PANTO: "Sleeping Beauty," KATS-style

I am so looking forward to seeing "Sleeping Beauty and the Tangley Wood," the 17th annual Kennett Amateur Theatrical Society (KATS) pantomime. The show will be held in the Kennett High School auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26, and at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27. Tickets are available at the door or at www.callkats.org.
The panto, as always, is family-friendly, with plenty of audience participation.
The other night we were invited to attend a rehearsal, where we chatted with cast members as well as director Gary Smith (also one of the KATS founders), his wife Caroline Smith, and assistant director Beth Holladay. 
This is the 12th year that Peter Giangiulio ("Baron Bombast") will be acting in the show, and he told me how much he enjoys the camaraderie and the fact that everyone associated with the production is so enthusiastic, dedicated and supportive. (Peter is also KATS board chair and the owner of Castle Rock Farm in Northbrook.)
This year's costumes are lovely and ornate. Gary Smith said he drew his inspiration for them from the Pre-Raphaelite paintings he saw this past summer at the art museum in his native Birmingham, England. 
Shelley Mae Mincer, who plays the King (as well as a Tree), was wearing a beautiful doublet embroidered with a mushroom, and Nancy Goyda, the Queen (also a Tree), was wearing a flowing robe and elaborate headdress. Both Shelley and Nancy are long-time KATS veterans. 
For many years the inimitable Kirk Fetters played the Dame (a hallmark of British pantomime), donning ever-more-elaborate gowns and towering wigs as the show went on. His death left huge (EEE, bejeweled) shoes to fill, and Caroline Smith said the role will "go fallow" for a year.

KENNETT SQUARE: Liberty Place

For this columnist and her significant other, it is never too cold for ice cream.
After enjoying a Buddy Burger at the Liberty Place Market for dinner on Jan. 10 (I had the Thai ground turkey Buddy), we walked over to Dylan's Desserts, which is farther back in the marketplace. A sign announced they had a new flavor of Woodside Creamery ice cream, "ginger snap," and I ordered it. Oh my gosh: so incredibly delicious, with lots of ginger and cinnamon. Highly recommended!
The marketplace was hopping that evening, as a local business networking group had gathered there for a meet-and-greet. You could spot them by their nametags and youthful enthusiasm.

EAST MARLBOROUGH: Repurposing

If you still have your Christmas tree hanging around, you can dispose of it at Plantation Field, just inside the gate off Green Valley Road. I dropped mine off on Jan. 11 and there were already four or five trees there. The crew building the jumps for the 72nd running of the Cheshire Point-to-Point Races (Sunday, March 25) will make good use of them.

AVONDALE: Health food store closing

Avondale Natural Foods, 122 Pennsylvania Ave., announced on Jan. 12 that it will be closing down on Jan. 26. In an attempt to clear the shelves, starting Jan. 15 everything will be half-price. The store's hours will be Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

EAST MARLBOROUGH: Lily goes walkabout

Need a dose of good news? Read on.
The morning of Jan. 3, Lily, an 8-month-old German Shepherd/hound mix puppy, pulled the leash out of her owner Eric Figueroa's hand outside the Willowdale Vet Center and ran off. A frantic search by Eric and his wife Kelly ensued, aided by social media, and the next afternoon Eric found her alive and well. Here is Kelly's account:

"After several hours out searching today, Eric and I assumed that if we could not find her by dark, she would be gone with the dropping temps coming. He asked if we could circle back to the vet one more time before heading home to check in with the vets and SPCA again.

I stayed in the car with the kids and Eric came running back to the car and told me he found her! She was stuck in between a chicken wire fence and a shed in a thick patch of a bamboo. When he handed her out to me, I couldn’t believe that her belly was still warm and she responded to my touch right away. After a quick trip to the vet to have her checked, she had a normal temp and seems scared, but is just fine.

Although this crazy 30-hour ordeal has been exhausting and awful for my family, I cannot imagine or even begin to explain the amount of help, support, prayers and constant check-ins from our family, friends and this FANTASTIC community. I’ve always loved this little place I call home, but today more than ever, I know that I have chosen the most perfect place to live, teach and raise my kids. The number of people who were willing to do anything to help us find Lily is nothing short of amazing.

Thank you so much, from the bottom of our hearts. We are FOREVER grateful for your help, searching, advice, calls, texts and prayers. You have no idea how much it means to us. We love you!" 

KENNETT SQUARE: A new chef

The new owners of La Madera Bistro on State Street have announced that their chef will be Scott Morozin, a Culinary Institute of America graduate who since autumn 2016 has been the executive chef at Soya BYOB in Bryn Mawr. They hope to reopen the restaurant soon, with a new menu. (As I wrote in last week's column, La Madera Bistro shut its doors at the beginning of 2018.)

WEST MARLBOROUGH: London Grove Kindergarten

London Grove Friends Kindergarten is holding an open house from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 21.
"London Grove offers both preschool and kindergarten options with our morning and afternoon Little Acorns Preschool classes, Half-day Kindergarten, Full-day Kindergarten, and Enrichment programs. We will be giving tours, chatting about our program, and meeting new friends. Everyone is welcome. Space is limited, so don't miss out! Refreshments will be provided."
The kindergarten is located at London Grove Friends Meetinghouse at the corner of Newark Road and Street Road (Route 926) in the village of London Grove.

LEARNING: Great Courses

Perhaps you, too, are on the mailing list for "The Great Courses," an extensive catalog of learn-at-home college classes on everything from calculus to Japan to crafting better sentences. Always up for some self-improvement, I was paging through the catalog and noticed a testimonial from Kennett Square resident Roy Wetterholt, reporting that the course he took helped "keep my mind sharp and my knowledge fresh."
Always curious, I Googled him in hopes of emailing him and finding out which course he had taken -- only to learn that he had passed away in the spring of 2017. Would anyone who knows his family members let them know of his posthumous fame? Perhaps they will enjoy seeing his name in print.
Two local professors who give these courses include Sharon Latchaw Hirsh, the president of Rosemont College ("How to Look at and Understand Great Art"), and Kevin Flanigan of West Chester University ("Building a Better Vocabulary").

WEST CHESTER: Bronze Artists

Works by West Marlborough Township sculptor Clayton Bright will be on display at the Chester County Art Association, 100 North Bradford Ave., West Chester, as part of a "Bronze Artists" exhibition. The show opened Thursday, Jan. 11, and will run through Thursday, Feb. 1. Hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

UNIONVILLE: Pie goes to Harrisburg

Leona Provinski of Unionville, whose fabulous apple and pear crumb pie took the blue ribbon at the Unionville Community Fair back in October, was kind enough to share a full account of her trip to the extremely competitive baking championship at the Pennsylvania State Fair.
She said there were five long tables full of pies, a total of 73. In the first round of judging, her pie ended up as one of the top 5 on her table of 15 pies. In the second round (25 pies), only the top five got ribbons, and unfortunately hers did not: "I like to say I placed either 6th or somewhere in between up to 25th place. They do not tell us where we placed in the top 25 pies."
Leona said the pies varied greatly in appearance. "One delicious pie contained blueberries and a red fruit, maybe cranberries or cherries. One very tall 2-inch pie looked like it was made in a spring form pan. One had icing or white glaze on the crust. Several had dough dyed yellow, red and/or green, but all that unusual color did not do well."
Leona also got a chance to check out the decorated chocolate cake contest. "Oh, those cakes are VERY exotic in their decorations! One had chocolate trees around the side plus sugar dipped Bing cherries on the top! Lots of drizzle over the edge, plus one cake top had 3-inch-tall standing upright chocolate 'lines,' as we see on the British Baking TV show. . . . The exotic gingerbread houses were 2 feet tall by 3 feet long!" 

CHADDS FORD: Train display

The annual model train layout at the Brandywine River Museum will stay open for an extra few weeks, but it's leaving the station on Sunday, January 28. Some friends of ours went to see the huge display and couldn't wait to show us their photos and videos, one of which involved a UFO landing beside the track.

The Museum is open every day from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $18 for adults, $15 for senior citizens ages 65 and over, $6 for students and children ages 6 and up, and free for children 5 and younger and members.

 

COLD: Why people move South

How the senior Tally-hos would have enjoyed hearing about this cold snap -- from the comfort of their Gulf Coast condo, of course.
"It got HOW COLD?! Oh my goodness! Have to run, dear; the cocktail party by the pool is just starting. Stay warm!"

MISSING: Where are they?

Did anyone else have problems with the missing packages this Christmas? I didn't receive two parcels, one from England and one from Minnesota. Unfortunately, the one from England was a calendar. I'm hoping they both show up eventually.
A friend reports that he ordered some CDs, and even though he paid extra for two-day delivery, they never showed up. He called the company and they sent replacements, which arrived in the nick of time -- on Christmas Eve.

COLD: Single digits

It has been so cold this week that 15 degrees F. actually felt pretty darn comfortable today (Jan. 5) if you were well wrapped up and out in the sunshine.
According to Intellicast, the averages for January in Kennett Square are a low of 21 and a high of 39. The record low for January is minus 16, set on Jan. 22, 1984. And the record high for January (should you be interested) is 73, which was recorded on Jan. 25, 1967; Jan. 14, 1972; and Jan. 30, 2002.

KENNETT Y: The January effect

The parking lot at the Kennett Y was packed as I pulled in for my Friday-evening class. What's going on? I wondered
Then it struck me: Of course! It's the January effect.
It happens every year. People make well-meaning New Year's resolutions to lose weight and get in shape and join the Y. Unfortunately, a lot of them show up for only a few weeks and are never seen again, and the parking lot returns to its normal level of craziness.  
Come on: prove me wrong, newcomers!