Make this the year

Every January we old-timers at the Y see an influx of people who have made New Year's resolutions to shape up. Most of them, unfortunately, don't get into the habit of working out regularly (go ahead; prove me wrong, please!), and within a few weeks class sizes and the parking lot revert to their usual state. At the Kennett Y on Jan. 2, while I was doing my usual burpees and ball slams, I saw a few people being taken on conducted tours of the facility, and next to me in the fitness center an old-timer was gently introducing a "newbie" to the multiple joys of the Bosu, the stability ball and the medicine ball. She didn't seem impressed.

New Year

I think the best way to describe the Great Mushroom Drop is to tell you that we spent the whole evening searching for two friends of ours. One is quite tall and is usually conspicuous in any crowd. And both of them were wearing red polka-dot mushroom hats, which you'd think would also have made them stand out.
Nope. We couldn't find them! Not only were there too many people in general, there were also too many people wearing mushroom headgear. Only in Kennett Square.
It was a fun evening, and I'm delighted I managed to stay awake. One of my favorite moments was my first glimpse of the huge, lit-up mushroom hanging from the crane at State and Union Streets. It was a magical sight against the dark sky.
It was below freezing, but I was well wrapped up and the cold didn't bother me at all. Maybe the heat from so many people warmed things up, or maybe it was the hot coffee from Fran Keller's and the Underground Donuts food truck.
After wandering around town saying "hi" to friends and visiting the open stores, at about 11 we staked out a spot in front of Talula's Table on State Street. Up until that point it had been a low-key evening, but over the next hour hordes of people descended on town and it got very crowded.
The people-watching was entertaining. One guy who wandered by wore a Santa Claus outfit, complete with beard. A group of stylish young men with Big Hair walked by, and one briefly tried to stand in front of me. Families brought their kids, some little ones asleep in strollers.
And at 11:59, the mushroom started its slow descent -- as the crowd counted down, it hit the street at the stroke of midnight.
I was hoping for a traditional chorus of "Auld Lang Syne," but instead the band launched into Lynyrd Skynyrd. Oh well.
Huge congrats to the folks who worked so hard to pull off this event! It really put Kennett on the map.

What's hot!

In a story on decorating trends, the Dec. 28-29 "Off Duty" section of the Wall Street Journal declares that "The use of blinky owls, Machiavellian foxes, timid deer and, most recently, mushrooms as decorative motifs in artwork and textiles is verging on kitschy."
Are you kidding me?! Obviously this doesn't apply to Kennett and Unionville, where mushrooms and foxes are and always will be cherished decorating icons. In one of my father's favorite maxims, "Consider the source": The same decorator states that 1970s macramé wall hangings are now "in" again.
I rest my case.

Vintage

My friend Chris Barber, the editor of the "Avon Grove Sun," was shooting a girls' basketball game at her alma mater, Unionville High School, on Friday night when "this weird thing happened... the announcer said all the basketball team alums should gather for a picture after the game. But all the alums were like class of 2010, -11, etc. So I told the announcer I was embarrassed, but I was on the basketball team, class of '61. And he kept saying, "I can't believe it. I wasn't born in '61." Then the women taking the picture said, "Hey, we've got a '61 here." And the girls cheered and surrounded me for the picture."
Chris is an honoree on UHS' Wall of Fame.

Keller's hiatus

A distraught reader wrote to tell me that Fran Keller's Eatery will be shut from Dec. 30 through Jan 10. "Not sure what a lot of us will do without the weekend omelettes, the Mexican Tuesdays, crab-cake Fridays and daily camaraderie, but it'll be a tough adjustment," he wrote. "A tough adjustment, too, for the staff, who are getting 12 days' unpaid vacation."
My good-karma suggestion: Slip your favorite Keller's staff member an extra-large tip, before or after the break.

 

For the birds

The snow on the ground not only brings the wild birds to our backyard feeders and suet-holders but also makes them a little easier to spot. A West Grove pal who keeps a tripod-mounted camera at the ready, pointed out his kitchen window, captured a marvelous Christmas Day shot of a red-bellied woodpecker with a seed in his beak!
Some people love to post these bird photos on social media, and I've noticed that bordering-on-contentious disputes will arise among enthusiasts about a bird's exact identity: Which type of wren or woodpecker is it? Male or female? What's your evidence? When they start using Latin names, you know there are some serious birders involved.
I'm reminded of that amusing passage from Jay McInerney's "Bright Lights, Big City," in which the hero is a fact-checker at a highbrow magazine: "Just last month an innocuous sketch on birdfeeder activity raised a storm. Readers protested that a certain type of finch couldn't possibly have been at a feeder in Stonington, Connecticut, when the writer claimed to have seen a pair. The letters are still coming in."

End of the year

As we say good-bye to 2013, I want to thank you, readers and contributors, friends and family, for your wonderful support. It is heartwarming when strangers come up to me (even better, to my family members!) and say how much they enjoy my little column and how it keeps them up to date with what's going on and who's doing what.
I started writing this blog a few years back because I thought there was just plain too much faux-hip snarkiness, meanness for the sake of meanness, and juvenile name-calling in our world, online and off. I think we should and can do better, and without being saccharine I keep that goal in mind with every item I write. Let's pay attention to nature and the beautiful countryside we live in. Let's notice and express gratitude for a good meal or a neighbor's kindness. Let's celebrate the little family moments, businesses that do what they say they'll do, "ordinary" citizens who help their community.
Am I ever tempted to slam a lackluster or a poorly organized local event? Sure I am; but I don't. Even the Young Relative knows that if a local restaurant serves me, say, a gluey, lukewarm cup of mushroom soup, Tilda will simply not mention it (in print, at least).
However: rude drivers, litterers, bad parkers, people who spit on the sidewalk and incessant Verizon solicitors? You're still fair game.
Readers, if you ever want to comment or offer a story idea from your neighborhood, club, church, or whatever, please feel free to contact me at uvilleblogger@gmail.com or PO Box 293, Unionville, PA 19375. Thanks!