Yes that looks like an old sleigh above because it is!! A 19th century sleigh!
Where? One of my favorite places on earth any time of the year, but especially at Christmas: The Smithfield Barn in Downingtown on Little Conestoga Road, just outside of Eagle.
This is their vintage Christmas weekend and it’s full of holiday magic. A fun assortment of Pennsylvania found pieces with vintage and antique finds and an amazing assortment of vintage Christmas ornaments and decorations. It is an every year stop at this point. I alway get amazing ornaments including vintage Polish and Ukrainian and German Mercury glass ornaments.
The Smithfield Barn is not a store, it’s a picking barn and doesn’t have “retail hours”. You will however, find the proprietress at antique shows and high end vintage and antique markets. But she is the ultimate Christmas elf this time of year and when you step inside those big barn doors you never know what you find!
Bring a jacket and wear shoes suitable for a barn, and check out this Saturday, November 13th from 12 pm to 4 pm and Sunday, November 14th from 12 pm to 4 pm. 425 Little Conestoga Road, Downingtown, PA.
Life’s Patina will welcome guests Friday November 12, Saturday November 13, and Sunday November 14! See website or Facebook page for details!
You know it was a great evening when you come home and you can still hear the music and people’s laughter and delight in your head! That was exactly the Life’s Patina experience for Holiday 2021 last evening! Last night was the preview cocktail party and shopping event for the Holiday Barn Sale which opens to the public on Friday, November 12, and runs through the weekend.
Some of my friends and I always attend the previews for Meg Veno’s sales at Life’s Patina. But a lot of time we choose the evening cocktail preview, and last night that’s what we did. And it was magical.
Yesterday was one of those days where I received a couple of broken Christmas teacups in the mail, so Christmas magic was exactly what I needed! When we walked into the barn, we were transported to a glittering, warm and elegant setting. Beautiful ornaments and inspiring tableaux or vignettes throughout the two floors and rooms in this magnificent barn.
I definitely was not fun for my friends to hang out with because I was literally distracted by wonderful things every time I turned my head! Among my favorites were the little felted Christmas mice. And the Mercury glass ornament wreath I bought. I also bought a felted garland – I just love those. They are simple and pretty and very old-fashioned Christmas to me.
Every year I think Life’s Patina can’t top the year before. And every year the magic just gets better!
I should also mention the food and cocktails were amazing, but for me it was just being there and soaking in the atmosphere. And the music was to die for. So perfect.
I encourage all of you not to miss Life’s Patina Holiday Barn Sale this year. It makes you believe in the magic of the season, and we all need a little holiday magic in our lives.
Life’s Patina Holiday Barn Sale opens tomorrow, Friday, November 12th. The hours are 10 AM to 5 PM. Wear appropriate shoes as you are parking in a field, and walking around in an actual old barn.
The Life’s Patina Holiday Barn Sale is also on Saturday, November 13th from 10 AM to 5 PM and Sunday, November 14th from 10 AM to 4 PM.
Life’s Patina is located on Willowbrook Farm, located at 1750 N. Valley Road, Malvern, PA 19355.
I would be remiss in not mentioning that this year is also Life’s Patina 10th anniversary celebration! And a portion of the sale proceeds will go to T&E Cares.
Thanks for stopping by and as always, I am not being compensated for this post in any way, shape, or form. I am merely a happy supporter and customer!
Facebook jail. It is one of the great mysteries of life. They will allow political commentary including before the January 6 insurrection that should be removed, they will allow cyber bullies and cyberstalkers, but then there’s Facebook jail.
My friend Lisa is a brilliant writer, and also as funny as hell. I think she has Facebook jail frequent flyer miles by now. Every time you turn around they’re putting her in Facebook jail and I don’t really understand why. I don’t think anybody really understands why, it’s like they do it on purpose.
My gardening blog (as in the outside website) ended up in Facebook jail for months during the pandemic. It was because of the title which is “the nightgown gardener”. Apparently it was the nightgown of it all, which is pretty funny if you know me, because racy will never be a descriptive adjective applied to me.
It was very frustrating because they allowed me to have a Facebook page that corresponds with the blog which was fine in the category of home and gardening page that goes with a gardening website. Yet it took months before they reversed their decision. And you can’t speak to anyone from Facebook, not even one of those messenger chats that a lot of websites allow for customer service. You can’t contact a live person if you are being harassed or stalked, either. You just can’t ever reach anyone period.
They have these weird, truthfully fakakta, algorithms. A friend of mine ran into it yesterday when she was trying to list, wait for it, Christmas ornaments. Of course that worked out for me because they are the kind of ornaments I collect for my tree so I bought them when she posted that she couldn’t post about them. But how does this even make sense? They are mercury glass you can’t say mercury. And if you say blown glass I guess they think they’re a little itty bitty bongs or something?
And then there was that moment during the election season where I called a super Trumper anti-vaxxer or anti-masker pig ignorant. I wasn’t put in Facebook jail per se, but I was warned. And have they seen the things that people say on Facebook and that’s what they catch and make an issue out of? I mean I don’t really care I just found it more amusing than anything else. when you think of the sheer volume of fake news that we saw Facebook allowed to be posted during this election season alone, it kind of just is mine blowing isn’t it?
So then there is my friend Beth who spends as much or more time in Facebook jail than my friend Lisa. She has breast cancer, brain tumors, and something that is like MS. Also funny as hell. But hey, she’s a threat to humanity somehow.
Now I have to ask since I am talking about Facebook jail will I be punished or thrown in Facebook jail? Am I living dangerous posting Facebook jail memes?
We all try to occasionally figure out the great mystery of life known as Facebook. How their algorithms work, why people who don’t deserve Facebook jail get Facebook jail, and why people who are completely off of their rockers rock on wandering around Facebook.
The algorithms are a mystery. Now given my former corporate life which included e-mail review, they obviously have software which seeks out and reacts to certain words. Corporate e-mail software set up for compliance purposes will trigger on everyday words like “bra” and I guess Facebook does this too? The only thing is in companies who do e-mail review, if an e-mail gets snagged for review there is an actual human being you can plead your case with. You can’t do that with Facebook. Can’t call them, you can’t email or message an actual person, all you can do is fill out their form thingy and hope someone reads it within the next few months.
I’m not trying to start a Facebook revolt, I’m not leaving Facebook, but I think they can do better. Unless of course this whole thing with algorithms in Facebook jail is just like a virtual reality of Zuckerberg’s beautiful mind so to speak? It just doesn’t make sense and really they can do better. I also feel like they do target certain people, and again I think it’s based upon an algorithm. But unless Zuckerberg is going for the whole Stepford Wives effect, I think he needs to find a better way.
CVS used to be a super reliable chain pharmacy around here. But now it’s a hot mess.
I started using CVS 10 years ago, within days of my breast cancer surgery because Rite-Aid wouldn’t let my husband pick up my meds post surgery, and made me go into the pharmacy and wait 40 minute for meds that had been called in an hour before I left the hospital which was close to an hour away. I had to stand there practically drooling from anesthesia and in pain. There was no chair for me to sit on. So that is how I switched to CVS. (But I digress.)
My great uncle was a pharmacist. He was dedicated and beloved in his community back in the day. But that was before the time of chain store pharmacies eating up the market share, and small independent pharmacies have a really hard time competing, so there aren’t many of them left. Which sucks because (for example) if you have allergies to what binds and holds meds together, it’s really hard to find compound pharmacies. I miss the small independent pharmacies we all knew growing up.
But back to CVS.
CVS pharmacies are flailing, or failing, choose your descriptive adjective. I do not believe it to be the fault of the employees, it’s a systemic corporate issue because I do believe they DO NOT treat their employees well as they seem unable to retain/attract them. I used to think it was just our area, but given all of the media articles I have read I guess they have this issue all over?
I will only give a couple of examples locally of CVS issues although I can tell you Exton, PA and Berwyn, PA also are also having issues – just go on social media. Facebook and Twitter. Every day someone is talking about issues with CVS somewhere.
CVS located at 1450 Pottstown Pike West Chester PA (Store #3875) has had issues which precede COVID. Since COVID their pharmacy is closed more than it is open, and currently has no pharmacist other than floaters. It’s a new store, they can’t keep it staffed.
We switched to CVS in Frazer PA because of Pottstown Pike CVS issues. Frazer is located at 335 Lancaster Ave, Frazer PA (Store #5064). I had to call THREE times to get my monthly prescriptions this month alone. I am on automatic refill, only they didn’t fill them. When I called, I sat on hold for quite a long time because they are seriously understaffed. When I asked why I didn’t get the text my prescriptions were ready when I actually called them into CVS a second time fearing they weren’t on automatic refill any longer, I was told they weren’t being filled unless people called in. Then it still took three days to get them because both prescriptions were not ready when they said they would be. I am just lucky that I finished 10 years of breast cancer meds in September, not that the meds I still am taking are optional because they aren’t. And they are conditions related to having had breast cancer and had treatment and a decade of breast cancer meds.
Someone else I know has been trying for a week to get prescriptions refilled. There are some days you go, and the pharmacy is just closed. Then when you do go, the line inside is over an hour, and the drive thru some days without warning is your only option and during the work day can you personally afford to sit in a drive thru lane over an hour? They still do not have their meds. Oh and our CVS in Frazer MAY have a pharmacist by tomorrow (Saturday), only people are all over social media saying THAT store will have a closed pharmacy until Monday or Tuesday of NEXT week. And there is a CVS in Malvern, PA in the Target a few minutes away, which is also closed today.
So when people are off prescription meds because they can’t get them filled how does that affect efficacy?
Again, I do not blame the staff CVS has, I blame the CVS corporate team. They sit in the gilded tower, so perhaps they fail to see what is actually happening, except how can that be?
…The specifics and severity of errors are nearly impossible to tally. Aside from lax reporting requirements, many mistakes never become public because companies settle with victims or their families, often requiring a confidentiality agreement. A CVS form for staff members to report errors asks whether the patient is a “media threat,” according to a photo provided to The Times. CVS said in a statement it would not provide details on what it called its “escalation process.”
I am sure after this post, I will be added to the list.
I am writing this blog post mostly because I took the time to TRY to reach executive escalations in their corporate headquarters yesterday, and a very rude woman in in their corporate HQ could not be bothered with speaking to me, so she transferred me to some random customer service line where I sat for 90 minutes until the CVS end disconnected the call.
With health plans being what they are, many people do not have options for where they can go to get prescriptions filled.
(only locally they can’t even stick to those posted hours)
What does it take for CVS to wake up?
We can’t even count on CVS locally for COVID or Flu shots at most locations. Yes there are staffing shortages everywhere, but CVS is the worst. And my local CVS is staffed by nice people who work hard, but they aren’t slaves on the CVS Plantation.
So CVS, what do you have to say for yourselves that doesn’t involve blowing smoke up the derrieres of your customers? Inquiring minds want to know.
I went Internet hunting and that is what I came up with, I like going to Executive Offices because it wastes less time and their regular vanilla customer service is somewhat useless and you can never get through to anyone.
Well, it has been a heck of a few days, hasn’t it? The Republican Party of Chester County grows increasingly desperate. They have backed candidates who believe in nasty political fantasy, were at the January 6th insurrection, and more. This is so far from the party of Lincoln it’s shocking. It’s not even the party of Ronald Reagan, and what would he and other great Republicans think of today?
Just look at the full page advertisement that the Republican Party of Chester County ran in the Daily Local. It is stunning that the local paper would not know that sometimes there are things more important than ad revenue. That ad was so distasteful.
Now a bunch of hours ago, Chester County Republicans were quoting Thomas Jefferson. Also ironic since they can’t seem to grasp that they are trying to undo the very things our founding fathers fought and bled for, isn’t it?
And then there are PACs of former US Congressmen who once served our area, albeit briefly. Look who they are giving money to, and remember that when they decide to run for office again.
And January 6th. Well the county GOP can run but they cannot hide:
Insurrection is not patriotism. Putting out the word to essentially intimate voters, poll workers is not patriotism. Potential voting interference is not patriotism. Stealing political signs off the lawn of a registered Republican is not patriotism.
The Republican Party of Chester County is not about patriotism, but they are all about attempting to be petty despots aren’t they? And their actions hurt the GOOD Republicans trying to run here and there in various corners of Chester County. Their insanity proves they don’t actually care about what the Republican Party used to stand for.
The only way to stop this is to VOTE. And if you are harassed, intimidated, or bothered at the polls by these new types of Republicans, report it. Call the police if necessary. You see, for all of the ways these people will tell you they are afraid of things like Communism or Nazism, what are they actually doing by their very actions? They fear dictatorships and Totalitarianism yet what are their actions saying they are actually doing?
Our founding fathers did not flee oppression and more for us to be experiencing it today, did they?
All day I wasn’t sure where to begin this post. But here we are, and here it is: the world is full of joyless people, or at least our immediate world area. The closer we get to election day (Tuesday November 2nd), the crazier people get. Mostly it’s the off their rockers school board candidates and their followers.
I think the insanity started again (for me) because I posted this in the morning of October 29th:
And for those who are by nature conservative who are on the fence but know in their heart of hearts that the newly minted “Republican” School Board candidates are bad (just follow the along with the new formula posts/ social media pages/websites/ “blogs” popping up all over for book banning, anti-masker, anti-vaxxer), the earth will not burn under your feet if you vote for a Democrat for school board.
Not all Republicans on school boards are bad, and as a matter of fact someone I know personally and call a friend was pushed out of a local school board race by crazies with crazy rhetoric.
This isn’t your grandmother’s Republican party any longer, it’s not the party of Lincoln. But as a party they have been coopted by extremism – you know like the people that stormed the capital on January 6, 2021. And one of those candidates for school board and Chester county was there – #AnonymousAda Ada Nestor- but I digress. And if you are a true Republican you know Republicans like this aren’t real Republicans.
So truthfully on election day if you want to save the Republicans party for future generations, please don’t allow these people in at lowest local levels of politics which is the school board….. It sounds counterintuitive, yes. But also if you care about actual PUBLIC education these people need to be ignored as candidates – they are literally the Republican candidates of last resort and of course there is that old but true thing that you have to ask does the Chester County Republican committee actually care about anything that goes on outside it’s own doors in the Borough of West Chester? Because if you ask Republicans around the county they will tell you no.
Here was first up banned on this blog:
And then because their comment was not instantaneously approved, they changed their phony handle but hey the same writing style…and I.P. address:
Oh my goodness, gracious and bless their cold, dark heart! They are of the grammatically stunted and spelling challenged even in a world where spell check is everywhere.
What is even more amusing? I am not and never have been particularly liberal. I am what you call a moderate, something that doesn’t exist in their (her?) world, which should require hospitalization and a straight jacket at this point as we all have our suspicions as to whom my pen pal was this morning. They think they are invisible, but no, not really. Their political Tourette’s gives them away every time, practically every minute of the day.
“Mentioning people’s names, videos” oh you mean like the websites and Facebook pages popping up that are funded by conservative donors, PACs like Keeping Kids in School and more targeting private citizens in Chester County?
So you are still pissy darling pen pal about Caroline O’Halloran? That’s amusing because well, you all craved the spotlight and wanted sound bytes to get your opinions OUT THERE. But then they weren’t well received although Caroline reported them accurately and neutrally as the seasoned journalist she is? Wahhh. You all sought the spotlight in part by making public spectacles out of yourselves. Cheer up I am sure Ladies Hat Day at Devon will be back next year.
Ahh yes you keyboard warriors. You all so so damn dumb and such gullible sheeple that you don’t even realize that national groups are USING all of you and these ridiculous school board candidates to infiltrate our local school board races. Why? It’s one of the lowest hanging fruits of our political system. Is that what all of you want? Our area run by master puppeteer political extremists? Because if you don’t watch the school board elections, that is exactly what you will get…and don’t forget all the verbiage on essentially book banning. Yes book banning.
As a friend said today:
Ironically the complaining is coming from bored housewives who voraciously gobbled up 50 Shades and Bridgerton.
I am borrowing the following screenshots from CCMF Schools because it just cuts through the crap:
These people and their hatred are just amazing…and not amazing in a good way. Amazing as in an incredibly unhealthy way. And then there is the simple rule of “follow the money” like this helpful diagram:
And this is JUST West Chester Area School District. Downingtown Area School District is dealing with this too. And Downingtown is bad enough, it made network news (Follow this link to NBC News story.) Great Valley School District is dealing with it too, and their candidates include a college student who never responds to anything and seemingly hasn’t campaigned, a guy who was a general tool on his Facebook page until some local Republican party had him clean it up, and the pediatric critical care nurse who is anti-mask and anti-vax and obsessed with CRT although I am not honestly sure she understands what it is and forget about telling her it’s not actually taught in schools. In Tredyffrin Easttown School District, the school board candidates keep it simple and just pose for photos with long hair QAnon Super Trumpers that the local GOP sponsored for a visit or something…wheeee!
Oh here is a helpful diagram regarding the Downingtown Area School District from CCMFSchools:
I have received oodles of hate mail, threats, random comments by arseholes. But this is too important. Like January 6th important. If you don’t want more of THAT hate and rhetoric, then please, please take your time and vote to preserve our public school system, not destroy it.
Extremism in politics is ruining our political system and our country. Please don’t let it destroy our education system as well. Don’t let these bastards steal your joy.
