This house is part of the Clews & Strawbridge boat dealership in Malvern/Frazer on Route 30. What a sin.
#ThisPlaceMatters
just rotting (in black and white)
Monthly Archives: August 2020
a tasty experience
When I was little one of the things I loved doing with my great aunts who lived in South Philadelphia at 11th and Ritner was go to not only the Italian market, but to the little grocery store on the corner a few blocks away called Alberts.
Albert’s wasn’t a large store, it was literally a little corner grocery store. But because it was in Italian neighborhoods they had many things you couldn’t find a normal grocery stores. And it was so fun to go in and look up down and sideways as a little kid to see everything they had. I kind of had that experience again today as an adult.
My friends have been telling me to go check out George McLoughlin’s Tasty Table Market and Catering at 10 Leopard Road in Berwyn. Now George never knew it until today but back in the day I had been a patron of another business he owned. And back then that business had catered events I went to including Shipley reunions. The food was phenomenal then and truthfully it’s only gotten better!
I went in to pick up some things for dinner and ended up getting myself lunch. I had this chicken sandwich that was transformative. It is the Chicken Pickle Brioche Sandwich. It was a lightly fried yet super moist chicken breast and Swiss on a brioche roll with this fabulous purple slaw with just a little bit of bacon and pickles. I think everybody should try this sandwich!
For dinner I got a steak salad, a salmon, and a chicken entree. I also picked up fresh guacamole and this lovely artichoke dip. But of course because this is also a little market I got some other goodies like a fig balsamic vinegar and fabulous olive oil. And a honey comb and Le Bus bread—-I haven’t purchased bread since March I’ve been making it. Oh and a lovely espresso! I couldn’t pass that up!!
The store is clean and neat and pretty. My friend Lisa who owns Brandywine View Antiques in Chaddsford helped with the interior. And outside there are cheerful red awnings which I love!
And one of the things I liked best about my visit today was speaking with George the owner. It’s been so long since I have spoken with anyone who was excited about anything. George McLoughlin is happy and positive and psyched about the challenge of re-thinking his business. It was so awesome to spend time with him. His positivity is infectious.
And his food is so good. And fresh. And the staff is as nice as George is! And they know the food they are serving. Because what I find very frustrating especially when I visit a new place is you ask a question and they make a face and say “well I don’t know“ and you’re thinking to yourself how can you not know you work here? But there is NONE of that at Tasty Table. You can tell everyone likes being there and that speaks volumes.
Now that I’ve been to the delightful market being created, I will be back. They even carry my favorite sugar cubes for coffee and tea, La Perruche. I haven’t been able to find them locally in a very long time so I am psyched they carry them!
Oh and don’t forget to try the peanut butter cookies and brownies. 😊 And there are gluten free options as well!
Tasty Table Catering and Market 10 Leopard Road, Berwyn, PA 19312
Tel: 610.251.0265 info@tastytablecatering.com
I hope my readers will #ShopLocal and give Tasty Table a try. I had a very tasty 😋 experience. Thanks George!
yes, america is under siege
I was talking to a friend yesterday about the RNC 2000. I was a media relations volunteer there. It still is one of the best volunteer experiences I ever had. Every room had an electric feeling. It was positive.It wasn’t a made for TV reality show in search of ratings and renewal. You know like this year’s RNC?
When I did my photoshop above in 2015, I was half kidding. It was a joke. I never thought in my wildest dreams that America would be dumb enough to elect that circus carney to the White House and he would have turned the White House into an even more circus like atmosphere than my sarcastic mind’s eye even saw in 2015.
Last night was truly disturbing. All of those people crammed in because a malignant narcissist wanted his adoring crowd. No masks, no COVID-19 precaustions. All about the selfishness of a megalomaniac.
The New York Times in one of their email newsletters this morning reported Trump as speechifying the same regurgitated bull twaddle from 4 years ago that America is under siege….yes America IS under siege…FROM HIM.
I realize my thoughts aren’t going to sit well with my many conservative friends, some whom are very close friends, but I can’t not express how I feel. And the way things are going, how long will it be that we are actually able to express how we feel?
A sitting United States President has not accepted his party’s nomination from the White House since Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940. And this current occupant of the White House is no Roosevelt, that’s for damn sure.
I have watched very little of this convention because I found it so welcome to Stepford meets a dictatorship / oligarchy. Cringe worthy and terrifying is what it was a lot of the time. Sad and upset at just how far the Republican party has fallen from grace.
I was a Republican. Most of my life. Until Trump became the nominee the first time. Then I became an Independent for the past few years. I switched to become a Democrat for this past spring’s primary to be able to vote for a dear friend. But given the shenanigans this past week concerning the Chester County Democratic Party which continues to fester, I am now asking myself if I should remain a Democrat or go back to being an Independent? You see, like many Americans, I feel at present almost like I have no voting home. I am not truly represented.
Who are we as Americans? Our core is being shaken. By the politics of extremism, racism, an unstable economy,a global pandemic like COVID-19.
The whole week at the Republican National Convention every snippet I saw seemed like a bunch of people living in an alternate reality, hell an alternate universe. Like the chick in the red dress who was screeching to an empty room. Or Melania Trump speaking from the rose garden now destroyed. It now looks like a formula garden in a chain hotel. That wasn’t their garden to destroy. They don’t own the White House, they are just tenants. That was America’s rose garden. Now? We’re not welcome there. That has nothing to do with America, it has to do with camera optics and it’s all about them.
I cry for what America has devolved to. I wonder what our founding fathers and some of those truly great American presidents we have had would say if they were alive?
At least when I listened to bits of the Democratic National Convention I felt included. I did not feel like the street urchin with the tin cup begging at the gates of the estate. When Joe Biden and Kamala Harris spoke, they spoke to all of us. They didn’t pander to the deep pockets funding them and the zealots they control like an army of Stepford Wives.
And the fact checking. This past week, and last night especially the fact checkers worked overtime because so much WAS just lies and propaganda. See New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer and Washington Post.
The RNC was just another orchestrated and calculated Trump Pageant without the bikini stroll. It was the fantasy the man behind the Wizard of Oz curtain wants us to see. It left out the nasty new robocalls to make people afraid of voting by mail. It left out the Penn professors wondering how Trump got into Penn in the first place. It left out COVID-19. It left out most of the reality we live with from day to day. It also left out the old guard Republicans and the Republicans we associate with what it used to mean to be a Republican. Haven’t you noticed? Those people are not at Trump’s side, they have quietly left the stage. Even THEY do not wish to be associated with him.
So yes, America is indeed under siege and at risk. We can’t handle four more years of this. We just can’t.
Pray for America. If we as everyday Americans don’t stand up and have our votes counted for change, four more years of the current circus will tear us even more apart. Why should we vote for Biden? Because we need to get out of extremism and back to moderation. We need to get back to the country we can be proud of, not embarrassed by. We need to have real answers about COVID-19 and we need healthcare and social security and medicare. Hell, we need the old rose garden back.
This isn’t Trump’s country, it’s ours. We need a return to democracy and true American values. But what do I know? I am just a suburban housewife, right?
who are radicals? women who care?
Today is the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment or the anniversary of women getting the right to vote.
Think about that. Imagine that day. The suffragettes had worked so hard. They literally were put in jail at times trying to get to August 26, 1920.
Happy Women’s Equality Day, ladies.
The Women’s right to vote was ratified on August 18, 1920 but was not certified until August 26, 1920. It had to be certified by a government official. So on August 26, 1920 the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution was certified by U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby at his home at 8 A.M. which is why today is Women’s Equality Day and the 100th Anniversary.
Now these suffragettes, these women, these ordinary extraordinary women of their time were labeled as radicals. Just like the women in the 1960s forward who have tried to get the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) ratified and certified. Sadly the Equal Rights Amendment is still a proposed amendment almost 100 years later because did you know that the first version of the ERA was written by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman and introduced to Congress in December of 1923? Yes the same Alice Paul who bore witness to Bainbridge Colby certifying the 19th Amendment 100 years ago today.
Radicals. Shrill. Bitches. You name it, people (men and women) will have a offensive descriptive adjective to apply to women who wish to preserve their rights and the rights of others . It’s like being a strong woman is a crime. It’s like being a woman active in your community as well as your home is a crime. Look no further than the pipeline issues in Chester County.
Over the past couple of days I have written about the pipeline problems and related political machinations. (See this post and this post). Women I know, like, and respect are being labeled as radicals and also quite unbelievably inferred to be traitors to the Democratic Party of Chester County. And a quite obscure yet hideous Nazi sympathizer descriptive adjective was applied to one who is of Jewish faith.
And all of this was done by a man, I won’t refer to him as a gentleman because he’s certainly not, who works and has a relationship with State Representative Kristine Howard. This man is also from Pittsburgh. And why is it he meddles in our politics? If he wants to be around elected officials, why doesn’t he run for office where he’s from in Pittsburgh? I don’t understand why we need Pittsburgh politics in Chester County Pennsylvania do you?
Why is this man so desperate for Kristine Howard to be reelected? Who else does he work for? Why does State Representative Kristine Howard just sit silently and allow good women and any woman upset by either her lack of performance or who care about issues like pipelines because they either have a brain in their head or because they are directly affected to be maligned and denigrated?
Why does Kristine Howard as a woman and elected official not have her own voice? And if you ask around Harrisburg are you going to be told the people hear her voice with great regularity? Is she either unwilling or unable to have a voice? It’s a great puzzle. Because you have to wonder if she really wants to be a state representative don’t you? Or is this man actually the power behind the throne and he’s running this state representative seat only he wasn’t elected to office and he’s not a resident of Chester County right? And is she either unwilling or unable to have a voice? It’s a great puzzle. Because you have to wonder if she really wants to be a state representative don’t you?
And let’s also wonder about the Chester County Democratic Party. If the Chair, is not acting in the best interest of the women being denigrated and singled out specifically in the emails which have been flying and the nasty Facebook stuff and ads during the primary, is he fit to lead? And are those two women also on the Executive Committee who are essentially trying to say if you’re not a good little Stepford Wife you essentially should be politically shunned? Or if you God forbid talk to someone of another political persuasion who is not a Democrat you should also be shunned and the party shouldn’t back you if you want to run for office and so on and so forth?
*******(The screenshots have to be downloaded and then enlarged so here is the text from them verbatim and any spelling/grammar errors all on them.) ******
On Mon, Aug 24, 2020 at 7:35 PM Marty Marks <martymarks75@gmail.com> wrote:
Please see the attached social media posts made by Ginny Kerslake and Wendy Graham Leland.
The posts clearly demonstrate that Mrs. Kerslake and Mrs. Graham Leland are openly colluding to cause harm to Representative Howard’s candidacy and benefit the campaign of her Republican opponent. Let ‘s be clear, Mrs. Kerslake and Mrs. Graham Leland are tagging each other in the posts when there is no reason to do so except to politically denigrate Kristine.
In my previous email when we called for banning Lani Frank from all Chester Democratic Committee social media platforms for her direct and indirect assistance to Republican Graham Leland, we did not include Mrs. Kerslake or even mention her by name. However, with this clear and present evidence of her collusion with Rep. Howard’s Republican opponent, a ban of Mrs. Kerslake on the party’s social media platforms is also called for.
Simply removing posts is not enough. A clear message must be sent that undermining the Democratic nominees chosen by our voters will not be tolerated. I am under the impression that your bylaws preclude Democrats who support Republicans from holding party offices or seeking the party’s endorsement for a public office for a period of two years. We are requesting the Executive Committee notify Mrs. Kerslake and Ms. Frank that they are in violation of the rules and may be prohibited from holding party office or seeking the Democratic Committee endorsement for a public office in the next two election cycles.
I thank you for your response to my earlier email. However, I disagree with your conclusion to merely take down posts. I believe the most corrective and preventive action is to ban the perpetrators of such betrayals. As you requested, I am sending this to your leadership team and the zone leaders in Kristine’s District first. If the executive committee does not act in a timely and affirmative manner, in the interest of transparency, I will share it with the committee as a whole and encourage them to take appropriate action.
Thank you,
Marty Marks
The Committee to Elect Kristine
Marty Marks 412.352.0317
***************************************************************************************
From: MaryAnn Piccioni maryannpiccioni@yahoo.com
Date: August 25, 2020 at 12:23:09 AM EDT
To: Marty Marks martymarks75@gmail.com, Charlotte Valyo charlottevalyo@gmail.com
Cc: Dick Bingham chair@chescodems.org,
Subject: Re: Ginny Kerslake openly colluding with Representative Howard’s Republican opponent
Hello,
I add another item to the 2 year restrictions:
The perpetrator will not receive CCDC support of any kind should they become a Primary candidate for public office.This is a broader restriction compared to “prohibited from … seeking the Democratic Committee Endorsement…”
Examples: CCDC and Zone websites and social media will not post their candidate information. No inclusion in CCDC and Zone mailers (except the sample ballot) and phone bank scripts.
MaryAnn Piccioni
On Monday, August 24, 2020, 07:42:54 PM EDT, Charlotte Valyo charlottevalyo@gmail.com wrote:
Hi,
I have been advocating that these actions result in banning from CCDC social media sites and informing all members of the EC about the action and why it has been taken. So far our tactics of ignoring or a slight slap on the wrist has only emboldened this group. It is time for CCDC to stand up for our candidates and our values. This is not a new problem. The same people have been attacking fellow Democrats since the 2018 primary.Charlotte
Charlotte
*****************************************************************************
From: Marty Marks <martymarks75@gmail.com>
Date: August 23, 2020 at 10:04:45 AM EDT
Subject:It is time to ban the quislingsDear members of the Democratic Committee,
Giving aid and comfort to the enemy in a time of battle is treason. We are experiencing such betrayals at this very moment undercutting our mission to elect Democrats up and down the ballot in November.
For example, see this post on the Chesco Dems Facebook page made by Lani Frank, a former member of the Democratic State Committee and an unsuccessful candidate for Chester County Democratic Chair:
Nice of you to show concern now. Why don’t you stand up for our values and call for a stop to this nightmare instead of taking money from the very PAC’s that support the continuation of this project. You can’t have it both ways. Take a stand.
6 Edited
Please note that the comment is edited. When it was originally posted it was specifically addressed to Representative Kristine Howard and stated her name. Lani Frank was attacking Kristine for not sharing exactly the most extreme positions Lani Frank and a few others hold regarding the Mariner East Pipeline.
And this is not the first example of her duplicitous behavior. After Kristine won her primary in a most convincing manner against Lani Frank’s client, Ms. Frank publicly questioned the integrity of voting by mail suggesting there was something inherently wrong causing harm to her client. At a time when Democrats in Chester County and throughout the country were pushing voting by mail and championing its efficacy, Ms. Frank was sounding like Donald Trump.
Please don’t get me wrong. Ms. Frank is entitled to freedom of speech and she can avail herself of a multitude of forums to enjoy it. I am suggesting to you, in the midst of an historic election when we have an opportunity to flip the PA House from red to blue, we should not be giving her or anyone else a forum on our Democratic Party social media platforms to denigrate our candidates, and give aid and comfort to their Republican opponents.
I apologize for appearing to be singling out Ms. Frank because she certainly is not alone in this behavior. Since the Primary Election, Kristine’s primary opponent and a few of her supporters, Kristine’s Republican opponent and Ms. Frank have been interacting on social media platforms. I am merely seeking to make the point that during the General Election campaign we should not be providing a forum for anyone to attack the very candidates that our Democratic primary voters selected as their nominees, and in Kristine’s case by a nearly 60% plurality.
Ms. Frank and her allies seek to re-litigate the Primary Election, ignoring the results and obsessing about the candidate the voters overwhelmingly elected. Ms. Frank would have us believe this is about issues related to the Mariner East Pipeline. Rather, I detect the bitter flavor of sour grapes.
Rep. Howard – who enjoys a 100% lifetime pro-environmental rating on the Pennsylvania Environmental Scorecard used by Conservation Voters, Sierra Club and Clean Water Action – has taken strong stands demanding transparency and accountability from pipeline operators. When recent violations took place that allowed 8,000 gallons of drilling fluid to flow into Marsh Creek Lake, she immediately called the Governor’s office and requested urgent intervention. The Governor responded by shutting down drilling at the site and launching investigations by the appropriate regulatory agencies.
Kristine supports the conclusions and actions taken by DEP to date and demands there be remediation of any damage the company’s actions may have caused. She supports tough civil and criminal penalties for any and all violations that have been committed including the possibility of revoking the company’s permits to do business in Chester County if the evidence justifies it. Kristine believes in the regulatory processes that the legislature in which she serves has established and she supports having the scientific data and evidence the investigations will reveal before determining what penalties should be levied on the company.
Most informed people understand that the pipeline under construction today was approved by local, state and national leaders long before Rep. Howard became a candidate for the legislature. Furthermore, until we flip the house from red to blue, Democrats can do little more than grandstand on the issue. Those of you who know Kristine know that is not her style. While others organize sit-ins in the Governor’s office, Kristine has worked to have sit-downs at our Democratic Governor’s conference table. (I should mention that the Governor is the leader of our party and enjoys more than a 60% approval rating in Chester County)
On behalf of Democrats who want to flip the PA House from red to blue, I am asking you to ban Lani Frank from your social media platforms and delete comments and block anyone else who persists in undercutting our Democratic nominees.
Thank you and can we please put the Primary behind us and get on with the General Election?
Marty Marks
412.352.0317
Today marks a very important day for women in the United States. But I’m also here to remind you that there are still enough dark forces at work that we can lose ground if we are not careful.
I am not going to apologize for being profoundly disturbed by men and even women who want to label other women because of the courage of their convictions. And it’s never become more apparent until this pipeline issue heated up again. It’s why I also think on social media we need a #FacesOfMarinerEast.
The #FacesOfMarinerEast aren’t radicals. They aren’t bitches. They aren’t shrill. They are regular people affected by something that is out of control. The #FacesOfMarinerEast are people you know and are friends with and aren’t even related to possibly.
The #FacesOfMarinerEast are your neighbors, people you see in the supermarket, people you see in the car rider line at school, people you see in church, people you see walking your dog in your neighborhood.
The #FacesOfMarinerEast aren’t a bunch of handmade protest signs, they are people from all walks of life and professions.
The #FacesOfMarinerEast are also people like Chester County‘s children who look longingly at what once was their Little League field in Exton the pipelines took over.
So when questionable political operatives from Pittsburgh want to label as “radicals” women I know, respect, and call friends, it’s time to cry happy horse manure on that. Women fighting to preserve where we call home and who wish for all of us adult and child that we are protected and not just long term victims of pipeline companies are oh hell to the no not radicals, they are our heroines. They our are everyday people who have taken a stand for good over greed.
Do not let the future generations lose ground because people still want to put women down. Especially because standing up for what you believe in is one of the tenets of being an American.
Ladies, again, Happy Women’s Equality Day. Stand up, be heard, be counted and in November….VOTE. And pass along the #FacesOfMarinerEast and let your light shine bright.
Be well and safe today.
meanwhile this morning at shoen road in west whiteland and leftover thoughts about emails to democratic committee people.
Last night I wrote about this guy who does whatever for State Rep. Kristine Howard and all these nice residents whom he calls “radicals”?
These are just people. These are just people who live in Chester County. These are just people whose well water has been fouled and property values decreased. These are the people that get sinkholes on their property now because of pipeline work. These are the people who travel busy public roads that get sinkholes from pipeline work. These are just people with reasonable expectations of quiet enjoyment. A reasonable expectation of quiet enjoyment is actually legal term isn’t it?
And when they look outside, they see sites like I captured in the still images from a live video feed a few minutes ago. And it’s just not the savaged landscapes it’s the sounds. Everywhere you go you hear the sounds of the pipeline equipment. And there was this thump thump thump that will echo in your brain for days if you even just drive through an area with work going on. That is noise pollution. Sometimes where I live I can hear the rhythmic thump, thump, thump from neighboring townships dealing with Sunoco/Energy Transfer/Sunoco Logistics.
This is ridiculous. Yes we live close to the Exton train station and realized that when we purchased our house in Valley View, but why must this work be done starting at 1am every night? There clearly is not as many trains running during the day right now. Any idea who to call or find out how long this will go on for? It’s constantly backup beeping alarms, jackhammers and loud banging NON STOP. Arghhh 😡📌
And don’t forget the light pollution from the night work, right? Even if the temperatures cool down, how can affected residents open their windows for a beautiful night sky and maybe even a breeze? The night work lights make that impossible right? So take away that aspect of a reasonable expectation of quiet enjoyment for that too, yes?
As I was listening to this live video feed this morning I was very sad to hear this gentleman say they’ve been (meaning the pipeline company) here over two years, they were supposed to be here three months. I don’t know if I got what he said word for word but I think that’s pretty darn close.
So State Rep. Kristine Howard, your pool boy (or whatever he is other than from Pittsburgh) is calling these poor people RADICALS? They are just people. They are just residents. They are also your constituents in some cases. Your pool boy is calling people quislings??? Do you even get the historical reference and how offensive and wrong this is? Especially to those of Jewish heritage?
Quisling as a word word originates from the surname of the Norwegian war-time leader Vidkun Quisling, who headed a domestic Nazi collaborationist regime during World War II. Quisling was put on trial for war crimes in Norway after World War II. “He was found guilty of charges including embezzlement, murder and high treason against the Norwegian state, and was sentenced to death. He was executed by firing squad at Akershus Fortress, Oslo, on 24 October 1945.”
People I love are of Norwegian heritage, and so are other friends and relatives.This use of this word is beyond offensive to us and to my friends who are Jewish. How does something like that even come out of this guy’s mouth or keyboard? And WHY? Even if he doesn’t like them he can’t use other word choices?
And it doesn’t stop there. Then there is this:
So what is the lesson here? Other than if you think pipelines are bad, or think pipeline permits should be pulled and pipeline work stopped completely until a real and actual and thorough inspection is done according to pool boys from Pittsburgh and leadership in the Chester County Democrat Committee we are all bad and radical people?
And the other lesson is what? If you are a Democrat you can’t talk to Republicans? If you are a Democrat you will be drummed out of the part for speaking to anyone who is not a Democrat or someone they approve of? HOW IS THAT EVEN LEGAL TO PROPOSE OR EVEN MORAL? I did not sign up for this crap when I moved to Chester County as a (then) lifelong Republican. I did not sign up for this crap when I changed from being an Independent to a registered Democrat for the fakakta primary. You know, I would switch back to Independent right now except I am going to enjoy being a ticket splitter and casting my vote for Wendy Graham Leland. As Chester County Democratic Committee leadership seems easily swayed and confused, please not I am not telling anyone how to vote. I am telling you how I will be choosing to vote. BIG DIFFERENCE.
The Chester County Democratic Committee claims on their website that “.. the Chester County Democratic Committee in standing for Freedom, Fairness, and Opportunity — regardless of who people are, what they believe, and where they come from. Together, we can make Chester County and Pennsylvania better places for all!”
So how does the above jive with:
And do we realize what the transgression was? Ginny Kerslake and Wendy Graham Leland (AKA State Rep. Kristine Howard’s opponent) commenting on a public thread about pipeline issues on Facebook. Not some Democratic party controlled message board, and even then, what is the big freaking deal? We aren’t supposed to speak to anyone who isn’t our political persuasion ever? So the takeaway is we are only supposed to live and breed in Stepford and be bobbleheads? Talk about taking a page out of Trump’s book of Suburban Housewife Rules, right?
Are we quite literally all Pravda on this bus? Am I a bad person because I have friends from different political parties like Ginny Kerslake and Wendy Graham Leland? Is the chair of the Chester County Democratic Committee Dick Bingham going to act on the attacks on Chester County residents who are Democrats? Or is his position personally pipelines over people?
Newsflash to pool boys from Pittsburgh, invisible state representatives seeking re-election, and the apparently malleable and spineless “leadership” of the Chester County Democratic Committee: Pipelines are a non-partisan issue. They affect everyone. To say we are radicals or traitors or whatever the verbiage is because we don’t like pipelines is deeply troubling as well as wrong. To tell registered Democrats or even registered Republicans we may not talk to our friends and neighbors because they are of a different political party is just a big bag of political pathetic tossed into a big box of wrong. It goes against every tenet of just being an American. It’s downright anti-American. Dick Bingham, MayAnn Piccioni, and Charlotte Valyo should be removed from their leadership roles. Somehow I do not think Joe Biden who has many, many friends across the political aisle would approve of these current events in Chester County, do you?
Oh and the lovely US Constitution allows my opinion.
We cannot allow outsiders to control our political parties. It’s anti-democracy.
Today boys and girls we learned once again on so many levels, how bad pipelines are for our communities. Vote your conscience in November and no matter what, do not think for one single moment that your friends, neighbors, relatives and more are bad radical people because they think the pipelines need to go. Energy Transfer/Sunoco Logistics/Sunoco are not nice people and they don’t operate for anyone other than themselves. They are pure profits over people, and well it’s time for #peopleoverpipelines. #DefendWhatYouLove #MamaBearBrigadeRocks
not liking pipelines doesn’t make you a radical, or meandering tales of why is a guy from pittsburgh trying to control chester county democrats?
As if the Trumpublican convention wasn’t troubling enough comes an email circulating:
So he’s not meaning to diss Lani Frank and others, but he is? Did I miss some memo or Daily Local or Inquirer article about who his guy is? Does he date State Rep Kristine Howard or does she just pay him for ummm campaign services? Why is some rando-man from Pittsburgh so concerned about people in Chester County?
I mean I don’t really know much about him other than he blocks me on Twitter 🤣
So according to this political pretzel logic, if you are against the Mariner II pipeline and think State Rep. Kristine Howard is doing a crap job and is some kind of odd political puppet with no voice of her own, you are a radical? Is he saying I am a radical? Is he saying moms worried about their kids drinking pipeline tainted well water are also radicals? Is it just me or does this guy actually sound like a Trumpublican???
So the point of this email is what exactly? Attacking people who actually live and vote in Chester County? Attacking anyone who opposes Kristine Howard? Did Kristine Howard have on her magic cloak of invisibility when people like State Rep. Greg Vitali visited Marsh Creek August 14th to see the plume of pollution in the water? So is her “friend” or employee saying people like Vitali or any other elected official who are questioning the pipelines being here are also radicals?
So Chester County Democrat Committee why are you letting some guy from Pittsburgh try and influence your committee people? And why is this guy and by association Kristine Howard so afraid of people like Lani Frank? Because these more independent voices might be right?
I just don’t get it. And it’s all a little sleazy, isn’t it?
pickling peppers…and tomatoes
I just put up some peppers because I’ve been growing a bunch of different chili peppers all summer.
This is the base recipe I used from A Taste of Home.
You know I can never do a recipe straight, so I will let you know that to my brine I added pickling spice and dill. And a little red pepper flakes because I want hot peppers. I processed them in a hot water bath and I had brine left over for five small jars of pickled tomatoes. I just used the same brine but threw in dill and basil into each jar for the tomatoes.
I don’t know how everything will taste when everything is all pickled up, but I can tell you the brine smelled awesome.
Of course I didn’t pay attention while handling my chili peppers and my hands feel slightly as if they are on fire and I won’t be touching my face anytime soon.
Something I did not expect this year is how much canning supplies have gone up in price since COVID-19 came to visit. We have paid a premium for so much for so many months. But I am guessing that a lot of people are almost homesteading because we’re all home so much more.
I may do more pickled tomatoes as it gets in to fall but I have to decide if I am making apple butter or some kind of a jam this year. Ideally I would like to do fig preserves but I don’t know if any of my friends will have extra figs I can buy from them yet, or if I will be able to source them locally at a farmers market.
When you pickle things they look so lovely in the jar. I know that sounds weird but they just look nice.
Happy Sunday all!
rantings of a suburban housewife part 2: oh donnie boy, you sexist pig.
Ahh yes, getting political again and I don’t care. If you care, don’t read this post. Seriously. Because if you give me crap, this suburban housewife might verbally wield one of her rolling pins, while wearing an apron no less.
Recently I wrote a post about Trump’s mischaracterization of surburban and rural women. Well with apologies to Britney Spears, oops he did it again.
Well Oh Donnie Boy, the tweets, the tweets are calling. From glen to glen, and down the mountain side. The summer’s gone, and all the roses falling, It’s you, it’s you must go and I must bide.
I am back. And you Donnie Boy are indeed a national treasure. As well as being the poster child for a deranged, malignant narcissist. And yes I am saying that about a sitting U.S. President. Last time I checked they hadn’t revoked the United States Constitution. (Although I am sure someone is working on it?)
Allow me to re-introduce myself: part of who I am is indeed a suburban housewife. And I am offended that apparently we are all supposed to be pregnant barefoot in the kitchen, or at least chained to something in the kitchen. And drooling versus thinking.
If you love this President, there is no way on God’s green earth that you can talk your way around any of his tweets. They are consistently offensive to every woman everywhere.
And I say that as someone who has never exactly been a women’s libber but I’m starting to understand why you get to be that way as a woman more and more every damn day.
Gloria Steinem , I get it. Further and to the point, Susan B. Anthony doesn’t need to be pardoned by this guy and her ghost rolling over in her grave wouldn’t vote for him anyway.
So this is the guy who went from grabbing women by the pussy (not my words) to telling us suburban ladies how we are supposed to think? This is the guy putting up commercials aimed at little old ladies showing little old ladies in terror in their homes? This is also the guy saying the DNC removed “God” from the pledge of allegiance?
Umm hello? This is beyond ridiculous. This is beyond offensive. Lies and distortions and the rantings of a Twitterholic much? And people still support him. And I marvel at that.
So back to “suburban housewives”. Can we say sexist pig boys and girls? You talking about us? We are trying to do the man a favor. We are voting for Joe Biden so he has even more time to rant like a sexist pig on Twitter. (Picture me in an apron stirring a pot on the stove while saying this.)
We are all just here knitting socks, after all. My gosh, Mr. President you know we haven’t even one collective brain in our heads. I mean why we hadn’t even noticed you wanted to switch Puerto Rico for Greenland did we? Or that you are eviscerating the United States Postal Service so you can steal the election did we? Gosh honey, let us smooth our carefully coiffed hair we just sprayed with Aqua Net and give us a second to refresh our lipstick and don a fresh apron.
I’m sorry, am I being sarcastic? I am so sorry. I am after all, just a suburban housewife. I know not what I say. I do not have a brain. I am incapable of independent thoughts. I am but a mere mortal, female, and bobblehead. But before I turn Stepford, here are some runaway thoughts:
I don’t know when we moved into a dictatorship or oligarchy or something pretty damn close, but here we are people. More and more reminders every damn day of why this person doesn’t actually represent the American people.
This man doesn’t respect women or men. This man does not represent America. This man does not care about America. The only thing this man cares about is his own toxic malignant narcissistic self and what he can get out of all of us. As in how much money can he make of of us before he walks or gets shoved away?
This country is teetering on total disaster. And you can lay it at his feet. These toxic politics of running a country on Twitter has created a divisive, caustic atmosphere in which we all must try to just exist. That’s not fair to any of us, no matter what your political persuasion.
We are suffering from a global pandemic which Washington DC really still isn’t dealing with because telling the truth might interfere with someone’s re-election campaign, right? COVID-19 really isn’t real is it? It’s just something made up by politicians opposing the current administration, have I got that supposition down correctly? Essentially people are dying but as long as this guy gets re-elected that’s all that matters right?
WRONG. And I’m speaking to all the Republicans out there who secretly within the four walls of their own home know this isn’t a good person to have as a Republican president yet because they think they will turn to pillars of salt if they vote for a Democrat they will be among the Sheeple in November.
And let’s talk about other things in this country. How about the great racial divide? What has this administration done to combat racism? NOTHING. They have made it worse. Until 2020 I didn’t think it was possible to make it worse. Yet here we are and people are dying because of that as well.
People are rioting in the streets yet Marie Antoinette with a comb over would just let them eat cake (or more appropriately in this case, McDonald’s.) I would ask if he was a student of history but I think he was the one that mixed up World War I and World War II and the last global pandemic, correct? If this guy was a student of history he would understand how and why revolutions happen, right?
And I’ll remind you (again) I’m not a screaming liberal. I am a suburban housewife and former life-long Republican. I am also a woman with a brain who definitely resents the crap out of men who are sexist pigs and talk down to us. Or anyone.
And as a suburban housewife, I could probably tell the President of the United States more about affordable housing than he actually knows. To make such a broad and offensively sweeping statements over and over is also at its core, utterly ridiculous. To keep repeating the insulting suburban housewife tweeting points is also just pig ignorant. It will never make the comments true to keep repeating them, just constantly reinforce why no one should vote for him.
A friend of mine reminded me we actually met Joe Biden years ago at something my father took us to. I had forgotten. But we were kids. And the thing about Joe Biden is he has never pretended to be perfect. He has in my opinion, owned his mistakes. He’s not a divider, he’s a uniter. Oh, and people like him. So I would say there is a lot of big orange jealousy going on.
The United States of America is not some giant reality show, but our great nation has been treated like one for four, long, angry years. We owe ourselves better even if for some it means going OUT of their political comfort zone. They need to realize they won’t be like Lot’s wife and be turned to a pillar of salt because I think the angels have been warning us over and over we need complete change.
I mean seriously, do you out there remember when the Republican Party were actually true Republicans? I do. It’s tragic what has happened to that party. But their tragedy is America’s disaster and none of us can afford it.
I am not a big Hillary Clinton fan. Never have been. But when she said the other night we can’t afford another shoulda, woulda, coulda election she is actually absolutely correct.
So Joe Biden, feel free to come door knocking on my front door. I would love to meet you and Kamala Harris. I do spend a lot of time in my apron in my kitchen. But hey, I am a suburban housewife. But as a woman with a brain, that’s not all I am.
God don’t like ugly, and Donnie Boy has cornered the market. He’s actually “winning” ugliness. Please for the love of all that is holy, vote-him-out in November.
Peace out.
life in the land of women on social media.
A woman I know said to me the other day “women will never learn to simply lift each other up.”
I should add especially on social media.
Sad but true.
I am a blogger which already puts the bull’s eye on my back. If I was a compensated mommy blogger who stuck to product placement, favorite diapers, clothes, make-up, Disney I would probably be left alone. Or if I just even wrote whatever and was consistently fluffy, I would be fine. But while those bloggers have their place in the blogosphere, I will never be that blogger.
I know I make a lot of women uncomfortable and plenty don’t like me. I am pretty much a straight shooter and you know how I feel. Maybe I didn’t pay enough attention to my mother’s attempts to finesse my mouthiness, but whatever, I am who I am.
So many women feel they can’t exist without artifice, or they should all just be followers. I am not saying I am either some super charged leader or trailblazer or a yes-woman, but I like to think I am real.
But when it comes to women and social media I am seriously short on patience these days.
The mean girls from the middle school lunch room have gravitated to social media. I don’t understand why they have to be this way. It’s like a control or attention thing. And Lordy if they still want to be prom queen or student body president, they can knock themselves out, but allow that others maybe just maybe have grown past that point, right?
These women will tear people to shreds over the dumbest things. Take for example a group I am an administrator of. Woman A asked a question. Woman B replied and asked if she had tried to Google for a solution. That was it. And it was off to the races. How rude was Woman B, how awful, how not helpful. I waded in because soon others were piling on. Woman B just asked a reasonable question.
Woman A said “Yeah, nice. Ask opinions of people who actually live near me and get snark in return.” (direct quote)
Next Woman A turned on me. How dare I not agree with her essentially. What was the page there for if she couldn’t ask a question. But hello? All Woman B did was try to gauge what Woman A had done before she asked her question. Not rude, trying to be helpful.
Woman A said (to me) “What is the purpose of this group, then? I thought it was to connect with real people in an area who have experience as an ADDITION to googling. Not sure why you and your dear friend assume someone asking a question has not already googled it? Not to mention most people are very very nice and helpful and these days it’s really nice to connect with human beings rather than just googling. I don’t appreciate your dressing me down here.”
Up to that point, I hadn’t dressed her down, but at that point I did truthfully . And put her on mute which is something group administrators will and can do to put people and certain tones or veins of conversation in a time out for lack of a better description. That and close a post to comments. (Being rude towards an admin and page owner of any group is also generally speaking a giant faux pas.)
I have always been pretty self-sufficient. When I need to know something I actually research it first and if that doesn’t get me what I need or completely understand, I ask. But I do not just crowdsource everything.
And so many just crowdsource. They do zero research, they kind of expect everyone else to do it for them. I don’t think you can learn and grow without a little doing on your own. You need to be able to think on your feet.
In this situation Woman B didn’t give bad advice, wasn’t snarky, she gave a practical suggestion or asked a practical question . Only Woman A didn’t like that answer and decided to interpret it as an attack, instead of putting on her big girl pants and saying “hmmm maybe I should take a peek at what I might find on Google.“
When Woman A came off of mute, she was on post approval and essentially tried to stir up the whole hornet’s nest again. I removed her at that point from the group. I gave her a courtesy notice that I had done so.
Meanwhile in another group, Woman A reintroduced the topic there plus added running commentary about the group she had been booted from and well, me.
As is the nature of women on social media, like a pack of jackals some piled on there as well. This other group was begun by women removed from my group ( I will note that there are a few of these groups out there much to my amusement as I did not realize I was such an influencer LOL.) Problem children and opportunists who essentially always have some sort of personal agenda. But hey different strokes for different folks, just keep that to your own group, right?
However this group has a rule they list over and over: “be kind”. Do they know the definition?
Doubtful.
This is but the latest example of this behavior. We all see it all of the time. I don’t expect us to all hold hands around the virtual campfire and sing kumbaya, but I really wish some of these women would just cut the crap. They aren’t auditioning for a Bravo housewives franchise, this is the real world.
Are they going to hurt me? Hell no. I am reminded of something one of my grandmothers always said which is consider the source.
These people don’t influence my life except to make me strive to be a better person and not put up with crap like this. However, sometimes I will just ignore them, and sometimes I won’t. That’s human nature and I am unapologetic, except I know that women like that love the attention, so when I tell them off I am actually giving them the attention they crave.
Life is too short and life in COVID-19 is difficult enough without people like this polluting how we connect in the days of stay at home orders. And I tire of crowdsourcing.
“Should I use blue tampons?”
“Should I buy this skirt?”
“What color should I paint my house?”
“Here is my life, how should I live it?”
Yes I am sort of being sarcastic, but people actually ask questions like this plus they crowdsource things that are so intensely personal you simply marvel.
The crowdsourcing thing can truly be ridiculous and seem endless. Where would these women be without social media? How did they make decisions before social media? Do they ever go out in the real world? It’s like why do anything for yourself?
I don’t get it. Never will. But that’s O.K. too.
a 5 page dep violation letter and more marsh creek questions
On August 14, 2020 I wrote about Marsh Creek being fouled because of Energy Transfer/Sunoco/Sunoco Logistics.
This evening I received a VERY interesting letter:
I will be honest a few points jumped out at me like 11 & 12 & 15 respectively and make me wonder how long this has been going on?????
From the letter:
- Drilling logs indicate that from June 2, 2020, through June 6, 2020, over 20,000
gallons of drilling fluid were reported as lost. Please explain how the daily volume of
lost drilling fluid is calculated. Also, please explain how Sunoco determines when the
drill has experienced a loss of circulation. Further, please explain why a 500-gallon
fluid loss was reported in a Loss Prevention Report on March 3, 2020, but the June
fluid losses were not so reported.
- Drilling logs indicate that on August 8, 2020, 17,000 gallons of mud were mixed and
the washover tool was tripped out of the bore. Please explain the rationale for these
actions and the drilling conditions/observations at that time.
- Explain why grout was used in the drilling mud on July 9, 2020, and July 10, 2020.
Was this a labeling mistake or was grout pumped downhole?
Erin Brocovich has even taken an interest in our plight:
Does Energy Transfer/Sunoco/ Sunoco Logistics realize the national stage is being set as more and more people are becoming aware?
This is one of my favorite protest signs from I am not sure when:
I leave you this evening with photos say a 100 words. Drone photos courtesy of PK Ditty:
