Saturday, June 2, is the date for the annual Home & Garden Day tour to benefit the Bayard Taylor Memorial Library.
Last week I spent a delightful evening with a few of the ladies on the library's Special Events Committee, the volunteer group that runs the tour. I had earlier committed to buy an ad in the tour program: not only does the money go to a good cause, but I also assumed it would release me from any obligations of a tour-guide nature on the day.
Hah! I should have known better.
One of the ladies served me an ample portion of her homemade apple crisp with cranberries, topped with vanilla ice cream. It was delicious. Help yourself to more, she said graciously. I did so.
Then: WHAM!
"So where are you working at the garden tour this year?" she inquired point-blank.
I was ambushed. I hemmed. I hawed.
"I can see you're trying to make up an excuse," she observed, quite correctly.
Another of the ladies, no slouch herself when it comes to recruiting volunteers, shook her head at these take-no-prisoners tactics. She pointed out that issues her summonses via email to give her friends a chance to say no gracefully.
Long story short, it looks like I'll be seeing you at whatever house I'm assigned to on June 2. Fingers crossed for good weather!
(I am, of course, exaggerating just a bit: being a tour volunteer is good fun. And actually, I think they are still looking for parkers...)
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Devices and desires
One of the downsides of our increasing reliance on our smartphones is that if something goes wrong, we're at a total loss. On Tuesday afternoon, just after receiving an email with a giant attachment, my email app started acting up: about a second after I clicked on an email, the screen would turn black and I'd get an error message.
What to do? The young people I know were all away on spring break.
I waited to see if it would resolve itself, and I tried a couple of remedies I found online. But when neither course of action helped, I called Verizon at 6 a.m., when their troubleshooting line opens. To diagnose the problem, they said I'd have to contact them from another phone. But like many people these days, I don't have a landline anymore (I miss my old 869 phone number).
So I stopped by the Verizon Wireless store in the London Grove Village shopping center (across from Perkins on Route 41), and an enormously helpful young man solved the problem in under 3 minutes. I promised to bake him some cookies.
Now, once again, I'm available by email at home, at the gym, in my car. What a relief -- sort of.
What to do? The young people I know were all away on spring break.
I waited to see if it would resolve itself, and I tried a couple of remedies I found online. But when neither course of action helped, I called Verizon at 6 a.m., when their troubleshooting line opens. To diagnose the problem, they said I'd have to contact them from another phone. But like many people these days, I don't have a landline anymore (I miss my old 869 phone number).
So I stopped by the Verizon Wireless store in the London Grove Village shopping center (across from Perkins on Route 41), and an enormously helpful young man solved the problem in under 3 minutes. I promised to bake him some cookies.
Now, once again, I'm available by email at home, at the gym, in my car. What a relief -- sort of.
On the radar screen
Saturday afternoon I made a left onto westbound Route 926 at Willowdale and found myself behind a driver who applied her brakes every time she hit 30 m.p.h. It was a painfully slow trip out to the London Grove crossroads. As we approached Newark Road I was eager to see if she was going to continue west on 926 or head north on Newark Road; I was going to do the opposite.
Much to my surprise, she blew through the stop sign, not even braking and probably reached her highest speed in miles. She headed west on 926. I went north on Newark Road, so I can't say if she ran the stop sign at 841 as well. You just never know.
Much to my surprise, she blew through the stop sign, not even braking and probably reached her highest speed in miles. She headed west on 926. I went north on Newark Road, so I can't say if she ran the stop sign at 841 as well. You just never know.
Smiling, having fun
On Friday I had dinner with an old school friend who was in Media visiting his parents. I see George only once or twice a year, so we always have a lot of catching up to do.
So we were having a very leisurely dinner at a renovated old tavern in Springfield, and there was a lively party going on in the banquet room next door. One of the partygoers, carrying a beer bottle, passed our table en route to the bar, and I asked her what they were celebrating. She said it was her brother-in-law's 50th birthday.
"Can I ask you something?" she said. "Are you two married?"
No, we said, but we've known each other since the sixth grade; why?
She said she had seen us three times throughout the evening, and we were constantly smiling, laughing, and talking and clearly engrossed in each other's company. Apparently to her mind that was wholly incompatible with a marital relationship. She then proceeded to deliver a slightly tipsy but nonetheless sound defense of long friendships.
So we were having a very leisurely dinner at a renovated old tavern in Springfield, and there was a lively party going on in the banquet room next door. One of the partygoers, carrying a beer bottle, passed our table en route to the bar, and I asked her what they were celebrating. She said it was her brother-in-law's 50th birthday.
"Can I ask you something?" she said. "Are you two married?"
No, we said, but we've known each other since the sixth grade; why?
She said she had seen us three times throughout the evening, and we were constantly smiling, laughing, and talking and clearly engrossed in each other's company. Apparently to her mind that was wholly incompatible with a marital relationship. She then proceeded to deliver a slightly tipsy but nonetheless sound defense of long friendships.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Volunteers
Congratulations to Jeb Hannum and Jake Chalfin, the newest members of the West Marlborough Township planning commission. The township supervisors agreed to enlarge the commission from five members to seven members so that it would be easier to obtain a quorum of the group at meetings.
"Seeing they work for free," quipped supervisor Mike Ledyard about enlarging the commission, "I don't see much of a downside."
"Seeing they work for free," quipped supervisor Mike Ledyard about enlarging the commission, "I don't see much of a downside."
Billable hours
This is serious stuff, folks.
At their April 3 meeting the West Marlborough Township supervisors announced they are considering enacting a 0.5 percent earned income tax on township residents because of the skyrocketing legal and engineering bills that the township has had to shoulder.
If you read my column you'll remember the multiple zoning hearings last year brought by the actions of a group of Springdell residents (Joe and Cathy Huston, Gus and Linda Brown, Lew and Lynn Powell, Bea Cassou, and George Strawbridge) who are waging a vigorous campaign against the Whip Tavern, saying it has a negative impact on the village.
During each of those evening-long hearings the zoning hearing board had a lawyer present as well as a court reporter. The township had its own lawyer. The township's engineer was present for many billable hours.
All of these well-paid professionals were on the clock, and who picks up the tab? We, the township residents, do.
Ask the "Springdell 8" if they think this is fair, and they'll respond that they are township residents, too, and they also have their own attorneys' fees to pay. They say that they just want the zoning rules to be enforced equally, and if the township officials had done their job they wouldn't have to take all of this legal action.
The township in recent months hosted two closed-door meetings between the residents and the Whip to try to put an end to the dispute. Unfortunately, "it's apparent there is little opportunity to reach some sort of settlement between the parties," as Supervisor Bill Wylie announced at the April meeting.
"Something needs to be said about the financial condition of the township," Wylie went on. He said that for many years the township has run "a bare-bones operations" that required low taxes, but things have changed in the past few years.
"Professional fees have increased dramatically," he said. "We've had to borrow from other accounts. Our financial condition has declined, and now we need to look at other sources."
He said the biggest expense was the legal counsel for the zoning hearing board, which in 2011 was "close to $50,000 alone."
"We don't know how to budget for that," he said. "We have no control over that."
He said the earned income tax would raise an estimated $110,000 for the township each year.
"Our back is against the wall," agreed Supervisor Mike Ledyard. "This has made us look like California in terms of our bottom line."
Mr. Ledyard added that in past years legal expenses have been minuscule; in fact, in some years the zoning board did not have a single hearing. "So it comes as a real shock going from zero to 50,000."
(One might fruitfully ask what has spurred such an increase in the number of these hearings, and whether anything could have been done to prevent the situation from going so far.)
There will be a public hearing before any decision on the earned income tax.
As a sage longtime township resident said to me, "The hens are coming home to roost."
At their April 3 meeting the West Marlborough Township supervisors announced they are considering enacting a 0.5 percent earned income tax on township residents because of the skyrocketing legal and engineering bills that the township has had to shoulder.
If you read my column you'll remember the multiple zoning hearings last year brought by the actions of a group of Springdell residents (Joe and Cathy Huston, Gus and Linda Brown, Lew and Lynn Powell, Bea Cassou, and George Strawbridge) who are waging a vigorous campaign against the Whip Tavern, saying it has a negative impact on the village.
During each of those evening-long hearings the zoning hearing board had a lawyer present as well as a court reporter. The township had its own lawyer. The township's engineer was present for many billable hours.
All of these well-paid professionals were on the clock, and who picks up the tab? We, the township residents, do.
Ask the "Springdell 8" if they think this is fair, and they'll respond that they are township residents, too, and they also have their own attorneys' fees to pay. They say that they just want the zoning rules to be enforced equally, and if the township officials had done their job they wouldn't have to take all of this legal action.
The township in recent months hosted two closed-door meetings between the residents and the Whip to try to put an end to the dispute. Unfortunately, "it's apparent there is little opportunity to reach some sort of settlement between the parties," as Supervisor Bill Wylie announced at the April meeting.
"Something needs to be said about the financial condition of the township," Wylie went on. He said that for many years the township has run "a bare-bones operations" that required low taxes, but things have changed in the past few years.
"Professional fees have increased dramatically," he said. "We've had to borrow from other accounts. Our financial condition has declined, and now we need to look at other sources."
He said the biggest expense was the legal counsel for the zoning hearing board, which in 2011 was "close to $50,000 alone."
"We don't know how to budget for that," he said. "We have no control over that."
He said the earned income tax would raise an estimated $110,000 for the township each year.
"Our back is against the wall," agreed Supervisor Mike Ledyard. "This has made us look like California in terms of our bottom line."
Mr. Ledyard added that in past years legal expenses have been minuscule; in fact, in some years the zoning board did not have a single hearing. "So it comes as a real shock going from zero to 50,000."
(One might fruitfully ask what has spurred such an increase in the number of these hearings, and whether anything could have been done to prevent the situation from going so far.)
There will be a public hearing before any decision on the earned income tax.
As a sage longtime township resident said to me, "The hens are coming home to roost."
Monday, April 2, 2012
Splendor
So many flowers are in bloom this week out in the fields: the wild mustard (yellow), the garlic mustard (white), the purple violets, the dandelions. And it's so weird to see skunk cabbage and May apples flourishing next to each other; usually the former are shriveling in the heat by the time the latter pop up.
On the way home from the gym I stopped along my road to take a photo -- and I had one of those wonderful breathtaking "a-ha" surprises: there in the woods were two trout lilies (Erythronium americanum), a beautiful yellow flower with a green and brown mottled, orchid-like leaf.
Unfortunately, a few steps beyond was a discarded tire. Yuck.
On the way home from the gym I stopped along my road to take a photo -- and I had one of those wonderful breathtaking "a-ha" surprises: there in the woods were two trout lilies (Erythronium americanum), a beautiful yellow flower with a green and brown mottled, orchid-like leaf.
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