Category Archives: local interest

Jan28

Trading Spaces hits my hometown

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I was sitting on the broken down sofa (they made some lame excuse why they never showed up) and I switched on Trading Spaces on TLC. Frank Bielec (who we met last year at a Home Show) and carpenter Amy Winn Pastor came on. Frank says, “We’re in Media, PA”. I almost fell through the sofa! They were in a neighborhood near where we all took our driver’s tests (Sean most recently-see Bortondale on the map). The map shows the start at moms (blanked out the name of her road) and the area of the makeovers-about 5 miles away.
What we thought was really a hoot was when the one couple went to The Riddle Thrift Shop. That’s a shop off a nearby hospital where Sean was born and mom’s doctor is located. Just in Nov. ’04, Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie went to another haunt of ours, a Goodwill in Delaware. So funny.
We were intrigued by the tiling that the one couple did in the other couple’s kitchen. I like the look and think we can do it. The mini-tiles come in sheets that are easy to glue on the wall then to grout. They also had taken down the cabinets, but they were small and metal, nothing like what we have to contend with. Media is definitely ‘Everyone’s hometown’ (their motto).

Sep27

Amazing Race 8 runs around Pennsylvania!

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I missed the first 15 minutes of the new season of ‘The Amazing Race’ because it was usually on Wednesdays and we had ‘My Name is Earl’ on (this is rather quirky, but a little funny). I asked Sean to flip the channel and sure enough the family edition of TAR was on. They were in New York City looking for a hot dog cart that was being guarded by the 2 bald guys from Season 1.
So they find out they have to go to Washington Crossing, PA. Yes, where our founding father crossed the Delaware River. My college pal lived in near by Morrisville. Sesame Place is nearby too! So I think that most of them got lost. I just love our highways here in PA. I really liked the Black family who happened to be black. They had trouble crossing the river because of the current.
Next they went to camp out in Fairmount Park near Philly. They could see the ‘Filthydelphia’ skyline. I hope they had lots of police around. ; ) It’s near the Philly Zoo. Been to Fairmount at the Mann Music Center (several times) and my 10th high school reunion there at Memorial Hall.
Next they went to Mount Joy, PA. That’s near Lancaster and about 50 miles from here. I am bummed because we never heard anything about the show being in this area. They either had to pull a buggy with two people inside or build a shed with a water wheel. The first family crashed the buggy and disabled it and they had to then build the shed. The others who pulled the buggy had a heck of a time. 1.5 miles is further than you think.
This one family was awful. The mother is a heavy set woman who yelled at her husband and two teen sons all the time. I was hoping the Blacks would beat them to Lancaster for the pit stop, but no! So the nice family was out and that left the big mouths in!
They are headed for Gettysburg next week. I am wondering if they will go on to Ohio or DC next? Looks like an interesting race!
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Sep22

A neat shot of my old classmate

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Thanks to my pal Julie out in California who actually got to see a filming of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in the L.A., CA. area. She is actually in this photo but she cut herself out. : (

What is neat about this photo-Paul is wearing a t-shirt from our old school-Penncrest. I think the casting agents who were at the local mall (behind Penncrest) probably were given this to give to Paul.

Julie says he and the rest of the cast were really nice and spoke to her and the other people watching quite a bit.

EM:HE may be in this area as mentioned above, so I’d love to meet them too. Crossing fingers.

Aug27

What I like about vacations…

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This one in particular was a bit different as we had Sean as the main driver and he was driving his car. That gave Brian a tremendous break. Brian tends to be uptight on the road. I definitely felt a bit more relaxed in my cocoon in the backseat. I loved seeing Sean frolic in the ocean on his boogie board. He isn’t really a swimmer, but he had a grand time catching the waves. I love the familiarity of a place. We stayed in the same hotel we stayed in 5 years ago and forgot how convenient it was to the beach and boardwalk. We ate at the Marina Deck right next to the bay and watched boats come in.
Sean wanted to go to a pre-21 club his friends had gone to. He had to walk a few blocks to the place and the cover charge was only half price until 8:30 pm. He did go and we were watching out the window worrying about him being out until 11 in a strange town. He said he was ‘holding up the walls’ but he talked to a girl from the Pittsburgh area too.
I love the outlet shopping in the Ocean City and Rehoboth Beach area. We go to the outlets in Lancaster a few times a year, but the ones down at the beach seemed to have a ton of things to chose from. The Bass and Old Navy stores had the best buys.
Most of all, seeing something different is what keeps me going for a long time. I get tired of the same old thing and a trip, even a short trip does me the world of good.

Jun30

Vacation Bottleneck area

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AOL was featuring this on their Welcome screen. We have about 4 areas that are trouble areas highlighted on this CNN map. That’s out of the entire country! They mention Lancaster, PA (about 35 minutes from me) , the Delaware/Maryland shore, the Jersey shore and the Poconos. I can get to most of these areas in around 3 hours or less. So you can see what a pain it is to travel for us. I have to say I love the Delaware/Maryland shore area and Lancaster. When you go to places a lot, you learn the back roads, etc.
Speaking of traveling, even venturing down to Philadelphia is a trip and a half. We were thinking about going to the Live 8 concert, but with all the masses of people it’s a turn-off. I am sure people will be sleeping around the concert area (if this is allowed). It’s all they talk about on the news. I had forgotten the tickets to the Live Aid concert back in 1985 were $50 each. It was in the old JFK stadium and it was hot! I was pregnant (not with Sean, had a miscarriage), so we taped it all. It doesn’t seem like it was 20 years ago.

Jun24

Local tragedy

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There had been three little boys missing in Camden, NJ since Wednesday night. They were 11, 6 and 5. Tonight they were found dead in an abandoned car that the police said they had checked the first night they were missing. So everyone is wondering if the police checked the trunk (the car was right next to one of the boy’s home in a grassy lot) or that someone killed them and snuck them in the trunk. This is so sad.
I never let Sean play outside by himself when he was young. Why were those little boys with an 11 year old? Why didn’t the older one have sense not to get into a trunk of a car? So many questions. You would think someone would hear them kicking on the lid of the trunk if they got stuck in there. It’s been warm here too. I just hope there isn’t foul play involved.
Sean rented ‘Ladder 49’ the Joaquin Phoenix (really ‘his’ movie) and John Travolta movie. The ending wasn’t what I expected, so I was bummed about that and then had to hear about the little Camden boys made me feel terrible for their families.
Earlier I was surfing from a James Taylor link (he is on the AOL screen tonight) and was reading up on Sally (JTs daughter) foundation called ‘The Tranquility Project’ which is to help do away with land minds around the world. The late Princess Diana was an advocate about this. Good work Sally and good luck with your natural food line called ‘Sally in the Raw’. She’s a cool lady. I had the privilege to see her in a free concert with her band a few years ago. I must be a long, lost cousin of that family because I feel so akin with many of them.
I’m following Abby’s blog about a 16 yr old guy named Zach down in Memphis who ‘came out’, telling his parents he was gay and only having them toss him in a place to ‘get the gay’ out of him called ‘Love in Action’ which is a load of crap. There’s a big protest going on to ‘Free Zach’. I hope it at least helps to get him out of there and closes the place down.

May26

Lancaster man becomes All time Jeopardy champion

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Congrats to Brad Rutter!
From AOL news:
“Ken Jennings,”Jeopardy!” brainiac met his match this week, losing a three-day tournament of champions from the game show and a $2 million (1.58 million) prize to Brad Rutter of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Rutter was hardly intimidated by Jennings’ 74-game winning streak in the game show last year. He beat Jennings in all three individual games, and his final total of $62,000 (49,066) easily eclipsed Jennings’ $34,599 (27,381).”

Man, that must feel good to beat someone like Jennings. He is hardly suffering from his lost. Before the tournament, I’ve seen him in a number of tv commercials.

May13

Hey, let’s fly over the White House!

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There’s nothing that’s been this dumb happen for a while. And the poor idiots were from near here-Smoketown. What were they thinking? Didn’t they heed the warning or didn’t they even know where they were? (What’s that big white pointy thingie down yonder?) They are lucky they didn’t get their butts blown to smithereens! Guess they didn’t make the airshow in North Carolina.

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I’m back to my night owl ways. I actually didn’t mind getting up early the time we were down in Florida. You sure utilize more of the day, but I was flat on my back by 8pm. That’s not me at all. Still got to see ‘my tv shows’ in the hotel at night. I really didn’t miss the computer that much either. I was so glad to be doing something different. I think we need to travel this country more. I know, it cost money. We’re not that old that I can at least see a few more states.

May3

Historic Route One

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I travel down Rt 1 everytime I go see my mom. A lot has changed in the 18 plus years that we have lived 20 miles down the road. For one thing, it sure feels like more than 23 miles now. There are more traffic lights, more shopping centers, etc. It use to take about 30-35 minutes when Sean was little. Now it takes 45 min to 1 hour.
It is a historic area. The first very old town I pass through is Kennett Square. My maternal great grandfather lived here in the late 1800s for a year. Even though his stay was brief, he always talked about how much he liked it around here. Great gf did buy some land in Delaware at one time in his life that included a farmhouse and a short drive to the beaches down there.
Then I go past Longwood Gardens, founded by Pierre DuPont. The gardens are one of the most beautiful in this area. A few miles down, I drive through Chadds Ford where ‘The Village’ was just filmed a year and a half ago. Stop at the Chadds Ford Winery for a wine tasting. I go over the Brandywine River where the Brandywine River Museum is (I have the calendar shown on this webpage). A little ways down is the Brandywine Battlefield. We went there when I was little and my brother and I got yelled at for floating styrofoam coffee cups down a stream there. Sean’s been there for a school trip plus all the other neat museums nearby like Winterthur, Hagley and the Delaware Museum of Natural History. (I’ve never been to Winterthur myself).
If you are ever near this area, definitely the above places are worth a visit. Even down the road in Delaware County more (we live in Chester County) you will see the Wawa diary building across the street from the Franklin Mint. A little before this is the Newlin Grist Mill. In the nearby park, my brother and his wife had their wedding photos taken.
For your amusement check out Banjo the fence sitting horse and the beautiful Brandywine Valley countryside.
A little Brandywine Valley trivia:
The origin of the name Brandywine is unclear. Some say it comes from a story recounting the wreck of a Dutch ship at the mouth of the stream carrying “brandywine” – a potent Dutch spirit. Most historians, however, believe it comes from an early settler, Andreas Brainwende (or Brantwyn), who established one of the first grain mills on the lower river.

Apr25

Tim Daly

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I mentioned the Buck County Playhouse was flooded out a few weeks ago. Found this on a Tyne Daly fan page. That means little Timmy was only about 7 yrs old. Wonder if he liked Bucks County too? The names were already highlighted with yellow. They are all members of the Daly family. James and Hope Newell are Tim’s dad and mom. Glynn and of course Tyne are his sisters. Posted by Hello
Update 4-26-I wrote an email to the BC PH yesterday about photos or a playbill from the above production. They replied and said their website was being updated all the time and that there probably weren’t any playbills, etc. from 1963. Oh well.