The word of the year should be grateful. Not the misused, overused version of faux Christianism found on social media, but the feeling at the core of your being inside your truth.
day 1 on 2026: happy new year
2
the very end of 2025…
Well it’s New Year’s Eve. Tomorrow 2026 arrives. What will the new year bring I wonder?
Will it bring new online abuse from people who seem to think I am personally responsible for the information disseminated by local police departments or newspapers or TV news?
Yeah that was one of the recent things. I literally shared a police report. It was one of several. The attacks were astounding. It was a DUI.
They don’t complain to the local police department, but they all came at me.
I’m a monster, I’m evil, etc etc. I mean come on, did I personally cause the DUI?
I wasn’t posting it for entertainment. I shared it along with other incidents posted from West Whiteland Police Department that day and this was the ONLY post people attacked me over.
Why?
I hypothesize because they know her. Well maybe instead of making MORE people look at the DUI notice posted by West Whiteland PD and shared by not just me, maybe they should help their friend? You can’t ignore the issue. It’s awkward but ignoring is a form of enabling is it not?
I have run into this before. It was quite a while ago, the year three woman with their kids in the car were charged with DUIs after accidents. On the Main Line, in Lower Merion Township no less. One woman killed someone…with a child in the car. (One has repeated in 2025, incidentally, but not on the Main Line.)
Anyway, when I wrote about this mommy DUI thing back then I was attacked left and right. Even by one of their relatives. It didn’t seem to get through to them that I was not the only person talking about this and the innumerable media reports – these cases hit every regional and local paper and every TV station.
When I wrote about this topic years ago, I said that I feared an epidemic of these DUI mommies was brewing. I asked back then what has gone wrong and how do families not know if someone is having issues? Do that many people really in this day and age routinely drive around comfortably numb? And who exactly let them get behind the wheel of a car? But if we are honest, by varying degrees this is not a new issue. It’s just not one discussed in public as much as whispered down the lane.
Once again, I want to try to show these women compassion, including the recent one. But it happened. I personally did not cause it. I did not mock the woman. I shared something from the social media of a local police force. That’s all.
People were quick to point out that I wasn’t perfect and should not share such things that it was “inappropriate.” I never, ever have said or pretended to be perfect, but DUIs related to drugs and alcohol are something that can not only change lives but end them. Or irrevocably change them. And not just the people having the problem.
I lost a friend in my 20s to an overdose. I lost another friend in my 20s to a drunk driving accident that made her an instant quadriplegic with a traumatic brain injury that literally reduced her to about a 14 year old’s comprehension and also she remembered no friends she made as a young adult. I think about the quadriplegic friend a lot. She was a true bright light. She was remarkable and so bright and nice. A red headed Bette Davis. Her family made it hard for all of us to see her after a while, and she didn’t remember most of us. I don’t even know if she is still alive or where she and her family are.
The overdose friend? We were sad, but was it unexpected? Sadly no and people couldn’t believe how often he had cheated death in the past. I was his last call before he overdosed that fateful February day now decades ago. He had called my office about something so utterly nuts and I hung up on him. I was at work, had no choice and by that point his behavior had so been spiraling so much it was terrifying, and I don’t say that lightly. I had known him since I was 12. A mutual friend told me the news, and what he said very quietly to me was he was sad but also relieved.
I had another friend who was a friend for many years. But they couldn’t get past their DUIs and related things that after two stints I knew of being a guest of certain county establishments, I let go of a pretty long friendship. I couldn’t smile and be supportive of someone who didn’t seem to own what they did and it all started to feel disingenuous and enabling. That same feeling has kept me at arm’s length from another person, in my life essentially most of my life. So far they are working a program and I am proud of them, but I am waiting to see how long it lasts this time. I am not being cruel, I just can’t do it.
I understand people are human and mistakes happen. However, if you don’t like police departments posting DUIs as deterrents to others, talk to them, not me.
People it has been a year as a blogger. Early in 2025 someone literally gaslit me with lies and innuendos and someone else acted upon it. Yes really, the screenshots exist and were quite helpful when the phone harassment started. Calls were recorded and the caller was warned even with local police listening to two calls live. Caller didn’t care but the Chester County District Attorney did and it was legitimately enough to go to court.
The person who harassed me was in the end given a gift by my decision that the District Attorney’s Office, local police, and a judge agreed to. The 8 counts against them would have stuck on their own, but as we were building the case, I decided this person had been a fool, but their family should not be punished for their stupidly acting upon factually inaccurate gaslighting that resulted in my being threatened and harassed.
Appropriate punishment was meted out, and at the time the judge made the point of telling the defendant they were receiving a gift and that I had actually not done anything wrong and did they understand that. The judge also asked them WHY and they responded that they had seen something on Facebook that pissed them off, all the while admitting they did not know me at all nor I them. I will never forget the look on the judge’s face when that response was uttered. The person was told that they were to never bother me in the future, nor their friends or acquaintances, including the social media variety.
So in case any of you were wondering why I so defended my friend in a particular municipality who is being treated abysmally, this is why. I literally have lived this, so I know the difference of what is actually harassment and so on.
This year has been a theater of the absurd with people and their comments and even threats with so many on social media. Not just the political who-haa on both sides, but anything and everything. They want to tell you what they can and cannot say, but it’s not like they want to research things in their community or in their own small worlds. They just want unicorns farting rainbows or whatever their jam is. They don’t understand they can have their bubble, but their bubble is not necessarily anyone else’s world.
2025 has been the year of nasty. I firmly believe many are emulating what they see happening in Washington DC and on reality shows. I mean have you noticed how so many people can’t actually have conversations? I am not talking about on social media platforms, but IRL as they say, or in real life.
Speaking of IRL, during December I took photos of the exterior of Christmas festive homes in historic North Wayne. I also took photos of a historic home, once shabby but acceptable, now dangerously overgrown and so in need of love. I literally said the house could be fabulous. What happened next was less so.
Women who did not live in or near Wayne interpreted my photos as attacking the homeowner. I do not know the homeowner and was not speaking about them, just the unkempt appearance of a truly historic home in a historic district. I literally removed a few from my page. Then one charmer, who resides in West Goshen apparently, didn’t like that I had also shut down comments on the post. She had not been removed, but her comments made me decide I did not wish to babysit the post, so I restricted further comments. Well madam, decided to take the whole enchilada of her upset to her own timeline and tag me.
That was game over. I removed her. I just don’t want to deal with it. And when people just sort of attack you for no reason literally out of nowhere not knowing what you’re talking about you kind of reach a point where you’ve had enough. This woman who is a stranger to me doesn’t have to like me. She also doesn’t have to like what I write, but I don’t have to listen to it, so I chose not to.
That is an online lesson from 2025. I don’t have to take abuse. I have been doing this a long time. People don’t get that I don’t have to and often simply do not want to speak with them and that is ok. As a blogger and writer, I am not a de facto public figure. No matter what the great unwashed feel. And no, I do not consider myself better or anything else other than if I don’t wish to interact, I do not have to. They take it personally, it’s not. It just is.
So this post has been a ramble and the year a bit of a wild ride. Thank you to those who read, and to my armchair critics, simply put you do you and I will do me…just not together.
There have also been many bright private moments with total strangers saying thank you for helping them find something as little as an obituary of a friend of theirs. I don’t discount those people, but those are simple and kind moments between them and I.
A friend wrote on their socials this evening:
Life has taught me I am not always in control. Life is full of experiences, lessons, heartbreak, and pain. But, it has also shown me love, beauty, possibility, and new beginnings. Embrace it all. It makes us who we are, and after every storm comes a clear sky. Happy New Year!
Another friend wrote:
Let the instability of the year that was strengthen your dedication to what comes next
I don’t have anything particularly profound to add. I am grateful for my life here in Chester County and for my friends and family. That’s enough.
Have a safe New Year’s Eve. See y’all in 2026.
development at swedesford road and valley creek blvd. has begun
For years, we have watched the former faculty housing for Church Farm teachers deteriorate. No that’s not the fault of the school, the land was sold decades ago at this point.
I have followed it here on my blog and so have many in the community. The land has been for sale and vacant forever and we knew this development was coming.
The development is 55 and over so it won’t be putting kids in the school district. It’ll be like a Hershey’s Mill in West Whiteland. However it’s rather dense, and it is yet another reason why in my opinion, whatever happens at the Exton Square Mall needs to have less density. It’s so much development not too far apart.
And even if the mall developer and his attorney, don’t like my opinion, I’m allowed to have it.
Anyway, it’s New Year’s Eve 2025 and the development has begun. 
I wish this was less density here because I do not know where all these developers think we are going to put and care for all these additional people? We don’t even have a hospitals to care for our residents now. (Of course this is also why I think that the Exton Square Mall would be the perfect site for a new hospital but developers won’t make enough money on a new hospital will they? What do they care about us getting sick? )
So again, it’s not like this wasn’t approved or we didn’t know it was coming. It’s been very much out there. But it is quite jarring to see the land stripped bare bit by bit as this development begins.
On New Year’s Eve I’m going to make my last play of the year for lawmakers and Harrisburg to get off their asses and do a comprehensive update of the municipalities planning code. There hasn’t been one since it arrived circa 1969 and as I have said innumerable times before, that’s what gave us Chesterbrook.
I’m going to share some of my old photos taken over years past for many years, and a little video compilation.
First the photos:
These were at one time really nice little houses. They could’ve remained nice little houses as starter homes or step down homes for people downsizing.
Here are some additional photos from today:
Here is the video and that’s all I’ve got:

north wayne is a beautiful and historic area.
I have been in love with North Wayne, PA for years. It’s an amazing and historic area, and ironically was a quasi planned development in the late19th century. The North Wayne Historic District is actually a national historic district. Most houses were built between1881 and 1925, and include notable examples of Shingle Style, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival architecture. Among the famous area architects who contributed to this were the Quaker Price brothers (William and Frank, who also did a lot of Rose Tree in Media.)
Allow me to share something I wrote many years ago in 2011:
https://patch.com/pennsylvania/radnor/north-wayne-worth-preservingbetter
Allow me to quote myself but click on the above link for photos I took years ago as well:
I first became a fan of North Wayne when I was a kid. The fanciful Victorian architecture in particular had me at hello, just like Cape May, NJ.
North Wayne has grand Victorian homes with sweeping porches and smaller homes of a more fanciful bungalow style. Many of these homes have been lovingly restored. You see Queen Anne, Second Empire, Tudor, shingle style, stick style, craftsman, and colonial revival homes dot the streets neatly laid out on a grid pattern.
Like many other towns on the Main Line, Wayne popped as the Pennsylvania Railroad developed and connected Philadelphia to points west–Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. The Main Line itself received its now famous name as a result of this train line.
Wayne as we see it today can be ironically described as an early planned development. Streets were orderly and on a grid. Houses were large, but convenient to downtown Philadelphia. They embraced the Victorian sensibilities and importance of hearth and home, yet were so modern. Steam heat, the train, public water and sewer, electricity, indoor plumbing, paved roads. There were even swimming pools–like the famous Wayne Natatorium.
The Wayne Natatorium, which was recognized in the fall of 2010 with a historical marker from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, was located in North Wayne on what we know today as Willow Avenue. Among the largest open-air, in-ground swimming pools in the United States, and some still argue the world, this Victorian folly existed between 1895 and 1903. It was 500 feet by 100 feet and played host to national swim meets during its existence. And in the winter, when this fresh water pool froze over? There was ice-skating and winter carnivals held under colorful lights.
The area in which the Wayne Natatorium sits is in North Wayne, but outside the boundaries of the historic district. The historic district in North Wayne only extends so far, and doesn’t encompass a lot of the more modest streets with working class roots that abut the Wayne train station, and I think that is a mistake. For example, if it hadn’t been for vigilant neighbors who live on some of the streets NOT in the historic district, 236 North Aberdeen Ave. might have been lost a couple of years ago to ill-fitting new development.
What was so special about 236 North Aberdeen Ave.? It was the home of builder Jonathan Lengel. Lengel was a builder who brought a lot of the whimsical architectural visions of such greats as David Knickerbocker Boyd. Lengel was responsible for the construction on some very interesting Radnor landmarks.
North Wayne not only boasts the homes out of the imagination of David Knickerbocker Boyd but also among others, the Price brothers–William and Frank Price, Philadelphia Quakers who were originally protégées of Frank Furness before venturing out on their own starting in 1881…..Radnor residents, take the time to become more active with your local Radnor Historical Society and get to know your local streets. They are delightful and charming, offering a real sense of community. Get out of your cars and walk these streets if you haven’t in a while. You’ll be glad you did.
Yes, I mentioned the Wayne Natatorium. I raised the money, found the non-profit sponsor and got the PA Historical Marker approved years ago in 2010. And guess what? Didn’t live there. I just loved the quirky history. See next link to learn about the Wayne Natatorium.
https://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php%3FmarkerId=1-A-400.html
The Radnor Historical Society has tremendous archives of the area. Here is their website:
There is also the North Wayne Protective Association:
https://www.northwayne.org/default.php
Both organizations continue to do their thing, although I wish they would be less insular and more active.
One house that got torn down just outside the historic district of North Wayne a few years ago was the one built by Jonathan Lengel for his own family on N. Aberdeen. I had helped stop the demolition a bunch of years ago, but Radnor Township didn’t give a damn a few years ago and down it came. I wrote about it:
Here is the 1985 application from when North Wayne formed a historic district:
Also see:
https://delcohpn.wixsite.com/dchpn/national-register-sites-3
Here are some photos I took of North Wayne from around 2007:
Oh and what else did I do back in the day for North Wayne? Well I got stormwater improvements out of Septa and some safety issues addressed with a giant drainage pipe that frequently flooded out parts of Pennsylvania Avenue.
How did I do that? The lead engineer for Septa at the time was a super nice man named Jeff Knueppel. (Yes, the one guy in recent past who was eventually the general manager of Septa before the wheels fell off and people like former politician or perennial politician Leslie Richards came to be there.) Jeff Knueppel was a great General Manager and accessible to the public. But I digress.
Anyway, I had written an editorial for Main Line Media News when Tom Murray was the editor, and Jeff Knueppel read it and contacted me. At the time, Wayne train station and their parking lot was getting a makeover. Jeff Knueppel said the budget had room for added stormwater infrastructure underneath the parking lot, and they did some stuff with the embankment facing Pennsylvania Avenue and put a grate over the giant pipe to keep dogs, cats, and kids out of it (which had been a problem.) Next photo is what this looked like before Septa added the grate cover thing and did improvements.
So this was something I did with my writing and activism because it was the right thing to do.
I used to belong to the Radnor Historical Society because I loved North Wayne so much. (I am thinking of rejoining, actually.)
Anyway…. before Christmas I was over there and I took photos of some of the houses on Poplar Avenue because it is one of my favorite streets back in North Wayne. In an other life, I almost lived in North Wayne, a couple of streets removed from there.
Now I hadn’t posted most of these photos yet because I had not gone through them and was editing a lot of December photos and still am from volunteer non-profit photo taking amounting to a few hundred photos. When I started going through the photos from Wayne, I shared one particular house on my blog’s Facebook page:
The ONLY thing I said of the above house is “this house in North Wayne could be fabulous….”
Nothing else. It’s one of my favorites and is one that I have watched for YEARS. For years it has gone through phases where it was tidier and repairs were happening but over the past couple of years in particular it has devolved into this. Here are photos going back to 2007 where you could see the house, 2012 when there was gardening going on, and 2017 when it started to slide into the condition you see today in 2025. These photos incidentally are from Google:
This house was fabulous and could be again if the decay is stopped. It was built around 1905-1906 by Jonathan Lengel whom I mentioned earlier in this post. Here is a screen shot from Radnor Historical Society of Poplar:
So yeah…I posted about this house because it is one of the quirky houses of Wayne I think are so cool. But of course the moral judgement squad of a lack of reading comprehension on Facebook jumped on my back:
So yeah, I love the judgmental who can’t read. Literally ALL I said was the house could be fabulous. The Judgey Judgersons came from West Goshen, Downingtown, Malvern, and I don’t know where else…but none from near this house in North Wayne. As a matter of fact a woman who grew up across from there left a comment saying the house was once fabulous.
All of these people completely missed what the post was about and decided I was targeting whomever lives there. I mean HUH? I was talking about the house, no clue who lives there or what is going on. All I said is the house could be fabulous.
But if we are going to talk about the deterioration, it is happening. Like I said, I have been watching this house from the early 2000s. For a while it looked like repairs were happening, and gardening was happening so it was a shock when I went down this block this holiday season and saw it. This is a neighborhood of old house proud and other houses disappeared for McMansions literally have appeared across the street and down.
I was not doing anything other that taking photos on a public street. I wasn’t peering in windows although with this down on her luck North Wayne house the windows aren’t clear on the second floor. I saw it when I was taking photos and chose not to take that photo. But if the inside indeed resembles the outside then whomever knows the owner maybe should help them?
I am sick of people who lack basic reading comprehension and interpolate whatever is on their mind, not mine, as my actual thoughts or reason for writing about something. This happens with almost everything and it’s old. I am not going to stop writing and people did this when I started writing about Loch Aerie before she was restored, and even more recently the Joseph Price House in Exton.
Get. Over. Yourselves.
No one has to read what I write, and no one has to comment on my blog’s Facebook page or here. And if you don’t even know what it is you are bitching about, it’s even more pathetic.
I am talking old houses here, in an area I find immensely special in spite of the crazy municipality it is in. And Jonathan Lengel? The guy who built the house I spoke of having the ability to be fabulous? In the area he was also responsible for The Saturday Club, Waldheim mansion – (VFMA’s Sullivan Hall, torn down in 2001), Walmarthon estate (Now still there minus historic log cabin), and Waynewood Hotel – (Still standing AKA Wayne Hotel.)
Check out the history in North Wayne and better yet check out the Radnor Historical Society at Finley House. The Finley House is open Tuesdays and Saturdays from 2-4 p.m.
113 West Beechtree Lane, Wayne PA. They also have amazing photo archives. (https://radnorhistory.org/archive/photos/)
I take photos. A majority involves old and often historic houses.
Ciao haters. Go look at some cool old houses and enrich your sense of why they are important.
holiday musings
Happy Boxing Day world! Today, I’m tired of typing you get to hear me speak….
‘tis the season, santa for a christmas meander…
This is a post which is still a bit raw form-wise. This has evolved over several days, ending with today, Christmas Eve.
I will admit this year that I have been having an off and on case of the bah humbugs. I think everyone has a year like that and I didn’t even decorate as much as I normally did.
I’m just starting the Christmas cookies today. Thank God, I remembered to get the Christmas turkey out of the freezer to put into the refrigerator to thaw.
Sometimes the cause of Christmas blahs can be traced to dealing with people who are selfish or unpleasant. I will admit that there’s quite enough of that to go around this year in general given the world and the odd environment in which we all find ourselves living.
I’m finding it hard to be positive because everything around us is so negative and the genesis of that is the grudge keeper in chief living in what was the White House. I don’t know what we call that place now, maybe the tacky palace with not a hall of presidents, but maybe a hall of vindictiveness?
Anyway, I found myself in an awkward situation the other day that I wasn’t even directly involved in but now it’s sitting in my head so I am going to write it out to release it.
We sent some presents to out-of-towners and received a phone call that there wasn’t a present for a particular person. I felt like I was living in the twilight zone because it’s someone who is not in regular contact with us and we don’t really know.
This is very much not a kid, but an adult who also doesn’t know us. If I was going to be in that particular home, I would come up with gifts for all, but since we are just mailing a couple things up and this isn’t someone who lives at that address, it simply didn’t occur to me. It wasn’t a slight.
Honestly it just doesn’t occur to me to get presents for everyone, especially people that don’t actually connect with you or see. I mean, honestly I don’t think I’ve ever received a present from this particular person so they are not on my radar. I’m not being mean or keeping book or anything, it simply doesn’t occur to me because it’s not somebody I never exchange presents with. Honestly, I don’t exchange anything with them except pleasantries if I see them somewhere.
And then there’s what do you do about someone that you were once very close to that seems to be just cutting people out of their life? I mean, this is someone with whom I used to speak with and see quite regularly, but they’ve put a wall up around me and lots of other people who were once in their circle.
They are literally withdrawing. And it’s not because of an argument or a major disagreement they’re just withdrawing.
Sometimes people do that for health reasons, I really don’t know what the case is here, but you know you do just get tired of trying although you don’t stop caring. If it is illness, they will have to tell people in their own way in their own time if that’s what they choose.
I don’t expect a lot out of people, but when you try to include people in things and it’s just like it goes nowhere after a while you’re like OK, the phone works both ways.
I have found that this was a year where I stopped tolerating people being mean. And I’ve gotten tired of the endless criticism of what I should be doing as a blogger, followed by then you should be writing about XYZ. Since I have started to push back on these things oh my goodness, the comments and the private messages that are unsolicited just blow my mind.
I write about what I want to write about, and the people that are in my world are the people that I want to be in my world. It’s pretty much that simple.
But honestly, I’m going to go make some Christmas cookies now because I need to find my Christmas spirit again.
As more random thoughts form I will come back to this post.
So now the cookie dough is prepared and I’m coming back to my readers on Sunday.
You know the simple gift of a thank you, or and I’m sorry when you’re wrong has immeasurable value.
This morning, I received a note from an elected official who said in part:
📌 I…want to thank you for your coverage on issues that always don’t make frontline news but are important for the community to know about and understand. Your coverage has helped me to be a better public servant, and person. Transparency, communication, coordination and humility are not just words but values I remind myself of everyday. Thank you again for being a strong voice! 📌
In an era when so many elected officials are literally trying to figure out how they can “get me” or non-elected officials that just don’t like what I write who are behaving in a similar manner, this means something. Especially because I’m not a compensated blogger I write about things that interests me because I care.
It’s like when you start to wonder if there is hope for humanity left, something happens to remind you it is indeed. And I’m not being overly dramatic saying that, I know plenty of people who have thought that especially this year.
I had one friend who came to our Christmas party who thanked me because she said she’s been having a fit of the bah humbugs. And then I had something unexpected this afternoon.
I heard from the now former sister-in-law of a friend of mine whom I love and miss very much. And it was just that simple contact and it led to me connecting with my late friends now former husband who always meant a lot to us as well. I swear the fey part of me felt like she sent them or it was just a nice god wink.
Whatever the case may be, it was just so nice. And it was just so nice in a world where people don’t know how to be nice anymore. I’m not excusing myself from that statement because sometimes I’m not nice and I know that. I get pushed to a point where I’m just done.
But this has been a Christmas season where the Christmas spirit has been in fits and spurts. I am watching people I know, being hurt, unnecessarily, sometimes by the very community in which they live by the very government that they try to believe in, or should I say, tried.
Municipalities like many others in this country have actually forgotten about the U.S. Constitution and how citizens (mostly through the First Amendment) have the right to peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a “redress of grievances.”
Residents can literally under the U.S. Constitution have the ability of direct appeals, which means they can contact government officials themselves. Residents can also perform very simple forms of advocacy and lobbying by using free speech and assembly – going to meetings, etc. they also have a right to peaceful protest. Yet in this crazy world in which we live, apparently our rights are subjective, and I think a lot of it depends on who you know these days which is not the way it was designed by our founding fathers was it?
Democracy is not supposed to be just a word is it?
I find all of that rather depressing. And these municipalities in some cases, need to get over their God complexes. Some are going after residents when there are even traditional media reports to back up their claims, and yes it’s kind of crazy when they’re going after residents isn’t it?
This was the year where I didn’t watch the news as much anymore. And a lot of that has to do with everything that is happening in this country. Most of it is beyond our control. Except then you think about people that live through World War II and other things and what they’re seeing, and in a lot of cases they see more than we do because they lived through that once already.
What was it Joan Baez said this summer? Truth doesn’t age, and neither does courage?
That statement of hers made me think. Just like another statement from Maria Shriver I saw on her socials this morning and am sharing:
May God bless you all during this holy season. May you hold those you love dearly. May you make time to be with those you care about and tell them so. And may you head into a new year filled with hope. I know it might feel tough right now to feel hopeful, but that is exactly why we must all take some time to reflect and find the light within.
So, I’m going to focus on my refilling my light, strengthening my spirit, and surrounding myself with love. I’m going to take a break from social media for the rest of the year, and I’ll see you back here in 2026! ♥️ #takingabreak
She’s not wrong. Maybe that’s what we all need to do? Unplug a little?
It’s now Christmas Eve and yes this is a disjointed meander. My mood has improved and the cookies are baked, Christmas Eve dinner is planned, and the turkey for Christmas Day is about to go brine dunking.
Today has had visits from friends and neighbors reminding me that goodness exists in spite of strife.
I started the day by calling into the WCHE morning show. Barry and Steve and Eric were talking about giant snowflakes. Talk about an amusing excuse to call in, right? Anyway we had a good giggle.
Earlier this week I played Santa with my neighbors. There is a tradition that started when this neighborhood started, way before my time. We leave little gifts for each other. Some have moved away, and others choose not to participate, and one family is so new they probably have no idea why people are leaving presents. It’s a nice tradition, and more people should do it but our neighborhoods are more transient, so in a lot of cases today, people don’t know their neighbors.
So maybe now it’s time to wind up this ramble and wish people Merry Christmas. 2025 has been a crazy year, but now we are on the precipice of a new year, right? What will our future be?
Merry Christmas readers.
….and to all a good night (a little early.)
bob lange’s last willistown meeting
I was asked to be there in person and life got in the way, and I was unable to attend the last Willistown meeting of the year and I am sorry I couldn’t be there. I saw no sewer rats in attendance so it probably would’ve been a nice meeting with the exception of Mrs. Golfball the lone public comment, which I have included. Complete segue but what does one expect when one moves next to a golf club and golf course? And do we really think some golfer meant to hit her with a golf ball? Why doesn’t she just ask them to or put up netting herself near the edges of her property to catch the golf balls so they don’t come onto her property?
Mrs. Golfball was quintessential of the types who move to Willistown and then complain about the color of the sky, the scent of horse and cow manure etc. and don’t get me started about sidewalks on twisty dangerous windy roads that won’t ever work, right?
Sorry, I digress.
Bob Lange gave way more many years than most people ever would to municipality.
He’s done an amazing amount of things for his home community in Willistown, and the meeting this week, reflected that. It was really nice to see some old familiar faces like Andy Dinniman.
I was glad to see that the Willistown Republicans or some Republicans got up to say job well done, especially after the treatment he received for exercising his right to choose his own political candidate to vote for in a presidential election as an American.
Again, I noticed that it didn’t seem as if the sewer rats were in attendance, and I will mention them again because in my opinion they are the most horribly rude people consistently in Willistown Township and I would love to know how much money the Township spends per annum on the often frivolous right to know requests that they file? Anyway did they think they were punishing Bob by denying their presence? I am sure they will be back, don’t you?
But back to Bob Lange’s last meeting.
I first met Bob when I came out here to be with my husband. The picture you see in the post above I took in 2012 when I happen to be on the farm one day because he was nice enough to let me take pictures of some of the fields one fall. They were just so beautiful even then getting ready for winter.
Willistown is a beautiful township. A lot of that is down to Bob’s part in the stewardship. For 27 years. People talk about public service, Bob Lange has lived it.
As human beings, we are all flawed. Bob Lange in my estimation has never pretended or pronounced himself to be perfect like a lot of his armchair critics seemingly self-proclaim, but in Willistown you have always known that he cares about the township and acted proactively. And sorry not sorry, the abuse heaped on the supervisors there in general and the manager over the past few years has been astounding and that’s not a positive. (Yes, sewer rats and your motley band of malcontents I am speaking about all of you. You have made yourselves public figures via your antics.)
One of my favorite parts of this meeting was listening to Andy Dinniman. So many pearls of wisdom last night. And he spoke of when we were all still different political persuasions but essentially we behaved better.
Anyway, job well done Bob and thank you and Merry Christmas and we will see you around your farm!
Also Bob? Episcopal Academy has always been a sentimental favorite of mine as a Shipley gal because of some of the amazing friends I still have from there.
sometimes a christmas party can do good too!
On a snowy afternoon, what’s a fun thing to do? Hmmm…maybe go to a Christmas party in an antique market of course!
You also need music …
And some nibbles….
And add some friends and #shoplocal !
We did this at Frazer Antique Market and it was magical. Most importantly besides friends coming together at Christmastime? Supporting a local business and vintage/antiques and crafts people.
It’s not about the influencers who want a ridiculous photo for their Instagram and Snapchat, this is about supporting our local businesses.
And no, I was not compensated for this post OR this event. We paid to host it.
This was our Christmas present to friends and loving what’s local.
Also many, many thanks to the acoustic duo The Dunns for the festive music to add to the atmosphere. You can hear them locally at places like VK Brewing and Myrtos as well as other local spots and places like Cape May in warmer weather months. And they are occasionally available for private events!
#shoplocal
love note from “chester” (and fire karen barsoum)
Oh look we got a letter from “Chester” – I guess it was supposed to say “Chester County” ?
This was to let us know my husband’s vote was counted….a month later. It was the smallest print imaginable and completely half-assed. It was also not even on county letterhead or Department of Voter Services letterhead. It was on cheap copy paper, cheapest weight possible . Dated 12/5/25 and mailed from West Chester.
It did not even say sorry we screwed up or more specifically that Karen Barsoum screwed up.
Obviously Barsoum is not sorry because she has had a month now to apologize to the voters of Chester County.
This entire episode has been pathetic. It was never an election or political conspiracy, it was gross incompetence….and it continues with this pathetic form letter.
Fire Karen Barsoum for Christmas.
oh ok, the current west vincent township manager and that federal law suit from east cocalico which seems to have reactivated and other curiosities….as the west vincent turns lives large, eh?
Holy run on title Bat Man! Yes I know but there’s so much right?
So West Vincent Township definitely in the opinion of many not only has a sketchy track record with supervisors (I mean hello? Everything old is new again 2x former manager Jim Wendelgass is now a supervisor, right?) and managers and solicitors? Things might be good or ok for a couple/few years and then it’s a swirling hot mess again, right?
So the newish manager, Tommy Ryan? First of all what kind of shlub later middle aged man goes by the name of Tommy? Does he have a Bobbie Sue and Jimmy John in his family tree too? So Tommy boy (that’s a fitting nickname right?) seems to play municipal hopscotch?
So this post on Facebook, December 8th made me take notice.
Cue the screenshots:
So if the doctor of this Fox Run Road property in question is the same one I researched from California, why would he pick West Vincent for his little real estate project?
So this is at 2 Fox Run Road in West Vincent. It’s 4.4 acres.
Here was a Zillow on it:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2-Fox-Run-Rd-Chester-Springs-PA-19425/54730468_zpid/
Here’s the deed etc:
Here’s the website:
So….the website describes it as a site for micro events and a bed & breakfast?
I have no problem with a bed & breakfast inn but what defines a “micro event” ? Maybe Tommy boy should elaborate on the “gray area”? For a bed and breakfast inn, there is zoning in West Vincent but they had issues with short term AKA Air B n B rentals a while back right? Now I do not know enough about West Vincent Zoning to know if B & B owners have to be on site or not. I know they have a form:
Now I noodled around on the West Vincent website looking for historic commission mentions of this property. Couldn’t find anything and that property and barn did major reno right?
So yes, this is all curious, and might not be a problem if people simply understood what is going on, right?
But then West Vincent Township Manager Tommy Ryan appeared in a second post on Facebook December 9. Allow me to present verbiage and screenshots:
Thank you to those who have reached out to me about the new event venue that West Vincent Township is turning a blind eye to in my residentially zoned neighborhood (its apparently a “gray area” for how commercial businesses can be in residentially zoned spots). But who is this bumpkin that is running the township and making these decisions? Buckle in folks, and let me give you the background i found online about Tom Ryan…. complete with a lie he put on his resume when he applied at WVT (wait… maybe it’s a “micro” lie??).
When Tom Ryan applied to WVT for the manager spot, his resume stated the following jobs:
* 2010-2015: West Bradford Township Manager
* 2015-2022: Worcester Township Manager
* Jan 2023-current: East Cocalico Township Manager
The resume is an item you can RTK as is his cover letter. How do I remember these dates? Because I googled him to see what his history was, and what I found didn’t match the dates on his resume. Odd, isn’t it? And then I had other secretaries and his former coworkers who reached out to me before he started at WVT to “warn” me about him because his reputation as a horrible boss and questionable person compelled them to reach out. If you ever bump into me and want to hear MY stories as one of his employees, just ask. I’ve had many people ask me things, and I have zero-problems giving my impression and experiences (and I wrote down EVERYTHING as it happened).
Back to his work history that can be found online, and what I found that made me scratch my head…
* 4/2008-4/2010 (2 years): Trappe Borough Manager.
This was the SECOND job where Tom worked with WVT solicitor, Dave Onorato (the first place being at Towamencin Township). This was one of the jobs where I received “warning” calls about Tom from previous coworkers and various secretaries. I won’t detail those conversations in writing since legally some of that information was hearsay (although I fully believe this info since various sources told me the same naughty things). However, the information I received about how he treats people and his persona? SPOT ON! And I witnessed those things first-hand when he started (as have many of you). It does not surprise me AT ALL that he was no longer there after 2 years. I’ll leave it at that.
* 4/2010-3/2011 (11 mos): Hatboro Township Manager.
This is interesting because he said on his resume which he submitted to WVT that he was working at WEST BRADFORD in 2010. How is that so?? And he only held this job for 11 months. I found an interesting newspaper article mentioning that shortly after Tom was hired, the solicitor resigned. Here’s a portion of that article:
…..Interesting article, no?
And Tom was gone from that job before his one-year anniversary in March 2011. Sooooo, it doesn’t look like he was in West Bradford in 2010 like his resume detailed.
* 5/2011-9/2015 (4 years): West Bradford Township Manager (this was the job he said he started in 2010, but WBT BOS meeting minutes don’t show him being appointed until mid-2011).
Someone said this is the township where he lived. Hmm, so why leave? Ironically, he resigned when the Public Works Director resigned (accepted at the same meeting). I read some interesting articles about this double-resignation. When a boss and his employee leave like this, there’s always a story. I found out some questionable news about this, but we still have more jobs to cover, so let’s move on, shall we?
* 9/2015-8/2022 (7 years): Worcester Township Manager.
Sure, Tom was here for 7 years. But coincidentally, Tom’s resignation was at the same meeting where a Public Works Laborer resigned as well. A repeat of his last job maybe? The stories about this double resignation run rampant there, too.
* 1/2023-2/2025 (2 years): East Cocalico Township Manager.
Interestingly enough, the tax collector of that township filed a Federal Lawsuit right after Tom left alleging him and others of First Amendment violations. I’m sure the lead-up to this had nothing at all to do with him leaving.
* 3/2025-current (9mos and counting): West Vincent Township Manager.
And now he’s here in WVT. And he’s back together with Dave Onorato who is our solicitor (job #3 with him). OH! And I believe there was a short stint as the VP and Director of Water Services at ARRO Consulting. But I was told by ARRO-peeps that it was only a few-month thing “for obvious reasons” (didn’t ask for elaborations on that… I already got a good picture in my mind).
Now think back to when John Granger was WVT manager (SURPRISE: John also worked with both Dave and Tom at a previous job like three amigos; Tom spoke very highly of John Granger when he started at WVT). People asked about whether background checks were done on Granger. Did anyone do them for THIS hiring? And if they did, did they ask about these things that were found with simple googling? And if so, were all these things just easily explained (although that year assigned to West Bradford seems a bit harder to let go)?
So when I now hear from my neighbors that there is a “gray area” over having a commercial event venue in a residentially zoned neighborhood, I have to look at the man allowing it to happen (and being paid $160k to do so). And ultimately I need to look at the people who hired this man which is our elected Board of Supervisors (and I’m sure they are appointing him to another year as manager come the January reorg meeting). If zoning is open to this much “interpretation”, then maybe we need to get someone who can do a better job interpreting.
And a huge thank you to the county employees who reached out to me today to get more information about my previous post. At least they understand the difference between commercial and residential. I hope the township pays attention when they come knocking to discuss this with them.
Thanks for listening to my history lesson. Again, feel free to keep goggling and see what YOU come up with.
Kristina Casey used to work for West Vincent. So she is a woman who left a municipality this guy managed? Maybe I would not think twice except for this:
Excerpt:
Hatboro’s solicitor, Christen Pionzio, faced with a situation she felt put both the borough and her law firm at risk, took everyone by surprise when she announced her resignation at Hatboro Council’s committee meeting Monday night.
In a prepared statement, she told officials it wasn’t working with the new borough manager, Tommy Ryan, because his way of operating prevents her from protecting the borough, exposing herself and her firm, Hamburg, Rubin, Mullin, Maxwell and Lupin, to liability.
“To continue to represent Hatboro under these circumstances would not only jeopardize the integrity of the borough, but my law firm as well,” said Pionzio, who has been Hatboro’s legal counsel since the winter of 2009.
Ryan, who came to Hatboro last month, declined to comment for this article.
“He told me directly that he has the expertise to identify legal issues and that he would let me know when my services were needed,” Pionzio said. “To have a non-lawyer prepare legal documents that could have far reaching liability for the borough is dangerous.”
According to Pionzio, Ryan will now draft documents, such as resolutions and ordinances. He had also requested Word documents of the easement agreements she had drafted for the borough, which she emphasized was her legal work product.
Resolutions are sometimes drafted by staff and always reviewed by solicitors, Pionzio said, but ordinances have real legal implications, such as granting rights to property owners or taking them away.
So yeah, Tommy boy was in Trappe for 2 years before Hatboro:
Then (plot twist), not even a year after Tommy boy took his job in Hatboro and the solicitor (female) resigned, he leaves:
https://patch.com/pennsylvania/horsham/hatboro-manager-may-resign
Excerpt:
Before some members of Hatboro Borough Council even heard the news, two residents inquired about the resignation of Borough Manager Tommy Ryan.
During Monday’s meeting, a man said the news was already out there and asked when the council would discuss Ryan’s replacement.
Council Vice President Nancy Guenst, who chaired Monday’s meeting, refused to comment. …Ryan, who last spring filled the position vacated by Police Chief James Gardner, told Patch afterward that he has received a “conditional offer” from West Bradford Township in Chester County.
https://www.phillyburbs.com/story/news/2011/03/07/hatboro-manager-resigning/17053408007
Excerpt:
Hatboro Council will hold a meeting Wednesday at 7:15 at Borough Hall to consider the resignation of Manager Tommy Ryan.
https://patch.com/pennsylvania/horsham/hatboro-to-hold-special-meeting-wednesday
https://www.phillyburbs.com/story/news/2011/03/09/republicans-blamed-for-hatboro-manager/17148993007
Excerpt:
Two weeks shy of the anniversary of his hiring, Hatboro manager, Tommy Ryan is moving on.
Borough council voted to accept Ryan’s resignation Wednesday night at a contentious session during which Democrats claimed that Ryan was leaving because of the “intimidation” of the Republican minority.
Ryan was not present at the meeting. His last day is March 16.
So then traveling Tommy boy went to West Bradford where it also seemed messy:
Excerpt:
WEST BRADFORD >> Two township employees recently resigned, one being a mutual agreement with the township.
West Bradford Township supervisors accepted the resignations of both Public Works Director Randy Behmke and Township Manager Tommy Ryan during their September meeting. Additionally, supervisors accepted the “execution of a settlement agreement” with Behmke.
During that time, supervisors also appointed Douglas K. Kapp as interim township manager, among other duties.
The Daily Local News obtained the information via a Right-to-Know request, including the resignation letters from both Behmke and Ryan, the settlement agreement with Behmke, and the salary of Kapp….Ryan recently told the Daily Local News that he resigned to become a manager in Montgomery County.
“I resigned my position after being appointed township manager in Worcester,” Ryan said. “I loved my time in West Bradford – great community, great employees, great board (of supervisors). But I was offered a great opportunity in Worcester, and it was an opportunity I could not turn down.”
Excerpt:
Tommy Ryan likes what he sees in the people of Trappe Borough. “I’m impressed with the pride and the passion of the residents, and with the sincerity and dedication of the elected officials,” Ryan, the new manager of the borough, said via e-mail last week.
A native of Boston, Ryan has lived in the Philadelphia region for 15 years and earned a master’s degree at Villanova University in public administration. He comes to the borough from the Heritage Building Group, a Bucks County-based property development company, where he held the positions of planning manager and approvals manager. His resume also includes stints as zoning officer and community planning director for Towamencin Township.
He is no stranger to Trappe. Ryan became familiar with the community through his previous positions, but many of the elected officials he’d come to know have since moved on.
“I previously worked with the borough’s solicitor, engineer, and zoning hearing board solicitor, so this has helped to smooth the transition,” Ryan said.
Then after a jaunt at ARRO, you know where West Goshen Casey LaLonde was for a while, Tommy Boy pops up at East Cocalico in Lancaster County? Tommy Boy gets around, huh?
Excerpt:
What: East Cocalico supervisors meeting, Jan. 12.
What happened: The board announced that Thomas Ryan will serve as the new township manager. He is vice president and director of water services for Lititz-based ARRO Consulting Inc. His start date is yet to be determined pending his notice to his current employer.
The cost: Ryan’s salary will be $130,000, plus a $5,000 annual vehicle allowance and a $1,200 cell phone allowance.
Background: Ryan has served as township manager in Worcester Township in Montgomery County and in West Bradford Township in Chester County. He also worked as borough manager in Hatboro and in Trappe, both in Montgomery County. An instructor for the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, Ryan will be allowed five days off per year to attend PSATS.
Quotable: “We have put countless hours into this search. We feel we have found the right person,” said Lorenzo Bonura, East Cocalico supervisor.
Wellll….then it gets spicy, right?
Oh here’s the first filing on the part of the tax collector and it does include Tommy boy, now in West Vincent:
United States District Court Eastern District of Pennsylvania Jill Cordan vs. East Cocalico Township et al_RedactedDownload
Excerpt:
WEST VINCENT — The board of supervisors has appointed Tommy Ryan as the latest township manager.
The township has been on a bit of a merry-go-round with township managers of late.
On Jan. 1, 2023, John Granger was appointed as West Vincent township manager, but he resigned on June 13, 2023.
So the board of supervisors appointed Jacqui Guenther as interim manager and then on Jan. 1, 2024, they made the job permanent, naming her as the new township manager, but it didn’t last long.
By August, she had resigned to become borough manager of Marcus Hook in Delaware County.
So the township appointed Jim Wendelgass to serve as interim manager, an appointment that was re-affirmed by resolution on Jan. 6. Wendlegass served previously as township manager, but his appointment was not renewed in 2016.
According to the township website, although Ryan is listed as the township manager, Wendelgass remains in the township administration as the township’s treasurer.
According to a press release issued by the township on March 17, “Ryan brings 15 years of management experience to the post, including most recently serving as East Cocalico Township Manager in Lancaster County. Prior to that, he served as manager in Worcester Township, Montgomery County, and West Bradford Township, Chester County.
So Tommy Boy likes to do videos:
But hey now so in October, East Cocalico announced the case filed by the tax collector was over:
But heyyyyy it’s NOT over. it was refiled and here’s what I found:
So do West Vincent residents even know all that their current manager has been up to? What kind of background checks were performed prior to his hiring? Were thing of a litigious nature like this wild case that is not over yet made known?
I found part of his contract and what is he making at West Vincent? $160,000? And he’s the zoning officer too?
So interesting to note, that the lady of the screenshots? Was the township or municipal secretary? Can’t seem to find one so is Tommy boy Jack of all township trades doing that too? Oh no wait for it….found an interesting item in the proposed 2026 budget:
Funding for a part-time receptionist position in lieu of a full-time Township Secretary position, saving an estimated $105,000 per year.
Ok that is SUPER offensive. A township secretary is more than a random office admin. It’s actually pretty specialized. I have had a few friends perform this job, and I actually interviewed for such a position gosh almost 15 years ago out of curiosity but was glad I was first runner up in the end when I realized how late meetings could go in this particular municipality not in Chester County I was peeking at. It’s a very important job for any municipality large or small and can’t just be a spot plugged by a part-time receptionist. If that is what Tommy boy is proposing well then that position will end up being advertised more than filled in my humble opinion.
But I am very curious about this manager. It’s literally intriguing the way West Vincent gravitates to certain kinds or classes of people isn’t it?
And Tommy boy is hardly universally loved is he?
Why is he there and how much of a raise is he suggesting for his position for 2026?
Just when you think West Vincent might stop the madness, they merely enlarge the lunatic asylum there don’t they?
Yikes, pass the popcorn, cue the drama, and good night.
