Category Archives: life

glad you’re busy, just knitting socks all day myself.

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My friend and I were talking about the busy, busy, busy self important beavers in this world. You’ve met them. These are the women you interact with usually as a volunteer who have to tell you why they can’t do their part, want credit… but….WAIT FOR IT…they are “Soooooo busy!”

Sooo busy. They want you to know they are more valued in their role in the workforce than you are. They have VERY.IMPORTANT.JOBS. Their husbands are CAPTAINS.OF.INDUSTRY.

Have you met me? Personally I do not care. I judge people on how I find them not by what they earn and who they may or may not know, and I have discovered in my almost 60 years on this planet, I probably actually may know some of the people they claim to know, but I just keep my own counsel on that one. By all means, please, tell me how well you know someone who is a guest in my home sometimes. Do I sound like I am being snobby? I am not. It is, simply put, a dangerous game when you brag about whom you may or may not know.

Back to volunteering.

So you decide you wish to volunteer wherever because of whatever reason. The non-profit appeals to you, maybe. It’s a church or school you know or had kids at or family worship there. It’s an arts based non-profit that means something for some reason. It’s a little local non-profit that you know does good things. Whatever the case may be, you wish to volunteer. You sign up. You do your part. Then you are asked to take the lead in something. Co-chair or chair of something. Then the fun begins.

There you are eventually chairing something. You allocate time from the rest of your life. A committee forms. Then you ask people to pitch in. “But, I’m sooooo busy!”

Sigh there it is. They want their name on the committee list but work? Oh honey that is for other people.

I will fully admit I have slowed down over the last decade. I work for myself and have since breast cancer. I wasn’t sure all of those years ago I was ready to leave corporate America. But I drove my doctors crazy working through the surgery and treatment because I had no choice, I need to pay for my breast cancer surgery and treatment, right? So after treatment was concluded, one visit my care team sat me down. The cliff notes version was I either had to find another way to earn a living or I was at fairly high risk of recurrence because of stress. So I took like 10 steps back and started working for myself.

That was 12 years ago. It’s been an adjustment. I still do not really know how to relax but I try. I spent my whole life working and working hard. And I never used that as an excuse when volunteering somewhere. I made the time because I made the commitment. So it literally irritates the snot out of me to hear someone say they would but they are ‘Sooooo busy!” Gosh honey, I am knitting socks myself.

I never was the person who made fun of stay at home moms. Most have zero clue what goes into that average day. And then I learned more post breast cancer when I was home. Working from home and keeping house. That is honestly, busy. Not every day all day long but there are a lot of moving parts. I was really glad to say good bye to the car rider line for example. That was hell on earth.

But when you work from home and/or a stay at home mom you would be surprised at the people who do not value your time. The phone calls, text message, messages, emails. Why aren’t you instantly available? And if you try to reach some of these people for something, like a volunteer project, they are “just sooo busy!“

You know what else I have discovered? People make time for what is important to them and if they aren’t pulling their weight, find someone else.

You know what is related to above statement? Don’t let those people make you feel guilty with their “Just sooo busy” of it all. Guilt is wasted. And there will always be people who are “Just sooo busy” until they need something from you.

It’s like when people tell me they are “Just sooo busy” and they don’t have time, yet YOU are supposed to have time to listen to them whenever they deign to grace you with their presence. Real friends know life ebbs and flows, and if you are too busy one time for real, and they are too busy another time for real, we still find the time for the relationship.

I like to try to help people at times when I can. Not for any particular accolades or atta girls, but just because it’s the right thing to do. But there are some people you will pay it forward for who will never reciprocate towards you or anyone else. You still did whatever for them because it was the right thing to do, but then you learn to distance yourself. There are always going to be people with a hand out, you can decide whether or not you give them a hand up.

These people are related to the ones who tell you they are doing good things. That’s great, but they aren’t doing for the greater good necessarily, are they? I am still about the quiet doers, or the people who actually do the heavy lifting.

This goes hand in hand with a conversation I had with another friend who finds it frustrating how some friends always expect her to drop everything for them, yet those people never even ask them how it is going in her world. Or if you tell someone how you are doing, instead of listening and just being a friend there is criticism of what you should be doing and how they would never. Alrighty, maybe take a look at what you have done to your life before you dish THAT out to someone?

Women are and always will be strange creatures, even to the members of their own species. I know I am. I am actually OK with that for the most part. It’s a hard acceptance when you finally realize and accept that not everyone is going to get you and that is quite all right. And I have had my share of feeling dumped on, used, and criticized and put down…sometimes almost simultaneously by those who want something from you. And that is just personally. As a blogger, it’s worse.

As a blogger, some days it feels like everyone wants something. I have written before about the lack of boundaries in contact to me. And it’s never fun when I can’t do whatever mystical thing I should be able to do. Especially when someone writes to me and says “You should cover this!” and I ask “Why?” This of course is especially amusing when you know it is someone who doesn’t care for me, yet I am supposed to drop everything and say “Oh my gosh yes.”

I do say no. I had to learn that as a blogger and a regular person.

Help where you can, walk away without guilt when you cannot. And when someone tells you they are “Just sooooo busy!” might I suggest a reply of “Well I have just been knitting socks all day myself.” It will give you a giggle and that person won’t understand, and that’s fine.

Carry on and thanks for stopping by.

sweet dreams, margery niblock

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The last thing of Margery’s I had framed this past fall of 2023.

I have written about Margery Niblock many times. I have even met people through my writing who also collected her work and knew her. Today I found out from my mother that she died on February 6th at her son Marc’s home in Bucks County. She was 86.

I sit here kind of sniffling, still not knowing what exactly to write and feeling quite sad and every one of my about to be 60 years.

I have so many memories of her.

Here is a photo from the Portland Police Department from her time in Maine:

Photo courtesy of Portland Maine Police Department Facebook

The Portland Police Department wrote a wonderful post about her on Facebook:

The Portland Police Department is saddened to announce the passing of Marge Niblock. Marge passed away on February 6, 2024, after a brief illness.

Marge was from Philadelphia, where she was an artist and court stenographer. In 1979, she ran for Sheriff of Philadelphia losing after garnering a solid 7,500 votes. While not earning the job, she made new lifelong friends, which she is best remembered for.

Marge came to Portland in 1989 and settled into her new home on Quebec Street on Munjoy Hill. She quickly made her way to the Portland Police Station to meet up with Chief Michael Chitwood, a friend from Philadelphia, and then proceeded to befriend all of us over the next 33 years.

Chief Chitwood had her sit on dozens of promotional panels and citizen groups during his tenure. She continued to be a sounding board for every chief that followed. Chief Sauschuck made her an official member of the department when he convinced her to run for Civil Service Commissioner. After her appointment, she sat on almost every interview panel for police officer candidates during her terms as a commissioner.

Marge also served as the crime reporter for the West End News. Marge would often be seen driving through the city in the Flame Mobile, looking for her next scoop. Most of her crime reporting was filled with questions, because Marge liked to understand why the crime was committed or why a certain victim was targeted. Her stories were filled with whimsical observations and often featured animals. Marge was more interested in the wayward opossum walking across the Million Dollar Bridge than a murder arrest. When a circus performer had their car broken into and his costume (including the bright red nose and colorful socks) stolen, her story questioned if the thief would use the stolen items or just discard them.

Several of us were fortunate to be on her Christmas card list, which would be a scratchboard print, usually with an animal theme, and always delivered in person. The lucky ones of us could convince her to do a scratchboard of our homes. The process included a long visit to take photographs. Only a few of us received a wood carving for our desks.

She was an incredible person with a huge heart. She would walk through any neighborhood in Portland, and someone would know her, or she would stop and talk with someone she had never met before.

In November of 2022, several of us saw Marge for the last time at the Portland International Jetport when she returned to Philadelphia to stay with her other family. She told all of us, “I’ll be back.”

We will miss her.

Here is Marge’s blog page with many of her stories: https://margeniblog.typepad.com/margery_niblock

I have memories of Margery lasting a lifetime. I loved her from the time I was a little girl. She was one of my parents’ friends who fed my imagination and love of art. She taught me and many other kids at St. Peter’s wood block and linoleum (and I still have a scar on my right arm to prove it) . She was my friend and a family friend. Her art will live forever on my walls. But I will really miss talking to her once in a while.

Even when I was a kid, Marge didn’t treat me like a kid. I remember her prints hanging on clothes lines at the Headhouse Craft Fair that she started along with my mother and others. I remember the giant Great Dane who I think was called Tiger (or that is just some random memory having to do with it’s brindle coat), and the little mutt thing named Fang (I swear I think that was the name.)

Other funny memories include being at their house when the Great Dane decided to nap underneath the coffee table in the living room. Then it stood up, taking a table full of cheese and stuff with it…until that all hit the floor.

I also have a memory of some dinner over at the Niblocks when Marge was making a leg of lamb. It was Dijon mustard encrusted. Maybe it was a Julia Child recipe?

And the art. So many memories of the art she created, including what she created for Unicef.

I remember when she moved to Maine. And then for a while she made the most beautiful jewelry out of silver and beach glass from Maine. They sold it at the Independence Seaport Museum. There is a necklace she made for sale on eBay now actually. I still wear my jewelry she made once in a while.

I remember a few years ago when she told me she wasn’t making any more art and wasn’t going to bother with her computer and that I could just keep calling. And call and talk to her I did until one day she stopped answering the phone in Maine. That was how I found out she had moved back to Pennsylvania.

Marge was incredibly bright and I loved speaking with her. Miles and years would just melt away. She was just a wonderful woman. I knew she was slowing down, and that is why she came back from Maine to be with her son. But life being life, I didn’t get to see her again after she arrived back in Pennsylvania in 2022. I wanted to, but I did not want to intrude on Marc and his wife.

So dear Margery, you and yet another piece of my growing up years are now completely my memories. But I will keep you in my heart and memories, and aren’t I lucky to have some of your art live with me.

Thanks for being one of the cool grown-ups in my life. We will all miss you and your infectious laugh still tinted with a New York accent after all of these years.

Fly with the angels.

love is a flower and you have sown the seed
art makes me happy
buy art that makes you happy
unexpected memories of childhood past
it’s a pear thing

not all ramblings are related.

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“Did you start another Ramblings blog?” was the text message I received.

“No!” I replied with a laughing 😂 emoji .

So I noodled around and found Rittenhouse Ramblings. It’s creator is much younger than I, and a native New Yorker with a background in marketing. Her name is Zohray.

I am still an OG blogger hailing from the bad old days of Philly Future (no longer exists except as a memory) and Save Ardmore Coalition (no longer exists except as a memory.) I am not a compensated blogger nor a lifestyle blogger, although sometimes lifestyle it is a topic.

Not all “Ramblings” are the same and we don’t have to be. My Chester County Ramblings originated circa 2012, Rittenhouse Ramblings originated circa 2023. While I write about whatever strikes my fancy, the other ramblings is about a specific area of the City of Philadelphia I am well acquainted with.

So like I said, not all ramblings are created equal. And that is fine.

Happy Sunday from the original OG rambler 😊

grief

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I spoke to a friend today that I had not spoken to in a couple of years. She lives pretty far away ,and life just gets in the way and you don’t connect as much as you should.

She had put up a post on her Facebook page that she had decided she was leaving social media, and if you wish to stay connected, to message her basically in the next few days and swap other methods of staying in touch. So I did.

She had never been a big social media person to begin with, and so it did not completely surprise me that she was leaving social media.

I received a message back today. In the message, she told me that she became a widow last year. And it literally took her a year before she could talk about it. She apologized for not letting people know, and I said you have nothing to apologize for. We know it’s true that grief has its own roadmap with each person who experiences it, don’t we?

So I decided the hell with it and I picked up the phone and called her. I just didn’t want to convey “I’m sorry” in a message.

I’m glad I did call. This is someone who had meant a lot to me growing up and still did as an adult. She was one of my teachers.

I could feel the grief through the phone and it was palatable. And there’s nothing I can do other than listen or say I’m sorry, and that really is a horrible feeling and feels oddly insufficient. But it’s not about us as we’re trying to comfort people we care about. It’s about the people going through these steps of grief isn’t it? Nevertheless, it’s still hard.

I think as we age and we are confronted with these various losses. It gives us pause. You step back and you reflect and God forgive me, but you think to yourself, I’m so glad that’s not me.

Grief is not easy or necessarily kind, and every human being has to go through it at their own pace. But also, as fellow humans, we want to take some of that grief away from these people we care about only we can’t because it’s a process and it’s the beginning of life, and then the end of life. And then you wonder what happened to all the time in between?

And I think that’s the hardest part. Life goes by in an instant. It’s really not an instant it’s years and years but it’s fast.

I hate when friends and family are wound up in a world of hurt. You want to make it better, but all you can do is listen and be there.

I think it’s just one of those weeks.

Another friend of mine lost a dog yesterday and it was another one of those wonderful once in a lifetime dogs that you don’t meet very often. No one‘s really sure I think in the end what precisely happened, but she went down in a week.

Having lost one of my favorite dogs not all that long ago, I know that helpless feeling. And the ache in your heart that threatens to overwhelm you as your beloved pet draws their last breath.

Grief. It’s one of those things that does takes your breath away. It’s one of those things that if you’re not careful, just steals your very soul.

Sending prayers to both of these friends.

That’s all I have today.

it was about the fog today…

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Today was a crazy foggy day. Spooky. So foggy that at times you could barely see anything even a few feet in front of you.

One of the things that amazed me was even when it was raining in this crazy dangerous fog, was the fact that there were so many drivers without lights on. There were also so many deer out.

Tomorrow is another day….hopefully with less send it back to London fog….

hey newspaper vultures at alden capital this post is for you. #freeournewspapers

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Do you give a damn about communities and their local papers?

That is the subject of an email sent to the “publisher” of our local and regional newspapers just now. To econdra@21st-centurymedia.com

Here’s the email:

To whom it may concern:

From Main Line Media News to the Daily Local and beyond we have to ask if you give a damn about our communities and local newspapers? 

Most news is not covered because you don’t provide resources as in financial to actually hire reporters, keep them, etc.

Hedge funds shouldn’t own our media outlets, yet they do.

Are you just driving our papers into the ground for good or is it just convenient to keep them on life support to show a loss on some hedge fund’s balance sheet?

Why were all of these local papers purchased and assembled under MNG Enterprises, Digital First Media or Media News Group or whatever you’re calling yourselves under Alden Global Capital if you didn’t intend to have any newspapers survive?


I have never thought that this was a business, decision, or merely a predatory profit seeking enterprise, or even good old fashioned corporate raiders. I have always felt that this was personal, like a newspaper wronged this hedge fund someone once upon a time, and is that closer to the truth?

I have always wondered what the real impetus was for all of this and why someone would want to destroy so many local and regional newspapers?

I get the face of journalism has changed, but the need for it in local communities has increased. You are doing harm to local communities all over Southeastern PA and beyond. And to the future of journalism.

The editor you have serving our local papers doesn’t seem to get what is important to our communities or what areas the papers actually serve. Maybe they are overwhelmed or just burnt out? After all, you have local papers which once had multiple reporters and editors and associate editors and now papers often have one maybe two reporters and no more newsrooms really.If you’re going to continue to own newspapers, why not try to run them the right way?

Thanks for your time.

This is the literally only person I could get an email address for having to do with our newspapers above the local editor. That one in Norristown or something. She has no power, she’s just a worker bee. It’s very odd to have an utterly unapproachable local editor, truthfully.

Of course one the ones I would really like to email is William Dean Singleton:

Also it would be nice to talk to Alden Global Capital the hedge fund that owns them all:

(From Wikipedia🙂

Alden Global Capital is a hedge fund based in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 2007 by Randall D. Smith.[2] Its managing director is Heath Freeman.[2][3] By mid-2020, Alden had stakes in roughly two hundred American newspapers.[4][5] The company added more newspapers to its portfolio in May 2021 when it purchased Tribune Publishing and became the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States.[6][7][8][9]

The company operates its media holdings through Digital First Media(DFM), which it acquired in 2010 after DMG’s parent company, MediaNews Group, declared bankruptcy.[10] With its acquisition of Tribune Publishing in late May 2021, Alden is collectively the second-largest owner of newspapers in the United States, as calculated by average daily print circulation, second only to Gannett.[11]

In November 2021, Alden Global Capital made an offer to purchase Lee Enterprises for $24 a share in cash, or about $141 million.[12] Lee owns daily newspapers in 77 markets in 26 states, and about 350 weekly and specialty publications.[13]

Newspapers in Alden’s portfolio include Chicago Tribune, The Denver Post, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Boston Herald, The Mercury News, East Bay Times, The Orange County Register, and Orlando Sentinel.[14][15]

Alden has a reputation for sharply cutting costs by reducing the number of journalists working on its newspapers.[16][17] In March 2018, Margaret Sullivan, the media columnist for The Washington Post, called Alden “one of the most ruthless of the corporate strip-miners seemingly intent on destroying local journalism”[18] and Vanity Fairdubbed Alden the “grim reaper of American newspapers.”[19]

These people have eviscerated our local papers. They have removed our local and regional news voices. They have removed our voices by association.

So probably sending this email will do absolutely no good. But maybe if lots of people sent emails it would do some good? Or at least attract other media, who might write about these vultures, eviscerating and disemboweling and swallowing whole our local and regional newspapers, and even some bigger ones.

These people are destroying the future of journalism. And as much as people want to complain about their local papers, we need them. So Alden, this post is for you.

#FreeOurNewspapers

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/heath-freeman-is-the-hedge-fund-guy-who-says-he-wants-to-save-local-news-somehow-no-ones-buying-it/2020/06/11/9850a15c-884a-11ea-8ac1-bfb250876b7a_story.html

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/21/998730863/vulture-fund-alden-global-known-for-slashing-newsrooms-buys-tribune-papers

The vulture is hungry again: Alden Global Capital wants to buy a few hundred more newspapers

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/02/hedge-fund-vampire-alden-global-capital-that-bleeds-newspapers-dry-has-chicago-tribune-by-the-throat

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/alden-global-capital-killing-americas-newspapers/620171/

https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/the-shadow-of-hedge-fund-and-corporate-ownership-leaves-newsrooms-in-fear-theyll-be-picked-clean,201229

sometimes you can only shake your head ….

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“Have you seen this?”

…was the text message I received this afternoon.

(FFS. Truly. FFS. Are Only Fans portfolios next?)

My response was honestly no because I try not to follow what this person does because I just think sometimes it’s a little too left of center for my brain.

But, alas, here we are and now none of us can see it. Apparently this has been flying around the Internet and social media locally.

I will state for the record that I have zero problem with what they call “boudoir photography.” I know make up artists who have done it as a partnership with photographers etc. But this? You’re going to potentially pay this woman to take a picture of your naked ass with her iPhone?

Ummmm 🤨?

To me, this is a hard pass because this is the same person who charges for “photo shoots” going around the public parks to do photo sessions with her cell phone with people. Boudoir photography is also something that has been done for a while, so why would you choose this person to begin with versus a professional photographer?

Photography is an art form. I am a digital photographer but I am not a professional photographer. I am good but I will never say I am a professional photographer, because I’m not. I have done plenty of private events and occasional head shots, mostly for people I know. I have also had my photography used occasionally over the years to various publications regionally and nationally, and even some people who were using them for books or blowing them up for wall art as was the case of a photo I took almost 10 years ago of Malvern Train Station.

My photo taken for the Ardmore initiative and it became the cover of this
magazine May, 2009.

But I’m not using my cell phone. I’m using a real, grown-up camera.

I used to second a rather talented wedding photographer. I actually apprenticed with her so to speak. She saw photos I took just as a hobby and said to me one time many many years ago that I could actually do this, so she trained me and she’s a professional photographer. A photographer who went to art school. I won’t misrepresent myself. I am a digital photographer. In that vein, I humbly swear that I will not take a photo of your bare ass! 🤣

I will note I thought of photographs along this vein before my breast cancer surgery years ago and then after with the scars and I just never did it. I only point that out so that you understand that I don’t have an aversion to nude or partially nude photography, essentially. It’s all about who does it and if you’re going to do it, use a professional that you can trust. In a setting where you are comfortable.

I took this photo years ago from a hot air balloon shaped like an
American flag in Chester County on the anniversary of 9/11

So this new age where often random people call themselves a “photographer” on social media bothers me because a lot of these people aren’t actual trained photographers, and I think that’s very unfair to the photographers that actually are real and trained.

But if you’re going to get down to the brass tacks of actual boudoir photography, it is an art form. It’s not photos taken with somebody’s cell phone. However, I’m wondering if they can be combined with a Main Line Easter Bunny photo shoot?

Yes, this is the same person who years ago why don’t you to buy dinner for her family on Christmas Eve if you were a local restaurant, etc. etc. and when I have bought this person up in the past based upon their public posts as a public figure I’ve gotten some messages from them. When you post publicly as part of your “business model”, public comments are part of the deal. When you also post as a “public figure” public comments are part of the deal.

People are going to do their hustle, who are technically sort of gig workers or self-employed. But I can still say this kind of gives off Eau de Creepy. If this person was a legitimate photographer, maybe I would not find it so giggle worthy. But as long as these are photos taken with someone’s cell phone or iPhone, it’s kind of like capturing the moment as an upskirter IMHO. Or just a waste of good lingerie and make up.

Ick factor = high

Here’s How to Get Your Restaurant Publicity On AroundMainLine.com, Or: How Bad PR People Ruin the PR Industry
by VICTOR FIORILLO· 12/10/2013, 4:54 p.m.

Eater: Philly Blog Publisher Asks Restaurants for a Free Dinner
by Raphael Brion Dec 11, 2013, 8:30am EST

The Worst Blogger in Philly is at it Again
misplaced christmas spirit: save the righteous indignation
Worlds’s Most Desperate Blogger (and It’s Not Me)

So whatevs’ I guess this is the evolution of this person from publicity on Christmas Eve to photo shoots with her cell phone to the energizer bunny with a flat Hal faced Easter bunny costume. That’s their jam. However, the budding boudoir photography career does make me throw up a little in my mouth. And I am allowed to have that opinion, as to many others who have seen the same posts. I mean people are talking about it.

If you are going to do this, leave it to the professionals….not low budget. Besides, how do you know your photos wouldn’t be used on their social media platforms as advertising?

IMHO this is not about empowering anyone, this is a way to make money so why not just be honest?

Xmas Eve Dinner + Flat Hal – faced Ether Bunny + Cell Phone Photo Shoots Venmo OK + Cell Phone Boudoir Photo Shoots? Damn…. so not my jam…

what is happening over around old phoenixville pike in west whiteland, really?

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These are tough times to be a small neighborhood. I am writing today about a neighborhood just up West King Road past Weston in West Whiteland Township. The street is Old Phoenixville Pike. It’s a little neighborhood on a tiny road that is a dead end street. And to me, in my opinion, it’s potentially under siege.

This is a sweet neighborhood I think. Little houses, maybe not so Chester County farmhouse historic, but important to their owners, nonetheless. It’s a narrow dead end street. So when unusual things happen, like trucks you don’t normally see, people notice.

So in the fall I guess it was, I started hearing about this neighborhood when the Weston Tract on West King Road was being discussed. Why? The neighbors back there have been on alert because of a developer sniffing around.

west whiteland planning commission and weston

There were many West Whiteland residents who spoke up that recent December night, when Weston was discussed. Among them were the residents over on Old Phoenixville Pike who are also trying to figure out exactly what a developer is doing back behind their neighborhood since somebody keeps doing perc tests or something. Some poor older gentleman spoke about getting his property torn up every time they send an excavator through, and I think that’s horrible. No plans have been filed and that’s what the John Weller from West Whiteland Township said that December night, but obviously something is going on if a developer is doing testing.

John Weller also made a comment that evening about Phoenixville Pike being narrow where those former helicopter warehouses are. BUT…the other side of West King, where those people in that small neighborhood on Old Phoenixville Pike also have a very narrow street, perhaps not even as wide as Phoenixville Pike across King. Another thing to note is neighbors are also concerned there about development happening because the land that’s being tested apparently also has 5 acres that are actually in East Goshen.

A little bit before this all occurred, a West Whiteland resident had reached out about this:

There have been surveyors galore on Old Phoenixville Pike telling residents they plan to build homes or something on the old farming area behind their homes. Supposedly, there is only one way into that property due to an easement the farmer produced back in the 1970s and no other entry or exit around the perimeter. It’s kind of crazy they would put so much traffic on a no outlet road…seems like it could be a safety concern. A developer has been reaching out to residents about drilling back there, but the township claims they haven’t heard anything. Guess it’s time to keep an eye on those agendas!

~ Old Phoenixville PIKE resident November 2023

What I learned then was some neighbors were getting outreach from this developer. There were surveyors all over and maybe some notices or something? (I haven’t personally seen any notices or anything but this is what I was told.) And then came what must have been boring or digging for those perc tests or whatever since you have to perc properly before development occurs, yes? That meant excavators. Big equipment in a tiny neighborhood. If this development goes through, the street is so tiny, existing residents are not only concerned about car lights in their windows constantly, but losing land because (again) the street is tiny narrow. It’s like 14 feet wide maybe?

How would development work? Or would it only work if the developer acquired more land and how would they do that if no residents want to sell? Would West Whiteland stick up for existing residents?

Then around the beginning of December a resident heard pec test number 1 was a fail, but number 2 was OK? I don’t know from perc tests but it struck me as potentially curious.

A percolation test (known as a perc test) is a test to determine the water absorption rate of soil (that is, its capacity for percolation) in preparation for the building of a septic drain field (leach field) or infiltration basin. The results of such a test area a must to properly design a septic system or decide if something goes public sewer. A perc test consists of digging one or more holes in the soil of the proposed leach field to a specified depth, presoaking the holes by maintaining a high water level in the holes, then running the test by filling the holes to a specific level and timing the drop of the water level as the water percolates into the surrounding soil. There are various formulas I am told for determining the required size of a leach field based on the size of a development, the percolation test results, and other parameters.

For leach line testing, test holes are drilled or dug. I read these should be drilled to different depths from three to six feet below the surface. Testing of these holes will result in a value with units of minutes per inch. This value is then correlated to a predetermined county health code to establish the exact size of the leach field.

Testing for horizontal pits typically requires five to eight test holes drilled in a straight line, or along a common contour, from three to ten feet below the surface. Testing is identical to leach line testing, though the result is a different type of septic system, established through a different calculation.

Recently I was told West Whiteland Supervisor Brian Dunn did meet with residents back there and walked their neighborhood. I was not privy to that, but I can tell you the residents were so grateful to him because literally an old timer said in 50 years no one ever came back there to listen to them or visit. I think that’s a disgrace, but with what West Whiteland has been dealing with the couple of years or so cleaning up after old managers and administrations, can you say it’s no wonder?

So West Chester University was given this land by the former landowner it seems?

Old Phoenixville Pk 11997136-deedDownload

I received a message on New Year’s Day….as in a holiday, a holiday around the world. The message I was sent was that supposedly some lawyer or someone for they think West Chester University called some neighbor on New Year’s Day about a shed on an easement I think it was? If true who does that on a holiday? Bully much? It could not have waited until a business day?

Old Phoenixville Pike residents are also constantly bringing up that part of that acreage potentially at play is in East Goshen. That means whenever this whatever pops will it be presented in East Goshen or West Whiteland or both?

Of course this all makes you wonder what is going to happen with the rest of the Schiffer Farm, doesn’t it? Isn’t this a tail end of it? Because if I read the names on the deed right, same names as farm on Morstein with all those wonderful horses, yes? And that’s in two townships too, right? And East Whiteland is right next door over a fence literally.

 

So the neighbors of Old Phoenixville Pike are extremely concerned with the flooding of their neighborhood. They don’t want to become the storm water run off dump off to new development, either so they are legitimately fearful, aren’t they? With development planned for Weston, and whatever is going on on those West Chester University acres behind them on Old Phoenixville Pike, in 2024 West Whiteland needs to start helping them out sooner rather than later, right?

meet meadowbrook manor in west west whiteland
Another fun filled flooding zone

Post storm photos shared with me come next – from a few different storms. Essentially just like Meadowbrook Manor in West Whiteland. When it rains it can be a problem.

Also back in that area I have to ask, is that a legit landscape or wood business we drive by on 1377 Phoenixville Pike? I thought that was zoned residential but when I asked another person I know from around that way they said always full of trucks and a lot of noise. Also West Whiteland.

But I digress.

Back to Old Phoenixville Pike.

West Chester University could do something other than flip gifted land to a developer. They offer environmental degree programs correct? Why not use this gift for good? So it’s what? 15 acres of nature as in environment? Couldn’t they actually do something related to nature and the environment with the land and NOT sell to a developer? Build an arboretum? Or sell to a nature conservancy perhaps? I mean hello Chester County has a few right?

My entire life I have loved small neighborhoods and open space. You can actually combine small neighborhoods and open space.

Well that’s all I have got. No one seems to really know what’s going on, only that something obviously will happen given the activity onto these acres behind the small neighborhood on Old Phoenixville Pike. Those West Whiteland residents matter. All of the residents in multiple townships in that area matter. Between this and Weston and who knows what else, it’s an area to watch closely. After all, life happens while you’re making other plans.

Happy New Year. Let’s do more in 2024 to preserve where we call home.

pay attention to west whiteland because the weston property is being discussed at planning december 5, 2023.

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Well Weston is back. It will be discussed Tuesday, December 5th at 7PM:

PC-Packet-20231205Download

Look, we all got together last time and did a great thing and the supervisors said no to re-zoning. We need to make sure as residents of East Whiteland and West Whiteland we are protected here. And that means SHOWING UP FOR EVERY MEETING ABOUT WESTON! No excuses. Don’t just leave it for other people. You can attend in person or on Zoom.

We do NOT want high density housing here. No apartments, townhouses, carriage homes, clustered density.

We do NOT want a hydrogen hub or data center here.

A school moving in might work. Or residential zoning BUT ideally 1 acre lots. They sell. Less houses = less burden on all of us, infrastructure, schools.

Whatever happens, the Weston property has one way in and out. We need a traffic signal. That should be non-negotiable.

Developers CAN think outside of the box, but mostly they don’t want to put the effort into plans that actually fit in a community. And anything that happens at Weston affects residents in TWO municipalities IMMEDIATELY.

Be a part of an actual solution. Be a part of this meeting. I have very mixed feelings about this planning commission as currently comprised in West Whiteland. I also am uneasy with John Weller who is the West Whiteland Director of Planning and Zoning Officer. He is quite competent, BUT he is too pro-development and not necessarily residents first. He won’t like my opinion, and I am sorry, but I look at what has been approved in West Whiteland over the past few years, and I have to ask, am I wrong?

Also to be considered with regard to this plan? The Ship Road couplet and development disaster area. The other side of Ship Road leading back to West Goshen and all of their development that affects traffic over here and at the Ship Road and West King Road intersection – Greystone for one.

And also something no one is talking about. What? Don’t know but there seems to be a development plan or concept brewing behind the neighborhood on Old Phoenixville Pike. I have been told neighbors have been getting letters? That the developer is the guy who started the nightmare now building way too fast on Ship Road? I hear they have been doing something back there already? Perc testing maybe? The red circle on screenshot below shows you where. This would be on the border of East Goshen, so how many East Goshen residents would be affected as well? Old Phoenixville Pike leads to West King Road.

Development doesn’t exist in a vacuum. This all affects where we call home. And lest you all forget that Johnson Matthey has a chunk of their land across West King Road for sale. So when I say residents have to pay attention, it’s the truth. And another thing we can’t forget? It has been a year plus of residents around the dangerous intersection of Ship Road and West King Road asking for simple stop sign improvements. It’s December 1st and they are still waiting. Between PennDOT and West Whiteland you would think they could follow up? Get it done? Not yet. And it is a simple ask.

The New York Times had an article recently that basically underscores how important public participation is. You should be able to click below and read without a paywall.

CLICK AND READ.

Residents participating where they live matters. And often very important things get shoved through during slow times like the dead of summer, or the holidays/end of the year.

Look we can’t sleep here. If lawmakers won’t update the Municipalities Planning Code, then we have to go to meetings and make ourselves known and how we feel. We live here. We matter.

Thanks for stopping by.

hey east whiteland residents are you aware the weston development on w. king road in west whiteland is marching forward?
oh no…. in west whiteland along w. king road
they said “no” in west whiteland!

christmas magic this weekend at life’s patina willowbrook farm in malvern!

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Life’s Patina holiday preview was AMAZING! This time their charity partner is St. Mary’s Franciscan Shelter for Homeless Families in Phoenixville.

The event was packed and people were enjoying themselves and this amazing holiday experience that Meg Veno and her team put on every year this time.

This is an amazing and magical event that is different every year. And every year there is a charity partner because Christmas and holiday season is about giving back as well as doing special holiday things.

The Sale is this Friday Saturday and Sunday at Life’s Patina Willowbrook Farm 1750 N. Valley Rd in Malvern.

Hours are: Friday, December 1st, 10:00 am – 5:00 pmSaturday, December 2nd, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm Sunday, December 3rd, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm.

Entrance is free and so is the parking.