There’s something from the Brandywine Ace Hardware in Pocopson on the Mimram Brücke (bridge) over the Rhine River in Germany. Honest. And I’m sure they don’t even know it’s there. Two summers ago when my husband and I were strolling along a pedestrian bridge over the Salz River in Salzburg, Austria, we were introduced to “Love Locks.” There on both sides of the bridge were multiple…
When Chadds Ford psychologist Kayta Curzie Gajdos has something to say, she says it brilliantly like the cover of her new book, – a nighttime volcanic eruption Why the erupting volcano on the cover? That seemed to be the question of the evening at the release of her new book, “Quiet Wisdom in Loud Times – The Rise of the Wounded Feminine” at the Chester…
Within the past five years, Hannah Freeman, known in local lore by the pejorative name of “Indian Hannah,” has become Chester County’s “in” person of 2014, and an eye-opening book on her life has come along just in time! On May 15, a large stone marker was re-dedicated at the Chester County Visitor Center near the main entrance to Longwood Gardens. Once located on Route…
There’s a giraffe in the corner of our living room. Honest. He stands 5 feet 9 inches, has a noble head, dreamy eyes, and his name is William. We even had a party to introduce him to our neighbors. I blame this situation on my 90-year-old mother. OK, hear me out. It actually started back in mid-February when we had the ice storm and the…
Despite Accu-Weather’s 5-Day Forecast calling for light snow, the Kennett Symphony Orchestra presented “Welcome Spring” as its third and final conductor audition concert at the Madeleine Wing Adler Theater at West Chester University, Saturday evening, March 22. The search, which started with Michael Hall’s “Opening Night Spectacular” audition concert on September 21, and Rei Hotoda’s “”Spirit of the Season” on Dec. 7, concluded Saturday night…
And the winner of the Kennett Symphony conductor search is… For those attending all three audition-concerts, the choice is clear. One could hear the name on people’s lips as they exited Saturday’s final concert. When former director Mary Woodmansee Green announced her retirement in the fall of 2012 after 25 seasons with the orchestra, the long search for a new music director began. And despite…
A few years ago I was drifting off to sleep when I heard the sound of what seemed to be a miniature poodle with laryngitis. Thinking that rather strange, I looked out the bedroom window and there, about 50 feet away, in the moonlight was a neighbor’s cat and a fox in a face-to-face stand-off. I quickly Googled “foxes” and found a sight with several…
According to American Medical Association statistics, 50 percent of adults have not had a procedure that takes 15 minutes, is 100 percent painless and can save you from the second leading cancer killer in the world. I had it at the Fern Hill Medical Campus in West Chester on Monday, Jan. 6, and it was a breeze. It’s a five-syllable word with the accent on…
When asked to review the conductor search concerts of the Kennett Symphony I thought writing about three enormously and equally talented candidates would be impossible — that is until the second concert, “Spirit of the Season” at the Kennett High School, on Saturday, Dec. 7. Reviewing the first concert was easy. But after hearing the second of the three concerts, it became evident that the…
When I think of Reading, Pa., I think of the Pagoda, beer and pretzels, the Ringgold Band, and perhaps infamously, John Philip Sousa, who died in Reading in 1932 in the Lincoln Hotel just after a final concert rehearsal. But until a cousin invited me to see folk icon Judy Collins perform Saturday evening, Nov. 23, in the Miller Center for the Arts, an intimate…
If you missed the opening night spectacular of the Kennett Symphony on Sept. 21, in the Madeleine Wing Adler Theater at West Chester University, you’re no doubt kicking yourself by now. As my husband and I were leaving the concert, a good friend asked, “Was that the same Kennett Orchestra?” For above the collective roars of approval, bravos and multiple standing ovations coming from the…