ELECTION: The local statistics

I finally got a chance to check the local statistics from the Nov. 8 general election and it was no surprise that the turnout numbers were much higher than usual, in the high seventies and low eighties. My own township had 75 percent turnout, and the highest turnout in our area was 85 percent in Kennett Township's Third Precinct, home of the Kendal at Longwood retirement community.
Hillary Clinton outpolled President-elect Donald Trump almost everywhere. The largest margin was 66 to 29 percent at the Kendal polling place. Mrs. Clinton beat Mr. Trump by only one vote in Newlin Township (396 to 395 votes). In Londonderry and Highland Townships, Mr. Trump won handily.
County-wide, turnout was 80%, and Mrs. Clinton received 52 percent of the vote vs. Mr. Trump's 43 percent. But Mr. Trump took the state of Pennsylvania by some 130,000 votes, 48.8 percent versus 47.63 percent.
Newlin Township's open space referendum passed by a vote of 492 to 332 (60 percent to 40 percent).
And by the way, as of Nov. 24 there were still several Susan Rzucidlo campaign signs on Route 162 near Harveys Bridge Road in Embreeville, and some Andy Dinniman signs at Newark Road and Route 41.

FOXHUNTERS: The annual Thanksgiving meet

A traditional part of the holiday for many people in Unionville is going to watch Mr. Stewart's Cheshire Foxhounds meet at the Kennels on Thanksgiving morning. There was a big and sociable crowd this year, many carrying cups of coffee, bottles of beer, or Bloody Marys. Kids were tossing around footballs, and I saw several college kids home on break catching up.
I was offered food and drink but had to turn it down, as I was saving room for our early Thanksgiving dinner. Saying "no" to a cinnamon-scented apple strudel was especially tough.
As usual, the volunteers from the Po-Mar-Lin fire company were directing traffic, and I was careful this year to avoid getting my vehicle stuck while taking a shortcut (try living that one down when photos appeared on social media within minutes).
It was great to see everyone out enjoying the countryside. It was pretty easy to tell the "city folks," though. "Dad! I petted the horse!" said one thrilled kid (the rider advised him to keep his bagel well away from the horse's mouth). And  I heard two boys expressing shock as they watched a horse answering a call of nature.

THANKSGIVING: A diversity of celebrations

What a variety of Thanksgiving celebrations I heard about! Some people left the cooking to others: one family I know bought everything premade from Wegman's and another had their feast at the Mendenhall Inn (they gave it rave reviews).
One fellow spent his Thanksgiving eating with friends instead of family. Another said the highlight of his Thanksgiving dinner was reminiscing about the 1970 Avon Grove High School basketball team, which won the state championship (his brother was on the team). He said that after graduating, the alumni stayed in shape  and went on to beat the high school team at homecoming for the next several years.
I spent Thanksgiving in Perkasie, Bucks County. A couple there have family members over for Thanksgiving every year and then shut up the house and head to their place in Vermont for the skiing season. There were 20 people at the table (and two happy dogs wandering around underfoot) and endless platters of food; my strategy this year was to take a tiny portion of everything being offered. 
On the way up we took the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which is in the process of being widened to three lanes (a $189 million project funded using tolls), but for variety and amusement we took the long way home (without GPS assistance) and spotted such oddities as a typewriter sales and repair shop and a café named The Abyss. Highly entertaining!
The road trip also taught us something about religion: we saw a sign in front of Lutheran church giving its times for Mass. I thought only Roman Catholic churches used that name for their divine services, but a little Internet research showed us that certain Protestant churches do as well.

SAWMILL: Now in Kennett Square

The Sawmill Grill, which has been so successful in downtown Oxford, has opened a branch at the corner of Birch and Broad Streets in Kennett Square (the former site of the Birch Inn, Kennett Steak & Mushroom, and A Taste of Puebla). We stopped in for dinner on Thanksgiving eve and found the place to be very laid-back and welcoming. There were colleagues enjoying a beer after work at the bar and friends, families and couples having dinner. My best dinner pal ordered the Irish chicken and I had the Caesar salad with shrimp.

FROLIC: A tribute in print

What a lovely booklet the Brandywine Conservancy put together to honor George A. "Frolic" Weymouth, who died April 24. It's full of photographs, paintings and stories about the larger-than-life conservationist, artist, fundraiser, carriage driver and bon vivant who is fondly remembered by so many. The front cover shows his 1963 painting "The Way Back," which depicts a horse-drawn cart from the driver's perspective, and in a nice piece of symmetry the back cover shows a Jim Graham photograph of Frolic driving a four-in-hand carriage.

UNIONVILLE: Another lunch option

Earlier this fall I wrote about my friend Bob, who was unhappy that both Hood's BBQ and Foxy Loxy are shut on Mondays, severely limiting his lunch choices in Unionville. 
Perhaps it's just coincidence (although I know for a fact that Bob is a good customer of theirs), but Foxy Loxy will now be open on Mondays starting Nov. 28.

WEST MARLBOROUGH: A postponed hearing

The Nov. 22 hearing for the couple who want to add a second floor to the garage on their Springdell Road property was postponed because a sign announcing the hearing wasn't posted on the property, as required by law. 
Because of the glitch, the members of the West Marlborough Township Zoning Hearing Board and Dr. Frances Koblenzer, one of the applicants, agreed to move the hearing to Thursday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m. at the township garage.
Dr. Koblenzer and Dr. Joshua Farber will need a variance because the height of the garage would be about 26 feet, higher than the zoning code's 15-foot limit for accessory buildings. The property is at 175 Springdell Road, which is on the west side of Springdell Road between Runnymede and Chapel Roads.
Even though the hearing couldn't be held as scheduled, the zoning board members took advantage of the fact that they were together and approved the appointment of the board's new solicitor, Fronefield Crawford Jr., of West Chester.

KENNETT: A century of life

One of my gym instructors could hardly contain his excitement when I saw him at the Y on Nov. 20. He leads a fitness class at the Friends Home in downtown Kennett Square and had a new participant in a recent class. She did really well, he said, but what really floored him was when she came up to him after class and told him that she was 100 years old.
"Wow!" he said, recalling the moment. "Can you imagine what she's seen in her life?"
Two world wars, the women's movement, the civil rights movement, the rise and fall of communism, the invention of computers ... he went through a whole list of 20th-century historic moments, amazed that one person's lifespan could encompass so much.
He said having the woman in his class was an honor and "it really made my year."

EAST MARLBOROUGH: Now a vacant lot

If you often travel on Doe Run Road, perhaps you've noticed the white cottage across the street from the Unionville bus parking lot, near the cemetery of the old Ebenezer AME Church. The long-vacant structure always intrigued me because of its odd proportions: it appeared to be taller than it was wide. I'm told that the last occupant was Florence Highfield.
Well, it is no more: it has been torn down. I drove past on Nov. 22 and workers were clearing away the rubble.

BONFIRE: A fiery celebration

We had a great time at a giant bonfire in Unionville the other night. The hosts had started the fire mid-afternoon, so by 6:30 p.m. it was red-hot and visible all the way from the road. A strong cold front was blowing in, so we huddled next to the fire under quilts and drank hot chocolate. Being outside next to a fire creates a certain camaraderie, so even though we were among the older members of the group, it was heartwarming to meet so many welcoming and articulate young people.
At one point my hat blew off and I threw off my quilt and chased after it. It got caught in the wire fence and for a second I thought all was well, until another gust caught it and it blew right through! I raced along the fence line looking for the next break, which was a few hundred yards away, then backtracked as fast as I could, but with steadily diminishing hopes of ever seeing my hat again. Unbelievably, I found it not even too far away. It stayed tied securely to my head with a scarf the rest of the evening, no matter how silly it looked.

POLITICS: Nothing new under the sun

I believe in the next political campaign I will take the advice that I came across the other day -- too late -- in a 1937 etiquette book:
"If you care too intensely about a subject, it is dangerous to allow yourself to say anything. That is, if you can only lecture about your fixed point of view, then you should never mention it, except as a platform speaker. But if, no the other hand, you are able to listen with an open mind, the chances are that you need put no barriers whatever on any subject. At the present moment Mrs. Oldname and Mrs. Kindheart, really the most devoted of neighbors, are so violently opposed to each other on a certain political question of today, that the first person who mentions the taboo topic must pay a fine."
Sounds like an excellent idea to me!

NEW GARDEN: 19th-century Toughkenamon

A friend from Massachusetts visited our area this summer to do some Owens genealogy research and sent me these wonderful old photos of the Toughkenamon crossroads. Her great-grandparents owned the Toughkenamon general store (now replaced by Deanna's Market) and lived just across Newark Road in a house that is still standing.


The family home, at the southeast corner of Newark Road and Baltimore Pike.



The home as it appears today.

The Toughkenamon General Store, which stood at the southwest corner of Newark Road and Baltimore Pike.