The Unionville High School cafeteria became a veritable United Nations on Friday afternoon as the Girl Scouts celebrated International Thinking Day. Each troop researched a different country and presented its findings. The girls were wonderfully creative: I learned about royal etiquette in England and wildlife and trees in Madagascar, and watched Scouts in pretty blue costumes performing a Russian folk dance. There were more than a dozen countries represented around the room, and many of the displays offered food or crafts. The girls could "Make your own Faberge egg" at the Russian display.
This was the 19th year that the Brandywine Valley Service Unit held the event, and more than 160 girls participated.
Saturday, February 9, 2019
Thursday, February 7, 2019
KENNETT: Keep it clean
My trusty Honda CRV was filthy from the road salt and mud, so on Saturday morning after the latest storm I dug out my carwash coupon -- then realized that a significant fraction of the populace was probably thinking the same thing. I waited until Wednesday and was glad I did, given that the carwash owner had posted a prominent sign on Mill Road warning, "Lining up in street is prohibited by law."
KING RANCH: Old roads
The house where former King Ranch manager Sam Wilson used to live is being renovated, and the workers found a gold mine of maps depicting the Buck and Doe Run Valley Farm properties in the mid-20th century.
I got the chance to pore over a few of them the other evening and learned a lot. Did you know, for instance, that West Road used to cross Route 82 and continued north to Apple Grove Road? That stretch was known as Sweet Road.
Hilltop View Road branched off to the left at the top of the hill and connected to McCorkle's Rock Road; you can still see that part of the road as a path through the woods (the words "Road by High Brow" is written on the bottom of the map; was that the road's name?).
McCorkle's Rock Road, now a gravel hiking path through the Laurels Preserve, used to be a township road.
We are still trying to identify a road shown on another map. It's on the east side of Route 82 between Ercildoun and Doe Run, and the property at the corner was owned by Robt. L. Martin. Not many clues to go on!
I got the chance to pore over a few of them the other evening and learned a lot. Did you know, for instance, that West Road used to cross Route 82 and continued north to Apple Grove Road? That stretch was known as Sweet Road.
Hilltop View Road branched off to the left at the top of the hill and connected to McCorkle's Rock Road; you can still see that part of the road as a path through the woods (the words "Road by High Brow" is written on the bottom of the map; was that the road's name?).
McCorkle's Rock Road, now a gravel hiking path through the Laurels Preserve, used to be a township road.
We are still trying to identify a road shown on another map. It's on the east side of Route 82 between Ercildoun and Doe Run, and the property at the corner was owned by Robt. L. Martin. Not many clues to go on!
 |
| I added modern road names to this 1949 map, which was found in a Doe Run house that's being renovated. |
WRONG BAG: Absent-minded
I walked into the Jennersville Y locker room the other morning, put my stuff on the bench and let out an involuntary "Oh no!" I had brought my knitting bag instead of my gym bag.
I started laughing at myself: how ridiculous!
One of the other ladies in the locker room sympathized. She told me she had once stashed her street clothes in a locker before going for a swim, carefully pinning the padlock key to the strap of her swimsuit. When it came time to change back into her clothes, she couldn't find the key. She summoned a maintenance employee, who cut the padlock off with a mighty pair of loppers.
The problem was, those weren't her clothes inside. It wasn't her locker! And just then she found the key stuck inside the lining of her bathing suit.
"So you see, you're not the only one, my dear," she said kindly.
I got through my workout perfectly well. It was a stroke of luck that I was wearing my sneakers instead of my winter boots!
I started laughing at myself: how ridiculous!
One of the other ladies in the locker room sympathized. She told me she had once stashed her street clothes in a locker before going for a swim, carefully pinning the padlock key to the strap of her swimsuit. When it came time to change back into her clothes, she couldn't find the key. She summoned a maintenance employee, who cut the padlock off with a mighty pair of loppers.
The problem was, those weren't her clothes inside. It wasn't her locker! And just then she found the key stuck inside the lining of her bathing suit.
"So you see, you're not the only one, my dear," she said kindly.
I got through my workout perfectly well. It was a stroke of luck that I was wearing my sneakers instead of my winter boots!
WEST MARLBOROUGH: Lower speed limits?
At the February meeting West Marlborough supervisor Bill Wylie gave an update on the township's ongoing attempts to slow down motorists and "reinstill a rural feel" along the roads. He said the supervisors are hopeful that PennDOT will lower the speed limits on Routes 841 and 842 and will reduce the maintenance they do on state-owned roads. Mr. Wylie said the township would commit to funding more policing of the speed limits if the state follows through on lowering the limits.
WEST MARLBOROUGH: Township business
The West Marlborough Township Board of Supervisors had a brief, routine meeting on February 5.
Supervisor Bill Wylie took a moment to remember Elizabeth "Baz" Powell, who died on Jan. 10 at age 90. He said he asked the township secretary, Shirley Walton, to find out how long Baz had served on the township's zoning hearing board: since at least 2001, and probably long before that, they discovered. Baz had just been reappointed to the board in 2019.
"I feared her questions," Mr. Wylie said with a smile. "She was always very direct."
Road master Hugh Lofting Sr. presented a year-end report from East Marlborough Police Chief Bob Clarke for 2018. (The township hires the East Marlborough police department to cover West Marlborough on a part-time basis.) "Clarkie" reported that there were 288 calls from West Marlborough residents to 911, and the East Marlborough police worked for 150 hours over 38 patrol days, made four arrests, and issued 12 citations and 26 warnings.
Mr. Lofting also reported that the emergency services committee is still working on developing a formula for how best to fund the Po-Mar-Lin, Avondale and Modena companies that serve the township.
The supervisors thanked the Chester County Conservation District for funding the now-completed Runnemede Road bridge project, which involved replacing a crumbling bridge on the one-lane rural road.
Supervisor Bill Wylie took a moment to remember Elizabeth "Baz" Powell, who died on Jan. 10 at age 90. He said he asked the township secretary, Shirley Walton, to find out how long Baz had served on the township's zoning hearing board: since at least 2001, and probably long before that, they discovered. Baz had just been reappointed to the board in 2019.
"I feared her questions," Mr. Wylie said with a smile. "She was always very direct."
Road master Hugh Lofting Sr. presented a year-end report from East Marlborough Police Chief Bob Clarke for 2018. (The township hires the East Marlborough police department to cover West Marlborough on a part-time basis.) "Clarkie" reported that there were 288 calls from West Marlborough residents to 911, and the East Marlborough police worked for 150 hours over 38 patrol days, made four arrests, and issued 12 citations and 26 warnings.
Mr. Lofting also reported that the emergency services committee is still working on developing a formula for how best to fund the Po-Mar-Lin, Avondale and Modena companies that serve the township.
The supervisors thanked the Chester County Conservation District for funding the now-completed Runnemede Road bridge project, which involved replacing a crumbling bridge on the one-lane rural road.
WEST MARLBOROUGH: Vacuum is gone
Update on the vacuum cleaner that was inexplicably left neatly propped up against a street sign at the intersection of Newark and Street Road last weekend: it was there for four days and then disappeared. My best guess is that it was left there when the tenant of a house at the corner moved out.
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