: Sharing his hospital stay

Not too many years ago, lists of the local hospital's admissions, discharges, and births were a staple of many small-town newspapers. How that has changed with the advent of the Internet!
Lars, a friend who lives in downtown Kennett, shared the whole trajectory of his bout with diverticulitis via Facebook, from his excruciating abdominal pain and worrisome diagnostic uncertainty, through his admission, imaging and surgery at Jennersville Regional Hospital, to his happy return home. We heard about his NPO status and his almost overpowering longing for a Sonic Cherry Limeade, and we read his entertaining comments about his pain relievers of choice (alas, not on the hospital's formulary).
As soon as he got home, he shared his gratitude to the caregivers at Jennersville, to his new wife, and to his friends at Kennett Meeting.