WORK: The voice of experience

As a freelance copy editor I need to pay attention to minute details, and I take a strange but lucrative pleasure in getting a sloppy book whipped into shape.
I'm working on a prestigious book about adolescent mental health disorders, and of course there's a list of contributors in the front, giving their degrees and academic affiliations. I thought the spelling of one eminent psychiatrist's endowed chair looked a little off, so I checked his website and the university's website. All three spellings were different. (He insisted that his was the correct spelling, so I went with it.)
But some projects are just no-win situations. The other day I got a job offer that involved cleaning up another copy editor's mistakes (the first red flag), and the project involved alphabetizing Arabic names in the index and fixing biographical entries that involved books and articles written by the same authors.
After a moment's consideration, I wrote back saying that unfortunately my schedule wouldn't allow me to accept the project. So sorry.

EAST MARLBOROUGH: Fireworks are back

Longwood Gardens put its marvelous fireworks displays on hiatus during the massive fountains renovation project, but it sounds like they'll be back this summer. Pending township approval, they're scheduled for May 28, July 2, July 22, August 12, September 2 and September 16.

UNIONVILLE: A happy ending

A stray German shepherd showed up on my friend Kelly's porch in Unionville the afternoon of March 2, with an ID tag from a vet's office in Kentucky. Kelly called the number, which turned out to be a shelter, and learned that the dog had been transferred to LaMancha Animal Rescue and had just recently been adopted. The owner was contacted and by suppertime, the dog was back with her family.
"She was so sweet and sad," said Kelly. "She wouldn't even drink her water and her nose was so dry. She missed her humans."
Well done, Kelly!

MAIL: A waste of paper

I mentioned a few months ago that a friend whose views differ radically from mine signed me up for a subscription to a political magazine, hoping to show me the woeful error of my ways. I've now received two issues and, if I manage to overlook the gratuitous insults and stereotypes, the periodical is really not too bad.
I can't say the same for the ancillary ads, mailings and requests for donations that have started showing up on my doorstep. It seems this magazine sells its list of subscribers to all and sundry, and let's just say that these other publications and entities do not contribute very much to civil civic discourse. You're wasting your money on me, guys.

AVONDALE: A date night double header

Mid-week we try to do something a little special, so this past Wednesday evening we arranged to meet at TSS for a hour's worth of target shooting, followed by dinner at Perkins next door.
"Just don't get your locations mixed up," warned one droll friend.
(Both halves of the evening were great, by the way. We even ran into friends at TSS!)

NEWLIN: One lane only

When I heard on March 2 that Brandywine Creek Road was being closed to westbound traffic in Newlin Township, I had to investigate. Sure enough, just east of Harvey's Bridge, PennDOT workers were installing concrete barriers next to the guardrail to reduce the already narrow road down to one lane. The scenic stretch of the road runs along the top of a steep slope that goes straight down to the creek, and the problem is that the pavement is actually crumbling down the hill. 
The detour for westbound traffic uses Harvey's Bridge Road, which has its own issues: as one former resident notes, "It is very narrow and has a killer S-curve that is `blind' -- beep your horn when going through and go slowly!"
Also, when they say that this stretch of road is reduced to one lane, they mean it. There's a concrete barrier on one side and a hill with rocks on the other, with no shoulder whatsoever.
Nearby, but on the other side of the creek, Laurel Road has been completely closed to through-traffic since May 2014, when part of the road collapsed after a heavy storm.

Brandywine Creek Road is being closed to westbound traffic in Newlin Township, near Harvey's Bridge.

UNIONVILLE: Feedback from the readers

At the Giant in New Garden the other day I ran into two longtime Unionville residents who recognized me as "Tilda" and said all manner of kind things about my column. While standing in the bakery department, we had an excellent chat about everything from local politics (who will be running for East Marlborough supervisor?) to speeding motorists in Unionville to the nutritional benefits of hemp milk. They were so persuasive about the latter that I retraced my steps to the organic aisle and bought some.

THE Y: What a community asset

I often talk about the Kennett Y in terms of some funny incident I witnessed, or an amusing conversation I overheard, or a grueling workout I endured.
But it's way more than that: all corniness aside, it's a community meeting place that connects so many groups of people who wouldn't otherwise mingle. In these divided times, when people tend to live in their own siloes, it's great to have such a unifying presence. You see so many ages, races and nationalities there, playing basketball, lifting weights, doing yoga or working out next to each other. I've heard Chinese, German, Spanish, Greek and Russian spoken, and those were just the languages I recognized. As I heard someone say the other day: we all sweat the same color.
I just called to schedule my annual eye exam. Who answered the phone? A woman I know from the Y. A friend said good-bye to me the other day with the words, "See you at the Y!" I'm advising a retired executive who's writing a business book -- and where do I know him from? You guessed it. 
Plus it's the best bargain around.