Category Archives: PA.

Dec7

Ina strikes again!

Posted on Wednesday, December 7, 2011 by Dianne

I took my mom home today and after we dropped off her packages, headed up to my hometown for lunch. It’s been a rainy, miserable day and is still raining and miserable. This is up near the courthouse (Media is the county seat of Delaware County).

This is Veteran’s Square (can you tell where I was parked from the one photo? You can see the courthouse too).

Our tree is up, but not fluffed or anything and the living room looks like a bomb hit. I will work on it the next few days as I don’t work until Saturday night. I only got 9 hours this week.

Nov30

Rose Tree Tavern

Posted on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 by Dianne

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Today I went down to see my mom as I wanted to take her to dinner and shopping. We didn’t go to that many places in the mall though. I’m not seeing that many gifts that I wanted to buy, but I did get a few things. I happen to get a good coupon for the dinner- $15 toward $30 meals. We went at 4:45, so got the early bird special-we both got prime rib, mashed potatoes and a big salad. We got beverages and a piece of cake and I had to pay a little more, but I haven’t seen my mom go after a meal like she did this one (me too). It was a bit salty, but I got over it. : )

Before we went to the mall and the restaurant, I wanted to stop at the Rose Tree Tavern that use to be on the corner of a busy road where my bus went by all the time and on the National Register of Historic Places . They moved it back and renovated it. I was dying to see the inside as a tourist bureau, but they had it locked up at 3:30! I did take a few photos though.

From the back with my Ina

From the front-isn’t it lovely for a 272 yr old building? I know they didn’t have to redo the stonework.

From the side with the 1739 cornerstone

Be sure to click the highlighted link to see the various steps of renovation. Someday I’ll get to see inside!

Nov14

Grateful for a fine fall day

Posted on Monday, November 14, 2011 by Dianne

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I wanted to do some walking for exercise as I was a couch potato over the weekend. It wasn’t a difficult choice to go to old faithful-Longwood Gardens. A few others had the same idea, but I didn’t mind. I always take my camera. I figure I got a good 3/4 -1 mile in.

November rose

Some of their fabulous Mum displays

Did you know there were so many Mums?

I love the Orchid room and like this shot

Another unusual mum topiary

And I thought this was really neat-a Pomegranate Bonsai (over 100 yrs old) with two gorgeous fruits

It’s a lovely pink sunset, nice ending to a pretty decent day.

Only problem, the store manager hasn’t called to tell me when to come in for training.

Update-He called at 5:30 and I got in for a few hours on Wednesday afternoon-finally!

Nov13

Paranormal event in my hometown

Posted on Sunday, November 13, 2011 by Dianne

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I’m on a Facebook group called ‘you know you grew up in Media, PA…if’ and it really snowballed into a popular group. If you haven’t started one for your hometown, you should. One of the memories that was stirred from my subconscious was about the Helibron Mansion located on Rose Tree Road not far from Penncrest high school. Seems the school bus use to go by this place every day. What I remembered more was ‘the cat house’, up the road and had a cat visible in every window of the cottage like place. The summer air would not be sweetly perfumed from that place. So the mansion was the subject of a non-fiction winning book called ‘Night Stalks the Mansion’written by Constance Westbie and Harold Cameron and back in 1977. Cameron and his family lived in the house for 2 frightful years. I don’t know why they say they lived in ‘Wynne, Pa’ which isn’t even a town in this state!

It’s been investigated a number of times. A friend of my brothers did a photo documentary about the place and was inside it many times. Seems 3 ghosts haunted it, a mother, her daughter and a black man who was a slave and hung on the property for killing the daughter.
There were a few things brought up by the local paper that Margaret (the young girl) was on the 1870 census, 6 years after she was suppose to have been killed.., Anyway…spooky. Why was the house just abandoned with all it’s antiques and I also read a safe full of Christmas gifts from about 1942? The Camerons lived in the place in the 1960s, so around the time we were living 5 miles or so away. I’m glad it’s a short book as I’m reading it at bedtime and then turning off the light to pitch blackness. Yikes! There were plans for a movie, but they can’t seem to sign on actors.
On a more pleasant note, the original place was hazed in the late 1980s and rebuilt shortly afterwards and it’s beautiful. Heres’ an update and a dark photo of it. The present owners don’t have any ghostly inhabitants either. The book is available on Kindle.

Nov6

Sugarloaf Craft Festival

Posted on Sunday, November 6, 2011 by Dianne

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Facebook is a good place to find places to go on the weekend! A pal in New Jersey mentioned she went to the Sugarloaf Craft Festival in her state last weekend. I looked up the festival and its next stop was Oaks, PA. this weekend!

I asked Brian if we could go and he said fine (it’s about an hour away). It was easy to find and very crowded. I had coupons off the internet, so we saved $1 each. The first thing that caught my eye was this:

I didn’t purchase it right away, but Brian did buy it for me as a birthday gift. This isn’t the chain it came with as it was a bit too short for my liking. The gem is a Mystic or Rainbow Topaz-the topaz is my birthday gem and it comes in all colors, though this colorless stone is treated with something to give it an aurora borealis appearance. This photo doesn’t do it justice-guess it’s about 2 carats and wasn’t really pricey.

There were over 250 vendors and most of the items were priced on the high side. I got a good look at gorgeous scarves, but for $45-160, I will make my own or find them elsewhere. We did buy some chocolate and candy goodies to enjoy and give as gifts. I tried a slushy wine product (yum).

I happened upon this pottery place and decided to get a large mug-it’s like 12 oz or more! Only $10. Then I saw a chowder bowl, which is good for my oatmeal and cereal.

And compared to the one I bought in the 1970s that my mom returned to me a few years back:

This company is called Transformations

See how it goes from the state of Pennsylvania and Declaration of Independence and is transformed into the Liberty Bell?
Bought some nice soap from North Carolina:

This is sitting on top of a couple of sheets of homemade paper I bought.
When we were leaving to go to the Chester County booksale, I took this photo of the 1918 Oaks train station out the car window:

We got to the book sale about 45 minutes before it closed. I managed to find a few books from the Martha Stewart Halloween book to the Chincoteague Island book (from 1977). I think they all (plus a paperback Bri got and one I got for his dad were $12.

I’ll let you know if the flat belly diet works! LOL Saw the authors on Rachael Ray a year or so ago and was intrigued, but not intrigued enough to spend $25.
Nice illustrations in the clothing book:

The lighthouse we saw a few months ago:

Cute cover of the book

I went with Brian to see his dad, it’s been a long time since I saw him, but I hear him every day several times a day as Bri must use the speaker part of the phone all the time. We went food shopping for him too.
Also wanted to share some roses I bought-$1 a stem at Fresh Market. They had about 15 or more different colors. They lasted beautifully.

Cherry Brandy

Jade green and a pretty sunshiny yellow

Oct18

Can you find the Monarch butterfly?

Posted on Tuesday, October 18, 2011 by Dianne

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You may have to enlarge the photo by clicking on it and then looking at the largest image by clicking through the one that comes up-from the right corner-got that? Update-he is on the flower below the tallest flower in the middle.
Went for a walk at Longwood Gardens today and I was surprised by all the flowers still in bloom-and the bees and butterflies. I went for a peaceful walk around the lake there, the opposite direction I went with my friends last time.

Oct15

Mooovee along please

Posted on Saturday, October 15, 2011 by Dianne

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Cows in pen, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Brian and I went to a quaint tavern for lunch called ‘The Whip’.(Their photo slideshow is nice on the website). We had seen it mentioned on a local ‘foodie’ show last night and decided to go. Unfortunately, it was crowded at even 1:45 pm. We were sitting next to a very loud group of ladies. I noticed when their order came before ours, most got the same as me the ham and brie quiche and salad.

Brian got fish and chips.

Yummy, like home cooking from England. As we sat waiting a bit, we started to chat with an older lady and she said to get ‘the pudding’. After lunch, I asked the waitress and she said it was cake-think it was described as ‘sticky cake’-buttery with a caramel sauce and side of vanilla ice cream-really delectable-I have half of it here as Bri only tasted some. Update-from a review its’ called Sticky Toffee Pudding-very cake-like to me.

I had my camera and Bri drove the Cruiser and if I saw something I wanted to photograph, he slowed almost to a halt when he could-thus the cow shot through the windshield. Nice day, but very blustery.

The Whip Tavern is an English pub situated in beautiful Chester County horse country. The drive to get there is an experience in itself no matter what season. Rolling hills, pasture land and then all of a sudden you happen upon The Whip on the corner of N Chatham Rd (Rt 841) and Sprindell Rd which seems in the middle of nowhere.

“Jolly good, this ‘cool interpretation of an old English pub’ will
‘put a smile on your face’ and sate any ‘cravings for bangers and mash’,
‘amazing fish ‘n’ chips’ or ‘fantastic’ lagers and bitters…’pubby and clubby’ ‘treasure’ ” ~Zagat

Oct12

Spirit of 76 Ghost tour in Philly

Posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2011 by Dianne

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It’s really hard to take photos at night, but I hope you enjoy my efforts here.

Dr. Philip Syng Physick house, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

Here’s a shot of Sean listening to Emma, the tour guide down in Philadelphia last night. We walked about 1.5 miles throughout the darkened streets of the Old City area, something neither of us had done before! Here we are at Dr. Philip Syng Physick’s elegant house and she was telling us about him being the father of surgery and how some gory stuff about waiting for bodies to be disposed. It was rough back then.

Where two thousand people are buried. It looks like a park and has sidewalks. Unfortunately some homeless guys were on the benches. It’s suppose to be really haunted here. I felt a bit weird walking around here. At the far end was the stump left from the ‘Moon tree’. It was grown from a seed that went to the moon and back and planted for the Bicentennial. There is a sapling from it planted now.

Pine Street Cemetery (pretty sure) where Nicholas Cage filmed a scene from the movie ‘National Treasure’.

A quaint home on Pine Street. Not sure what home, but a witch was suppose to reside on this street centuries ago.
A trip to Philly wouldn’t be complete without a visit to The Liberty Bell!

I don’t recall seeing it in this pavilion. We didn’t get to go in any buildings or cemeteries which would have been more interesting. Independence Hall is somewhat shrouded in the front as it goes through renovation

There are still cobblestone streets. Rubber against cobblestone sounds strange

The building where we were suppose to have dinner (grabbed a slice of pizza), but I forgot it closed at 6 pm. It would have been a great place to look around as there were some stores there too.

We did park right next door.
Suppose to be the most haunted street in Philly-Pine Street. Full apparitions were spotted here.

I did see a few pinpoints of light in the two upper window (left and middle) of Carpenter’s Hall. People say they have seen a face in the first window. A few people living here heard footsteps and pounding on the walls.

If you click and enlarge, you can see the lights too.
Awesome statues:

Commander John Barry-Father of the American Navy
and
The Signer-George Clymer-signed both the Constitution and Declaration of Independence

And finally-a graveyard you just don’t see every day-St. Mary’s

Oct9

Moon over farm near Mount Joy

Posted on Sunday, October 9, 2011 by Dianne

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Moon over farm near Mount Joy, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

We went on a little day trip like we did last year up to central PA. It was just Brian and me this year. First we went to York (about 64 miles one way) where I did some stash building at the Heirloom rubber stamp and paper show. I felt a bit rushed last year as I had two guys waiting on me, but I was more relaxed this year as Bri didn’t mind waiting. We then went to a book store and emporium in downtown York (which was the first capital of the country). I would have liked to taken a few more shots of the historic buildings there.Here’s a sampling in the area of the book store.

The book store was packed with merchandise. Since I had just browsed the other place for 2 hours, I was a bit bushed in the book store.

I did find a ‘surprise’ for someone and will mail it along soon.
We then went about 20 miles (toward home a bit) and went to Bube’s Brewery (the first syllable is pronounced ‘boo’) and we ate burgers outside on the patio.

They were pretty good but we waited for them and for the bill way too long. We had seen a Turkey Hill place that was new (their specialty is ice cream) on the way to the restaurant, but they had closed a half hour earlier.

We got to the Strasberg ice cream place 5 minutes before they closed for our desserts. Bri got caramel and I got pumpkin. So we had a full day and it was nice to see something different.

Here’s my post about the trip last year.

Oct6

Fun day at Longwood

Posted on Thursday, October 6, 2011 by Dianne

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The Fritzens and me, originally uploaded by DianthusMoon.

My pal Jennifer brought her son down to Longwood for his 2nd birthday today and was nice enough to invite me. The last time I saw both of them was in Ocean City, MD back in June, 2010. N. was about 8 months and he’s just as sweet and laid back as he was as an itty bitty. He was a bit shy with me at first and warmed up to me later. Longwood has a beautiful train display featuring Thomas the blue-faced engine in his own garden. I don’t think N. could believe the big layout for the trains. He really enjoyed that part, put when he got to the water fountains, he was in heaven! He got to check out several fountains and had to be changed. A true water lover. We had lunch also. I have been wanting their mushroom soup since the weren’t up at the Mushroom Festival last month. It was good. N. wasn’t too hungry, he wanted to ‘drive’ his stroller around which I remember Sean doing way back when.
The pumpkin here weighed about 840 lbs and N. said it was ‘heavy’. He was correct.
Here’s a neat parasol display:

and my little buddy playing:

Such a pretty display:

Good day!!