exciting duffy’s cut update?
Monthly Archives: May 2025
dear west pikeland township, do you appreciate your township treasures?
This morning Bob from Fox29 went to Historic Yellow Springs to visit Life’s Patina Mercantile and Cafe, and it makes me wonder aloud does West Pikeland Township appreciate the treasures in this township?
Now everyone knows I love Life’s Patina and the simply marvelous things Meg Veno and her team do. A fun fact is I really was the person who told Meg at one of her barn sales that the late Charlie Orlando (He died a while back and remember Yellow Springs Inn?) had lost the Jenny Lind House (now the Life’s Patina Mercantile and Cafe) to foreclosure and the site was up for grabs. Meg had been speaking about wanting a new project, and I said the Jenny Lind. That was 2018 maybe late 2017, I forget.
here are some photos I took during a visit when the renovation was occuring:
It was so exciting to watch the Jenny Lind come back to life! I took a little video in 2023 when she opened. I do not remember if anyone from West Pikeland Towsnhip was there or not. I do not know the elected officials, so I wouldn’t recognize them.
I was there a couple of weeks ago again:
It was such a long and involved process and my favorite part is not even open yet: the upstairs guest rooms. They are ensuite and just perfect. I haven’t wanted to pry so I have not asked why the rooms are not open yet, but knowing what other people have gone through living in West Pikeland with that odd township, you have to wonder, right?
If West Pikeland was more savvy, they would better cultivate these new businesses pouring money into expensive renovations for the right reasons wouldn’t you think? After all they also have Jeff Devlin (HGTV etc Stone House Revival) there with Sycamore and Stone, as well as Meg… although the Life’s Patina team saw the potential in Yellow Springs Village before Jeff arrived. Ironically, he opened ahead of them and I totally adore Jeff and his wife Janelle, but there is no denying star power motivates local government. I saw it happen on the Main Line all of the time, and it probably still does happen, sadly.
West Pikeland is just odd and Pennsyltucky in their ways. No other way around it.
It’s like West Pikeland favors some over others. In that township they have had musical chairs with managers, they can’t seem to record meetings, meeting minutes are problematic, and oh yeah they are trying to ditch their local police department and you are never ever sure what is going on and it’s truthfully sad because it is a lovely slice of Chester County there….. but what is new to me is their 90% tax increase? Oy.
And then there is the police of it all and to that end what happened at a recent meeting:
West Pikeland Township, you need to appreciate what’s in front of you, including the police. You are a township of treasures, undervalued by you.
the upper main line ymca shared pickle with easttown township hits the news on a rainy day.
I was wondering when the local TV media was going to pick up the pickle the YMCA of Greater Brandywine organization, Upper Main Line YMCA and Easttown Township have found themselves in. Boomchakalaka, today was the day and this was literally just on 6 ABC Action News Philadelphia a bit ago.
Yeah whatever, it took me by surprise and the beginning of the video is wobbly. The report was completely unexpected. I can’t believe someone other than myself and Savvy Main Line is actually covering this. I have no objection to pickleball per se, no matter what people want to say, but I did not like the way the neighbors have been treated to date.
Below are links from just 3 meetings where pickleball and the Upper Main Line YMCA (UMLY) were discussed:
For more Easttown Meetings, go to this page on their website and noodle around: https://pa-easttowntownship.civicplus.com/129/Agendas-and-Minutes
As I reported on May 17th, the neighbors are taking UMLY etc to court. I do not feel the neighbors wanted to do this but they were not being heard were they? And they were not being heard for a long time, weren’t they? And now media is catching on.
Once again the peeved and pickleball aggrieved will say anyone supporting the neighbors and the affected neighbors are horrible, terrible people. Well maybe if UMLY which now says they want to be good neighbors had been good neighbors in the beginning, this would not be where people are now, correct? And the YMCA of Greater Brandywine has been heavy handed before in dealing with people, haven’t they?
And people will say what do neighbors think buying a house near a YMCA, but to them I say oh really? UMLY is located in a historic resource…in a residential district, so wouldn’t common sense dictate they should try harder?
Residents are entitled to a reasonable expectation of quiet enjoyment, and people might like playing pickleball at UMLY but the residents do indeed have to be considered. And they were not being considered. Neighbors have apparently been trying to deal with this for a couple of years? These neighbors are far nicer than UMLY deserves. Personally I would have given them six months.
Anyway, now the news is settling into covering this. UMLY and Easttown sadly, could have avoided this, couldn’t they have?
after the fire: 1 year later
A year ago on May 1, was the first of two fires which devastated an old historic home at 400 Leopard Road in Berwyn. Both fires were vicious and devastating, putting first responders at risk and not exactly creating a safe scenario for neighbors.
I had loved the whimsy of this house since I was a teenager growing up on the Main Line. I had friends who grew up in this part of the Main Line, and those who live here as an adult not so far away, so I have literally been driving past it forever. Sugartown is also one of my favorite drives from Chester County to the Main Line.
And here she sits. The first fire was May 1, 2024 and the second devastating fire was late July, 2024.
As we know the former homeowner, Kathryn Frankel, was charged with the second fire, I have no clue what happened with the first fire.
The house just sits a lonely sentinel to a senseless tragedy to this day as you drive by.
Can this house be restored? I am thinking no, but who knows? I just think someone will see a corner lot and eventually place a McMansion with not nearly the heart and soul once held by 400 Leopard Road.
There has not been a trial yet. It is just so sad. ***But if you look at the docket it looks like her bail was revoked???***
And then there is the thing on the Delaware County dockets?
strawberry rhubarb crumble
It’s such a simple thing, and it is a very uncomplicated dessert or breakfast treat with plain Greek yogurt. Strawberry rhubarb crumble.
I had rhubarb in my vegetable box from Lancaster County PA the other day and I had some strawberries in the refrigerator.
Here’s how you make it and it couldn’t be more simple:
2 1/2 cups diced rhubarb
1 1/2 cups diced fresh strawberries
1 1/4 cups white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 large egg
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup quick-cooking oats
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup butter
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish if you have one if not, I used a deeper vintage 8 x 8 Corningware baking dish.
Combine rhubarb, strawberries white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, egg, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 teaspoon ginger together in a large bowl until evenly coated.
Put fruit mixture in the bottom of the baking dish.
Mix 1 ½ cups flour, the rest of the brown sugar, oats, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon together in a separate bowl. Cut in butter using a pastry cutter or two forks until topping is crumbly. Sprinkle topping over rhubarb layer.
Bake in the preheated oven 40 to 45 minutes until it’s bubbling up around the edges of the topping. The topping will be brownish and color and smell delicious.
You can serve warm or cold and it is really good with plain Greek yogurt for breakfast.
the lack of humanity and compassion over joe biden’s cancer diagnosis is just disgusting.
I just unfriended someone I know on social media, an older man as a matter of fact, for his obnoxious commentary about the former president’s prostate cancer diagnosis. My father died of prostate cancer that eventually metastasized elsewhere and I want to think that people should be able to be better humans about anyone’s cancer diagnosis.
oncologist on the internet.
Some people will be very open about their cancer, no matter what their status in life is. Others will not I have been very open over the years about having had breast cancer and my recurring battles with skin cancer. My father was the opposite. He kept it from everyone for a long time, and even when he died, a lot of people never knew he had been sick. That was his personal choice. As a family member and his daughter I found his choice hard, but I honored it because it was his story to tell not mine. I think that is why I was so open about my own cancer. I did not want people burdened by keeping my cancer a secret.
Leave your goddamn politics at the door because cancer doesn’t recognize gender, politics, socioeconomic level, or anything much other than it ravages your body. And if the cancer doesn’t beat you to a pulp, sometimes treatment actually does. 
One of the comments on this man’s post was something along the lines of well they guess if they could’ve hidden the diagnosis they would have. It’s cancer and cancer is very personal. It has a public face as a disease but when it’s happening to you, trust me because I know personally that you don’t know how it feels and you should not tell anyone how they are supposed to handle it or go through it.
If as human beings, we can’t show respect and compassion for anyone with a cancer diagnosis, then that is pretty freaking pathetic.
we flood in part because water has no place to go.
I really get tired of the simpletons who tell me I must not have lived here long and that certain places have flooded for decades. Yes, a lot of places have flooded for decades and does that make it OK and do these people ever look beyond the edge of their own noses to see what is all being built and developed around these flood locations that just make it worse?
Development and climate change play a big part in our flooding during storms. And the developers develop these projects and they say they’re going to do stormwater management but is it ever enough?
And while Harrisburg and Josh Shapiro are trying to shove HB-502 down our throats, do they do anything ever proactive like enact and act of the State Constitution to overhaul the Municipalities Planning Code to protect us?
And what is HB-502?
As Ginny Kerslake explains after East Whiteland publicly objected to it:
Thank you East Whiteland Township for standing up for your residents and local government. We need every township to do likewise:
East Whiteland Township recently issued letters to local legislators opposing PA House Bill 502, which would strip local governments of the power to make land use and zoning decisions related to large scale energy production facilities—handing it instead to a politically appointed board in Harrisburg.
Local officials know our communities best. We use careful planning and resident input to protect our environment and quality of life. This bill threatens that balance and could open the door to unchecked development—even on preserved land.”
How can you help stop this bad bill?
✅ Urge your Township Supervisors to follow East Whiteland’s lead.
✅ Contact your State Rep and State Senator and urge them to vote NO on HB502. (Find your legislators: https://www.palegis.us/find-my-legislator).
So back to stormwater. These storms with freakish amounts of water keep happening and in part that’s climate change.
The flooding is increasing. There IS also a connection to development, and it doesn’t mean development right where the flooding occurred but adjacent to it. Water seeks its own level.
Development in adjacent areas, even the next community over can affect where we live. Radnor residents in Wayne have learned that lesson the hard way, for example. In part because of development in Radnor Township and then other things like Church of The Savior upstream along the Gulph Creek in Tredyffrin.
Yesterday was yet another example as to why mankind needs to change the way we do things. Overdevelopment and climate change are real. Together they cause us more and more issues.
so….upper main line ymca’s neighbors are taking them AND easttown township to court over pickleball?
A little birdie told me the other day that pickleball had gotten very quiet at the Upper Main Line YMCA in Berwyn.
And indeed it has.
As previously documented and witnessed at many meetings in Easttown Township, the neighbors have been trying to see an amicable solution that is fair to everyone, not just the Upper Main Line YMCA (UMLY.)
This has been going on for a couple of years, right? And I remember from watching the meetings that the neighbors tried really hard to just be good neighbors and get treated fairly and no one heard them, so now they have filed suit and they have a shark as an attorney.
They have hired I think one of the best land-use lawyers that exists in this area, Phil Rosensweig. He was one of the seven commissioners in Lower Merion many years ago who helped stop eminent domain for private gain. As a matter of fact, he wrote the ordinance revoking its potential use.
Buckle up buttercups, this will be interesting.
UMLY is part of the YMCA of Greater Brandywine family. And the YMCA of Greater Brandywine is no secret to contretemps at times including prior pickleball issues, correct? It was at the Lionville Branch according to a Daily Local article, correct?
Easttown Township should have been better with this issue. Truthfully, Tredyffrin Township a couple of years ago was very proactive on the behalf of neighbors dealing with pickleball issues. And I believe that now today, Pickleball and residence are coexisting fairly peacefully in that municipality.
And just for the record, I’m not against pickleball. I have a lot of friends who play it, but I am also cognizant of the fact that a lot of times neighbors get railroaded over issues where they deserve better treatment.
UMLY could have avoided all of this, couldn’t they have?
From before:
you would think that they were tired of talking about me
You have to laugh. Because if you don’t laugh at stupidity, you might just scream.
What am I talking about? I’m talking about the fact that there are so many small minded limited people who can’t get over when they are removed from a Facebook group.
Life is pretty simple in these groups. If you don’t follow the rules generally you’re removed. If you denigrate the admin or group owner in the group, generally speaking, you are removed.
Today a woman who used to be in a gifting group I started and run posted in another community group thanking the community for helping her gather things for someone starting over from nothing because she couldn’t say thank you in my group, as she was no longer in my group.
I don’t have a problem with that.
And yes I removed her. I removed her because of her participation in something that was a full on attack of me in this group. That is not normal behavior. It’s certainly not normal behavior for a group that is about gifting. It’s pack mentality bullshit, and that is definitely not my jam. I mean, did they seriously think I was just going to sit there and let them abuse me or anyone else in my group?
Of course, because social media thrives on mob mentality, the comments on this post turned in part to not merely being wonderful that that the community was able to come together to help this woman, but nasty comments about me.
Part of it has to do with the fact this particular group of people can be quite parochial in their mindset. If you didn’t grow up with them in their neighborhoods and go to their high school, etc. you are just not anyone they can relate to. It’s pretty simple, and the funny thing is it doesn’t bother me that they can’t relate to me because they’re strangers and I don’t really want or need to know most of them.
I am always at a loss why people like this find me so fascinating. Perhaps it’s because I’m a blogger. Perhaps it’s because I speak my truth. Perhaps it’s a combination of both.
Nevertheless I am one woman. Don’t these people have hobbies?
If you don’t fit in their limited world view you are bad. So bad.
And again today I just shake my head and wonder what it is that they don’t comprehend? Not everyone has to be like them. None of us will put on this earth to be identical to everyone else
It’s just one of those things about life today that can be a little bit sad. And it’s not sad because I’m feeling sad because I’m not, it’s sad because that the only way that these rather limited people know how to be.
FINALLY. allan jay gould is being charged with the murder of his wife anna maciejewska
EIGHT years and a press conference was at 3 PM. Here is the video from the presser:
I never thought this day would come. I have been writing about a woman I never met for 8 years. When I got the text from a reporter I know I started to cry. I know it might sound dumb because I did not know her, but when you write about someone for eight years, you start to feel like you knew her. Ironically yesterday I shared the post I wrote in February to mark the coming of the 8 year anniversary.
Today authorities swarmed the house she built in Malvern where her husband Allan Jay Gould still lived with her little boy, Andrew. I hope Andrew is Ok.
Justice for Anna Maciejewska is long overdue.
Here is the Inquirer article:
Philadelphia Inquirer:
by Vinny Vella and Erin McCarthy Published May 14, 2025, 1:39 p.m. ET