The Cranky Friend has had a kidney stone this past week, which would provide ample justification for his normally sour mood. But to his credit, he has been taking it in stride (opioids and a naturally high pain threshold are helping) and even finding some wry amusement in the trying experience.
For instance: To encourage the stone to pass, his doctor ordered him to drink three liters of water a day. Trying to envision how much that was, the Friend immediately pictured a three-liter jug of wine.
"Three liters!" he exclaimed. "If you drank three liters of wine you'd be pretty looped!"
The doctor gave him a small smile.
"No," he said. "You don't want to hydrate with wine."
The Friend said people have been phoning all week, clamoring for updates on the stone's journey through his system. He said that our interest reminded him of nothing more than the breathless, nonstop news coverage devoted to John Glenn's Mercury space flight.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Music in the Orchard
There were just too many choices for what to do on this past Saturday night: the Balloon Fest at Plantation Field; a history talk at London Grove Meeting; a concert by the Holmes Brothers in Media; "women's music" icon Holly Near in Bryn Mawr; not to mention a pre-Father's Day family event. What to do? Our choice was to head west to the 1719 Hans Herr House in Willow Street, Lancaster County, for an outdoor concert in their apple orchard.
The opening act was two young women, one on percussion and one on guitar and mandolin, who are part of the folk/bluegrass/blues group Indian Summer Jars from York. They said they'd had a busy day: they'd already played one concert in Mechanicsburg and ran a 5K in Harrisburg!
The group Sopa Sol was Frances Miller on violin and Daryl Snider on guitar, with one of Frances's students joining them on violin for "Wayfaring Stranger" and "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." Frances also played an unusual instrument called a hang drum that looked like a wok and sounded like a steel drum. She and her husband own a dairy farm in Quarryville, Fiddle Creek Dairy, and she said she learned early on that when you marry a dairy farmer you marry not only him but also his cows.
The concert was very informal--you bring your own chairs or blanket--and drew everyone from hippies to bikers to older folks with their grandkids. Adorable kids were running around in the area in front of the stage. One young boy got a little too close to the stage and, while jumping up and down, accidentally dislodged a cable for the sound system.
"This is what I love about live music," said my companion. "Singers forget the words. Cables come unplugged. Keepin' it real!"
People either brought picnics or bought food from the onsite vendor, OCB Cakes, which is a bakery and coffee shop in Strasburg. We bought a very tasty pulled pork sandwich and a loaf of Old Bay-seasoned bread with crab dip. They also offered veggie kebabs, sticky buns, whoopee pies and ice cream.
During the 20-minute intermission we walked around the grounds of the historic site and admired the fenced-in vegetable/herb garden, the actual Hans Herr house, and a replica of a Native American longhouse (the outside surface is made of sheets of textured rubber that really look like bark).
It got pretty chilly as the sun went down toward the end of the show. People were wrapping blankets around themselves, and I was glad I packed a pair of socks. The guy in front of us turned up the collar of his madras shirt to try to keep his neck warm.
This show marked the start of the third season of concerts in the orchard. Four additional shows are on the schedule on June 28, July 12, July 26 and Aug. 9. We'll be back! (Oh, and it's a lovely drive out to Willow Street, which is just south of Lancaster.)
The opening act was two young women, one on percussion and one on guitar and mandolin, who are part of the folk/bluegrass/blues group Indian Summer Jars from York. They said they'd had a busy day: they'd already played one concert in Mechanicsburg and ran a 5K in Harrisburg!
The group Sopa Sol was Frances Miller on violin and Daryl Snider on guitar, with one of Frances's students joining them on violin for "Wayfaring Stranger" and "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." Frances also played an unusual instrument called a hang drum that looked like a wok and sounded like a steel drum. She and her husband own a dairy farm in Quarryville, Fiddle Creek Dairy, and she said she learned early on that when you marry a dairy farmer you marry not only him but also his cows.
The concert was very informal--you bring your own chairs or blanket--and drew everyone from hippies to bikers to older folks with their grandkids. Adorable kids were running around in the area in front of the stage. One young boy got a little too close to the stage and, while jumping up and down, accidentally dislodged a cable for the sound system.
"This is what I love about live music," said my companion. "Singers forget the words. Cables come unplugged. Keepin' it real!"
People either brought picnics or bought food from the onsite vendor, OCB Cakes, which is a bakery and coffee shop in Strasburg. We bought a very tasty pulled pork sandwich and a loaf of Old Bay-seasoned bread with crab dip. They also offered veggie kebabs, sticky buns, whoopee pies and ice cream.
During the 20-minute intermission we walked around the grounds of the historic site and admired the fenced-in vegetable/herb garden, the actual Hans Herr house, and a replica of a Native American longhouse (the outside surface is made of sheets of textured rubber that really look like bark).
It got pretty chilly as the sun went down toward the end of the show. People were wrapping blankets around themselves, and I was glad I packed a pair of socks. The guy in front of us turned up the collar of his madras shirt to try to keep his neck warm.
This show marked the start of the third season of concerts in the orchard. Four additional shows are on the schedule on June 28, July 12, July 26 and Aug. 9. We'll be back! (Oh, and it's a lovely drive out to Willow Street, which is just south of Lancaster.)
Friday, June 13, 2014
"Who needs a pilgrimage?"
Sonia Ralston, who died at Crosslands on June 7, used to write a monthly column for the Kennett Paper called "Dear Friends." A column she wrote in July 2000 about her husband's death made such a impression on me that I ripped it out of the paper (this was before everything was online) and saved it in a drawer.
In this remarkable and graceful piece she wrote about how kind people were to her and her husband in his last days -- her taxi-driver, the nurses, neighbors, custodians, her newspaper delivery person -- and how much those seemingly small gestures meant to her, reinforcing her belief that we don't need to make distant pilgrimages to find God.
"For if one believes that God is Love ... then that sought-after face may be seen on the street where you live ... in the schoolroom where your children study ... or in the unexpected kindness of a stranger," she wrote. "We witnessed how emptying a wastebasket and vacuuming the same floor day after day can become an act of love when it is done with a genuine and kindly word of encouragement."
We writers talk about struggling to achieve an authentic "voice" in our work. Mrs. Ralston had clearly reached that goal -- and her voice was that of a gentle, spiritual and genuinely grateful soul.
In this remarkable and graceful piece she wrote about how kind people were to her and her husband in his last days -- her taxi-driver, the nurses, neighbors, custodians, her newspaper delivery person -- and how much those seemingly small gestures meant to her, reinforcing her belief that we don't need to make distant pilgrimages to find God.
"For if one believes that God is Love ... then that sought-after face may be seen on the street where you live ... in the schoolroom where your children study ... or in the unexpected kindness of a stranger," she wrote. "We witnessed how emptying a wastebasket and vacuuming the same floor day after day can become an act of love when it is done with a genuine and kindly word of encouragement."
We writers talk about struggling to achieve an authentic "voice" in our work. Mrs. Ralston had clearly reached that goal -- and her voice was that of a gentle, spiritual and genuinely grateful soul.
Where is it?
Rural folks who use a post office box number for mail delivery instead of a street address have told me that UPS and FedEx drivers sometimes have trouble finding their houses. I was at the Unionville post office the other day when a worried-looking young man came up to me and asked for help finding the La Mancha Animal Rescue. He was on his way to adopt a pet, and his GPS led him to the post office, because the good people at La Mancha have a P.O. box as their mailing address.
Fortunately I knew exactly where La Mancha is and could give him directions. I hope he made it there and was able to give a pet a "forever" home.
Fortunately I knew exactly where La Mancha is and could give him directions. I hope he made it there and was able to give a pet a "forever" home.
The waiting room
I was working through my lengthy to-do list on Friday and around lunchtime stopped off at the Tolsdorf oil-change place on Baltimore Pike near Longwood Gardens. Who should be in the waiting room but two of my best pals, neither of whom I had seen for ages. We immediately squealed and hugged and started catching up, much to the amusement of the customer sitting across from us reading a business magazine. He told us we shouldn't worry about him spreading any of our indiscreet chitchat anyway, as he is moving away to the Poconos.
The nice guy at the counter was very understanding as well. He said it actually happens all the time that friends run into each other while getting their cars serviced.
(By the way, I hope Chris Ross's successor in office, whoever he or she may be, distributes those red, white and blue "Things to Do Today" note pads, because I go through them like crazy.)
The nice guy at the counter was very understanding as well. He said it actually happens all the time that friends run into each other while getting their cars serviced.
(By the way, I hope Chris Ross's successor in office, whoever he or she may be, distributes those red, white and blue "Things to Do Today" note pads, because I go through them like crazy.)
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Tell me Y
Three tidbits that might be of interest to YMCA members:
1. After the long winter hiatus, workers have been making good progress on the parking lot being built on the hill across Race Street from the Kennett Y. A lot of earth has been moved, shrubs and trees have been planted, and there's now a set of steps leading down to the road.
2. In addition to inadequate parking, one of the most common complaints I hear about the Y is the deafening volume in some aerobics classes. Not only do some of the instructors turn the volume up to 11, but then they need to shriek to be heard over top of it. The sound carries well beyond the room where the class is held. One member at the Jennersville Y was so concerned that he even brought a decibel meter to class recently and documented that the volume significantly exceeded recommended standards (104 decibels in one class!).
I'm told that a sternly worded email went out from management asking instructors to keep the noise down. I'm also told similar emails have been sent out again and again. Management justifiably prides itself on its emphasis on safety; one could argue that this an important safety issue for our ears and not just a matter of taste.
(There is nothing new under the sun. From a book on colonial Latin America that I'm editing: "One traveler in the 1770s testily recorded that the sound [from a public dance] was so `annoying and disagreeable as to provoke one to stop up his ears and to cause the mules to stampede, and they are the most stolid and least flighty of animals'.”)
3. The Brandywine Valley Y is merging with the Upper Main Line Y effective Sept. 1, and the new organization will be called the YMCA of Greater Brandywine. (Back when I first joined the much smaller Y twenty-some years ago it was called the Kennett-Unionville Y.) According to the letter sent to members, after the merger becomes official we'll be able to use the Y facilities in Lionville, Berwyn and Malvern: "Consolidation will have no effect on membership and program fees, or on bank drafts. Creating a new Association will result in cost efficiencies and eliminate redundancies, which will stabilize rates and ensure a uniform method of establishing appropriate rates and fees."
1. After the long winter hiatus, workers have been making good progress on the parking lot being built on the hill across Race Street from the Kennett Y. A lot of earth has been moved, shrubs and trees have been planted, and there's now a set of steps leading down to the road.
2. In addition to inadequate parking, one of the most common complaints I hear about the Y is the deafening volume in some aerobics classes. Not only do some of the instructors turn the volume up to 11, but then they need to shriek to be heard over top of it. The sound carries well beyond the room where the class is held. One member at the Jennersville Y was so concerned that he even brought a decibel meter to class recently and documented that the volume significantly exceeded recommended standards (104 decibels in one class!).
I'm told that a sternly worded email went out from management asking instructors to keep the noise down. I'm also told similar emails have been sent out again and again. Management justifiably prides itself on its emphasis on safety; one could argue that this an important safety issue for our ears and not just a matter of taste.
(There is nothing new under the sun. From a book on colonial Latin America that I'm editing: "One traveler in the 1770s testily recorded that the sound [from a public dance] was so `annoying and disagreeable as to provoke one to stop up his ears and to cause the mules to stampede, and they are the most stolid and least flighty of animals'.”)
3. The Brandywine Valley Y is merging with the Upper Main Line Y effective Sept. 1, and the new organization will be called the YMCA of Greater Brandywine. (Back when I first joined the much smaller Y twenty-some years ago it was called the Kennett-Unionville Y.) According to the letter sent to members, after the merger becomes official we'll be able to use the Y facilities in Lionville, Berwyn and Malvern: "Consolidation will have no effect on membership and program fees, or on bank drafts. Creating a new Association will result in cost efficiencies and eliminate redundancies, which will stabilize rates and ensure a uniform method of establishing appropriate rates and fees."
Possible Rokeby Rd. project?
At the June West Marlborough Township meeting, Supervisor Hugh Lofting reported on the statewide conference on dirt, gravel and low-volume roads that he attended recently in Wilkes-Barre. He said about 350 people attended. He said he learned about some state grant money that might help the township shore up the stretch of Rokeby Road that has been gradually collapsing into the Buck Run.
"I think it would be a perfect situation," he said hopefully. He'll look into the grant requirements and will report back at the August township meeting.
At a February 2013 township meeting, the supervisors told worried residents who live near the site that stabilizing the stream bank to prevent further damage has to be done in accordance with strict environmental regulations and would be a very costly endeavor that the township couldn't easily afford.
"I think it would be a perfect situation," he said hopefully. He'll look into the grant requirements and will report back at the August township meeting.
At a February 2013 township meeting, the supervisors told worried residents who live near the site that stabilizing the stream bank to prevent further damage has to be done in accordance with strict environmental regulations and would be a very costly endeavor that the township couldn't easily afford.
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