Dinner bell

Four casual-dining notes:
1. The shrimp and spinach salad at Giordano's is really tasty. I had dinner there Friday with a guy I've known for -- oh, let's just say more than 50 years. We both had the salad and then split one of their really tasty pizzas.
2. At Landhope, you now have to order your ice cream using the touch-screen computer. Thanks to the kind employee who helped out my mother and me!
3. Hood's has changed its hours so that they have time to get started on their restaurant renovations. They're now open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
4. I had every intention of stopping by the Grand Opening at the Market at Liberty Place at State and Center Streets on Friday, but the place was jammed and it was pouring, so I ended up driving by. I hear that anyone who was anyone, le tout Kennett, was there! I hope to stop in this week.

Hovering

Six things I've seen hovering this week:
1. Kestrels hover-hunting over a pond near Doe Run
2. Hummingbirds at the feeder on my back deck
3. A sailplane pilot lazily circling in the clouds in search of thermals
4. Dragonflies laying eggs on the surface of the lake at Anson Nixon Park, attracting great interest from the hungry bass below
5. A fellow experimenting with his GoPro camera mounted on a very cool radio-controlled drone with four rotors, also at Anxon Nixon Park
6. A pal of mine who is doing an excellent imitation of a helicopter mom with her new horse

Pot of gold

After one of the storms last week, the sun came out and a spectacular double rainbow appeared to the east. I picked up the camera and headed outside, ducked under a bunch of wet trees, took a couple of shots and uploaded the best one. Too bad about five neighbors had already beaten me to it, and with better photos!

Trail runs

For my trail-running readers: here are three upcoming competitions in our area.

1. Saturday, July 20: The Chasin' for Chalfin 15K trail run through the "fair hunting country" of the beautiful Runnymede estate outside of Springdell includes "hills, vistas, and creek crossings." There's also a 5K trail run for fun and a 3K on-road fun run/walk. Sponsored by Trail Creek Outfitters in the Glen Eagle Shopping Center. Onsite registration is from 7:30 to 8:15 a.m. on the day of the race. Race time is 8:30 a.m. 
2. Saturday, September 14: The Fair Hill 5K trail run will be at Fair Hill State Park off Appleton Rd. in Elkton, MD. Benefits the Wounded Warrior Project. Check-in and packet pick-up will begin at 7:45; race begins at 8:45 a.m. (The reason I included this one is that I'm seeing more and more vehicles with Maryland tags around here. Not sure why!)   

3. Saturday, Sept.  21: The Garage Youth Center 5k trail run will be at Goddard Park in West Grove. "The route will be a 1.55-mile loop that will weave through woods and prairies on dirt, gravel, grass, and paved trails." Registration opens at 7:30 a.m.; 9 a.m. is the 5K trail run and 9:30 a.m. is the 5K trail walk. 

Water gardens

The Brandywine Valley Water Garden Tour, scheduled for July 27 and 28, will feature what looks like a lovely variety of "waterscapes" at houses around the area. Tickets for the self-guided tour are $25, or $50 for a bus tour. For more information and tickets you can visit their website, www.brandywinepondtour.com. There's no information on the website about where the sites are, but I've seen signs promoting the tour all the way from Longwood to Unionville to Coatesville! Proceeds help support the Chester County Food Bank.

Models

When we were kids my brother and I used to make plastic airplanes and cars and monsters from the kits that manufacturers like Revell would put out. We'd snap off the parts from the plastic frame in which they had been molded, identify the fuselage or tailpipes or claws, glue them together with plastic cement, paint them with Testor paint and finally affix the little decals. The finished product might or might not end up looking like the picture on the box.
What sparked this memory was the navy blue with which My at Polished Salon in Kennett did my toenails yesterday. I really think it's the exact color that we painted a World War II bomber.
Or possibly Day-Glo Godzilla's eyes.

Nothing new under the sun

I have a lot of inquisitive friends; some might even go so far as to call them "curious," in both senses of the word. At lunch today at Hood's one of them spotted a man with his head swathed in a large white bandage and asked without hesitation, "What did you do to your head?" The man replied, civilly enough, that he had just had a skin cancer removed from his forehead.
Well! Talk about a perfect ice-breaker in an outdoors-y community like ours! A general and animated discussion ensued, with everyone sharing their experiences with skin cancer and Mohs surgery.