STORMS: Weird light

What a remarkable aftermath of that strong thunderstorm that blew through our area the evening of Friday, Aug. 18. I saw a rainbow over the New Garden Shopping Center -- some people reported a double rainbow -- and the sky contained so many different types of clouds that it looked like the Golden Book of meteorology that we pored over as kids. A patch of dark clouds would be flanked by bright blue sky, and next to that would be horizontal lightning, and then the pouch-like mammatus clouds. My car's automatic headlights kept going on and off as I traveled up Newark Road, and I felt like I needed to switch from my sunglasses to my regular glasses every minute.

OXFORD: A spelling fail

The funniest typo of the week appears on the roadside signs that have popped up for the Oxford "Flee" Market. In one sign along Baltimore Pike in Toughkenamon, someone actually tried to make the "e" into an "a." Every time I see one, the "Guys and Dolls" lyric comes into my head: "It's the oldest established permanent floating craps game in New York."
And speaking of roadside signs ... every single summer the organizers of the Chester County Pond Tour put up hundreds of signs publicizing their event, many times multiple ones at the same corner, and after the event they remove perhaps dozens of them. It's been three weeks since the event and there are still at least three at the Schoolhouse Road/Baltimore Pike intersection.

Spell-checking programs don't always work. This sign was on Route 10 north of Oxford.

 

 

 

SCHOOLS: Changes in school start times

In the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, the upcoming school year will bring some changes in the timing of the school day as well. For elementary school pupils, the day will start at 9:10 a.m. and will end at 3:40 p.m. For students at Patton Middle School and the high school, the school day will run from 8 a.m. to 2:43 p.m.
In the words of the district administrators: "We are all now in the mode of transitioning from summer to the start of the school year. This year that transition includes new routines around new school start times.  Bus pick-up times will shift, drop off times have changed and so have the bell schedules. We are here to help all stakeholders with the transition. The School Start Time website is a central resource for all items related School Start Times, providing background for the decision and now continuing as a resource for the implementation and ongoing evaluation."
The URL for that website is https://sites.google.com/a/ucfsd.net/ucf-school-start-time-committee/.

WEST MARLBOROUGH: An outdoor concert

Local favorites Charlie Zahm (on guitar and vocals) and Tad Marks (on the fiddle) will be playing an outdoor concert on Sunday, Aug. 27, in the walnut grove at Primitive Hall, 830 North Chatham Road in West Marlborough Township. The Hall, the historic homestead of the Pennock family, will be open for tours from 3 to 5 p.m., and the concert will start at 5 p.m. Bring your lawn chairs or blankets and a picnic. Suggested contribution is $25 per car.

BUSINESS: Clothes, plants, food

A few business notes to share with you:
1. Trail Creek Outfitters expects to open a branch store in downtown Kennett the first week of September. They are moving into the storefront at 120 West State Street formerly occupied by the ladies' clothing boutique Chantilly Blue (which moved across the street to 117 West State Street). "We will have a selection of your favorites from Patagonia, The North Face, Prana, Kuhl, and Smartwool. Also popping up will be some fresh, new brands like Hippy Tree, True Grit, Dylan, Cotopaxi and Ten Tree. Our space is cozy so we won’t be able to stock everything that we have in the Glen Eagle store, but we will be travelling back and forth and will have what you want by the next day (maybe even the same day)."
2. Richard and Kathy Pratt, who own RP Nurseries in Willowdale, are trying to spread the word that they are NOT closing their business. They wrote on their Facebook page: "Did we sell some of our land? Yes. Did we sell ALL of our land? No! Our garden center, gift shop and landscape services division are all still here to serve you for many years to come!"
3. Hood's BBQ in downtown Unionville will be closed from Saturday, Sept. 2, through Monday, Sept. 11, so the Hood family can take a well-deserved vacation. Regular business hours will resume Tuesday, Sept. 12.

FAMILY: Together again

It's been many years since I've actually lived in the same house with my siblings, so the past few weeks have been instructive. I have learned, for instance, that my sister detests bananas and microwave ovens and uses sunscreen from India, herbal cough drops from Switzerland, and headache "powders" from England. My brother, an engineer and a serious athlete, can go through a two-pound barrel of mini-pretzels in a matter of days and washes everyone's dishes immediately after use. And neither one of them likes the ticking of a clock, which I find soothing. In fact, they actually took the offending timepiece down from the wall and stuffed it under a sofa cushion.

LONGWOOD: A great fireworks show

After a week of wall-to-wall challenges, it was a pleasure to just sit and watch the Longwood fireworks on Saturday evening. How do they keep coming up with new pyrotechnics every time?There were fireworks that blinked at random, ones that multiplied like the sorcerer's apprentice, orange ones with a green eye, like a celestial fiber-optic cable, roller-coaster ones that rose and then fell, and even some that resembled Longwood's beautiful pink-and-white hydrangeas. My favorite may have been the ones that lined themselves into rows and then burst into multiple colors, like a monitor screen full of icons.