This afternoon is the annual running of the Daytona 500, and there's a local connection: Unionville native Gene Nead is the crew chief for driver Michael McDowell (Team #98)! My brother, an avid NASCAR fan, will be watching the race on his colossal-sized TV, and I've assigned him the task of reporting any Gene sightings.
Later: McDowell, who started in 37th position, finished in the ninth spot, just behind Danica Patrick, who had the pole position. Jimmie Johnson won, followed by Dale
Earnhardt Jr. No Nead sightings.
I know that hoping that NASCAR has a crash-free season would be as pointless and unpopular as wishing that the NHL has a fistfight-free season, but I hope the injuries are minimal.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
A facelift
Hood's in Unionville reopens on March 1.They've been shut down for a week to do some cleaning and renovating now that they've officially purchased the restaurant. I drove by on Saturday night and spied ladders and drop cloths and extension cords inside the entrance and I'm eager to see the results!
Harbingers of Spring
The window of opportunity for a blizzard is dwindling, I fear: we've got maybe six more weeks. And already there are signs of spring all over. I spotted the first Angus calf in the pasture up the road yesterday (so cute!), and folks have been posting on Facebook photos of adorable newborn colts, kids (goat kids, that is), lambs and puppies. A friend has noticed an uptick in her hens' egg production, and in addition she'll be taking delivery of 20 chicks in a few weeks. Local horse people and snowbirds are returning from their winter stays in South Carolina and Florida.
At my parents' new home there are swathes of bulbs coming up, and my hellebores are close to blooming. There's one sunny bank in Unionville that always has the earliest daffodils, and they're already probably five inches tall. And have you noticed that, when seen from a certain angle, there's a green-yellow haze developing in the willow trees?
At my parents' new home there are swathes of bulbs coming up, and my hellebores are close to blooming. There's one sunny bank in Unionville that always has the earliest daffodils, and they're already probably five inches tall. And have you noticed that, when seen from a certain angle, there's a green-yellow haze developing in the willow trees?
I'll Take Romance
On Saturday evening I went to a hugely entertaining concert by Molly Ringwald at Longwood Gardens. Molly, now a mother of three, remains best known for her movie roles in the 1980s ("The Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles" in particular) but is launching a new career as a chanteuse. On Saturday she sang standards from the Great American Songbook -- such as "The Very Thought of You," "I'll Be Seeing You," Pick Yourself Up" -- and put in lots of plugs for her forthcoming CD, "Except Sometimes," to be released in April.
She praised the Great American Songbook as "one of our national treasures" and contrasted these brilliant classics with the disposable popular music of today.
I think my favorite song she did was from "My Fair Lady": the enchanting "On the Street Where You Live."
Molly sounded great and looked beautiful in a red, skin-tight, one-shouldered knee-length dress and towering black heels. Her backing trio was led by her musical director Peter Smith, who was extraordinary at the piano.
Molly told the audience how amazing it was to perform in such a beautiful setting as Longwood, calling it "surreal" and "a magic garden." Not only did Longwood look beautiful in the evening, but the fragrance -- freesias, stocks, daffodils and Oriental lilies -- was sublime.
She closed the show with "Don't You Forget About Me," by Simple Minds, which was featured in "The Breakfast Club." The woman sitting next to me, a schoolteacher from New Jersey, clapped with delight as she heard the first few words.
She praised the Great American Songbook as "one of our national treasures" and contrasted these brilliant classics with the disposable popular music of today.
I think my favorite song she did was from "My Fair Lady": the enchanting "On the Street Where You Live."
Molly sounded great and looked beautiful in a red, skin-tight, one-shouldered knee-length dress and towering black heels. Her backing trio was led by her musical director Peter Smith, who was extraordinary at the piano.
Molly told the audience how amazing it was to perform in such a beautiful setting as Longwood, calling it "surreal" and "a magic garden." Not only did Longwood look beautiful in the evening, but the fragrance -- freesias, stocks, daffodils and Oriental lilies -- was sublime.
She closed the show with "Don't You Forget About Me," by Simple Minds, which was featured in "The Breakfast Club." The woman sitting next to me, a schoolteacher from New Jersey, clapped with delight as she heard the first few words.
Friday, February 22, 2013
By November 1
Russell Jones has agreed to remove the mounds of spent compost from his Hood Road farm by Nov. 1. And with it goes a recurring item on the West Marlborough Township supervisors' agenda.
Last autumn Mr. Jones had 900 loads of spent compost trucked in from local mushroom farms to his property, located south of Hood Road near Mosquito Lane. It was supposed to decompose there for some months and then be removed to be bagged up and sold as potting soil.
However, neighbors complained about the noise and truck traffic and told the township they were worried about environmental damage. The Brandywine Conservancy, which holds an easement on Mr. Jones' property, also objected to the use. And the supervisors told Mr. Jones that under the township zoning code he needed to apply for conditional-use permission to continue dumping the spent compost.
At the township meeting on Thursday, Feb. 21, Mr. Jones's attorney, Brian Nagle of the MacElree Harvey law firm, told the supervisors that his client had worked out an agreement with the Conservancy where Mr. Jones would have the compost removed from the fields as soon as the weather and ground conditions permit, possibly as early as May or June but definitely no later than Nov. 1. Mr. Jones said it will take three months to remove all the soil.
"We're in the hands of the weather," explained Mr. Jones. He said the ground has to be firm and dry before dump trucks can enter the site (they'll be using his gravel driveway off Hood Road). He also said he didn't want the trucks tracking mud out onto the road.
Indeed, because the ground needs to be dry, a Hood Road resident told the supervisors he was concerned that the truck traffic will kick up too much dust. Roadmaster and Supervisor Hugh Lofting assured the neighbor that if he receives a complaint about excess dust during the work, he will contact Mr. Jones and "we'll take care of it immediately."
Mr. Jones said he plans to reseed the property as soon as the compost is gone.
Supervisors Lofting and Michael Ledyard approved a separate agreement reached between the township and Mr. Jones, making only a slight modification: to emphasize the urgency of the situation, they added a cross-reference to a sentence in the Conservancy's agreement about "time being of the essence." Mr. Nagle then withdrew his application for conditional-use permission, and everyone went home for the evening.
Unexpectedly, there were a couple of amusing moments from the legal profession during the evening:
-- When Mr. Nagle stood up to introduce himself, he said he was substituting for fellow attorney Mary Ann Rossi and would try to fill her "large shoes." He caught himself, remembering that in fact Ms. Rossi is a petite woman. "Actually," he said, "they're pretty small."
-- The township's attorney, Dwight Yoder, opened the meeting by offering a detailed recap of the Jones situation and outlining what action was anticipated for the evening. "That may have been more than you wanted to know," he said dryly as he wrapped up.
Last autumn Mr. Jones had 900 loads of spent compost trucked in from local mushroom farms to his property, located south of Hood Road near Mosquito Lane. It was supposed to decompose there for some months and then be removed to be bagged up and sold as potting soil.
However, neighbors complained about the noise and truck traffic and told the township they were worried about environmental damage. The Brandywine Conservancy, which holds an easement on Mr. Jones' property, also objected to the use. And the supervisors told Mr. Jones that under the township zoning code he needed to apply for conditional-use permission to continue dumping the spent compost.
At the township meeting on Thursday, Feb. 21, Mr. Jones's attorney, Brian Nagle of the MacElree Harvey law firm, told the supervisors that his client had worked out an agreement with the Conservancy where Mr. Jones would have the compost removed from the fields as soon as the weather and ground conditions permit, possibly as early as May or June but definitely no later than Nov. 1. Mr. Jones said it will take three months to remove all the soil.
"We're in the hands of the weather," explained Mr. Jones. He said the ground has to be firm and dry before dump trucks can enter the site (they'll be using his gravel driveway off Hood Road). He also said he didn't want the trucks tracking mud out onto the road.
Indeed, because the ground needs to be dry, a Hood Road resident told the supervisors he was concerned that the truck traffic will kick up too much dust. Roadmaster and Supervisor Hugh Lofting assured the neighbor that if he receives a complaint about excess dust during the work, he will contact Mr. Jones and "we'll take care of it immediately."
Mr. Jones said he plans to reseed the property as soon as the compost is gone.
Supervisors Lofting and Michael Ledyard approved a separate agreement reached between the township and Mr. Jones, making only a slight modification: to emphasize the urgency of the situation, they added a cross-reference to a sentence in the Conservancy's agreement about "time being of the essence." Mr. Nagle then withdrew his application for conditional-use permission, and everyone went home for the evening.
Unexpectedly, there were a couple of amusing moments from the legal profession during the evening:
-- When Mr. Nagle stood up to introduce himself, he said he was substituting for fellow attorney Mary Ann Rossi and would try to fill her "large shoes." He caught himself, remembering that in fact Ms. Rossi is a petite woman. "Actually," he said, "they're pretty small."
-- The township's attorney, Dwight Yoder, opened the meeting by offering a detailed recap of the Jones situation and outlining what action was anticipated for the evening. "That may have been more than you wanted to know," he said dryly as he wrapped up.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
A big project
My regular readers know that I'm fascinated by the work being done at the old Elvin farm along Apple Grove Road (and from the number of people who have asked me about it, I'm far from being the only one who's interested!). The crumbling barn and long-abandoned farmhouse have been torn down completely; I doubted they were salvageable at any price. A few stone walls of the barn foundation remain, and there's a giant mound of earth full of big rocks in front of what used to be the farmhouse. When I drove by yesterday afternoon there was all kinds of earth-moving going on, and it looks like they've installed a stone-lined drainage ditch for drainage. There's an architect's sign on the property, so something should be going in.
Vintage
A friend who lives in Kennett recently had a plumber out to look at his leaky toilet. He really, really hopes it can be fixed because it's not just any toilet: it was manufactured by H. Schmaltz & Co.of Kennett Square and bears the maker's name prominently emblazoned on the rim, back near the tank. (Yes, Mum, I knew you'd want to know, so I asked him exactly where it was on the toilet.)
According to Joe Jordi's Kennett Square postcard history book, H. Schmaltz and Company was a hardware, tinsmith and plumbing business that opened its doors around 1904 at 101 East State Street. The Schmaltz family lived in a splendid Victorian building at 120 Marshall Street, now the borough hall.
According to Joe Jordi's Kennett Square postcard history book, H. Schmaltz and Company was a hardware, tinsmith and plumbing business that opened its doors around 1904 at 101 East State Street. The Schmaltz family lived in a splendid Victorian building at 120 Marshall Street, now the borough hall.
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