Sunday, April 28, 2019

CONCERT: Old-time music

On April 27 we went to an old-time music concert by the South Carolina Broadcasters. Despite their name, they actually hail from Mount Airy, North Carolina, and said they were very glad to have made it to the show in Newark, Del.: the 120-mile drive through rain and traffic took them six hours!  
In traditional style, the musicians used only one microphone (emblazoned with "SCB") and it was fun to watch them taking turns stepping up to the mike to provide harmony or to do a solo, and then stepping back.
"It's all in the timing," fiddler and banjo player Ivy Sheppard told me at intermission.
Ivy is a big fan of the Carter Family (superstars in the old-time music world) and said she now has a copy of every single 78-rpm record that they produced.
The other members of the South Carolina Broadcasters are Ivy's husband, guitarist Dave Sheppard; Jackson Cunningham on the mandolin and guitar; and Stu Geisbert on the upright bass.

KENNETT: Happpy birthday, Sam!

It was an honor to attend Sam Wickersham's 100th birthday party on Saturday, April 27. Sam grew up on a dairy farm near Marlboro Village and graduated with the class of 1938 from Unionville High School. He went on to serve as a mailman in Kennett Square for more than 30 years and, after retirement, worked at the Longwood Gardens "post office" for 10 years. In 1981 he was inducted into the Kennett Old Timers' Baseball Hall of Fame. He now lives in Kennett Township with his daughter, Marcia Wickersham Wilkins, who organized the party and had lots of old photos and news clippings about her father to show guests.
Sam wore a sign around his neck proclaiming that he was 36,522 days old -- "But who's counting!" On hand were family, including his great-grandchildren, friends and former coworkers.
I asked Sam how he reached the century mark and he said he attributes it to his parents and his healthy upbringing on a farm, where he learned the meaning of hard work.

Friday, April 26, 2019

UNIONVILLE: Anniversary service

Unionville Presbyterian Church, 815 Wollaston Road, will be celebrating its 175th anniversary with a traditional Kirkin' o' the Tartan Worship Service starting at 9 a.m. Sunday, May 5. Guests are asked to bring or wear their family tartan "if you have one." The first Kirkin' ceremony in America can be traced back to a service held at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., in 1941; the minister, the Rev. Dr. Peter Marshall, was originally from Coatbridge, Scotland, and served as Chaplain of the U.S. Senate.

Thursday, April 25, 2019

AVONDALE: Celebrity sighting?

As I was leaving Perkins the other night I couldn't help staring at a customer getting out of his Saab: he was a dead ringer for comedian Larry David. Same glasses, same hair, same build, same way of moving. He was wearing a white jacket with a black diamond on the back, like a harlequin pattern, and was carrying a big bag over his shoulder.
When I got home I checked online to see if he might be in the area but found no info. Nor could I track down his distinctive jacket: Googling "black diamond jacket" just directs to you a lot of skiing outfitters, and apparently would-be customers are more interested in seeing what the front of a jacket looks like than the back.

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

WEST MARLBOROUGH: Honoring Civil War veterans

A West Marlborough neighbor has been quietly looking after the old Mount Olive AME Church cemetery on Upland Road, where several African-American Civil War soldiers are buried.
He has run into a problem and asked me if I could help. It seems there are two massive dead oak trees on the property that need to be taken down. If left to fall on their own, one will hit a house and the other will go across the road. 
He has gotten a quote from tree surgeon Dean Madsen of $3,000 to take down both trees, which he considers more than fair, considering that a crane will need to be brought in.
My neighbor, who wants to remain anonymous, wonders if there is any interest among our wealthy community in helping to fund this project and preserving the historic site and the memory of these brave veterans.
"I just want to get this done," he said.
Please contact me at uvilleblogger@gmail.com and I can put you in touch with him.

ULTA: No more trips to Concord Pike

According to a hand-written cardboard sign in the front window, the new Ulta Beauty store in the Longwood shopping center will open on Friday, May 3. I am rationing my shampoo until then because Ulta is one of the few places that carries my brand; for some diabolical marketing reason, it isn't available online.

BINGO: Winners and losers

We spent Saturday evening at a charity bingo competition at a church in Westtown.
It's amazing, the power of a simple bingo card. Across the table from us was a sophisticated, urbane guy who, during the week, jets around solving high-stakes problems for corporations. After a seemingly endless streak of non-winning cards, he started wailing, "I'm a loser! Loser!" and making an L-shape (designating "Loser") with his thumb and forefinger.
Another intensely frustrated man at our table would mutter, "No! no!" every time the caller announced a number that didn't help his cause. When he finally scored a bingo, we were all relieved.
Trading of prizes was encouraged. Dearest Partner swapped some pineapple-scented towelettes for a set of BBQ tools (he doesn't wear makeup; she doesn't have a grill), and I was happy to accept three boxes of Fourth of July sparklers from a woman who says they make her nervous. My $10 Wawa gift card was not a candidate for swapping.
One man won five bingos and generously started giving his prizes to people who hadn't won. A horse trainer at our table ended up with a set of three little beanbags, opened the box and started juggling them expertly. Who knew?!

Thursday, April 18, 2019

WEST MARLBOROUGH: Wasting his time

The West Marlborough Township road crew made quick work of those yellow "I Buy Houses" signs that sprouted up on roadsides throughout the township, much like invasive garlic mustard, this past week.
Hugh Lofting Jr. told me that he caught a guy in the act of installing one and suggested that he cease and desist. Hugh also counseled the guy that he was pretty much wasting his time soliciting in the township: "Dude, look around. Nobody's selling anything for less than, like $10 million!"

KENNETT: Downtown plant sale

JoAnn Donlick, Chair of the Kennett Square Beautification Committee, asked me to remind readers that her group's annual plant sale will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 27,  in the Genesis Walkway in downtown Kennett. Parking will be free in the municipal parking lot on East Linden Street.
On sale will be annuals, perennials, container plants, hanging baskets, herbs, vegetables, dahlias, house plants and succulents. 
Proceeds from the sale will help to pay for those lush container gardens that you see adorning downtown Kennett in the spring, summer and fall. 

UNIONVILLE: Thank you, Bonnie!

I was delighted to learn that Bonnie Musser of Unionville is the new president of the Unionville Community Fair, a wonderful community tradition that's now in its 95th year. Bonnie has deep roots in the Farm Show: she has attended since she was an infant, her mother and aunt were Harvest Queens, and she served as president for several terms in the 1980s. As a Fair volunteer myself, I can tell you that she spends pretty much the whole weekend at the Fair. Whenever someone has a problem or question, the first response is "Let's find Bonnie."
This year’s event will be held October 4 through 6, and a press release assures us that "in addition to the return of many of the traditional activities, the fair will see the popular wine and beer garden and 5K run return this year. Also in the works is a haunted tent attraction and new animal displays.”
I was surprised to see on social media that some folks claimed they had lived in the area for decades and never knew about the Fair. I'm not quite sure how. I guess they don't read this column, or any local newspaper, and they don't notice the prominent Fair signs and posters all over the area in late September or early October.
 

PENN: Men and women at work

While waiting at the traffic light, motorists at the Jennersville crossroads are getting a close-up view of the road-widening work at that busy intersection.
This morning, on the Red Rose Inn corner, a man was marking the path for a pipe, or a wire, or something, with a can of red spray paint. He'd take three careful steps, heel to toe, out from the newly installed wall that marked the edge of the turn lane, and he'd spray an indicator line. (The toes of his work boots were bright red.) Then he'd move a yard further along the wall and repeat the process. I guess the exact distance wasn't important as long as it was consistent; either that or his feet were exactly a foot long.
Other workers were piling dirt on top of what looked like a long, traffic-lane-wide roll of black material. They had trouble getting it to lie perfectly flat and unwrinkled, much like I do with the nonskid pad under my hall rug.
Across the street, workers are rebuilding, at a different angle, the stone wall they had to remove during the widening process. Several times I've seen a man with a long beard sorting through the pile of stones and shaping them with a pick.

PARIS: A sad sight

Seeing the footage of the dreadful fire at Notre Dame took me back 40 years to my student days in England. A bunch of us "hit the road" over Christmas break with our backpacks, sleeping bags and Eurail passes. Our first stop was London, then Paris, then Chamonix in the French Alps, then Barcelona. My pals went on to Madrid, but I returned to Paris on my own, even though it was the coldest winter there in years. I rang in 1979 by attending the Jan. 1 morning service at Notre Dame and spent many hours in the Cathedral, watching the flickering candles and gazing up in awe at the Rose Window.
I was glad to learn that so many of the treasures were saved by the firefighters and volunteers.

SCAT: A potty break

There's nothing like a pile of poop to get a lively conversation going.
The other morning I went out to fill the bird feeder and found two human-sized, seed-filled piles of feces on my back deck. I posted a photo on social media, and the consensus, after much bathroom humor ("Looks like Dearest Partner has been eating too much fiber!"), was that a raccoon had used my deck as its toilet after eating supper at my feeder. 
Some theorized that my visitor had been a skunk or even a coyote, but the scat experts (a hunter and a naturalist) explained, in clinical detail, that the poop was the wrong size and shape.

WILMINGTON: Graduation speaker

Congratulations to Catherine Quillman, who was chosen as the graduation speaker at the Delaware College of Art & Design in Wilmington on May 6. She said she was excited to be selected but a little abashed that the college's press release described her as "the" artist and writer, "as if I am nationally known!" Her speech will explore the difficulties artists have in carving out creative time for themselves. The May 6 commencement ceremonies will follow a bagpiper-led procession along Market Street from the college to the Grand Opera House.
Cathy, who lives in West Chester, has written several books about local history and artists, including "Walking the East End: A Historic African-American Community in West Chester" and "Artists of the Brandywine Valley."

Sunday, April 14, 2019

APRIL 15: A taxing discussion

As I imagine was the case in many households, at dinner over the weekend our conversation focused on the looming income tax deadline. My brother seized the opportunity to educate the Young Relative, who must file his first tax return this year, about how taxes work. Using a napkin to represent one's total face-value income, he folded it over with each tax he named: withholding, Social Security, worker's comp, gasoline taxes (that one hit home for the Y.R.), sales tax, earned income tax, state tax, local tax, earnings on investments and dividends, estate taxes, and so forth and so on.
The large napkin became very small, very quickly.

FAIR HILL: Meet Rita Mae Brown

Rita Mae Brown will be in Fair Hill, Md., on Saturday, May 18, to give a talk on "Fashions and Foxhunting." Not only is she the master of foxhounds and huntsman of the Oak Ridge Fox Hounds in Charlottesville, but she's also a prolific mystery writer, the creator of the Sister Jane foxhunting series and the Mrs. Murphy's series. Those of us of a certain age know her as the author of "Rubyfruit Jungle," a feminist classic from the 1970s.
The event, a fundraiser for Fair Hill International and the Fair Hill Hounds, will be held at the Ed Walls Building at the Cecil County Fairgrounds. Tickets for the pasta dinner and lecture are $30 in advance and $35 at the door. RSVP by May 10. More information is available on Fair Hill's website.

Friday, April 12, 2019

NEW GARDEN: BBQ Fest

On Sunday, April 28, expect some amazing aromas to be emanating from the New Garden Township Park on Route 41: it's the second annual Brandywine Backyard BBQ Festival, a fundraiser for the Boy Scouts. The festival runs from noon to 5 p.m. and the admission fee is $3. There will be food trucks offering BBQ and other meals, beverage trucks (wine and beer), two live bands, games and activities for kids and teens, and a BBQ competition for backyard chefs that is sanctioned and will be judged by the Kansas City Barbeque Society. (Rules and registration for the competition are online.)
Parking for the fest will be at the township building, 299 Starr Road.   
 

Thursday, April 11, 2019

BARNARDS: Looking for family members

Local genealogist Loraine Lucas asked me for help locating any descendants of Richard and Frances (Lambe) Barnard so she can invite them to a reunion this June at Barnard's Orchards. She thinks there are probably many family members still living here in Chester County. According to Loraine, Richard and Frances came to America in 1682 aboard one of William Penn's ships and were Abraham Lincoln's third-great-grandparents. Loraine's email address is lorainelucas@msn.com.

TRAFFIC: Another inefficient light


A Beversrede resident responded to my item in last week's column about the inefficient traffic light at Route 926 and Pocopson Road that lets only a few cars through at a time. He agrees that it needs to be reprogrammed and notes that he takes Route 52 or Route 1 home in the late afternoon to avoid the ensuing backup.
He adds, "Equally as bad and maddening is the light on Route 1 at Kendal & Woodchuck Way. As soon as a single car exiting Kendal approaches the light, the traffic on Rt. 1 gets a red light and dozens of cars must stop to let one car proceed. Why can't there be a simple process of reporting and resolving these issues?"
He makes an excellent point!

NATURE: Spring is here

It's not that it was such a hard winter, but this spring seems especially beautiful, doesn't it? The swaths of daffodils, the hedges of forsythia, the periwinkle, the bloodroots along the roadsides, the squill that pops up out of nowhere -- I'm even happy to see the weeds that I'll be yanking out before too long.
Fiddleheads are just starting to emerge from the lifeless-looking brownish-black "stumps" of ferns. The hellebores were late to bloom this spring but look beautiful now, and I was thrilled to see that the Valerian I planted last year made it through the winter.
My bleeding hearts, motherwort, and hostas are coming up, but there's no sign of the jack in the pulpit in the shade garden quite yet.
When I removed the tarp from my porch furniture and garden "stuff" over the weekend, I found an anise hyssop very much alive in a planter that I thought I'd cleaned out. I knew they were very hardy but that was a surprise.
By the way, Saturday, May 11, is the date for the annual plant sale at London Grove Friends Meeting. Not only do they have great annuals, perennials, herbs and hanging baskets, but it's a highlight of the community's spring social calendar.

SEWING: Zippers and bobbins

Tax preparers aren't the only busy people this time of year: so are seamstresses like Lynn Aceto, who are working overtime getting prom gowns dance-ready.
When I stopped by the other day to drop off a ripped exercise top that needed to be mended, Lynn was working on a pretty mauve beaded gown that needed to be shortened -- just one of the alteration and repair projects that filled her work table.
A few days later, when I went to pick up the top (better than new!), she and her son were just getting home. She said he'd noticed that she'd been working nonstop for hours and needed a break, so he insisted on taking her out for a late breakfast.
Lynn's business is called "Sew What?" (her email is iamlotuslady@yahoo.com) and I'll bet she is one of the few seamstresses who shares her sewing room with two crested geckos.

HUMERUS: A new joint

A Landenberg friend is recuperating from shoulder surgery and reports that although finding a comfortable sleeping position is still a challenge, his shoulder feels pretty good -- so long as he does the things he's supposed to do per the surgeon and avoids the things he's not supposed to do. He can't drive for two weeks, adding ruefully that in his wife's opinion, it would be best for all concerned if he didn't drive even then.

SWEENEY: A new honor

Corinne Sweeney, DVM, of Kennett Square has been named the new chairwoman of the Association of Racing Commissioners International. She is associate dean at the New Bolton Center at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission. The former chairman was Maryland Racing Commission executive director Mike Hopkins.
In her non-veterinarian life, Corinne served for 18 years on the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District school board, retiring in 2011.

YMCA: Gym clothes

The Jennersville YMCA instructors get all excited every time there's a new release of their choreographed Les Mills exercise programs (which happens four times a year). This time they decided the theme for "launch week" would be "rock and roll," which Y members interpreted in various ways. I spotted a tie-dyed "WXPN Funky Friday" T-shirt, along with other shirts depicting David Bowie, Motley Crue, AD/DC, the Rolling Stones and Def Leppard.
The woman standing next to me in class wore a vintage "New Kids on the Block" baseball cap, for which she received a great deal of ribbing from her hipper-than-thou children.
"I told them I didn't need to justify my life choices to them," she declared.

REUNITED: Finding Rover

It seems as if every single day notices from frantic pet owners appear on my Facebook page, full of photos of their lost fur child. Less often, people post photos of lost animals that they've seen wandering around their neighborhood.
Some clever person has come up with a facial recognition app called "Finding Rover" that might be able to help reunite owner and animal. Registering and using it is free, and according to the site, "by registering your pet in the Finding Rover Community, your pet becomes searchable by thousands of users if he or she is ever lost." The service is sponsored by the Petco Foundation.

KENNETT: History of Longwood Gardens

The spring speaker for the Kennett Township Historical Commission will be Colvin Randall, who will discuss the history of Longwood Gardens. The lecture will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 16, at the Kennett Township building, 801 Burrows Run Road, Chadds Ford.
Mr. Randall has written three books about Longwood and has worked there since 1977, serving as public relations manager, historian/information manager and since 2008 the first P. S. du Pont Fellow. He now oversees the fireworks displays, the pipe organ and the carillon.
His talk will cover "the complete story of Longwood Gardens over the past century from the planting of the original arboretum by a Quaker family, to Pierre du Pont’s creation of the gardens, conservatory and fountains, to its transformation from a private estate to one of the world’s greatest horticultural showplaces."

Thursday, April 4, 2019

KING RANCH: Going back in time

I predict they're going to need a third bus.
Kathleen Hood came to the West Marlborough Township supervisors' April meeting to inform them that on Thursday evening, August 1, there will be a free bus tour of Doe Run and the old King Ranch, led by two former cowboys, Kenny Young and Rocky Dillow. Tourgoers will visit Springdell, Chapel Road, the feed lots, the former ranch office, and the township building in Doe Run, where there will be displays of memorabilia. The tour will last about 50 minutes and the two buses will leave from South Brandywine Middle School starting at 4 p.m. It's part of the Chester County Planning Commission's annual summer series of "town tours and village walks." 
As soon as I shared the news on social media, people started asking how they can sign up. Kathleen said that online reservations can be made through EventBrite, but the site is not yet live. She said it should be "up" by the end of April. Kathleen, by the way, is the author of "Echoes in the Glen: St. Malachi's in Doe Run."

SECURITY: Body of knowledge

A reader's email in reference to last week's item about the tight security at a local testing site conjured up a lurid image.
In the item, I mentioned how the only thing a friend was allowed to wear in the testing site was his wedding ring. My reader suggested that I surely must be kidding!
Of course, what I meant by that poorly worded sentence was that the only jewelry permitted was a wedding ring. A policy that required test-takers to strip down would discourage applicants and skew the results -- and would doubtless deserve far greater media attention than just an item in "Unionville in the News"!

TRASH: Define "small"

A normally even-tempered reader was upset to learn that his quarterly trash bill has gone up by 8%. It wasn't so much the actual increase that bothered him, but the wording of the letter. Perhaps trying to put a favorable spin on the news, the company described the increase as "small." My reader said calling an 8% increase "small" is an insult to customers -- and he promptly fired off a note telling them so.

SURGERY: We can rebuild him

In a few weeks a West Marlborough neighbor is going to have his left shoulder joint replaced -- for the second time. After reviewing all of his scans and studies, the surgeon concluded that he simply "wore out" his current prosthesis. Even today's high-tech devices, it seems, are no match for a retired farmer who doesn't know the meaning of "slowing down."

POCOPSON: A traffic headache

A Route 926 commuter states that the traffic light at Pocopson Road needs to be reprogrammed. It lets only a few cars through at a time, he said, causing a backup that extends toward Route 202 for a full half-mile or more during the afternoon rush hour. In comparison, he said, the shuffling of train cars at the same intersection is a trifling and only occasional hassle.

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

WEST MARLBOROUGH: Stopping speeders

Motorists in West Marlborough Township can expect to see a greater police presence in coming weeks. At their April 2 meeting, the township supervisors asked Robert "Clarkie" Clarke to focus his attention on several "hot spots" they have identified. One priority is slowing down traffic on Springdell Road from Route 841 to Chapel Road; on Route 841 from Greenlawn to Wertz Roads; on Route 842 from Newark to Byrd Roads; and along all of Route 82. He was also asked to watch for drivers rolling through the four-way stop signs along Newark Road at the intersections with Routes 926 and 842 and to target illegal parkers in Springdell village. Clarkie is the chief of the East Marlborough Police Department; West Marlborough contracts with that department to provide 12 hours of service each month.
In other business, the supervisors approved a stormwater management plan submitted by the owners of 427 West Street Road, who plan to demolish their current house and build a new one on their one-acre property.
Also, supervisor Hugh Lofting said he is looking into securing a grant to install larger concrete culverts along Tapeworm Road. The funding would be through the state's dirt and gravel road program.

CHESHIRE: Point-to-Point season

Four of us, with our chairs, coolers, and Royal Farms fried chicken, piled into our friends' new Subaru Outback and headed over to the 73rd running of Mr. Stewart's Cheshire Foxhounds Point-to-Point Races at Plantation Field on Sunday. The day started out cold and rainy, then turned cold and windy, but by the seventh race the sun finally came out.
Usually spectators walk around the parking areas to visit with friends, catch up after the winter and enjoy everyone's tailgate offerings. This year, most of the mingling took place in the warm hospitality tent near the finish line, where hot dogs, subs, Guinness stew, drinks and coffee were being served. (The hot coffee was most welcome.)
The redesigned 2.4-mile course allows spectators to view more of the 14 jumps, which are all on the Route 82 side of the course. The finish line has been moved to the top of the hill, near the tower.
The winner of the Cheshire Bowl was Irvin L. Crawford II's Senior Senator, trained by Joseph Davies, with Eric Poretz up. Senior Senator also won that race in 2016 and 2018 (as well as the formidable Maryland Hunt Cup in 2018).
We were relieved that no one (horse or human) got hurt.

UHS: A new track season

My brother and I visited Phoenixville Area High School on Saturday to watch the UHS track team participate in a meet called "The Distance Project" (there were no sprints or field events). It was warm and sunny, a glorious spring day to be a spectator. The UHS boys won the 4 x 1600-meter relay, breaking a school record of 14 years' standing by one second.
And there was a sweet moment after the race: one of the runners presented a teammate with a bouquet and asked her to the prom. She said yes!

TRIVIA: Lots of questions

On Saturday night Dearest Partner and I took part in a fundraising Trivia Night competition, joining a team called (appropriately) The Elders. Our collective ignorance about popular culture, geography and sports was woefully on display. In fact, the only category we aced was "double entendres." Google "Dirty Mind Quiz" for some hilarious but blush-inducing examples.
The final question was about the three most significant discoveries in all of history. The emcee was amused that one team answered, "alcohol." 

DESSERT: A spoonful of sugar

A gym friend was describing the luscious-sounding dessert she was making for a family get-together over the weekend: a mint chocolate chip mousse with a chocolate crumb crust.
She pointed out that she has a degree in nutrition and works as a dental hygienist.
"You'd think I would know better," she said.