EXAM: A scary prospect

On Saturday we had dinner at the Saw Mill Grill in Oxford with a young man who's working hard to gain his certification in a highly technical healthcare field. He already has passed two written exams, and the final step involves taking an oral exam this spring with not just one inquisitor but six of them, who each grill you for 30 minutes. The exam has a fearsome reputation -- the pass rate is only 50 percent, and the examiners are authorities in the field.
He told us a horror story about a hapless examinee who recognized his questioner's name and politely said that he'd studied the man's textbook.
The author pulled out a copy of the textbook from his briefcase and opened it to a random page.
"In that case," he said, "perhaps you'll be so good as to summarize this chapter for me."
I tried to reassure the poor fellow, pointing out how articulate and knowledgeable he was and how well he was able to explain the field to laypeople like ourselves.
He looked highly skeptical, pointing out that we were chatting over a relaxed dinner, not in the pressure cooker of pivotal oral exam.

FEAST: An excellent Thanksgiving

Here's hoping you had a nice Thanksgiving. We made our usual trek up the Northeast Extension to Perkasie, where we caught up with infrequently seen family members, played with the two well-behaved dogs, teased the kids about the very green (but delicious) mint chocolate chip cookies they baked, and after a heartfelt prayer enjoyed a traditional turkey dinner. (We brought the mushroom casserole; thank you, Marlboro Mushrooms.)
A few funny things about the trip: At the Wawa near the Quakertown exit we spotted two young men sporting carefully arranged pompadours (I caught one checking his hairdo in the driver's side mirror); they looked like members of the rockabilly band The Stray Cats. On the way home through Harleysville we saw a sign for "Angst & Angst, Attorneys at Law," which cracked us up. (A witty friend later suggested their slogan should be, "We worry for you.")
And at the Wawa in Lionville (we like Wawas), we asked the clerk if he had had his Thanksgiving dinner yet.
"No," he replied, "but my girlfriend says she has a surprise for me when I get home."
He actually looked a little anxious. The guy behind us in line tried to conceal his laughter.
Having a holiday in the middle of the week throws everyone off. Even the radio shows seemed to be out of whack. On Friday afternoon, a friend who listens to a lot of WXPN reported with some surprise that DJ Ben Vaughn was playing Earth Wind & Fire.
"That's not Ben Vaughn," I corrected him. "Ben Vaughn is on Saturday. It's Funky Friday."

ELISE: Best cat name ever

A friend was showing us photos of his new-ish rescue cat, Elise. We asked him to explain the name. It suits her, he said, because she is small and very cuddly. And then there's also the homage to Beethoven: Fur Elise.

LCH: Honoring a board member

Congratulations to West Marlborough resident Alice Moorhead, who received the APEX Award for Board Excellence to honor her exceptional service on the board of directors of La Comunidad Hispana, which provides medical, dental and social services for local Latino families. She received the award from the Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers' conference in Lancaster. The APEX awards (short for Awards for Primary Care Excellence) are given each year to community health centers in Pennsylvania.

 

UCF: Some happy parents

The Unionville-Chadds Ford School District got a strong vote of confidence from two district parents I was talking to the other evening. They made a point of buying a house in the district and said they were baffled to learn that some of their neighbors pay massive amounts of tuition to send their kids to private school. Why, they wonder, when the quality of education in UCF is so high and the district's reputation is so stellar?
(And I hear they have a pretty good football team, too.)

KENNETT: The Light Parade

Much to my regret, the Holiday Light Parade and one of my favorite exercise classes were scheduled for the same time on Nov. 24, so I caught only the prequel and the aftermath of the parade. On my way to Kennett on Newark Road, I saw a brightly illuminated tractor hauling a hay buggy full of kids -- not an everyday sight! -- and in the parking lot of the Landhope at Willowdale I saw another piece of lit-up farm equipment, this one pulling a wagon full of Christmas inflatables. And judging from the crowds of people streaming back to their cars on State Street after the end of the parade, it was a huge hit.

MUSIC: Appalachian tunes and more

On Nov. 17 we headed to Newark for the opening concert of the Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music 2017-18 series. The quartet of Adam Hurt (banjo and fiddle), Beth Williams Hartness (guitar), David McLaughlin (banjo and mandolin), and Marshall Wilborn (upright bass) played a wide variety of bluegrass, old-time, and gospel tunes -- even George Jones's "She Thinks I Still Care" -- in addition to originals like David's entertaining "Skeleton Dance" and "Going Back to Old Virginia."
Adam used a West African gourd banjo to play "Old Molly Oxford," a Morris dance tune -- talk about genre-bending! He explained that the gourds are grown between boards so that they develop into the right shape and size. In introducing Washington Phillips' "What Are They Doing in Heaven Today?" Adam also mentioned another instrument I'd never heard of: the manzerene, a sort of home-made zither with violin strings that Phillips would assemble before every performance.
The show closed with a rousing singalong of the Carter Family's "My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountain."
In the next show in the Old Time Music series, The Herald Angels will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15, at the Unitarian Universalist Hall, 420 Willa Road, Newark.