For political junkies only

Each January, the board of supervisors in each township in Pennsylvania is required to "reorganize," part of which involves electing a chairman and vice-chair. In a brief session on Jan. 3, the West Marlborough board decided to keep the same officers as in 2010: Bill Wylie as chair and Mike Ledyard as vice-chair. The third supervisor, Hugh Lofting, will remain Roadmaster and Emergency Management Coordinator. Shirley Walton remains township secretary-treasurer.
Mr. Wylie is president of Mitchell, Sinkler & Starr, investment advisors in Philadelphia. Mr. Ledyard is a partner with Morris James, the Delaware law firm. Mr. Lofting owns Hugh Lofting Timber Framing Inc. in Kennett Square.
Supervisors' meetings are held at 7:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month, preceeded by the Planning Commission at 7 p.m. Despite West Marlborough's small population (fewer than 900 people), these meetings attract a loyal following to the township building, which is a comment either on our civic-mindedness or our boundless curiosity about our neighbors.

Could be worse

A commenter on my blog asked me if stink bugs make a sound.
Not that I've noticed. As they fly they make a droning, monotonic noise, lower in pitch than that of a darting hummingbird. And then they make a quiet little "thud" as they land on the windowsill or wall.
Certainly I make some noises, and often some very unladylike ones, when I see, say, the 27th bug of the day, and just as I'm getting into bed for the night.
And an East Marlborough reader reports an alarming symptom of stink bug overload: she finds herself "mistaking nail holes, bits of dust or leaves, etc." for the little creatures. I can SO relate to that.

Proofreaders never sleep....

Or, why you can't rely on spell-checking programs:
1. Classified section of the "Community Courier," Jan. 5: "Cut & spilt firewood."
2. Sports page of the "Wall Street Journal," Dec. 31: two references to a Wisconsin football player who grew up on a farm "bailing hay."

Concrete bland

There's a Philadelphia radio station (headquartered in the same Bala Cynwyd office building as my accountant) that has started using a recorded female voice to announce the titles and artists of the songs they play:

"Culture Club. Do You Really Want to Hurt Me."

"Hall and Oates. You Make My Dreams Come True."

"Modern English. Melt With You."

Her robotic, almost narcotized tone conveys about as much emotion as the recorded voice that tells you to press 1 on an automated voice-mail system. It's really jarring and, these days, unnecessary: if you're curious about a song title or who sings it, and it doesn't show up on your car's video screen, just do an online search for a couple of words in the lyrics. Piece of cake.
Then again, what do I know? The station honchos may have done extensive focus-group research and found that the robo-announcer was the top choice among their favored demographic.

Night out

Dukes of Destiny will be playing its annual concert at West Grove Friends Meeting at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 29. Yes, a dance party in a Quaker meetinghouse, and everybody from little kids to aging hippies gets out on the floor for this one! To listen to the Dukes, visit their Facebook page, and for tickets, visit http://www.turtledove.org/. The show is presented by the Turtledove Folk Club.

Howdy!

I hadn't ventured east of the Route 1/202 intersection for some time and was amazed at all the new businesses that have sprung up along Route 1 from 202 to 322. One of them is the Texas Roadhouse, a restaurant where a young member of our family decided we would celebrate his birthday. We got there at 5 p.m. on a Sunday and the place was already crowded; when we finished dinner there were people lined up in the lobby.

It's a cheerful, reasonably priced family restaurant where you can get a good steak and a beer, and the service was accommodating and friendly, even as busy as it was. They made a fuss over the birthday boy, and at one point the staff launched into a line dance.
In other restaurant news, there's a sign up at the King's Island Chinese restaurant announcing "Grand Re-opening Soon." Alas, in smaller print underneath, it says "Mid-December."

Seasonal

It was a wonderful and busy holiday season. I've got one final party to attend today, and then comes that seemingly endless bleak period when there's absolutely nothing social going on. Every December I re-learn my small talk and mingling skills and remember how to balance a wine glass and a full plate of food while standing up and chatting brightly (bonus points for being able to shake hands or pet a dog in the meantime). Then those abilities get stashed away again til the next season, just like the festive red and black outfits and the Christmas platters.