Category Archives: life

2026 you are not particularly bright so far, just the wolf moon.

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It’s hardly into the new year and already it’s kind of depressing. It’s 4 January, and our president essentially performed an act of war without congressional approval. In the wee hours, as in early Saturday morning, the US struck Venezuela and removed the president and his wife to New York. Maduro is in New York because U.S. special forces captured him in this raid in Caracas and they have brought him and his wife to face federal charges dating from 2020, including drug trafficking , weapons charges, and “narco-terrorism.”

This article in an online journal called “The Conversation” is well worth reading on this:

https://theconversation.com/the-us-has-invaded-countries-and-deposed-leaders-before-its-military-action-against-venezuela-feels-different-272682

It might be too much to ask all of the armchair warriors and foreign diplomacy and constitutional and congressional scholars on Facebook to actually READ something versus just jumping on the Internet tar and feather bandwagon.

I felt obligated to shut down comments on posts on my blog’s Facebook page. I do that to bring the temperature down because it is the correct and responsible thing to do. I am not practicing censorship because it’s MY page. If people don’t like that, that is on them. It’s not their personal platform which maybe is something they don’t get. It’s only censorship if they can’t ever speak their opinion at all. What I am saying is they need to take their flame war elsewhere.

When I post something without the ability for people to leave comments, it means keep your cray cray to yourself and your page. Do not private message me. I have been receiving rather vile as well as idiotic private messages.

And FYI The Monroe Doctrine, proclaimed by President James Monroe in 1823, was NOT necessarily designed for this Venezuela’s it all. It’s also not the Roosevelt Corollary (as in Teddy’s era) or Cold War as used by Kennedy and then Reagan. This is most definitely yes still a controversial aspect of US foreign policy and should not be part of the toys used by a greedy grabby never served in the military man baby.

Donroe or Monroe, I am not debating it or having my private messages polluted with nonsense- by all means people discuss it on their own personal Facebook pages but I do not have to ride the crazy train.

A friend of mine quipped that the Epstein files must be pretty bad and intelligent beings do need to question the timing, yes? But even if Maduro being removed is possibly a good thing for the Venezualan people are there other motivations at play here including but not limited to oil and mineral rights?

The 4th day of a new year we need to contemplate where we are going. It’s frightening in my opinion. And it’s frightening what people don’t want to see and that includes our elected officials in Washington D.C.

So now this afternoon there are protests supposedly happening about Venezuela? Protests are getting to be like fireworks. So many and does that make their value dissipate?

A friend of mine wrote today:

As a daughter of a Vietnam Vet who I lost in 2025 after his post-war life battle from Agent Orange…this is a horrible time to have 13 & 18 year old boys.
I wish my dad was here to tell me it will be ok.

Another wrote:

I just explained to my boys what a military draft means.

Someone else I know said:

I had a ton of people calling me a Trump apologist when I said no war in Gaza and now people are calling me a liberal for saying no war in Venezuela. Some of us actually are anti-war and pro-rule of law!

There have been people who had arguments against my opinion which weren’t quite polite but not overly rude that I didn’t remove (or them) but it was about obviously I was never part of an EMS or lost a family member to drugs. No I fortunately never lost a family member to drugs, but lost a friend and two women I know have had drugs make them widows. I have had plenty of friends who have been on EMS crews for years and NOT one has spoken up all drug overdoses are stamped “Made in Venezuela.”

I think we live in a very different world today, so much so I honestly don’t trust that peaceful protests will remain as such. Sadly, No Kings in West Chester proved me right.

I will never say that people shouldn’t stand up for what they feel at the core of their being, but we live in a world that doesn’t necessarily respect that, at least in this country.

Dachau 2026

And then there are the tones of World War II Europe that seem to hum in the background. I have a friend in Poland now on a trip who sent me two photos that stopped me cold.

Auschwitz 2026

Do you know the meaning of the verbiage over the gates? It is “Hard Work is Freedom.”

These first concentration camps were at first prisons for the intellectuals, professors, journalists, etc. Poland has done a great job of preserving Auschwitz. The buildings there were carefully constructed and made of stone and bricks. So they still stand. That’s where Mengele conducted his eugenics experiments. Down the road from Auschwitz are other places like Birkenau, which was put up quickly essentially just to kill people. Only the chimneys remain.

Why do people choose not to remember and even respect the ghosts of World Wars past? When people stopped paying attention to World War I, World War II happened. If we continue to ignore the lessons of the past or try to rewrite history, the past could actually repeat itself.

I am not being an alarmist or conspiracy theorist. The markers exist and if we aren’t careful as a society and country, things our parents and grandparents never wanted us to experience may be come our new normal.

Now who will read this post? When it’s lots of words, that is debatable. We live in a world where people don’t read or research a thing. They read it on Facebook or TikTok so it must be true.

Look I wish we didn’t have to look at history, but we must. If we don’t look at history, even ugly inconvenient, horrible history we may be doomed to repeat it.

I am still tired of how people do not respect that sometimes there is no dialogue to be had when people merely want a break from the social media nonsense of others. We live in a world where everyone seems to think whomever gets all the toys, wins. That is unrealistic and unsustainable.

I think I am growing less patient with the craziness and hysteria on social media. People are such sheeple. And they have zero respect for boundaries of anyone.

Today’s world is a study of past is prologue as well as past is present. I don’t know that that’s a good thing.

Good night.

‘tis the season, santa for a christmas meander…

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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

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My photo 2012

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.

Willistown Township social media photo

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.

life in the land of women: bonds

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Life in the land of women is one of my recurring writing themes. It’s not something that some of the chest puffing neanderthals and their flying monkeys who would love to tear me down for having an opinion or twenty would ever understand.

I think partially that is because they don’t have honest relationships with anyone. Generosity of spirit is not something that can be taught. It is inherent; you have it or you don’t.

Real friendships aren’t bought or bartered for. It’s not based on using people.

I have always said I don’t use the term blessed very often, but I am blessed in my friendships. I have my circle of female friends, but I don’t trust a lot of women. I can be somewhat jaded at times, and even somewhat cynical other times, even though they are not the same thing.

I think what I have seen in life might in some cases makes me believe in a better humanity, but on the other hand, it makes me less trusting. I hate to say that sometimes I am that person that wonders why do they want to get to know me? And I know on one hand that’s kind of horrible, but on the other hand, it’s self preservation.

When I first moved to Chester County to be with my now husband, there were a couple of women I met that I thought would be great friends until they weren’t. One I just didn’t have that much in common at the end of the day, although she is super nice. It’s still nice to occasionally bump into her.

Now the other one? She got to know me in order to get information about me to use to curry favor with others. That other woman was like the dog that who carried the proverbial bone 24/7. But she was one of those people that was also too friendly too fast, so I never truly let her in. This woman is and always will be a user. I wasn’t the first person she’s ever used and I certainly won’t be the last.

The second woman with whom I had the unpleasant experience is seemingly somewhat clueless about her behavior. I remember a year after I realized she wasn’t someone truly to be friends with, she called me out of the blue to see if I was driving a certain kind of car down the road because she passed me on the road. I mean, who does that? do you judge your friendships by the kind of car they drive? I mean don’t speak with her for ages and that is the superficial reason for contact?

And then there were those who were done with me when I moved from the Main Line. I left the mothership of pretense that the area had evolved into, which while it freed me to become a better, more comfortable version of myself, simultaneously made me less useful or even uncomfortable to my others. I can’t control their feelings, yet I still marvel at them.

So this week, I had the opportunity to catch up with two very long term friends. One recently became a widow and one lost her dad.

We’ve known each other since we were kids. Our parents were friends. I am now the only one with a surviving parent and that is such an odd feeling. However, every time I connect with either of these women, I realize how lucky I am. A lot of people don’t have these friendships.

And then today, I finally had time to catch up with another old friend who lives close by. We’ve literally known each other since like I was in eighth grade and she was in seventh grade. Or maybe it was she was in eighth grade and I was in ninth grade. I forget.

The thing about all three of these women I am thinking about is that we know each other so well that it is not only comfortable and trusting we can be completely ourselves. And that’s the thing today that is so different. You can’t just be completely yourself with anyone.

And I’m also really lucky with the friends that I have made since coming to Chester County who count as new friends. I do have to make that distinction because there are a lot of us who have been friends seemingly forever are former Main Liners who migrated west because it was just better as the faces of the Main Line changed and became Nouveaux Main Line.

People often don’t understand why you’re friends with someone because they’re pre-judging you before you even walk in the door. And people always prejudge me because they read what I write and either don’t understand it or sometimes don’t like it, so then it is like why would you want to know her? I do have to laugh at those people because the question they should be asking is why would I want to know them? And a lot of the time I don’t want to know them, and I think that bothers them more than if I wanted to know which is just the perversity of human nature.

Yesterday I spent time with two more of my female friends. One used to ride the bus with me is how far back we go. The other? It must be gosh 20 years since I first met her. These are the people who matter in our lives. Not the people who are fly by nights or even a season.

The people who matter are the ones who see us at our best and we are comfortable enough for them to see us not at our best. The people who matter are the ones whom accept us for who we are.

Everyone else? Extraneous bullsheit.

Happy Sunday.

hey villanova officials have you actually been to mt. pleasant?

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Yeah….so Villanova held a meeting with neighbors over at Cabrini. I actually am glad they did it, except listen to a snippet of the presentation and I have to ask if this Villanova official has ever visited Villa Blue Tarp in Mount Pleasant?

This neighborhood is mostly Chester County/Tredyffrin, but a part of it is also Upper Merion/Montgomery County. The Tredyfrin part of it has some seriously ridiculous off campus party pits. Forget about are the houses safe for the students to live in, will the neighbors ever have peace? The lady speaking at Cabrini I’m sure has the best of intentions, but she has zero clue or doesn’t want to have a clue of what actually goes on in off campus party pits in Mount Pleasant, which is close Cabrini.

Neighbors also reported the following who were at the meeting:

FYI Traffic is going to be awful when Villanova opens the Cabrini campus next year!!!

Villanova says they have purchased six large buses. Shuttle service will leave Cabrini campus every 5-10 minutes 6:30 AM to 10:30 PM.

400 on campus student vehicles. 600 staff and commuter vehicles. Who knows how many Ubers and Doordash type vehicles, right?

That’s a lot, isn’t it?

They are permitted on campus at any time. The King of Prussia and Eagle Road entrances will close at 10:30 PM and reopen at 6:30 AM.

All traffic during this time will enter and exit on Upper Gulph.

I am very glad I don’t live near there. And with Villanova going to Cabrini and Valley Forge Military failing, and who knows what’s happening to that land, how will Radnor and Tredyffrin be protecting their residents through this?

I am glad that Cabrini is not going to be a giant parcel for residential McMansion development, but all the same, Villanova doesn’t have a good track record with their off-campus students, so what’s it going to be like over there?

Also to be considered is the practicality of the traffic implications on a lot of these roads, which are overtaxed and overburdened already.

Buckle up residents, you can hope this will all go smoothly, but I predict a lot of bumps in the road.

And speaking of Villanova, what are they doing with their main campus area property (or properties?) that back up to Aldwyn Lane? And doesn’t the university own properties on Aldwyn Lane? Is Radnor protecting their residents over there or ignoring them?

This is going to be interesting for sure, right? It’s their own version of Happy Valley without the great ice cream right?

serenading….chester county voter services!

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Please let Barry Dee at All Politics Are Local which version is your favorite!

Karen Barsoum you’re famous!

you just don’t mess with the pledge of allegiance to our flag

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Check this one out. 

Freedom of speech is freedom of speech so he is certainly allowed to do whatever he wants but the pledge isn’t the place for his opinion. Just my 2 cents. 

This all comes courtesy of West Vincent Supervisor Bernie Couris.

Now Bernie is an interesting cat. He was the most devoted of Republicans when he was all those years on West Conshohocken  Borough Council then he moves to West Vincent and becomes Nouveau Bernie the Born Again Democrat.

I am a traditionalist when it comes to certain things and I don’t think you should mess with the Pledge of Allegiance do you? 

If you think Bernie should apologize to the residents and anyone else who might hear this, please email him at:

bcouris@westvincenttwp.org

Or call/email the manager who seems to have too much time on his hands his name is “Tommy” Ryan. 

manager@westvincenttwp.org

610-458-1601

Oh and let us not forget the mysterious evaporation of whomever the forager woman was whom they initially tapped to replace Sara Shick who passed away in August? I can’t remember the woman’s name but she literally lasted like four or five meetings and disappeared. She was done.

Why that is interesting because of the sheer lunacy of whom they replaced the disappearing woman with. This is none other than Jim Wendelgass. Yes, isn’t that a fantabulosa thing? First he’s a manager then he comes back as an interim manager and now he’s a politician.

Why is this important?

Wendelgassbag was the manager that a bunch of years ago they chose not to renew his contract so he kind of went bye-bye and then went over to West Pikeland as manager because that place is very Pennsyltucky and problematic as far as government (we’ve heard about them in recent months because they keep trying to get rid of their police department and because they don’t record meetings a lot of stuff doesn’t get out.)

Wendelgassbag was at West Pikeland until he retired I guess a couple of years ago now? Then he was brought back to life like Lazarus rising from the dead in West Vincent, as like some kind of interim manager. (See the link to the old post on this blog discussing that at the very bottom of this post. )

West Vincent is one of those places that you don’t pay attention to for a while and then you go back and look and then you shake your head because every time you think things can’t get more sketchy there, they do.

And other things that I always find curious when it comes to West Vincent are little things like this open records appeal from 2024 I think it was:

https://www.openrecords.pa.gov/Appeals/DocketGetFile.cfm?id=165119

I’m pretty sure this is the same woman who used to be the Township Secretary who used to get picked on by Sara Shick?

Click to access 2-page-west-vincent-letter.pdf

Interestingly enough they’re no longer seems to be a Township Secretary at West Vincent Township and why is that? What did they do to the last one?

You know it can get shady in certain municipalities in Chester County and West Vincent, well, it is definitely a place in need of sunshine and good government.

Don’t mess with the Pledge of Allegiance that’s like burning the flag IMHO.

lawd have mercy, it’s groundhog day in west vincent!

two dinners

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One roast chicken, two dinners.

Last night’s roast chicken with a curry paste in leftover form first became a bone broth.

Then, after broth was cooked and strained, the chicken I had leftover that had been separated from the carcass prior to bone broth was shredded and added back along with finely chopped vegetables (fresh spinach, red cabbage, red onion, celery) and simmered along to perfection.

Some of the mashed potatoes left over from the chicken became gnocchi- just enough to cook separately and fresh for bottom of the bowl and soup ladled over it.

Now last night’s chicken was a happy experiment. We love curries and I thought why not try a curry roasted chicken?

I made a curry paste and used it to roast the chicken with it.

It wasn’t too complicated to make the paste. It was a couple different kinds of curry powder that I have, red curry paste, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder.

I thought that the leftovers would make a good bone broth and they did. And last night I decided some of the leftover potatoes would make great gnocchi.

And it all worked! In an era of expensive grocery prices, it was a thrifty solution to stretch groceries and make leftovers more fun!

Have a good night!

pinktober is a reminder that breast cancer is neither pink nor fluffy.

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Here we are, another year, another Pinktober.

It has taken 14 years as a survivor for me to realize the problem is not the fact that it’s October and it’s about breast cancer awareness, it’s still about all the pink crap that manufacturers shove at us saying it’ll do good. Yeah maybe for their profit margins, but not much else.

Year after year, I check into the minuscule proportions of profit that manufacturers who try to sell you pink crap during Pinktober actually donate.

Year after year, I can’t believe people haven’t seen through the various marketing schemes. 

Breast cancer is neither pink or fluffy. I’m sure the pink color as identifier is because more often than not, it’s women who get breast cancer, however men also get breast cancer. 

If you want to support breast cancer awareness, it’s not being done with a cheap pink bracelet. It’s being done with the brave women, many of whom you never know existed, who are just trying to live their best lives during an after breast cancer. It’s being done by the dedicated medical community and smaller nonprofits that want to educate and help people.

If you wish to support a nonprofit look for the local ones or the smaller ones in your community that actually help. One I think often of in particular, which is wonderful in the Philadelphia area is Unite for Her. I was introduced to them years ago by a woman who believes in what they do. They offer programming they get women together in fellowship. They offer practical information they offer support. I’m not necessarily talking about financial support. I’m talking about that friendly ear or programs that help.

https://uniteforher.org/

https://www.facebook.com/unite4her

This nonprofit was founded right in Chester County, Pennsylvania. they have wonderful programs and zoom calls that you can participate in and more.

And of course, another nonprofit also local to the greater Philadelphia region that I will always hold dear is breastcancer.org – this was founded by my radiation oncologist, Dr. Marisa Weiss.

https://www.breastcancer.org/

The need for positive education on the topic of breast cancer or cancer at all never wanes. I realized that the other day when I was speaking with someone who has a newly diagnosed family member. It wasn’t that they were uneducated on the topic, it was about how people were behaving around them.

It’s funny it really annoyed the crap out of me to hear this, just like when I was newly diagnosed and there were people that had me 1 foot in the grave 14 years ago or we’re trying to sell me iodine cures, or other quack based treatment for breast cancer.

You get a breast cancer diagnosis and people are already planning your funeral and you really want look at them and try not to scream “get the F out of here !” (And in my opinion it’s quite all right to do that. It’s not their feelings that matter during this time it’s the feelings of the breast cancer patient.)

It’s that ignorance out there that makes me say every breast cancer awareness month hey it’s not pink. It’s not fluffy. It’s not about pink plastic crap, or some stupid bracelet that has the majority of profits going into the coffers of the manufacturer.

I think it is just as important for people without breast cancer to be educated on what it’s like to have it. I think it’s important for people to be educated on what actually helps. 

And I think it’s important for the public in general to be educated about the pink plastic crap and dumb stuff that manufacturers put out during the month of October to say they support breast cancer awareness. 

Today, 14 years later, because I’m a blogger that a lot of people don’t like even though they don’t actually know me I just have opinions different from theirs, I will sometimes get comments sent in that say things like “It’s a shame you didn’t die from breast cancer all those years ago.” To them I say, I hope you never actually get the disease or know someone you love who is affected by it.

Ignorance knows no bounds in this country and you know you almost sadly expect that from people today. It’s really terrible that that’s become the norm, but it doesn’t mean that it’s acceptable.

We live in a country that is such a hot mess right now, especially when it comes to healthcare and issues of women’s health in particular. Please don’t celebrate Pinktober with a piece of pink plastic crap. Get yourself educated on the topic and if you have a couple extra coins in your pocket, give to a nonprofit that you know will actually help breast cancer, patients and survivors. We donate to research that will keep cancer treatment going.

And if you have never experienced having breast cancer, don’t say to a breast cancer survivor or patient that you know how they feel. Trust me when I tell you that you do not. First of all, we feel so many things at any given time, and getting one of these diagnoses is a very personal thing so you can’t really get how that person feels because you’re not them.

I sign off stating once again I am one of the lucky ones. Please get yourself, educated on the topic, get mammograms, and genetic testing if you have cancer in your family.

while chester county was sleeping, the chester county constable applied to help ice out in honey brook? why?

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I will open this post with saying if a randomly promoted post on Instagram had not found its way into my Instagram feed, I wouldn’t have gone down this wild rabbit hole.

I generally speaking, try to avoid ICE stories because as a person descended from those who immigrated here a few generations back, I find it like a parallel universe because we are a nation founded by immigrants at a time that if you counted the Native Americans as the original inhabitants, well who actually was legal vs. illegal back then? And then of course there are the history lessons of World War II?

But I suppose I digress…

This is truly seeming like fifty shades more of Honey Brook Township crazy is it not if all true?

Why is the Pennsylvania State Constable of Chester County applying for an ICE 287(g) Agreement for Honey Brook Township Precinct 1?

So also very interesting? The Republican committee people for this precinct had zero clue this was happening! If they didn’t sign up for it then why is it in Precinct 1 ? Why not all of Honey Brook Township? Why this sole precinct? Is it because it is Valerie Shultz’s home precinct where she was a committee person?

This sure seems like more Cornfield Tammy Hall doesn’t it? Thug politics at work? I mean Chester County is a big county, so if this guy is the one constable for our entire county, why apply for it out there?

And what does Honey Brook Township get out of of it? Federal funds? If so, how would said funds get applied and for what purpose?

And is it really just a wild conspiracy theory to wonder about connections?

Seriously, this is just kind of insane isn’t it? I mean, is this all happening because they current power brokers are so incredibly threatened by the idea of a woman who is a Republican that Democrats thought enough of to put on the Democrat ballot for the fall as a registered Republican so upsetting their comfortable status quo that this is happening in that particular precinct?

Maybe HONEY BROOK TOWNSHIP has some explaining to do? See screenshots, links and a spread sheet from ICE governmental website.

And more importantly, I simply don’t understand how a municipality without a police force can help ICE arrest immigrants, anyway? And everything says Honey Brook Township Precinct 1, it doesn’t say Honey Brook Borough.

Also are there that many illegal immigrants in Honey Brook? So (again) does this mean if he gets approved for this that Honey Brook Township itself gets Federal funds to round up illegal aliens? What are they going to use the money for?

https://www.wesa.fm/courts-justice/2025-07-08/pennsylvania-police-law-enforcement-collaborating-with-ice

Don’t residents deserve answers? In Honey Brook and throughout the county?

Also, I looked on the already approved list and don’t see any other Chester County municipalities? So for like the umpteenth time, why choose Honey Brook Township? Wouldn’t you see logically that if this were to happen and be applied for it would be other municipalities in Chester County?

Now I have also been told that this guy is the Constable for Honey Brook Borough which only has one voting precinct (295), right? So why mention it other than to bait the Valerie Shultz campaign and to attempt to sow division and chaos in Honey Brook Township? And if he is the Constable for Honey Brook Borough is he stepping on the toes of a local police force?

Is this application in fact for Honey Brook Borough and not Honey Brook Township?

Constables are elected. Pay for all of their own equipment and must be self-insured so seriously will this guy’s insurer cover this? Sounds like an underwriting nightmare doesn’t it?

I don’t understand any of this. So many questions.

Signing off.

https://www.ice.gov/doclib/about/offices/ero/287g/pendingAgencies10032025am.xlsx

https://pahb1.org/

https://www.ice.gov/doclib/about/offices/ero/287g/participatingAgencies10032025am.xlsx