Category Archives: life

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

may there be carriaging in heaven.

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My parents always had interesting people whom they knew. They were raising us during a time where it was all corporate America all the time in the Main Line/Philadelphia area, and I appreciated all those f the different kinds of interesting people they knew as opposed to just the stiff corporate types. And one of those people was Dr. Donald Rosato.

Well known in equine circles, he also was very much of a quiet philanthropist that you could always count on attending a nonprofit fundraiser and so on. He was a familiar face at Devon, Radner Hunt, Ludwig‘s Corner Horse Show and much more. I also always used to see him in more recent years at benefits for Natural Lands, for example. In more recent years, my mother and stepfather would run into he and Judy at benefits for the English Speaking Union. I think the last time I saw him anywhere was a couple of years ago.

Dr. Rosato was a very congenial man. I was to his home a few times over the course of my life, and one time in particular it was after we went carriaging with him when my sister and her husband were newlyweds. He had given my sister a carriaging day as a wedding present.

I will always remember that afternoon, Chester County was a lot less developed then. Halfway through that afternoon, we stopped down a dirt road or path to have a little picnic at this 18th century stone cottage that he owned that had been restored somewhat, but it did not have modern conveniences. It was frozen in time and it was simply beautiful. That was in the 1990s.

And a thing about Dr. Rosato were his wonderful dogs, as well as his amazingly beautiful horses. I also loved his beautiful restored farm house and his collection of carriages. The only other collection I ever remember that would have even rival his was the one from even further back in my childhood owned by Mr. Gwinn in Gladwyne. But Dr. Rosato’s horses were always better.

Dr. Rosato is someone I never saw without a smile on his face, and he had this remarkable ability to remember people, even if he hadn’t seen them in years. He was also very quietly kind to people who needed kindness.

I learned this morning from a friend the Dr. Rosato passed away a few days ago. He was 90 years old. He has survived by his lovely wife, Judy and his children from his first marriage. He’s also survived by all of the people in the equine circles in Chester County that he was very much a part of.

He was a familiar face on many of the back roads in Chester Springs and West Vincent in his carriages. He didn’t just drag them out for Devon or special occasions, he was a regular fixture on local roads.

The last time I was invited to go carriaging was in 2017. It was at that point in time that I realized how much the entire area had changed and how people did not know how to safely go around carriages on the road.

As a matter of fact, one of the things I remember from that day other than the sheer awesomeness of being in one of his carriages driving around Chester Springs, were a couple of extremely rude drivers in cars.

Of course what used to amuse me were all the people that thought they could just call him up and say take me for a carriage ride. You had to be invited, and it was special. And when you went for a ride with him, you also got a little history of the area. He would tell you about the farms, the area, and the houses.

Main Line Today wrote an article about him a few years ago:

The Rosatos and Their Vintage Carriages are a Story on Wheels

Here is a link to his obituary. There is no service planned at this time donations in his memory can go to the Kimberton Hunt and Ludwig’s Corner Horse Show Association .

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/paoli-pa/donald-rosato-12531556

Thanks for the carriaging excursions, Dr. Rosato. Rest in peace.

Please note all of the photos used were taken by me personally.

don’t be a pumpkin joy sucker.

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My photo Sugartown Strawberries 2024

Do you remember when we all used to love getting our very own pumpkins?

Do you remember going to farms and farm stands to get your pumpkins?

Do you remember pumpkin festivals?

Do you remember the simple joy in carving and decorating pumpkins with friends and family?

Yeah well, apparently wistfully remembering good pumpkin times makes us anachronisms.

Except I call bull twaddle on that.

There is more joy to be had in doing your own pumpkins than having a service vomit dozens on your porch, steps, stoop. You can even have BloomBox deliver pumpkins you choose if you are short on time, and then you can decorate. Or you can visit places like Sugartown Strawberries, King’s Pumpkin Farm and Corn Maze in Honey Brook, Smith’s Produce Farm in Glenmoore, Yeagers in Phoenixville, Wilcox Farms in Boyertown, or the East Goshen Pumpkin festival (just to name a handful of places.)

And let’s get real, how long does it take to place pumpkins yourself? The answer is it doesn’t. You can do it yourself, promise!!

But remember: to be trendy you are supposed to hire people to pumpkin. Personally, I will never be trendy and I am proud of it. I also skipped the beige beige world of interior decorating like I live in a Pottery Barn/ West Elm catalog too. (And I am damn proud if it too!)

And these people who have to be “professionally” pumpkined? Ha! How does your HOA feel at the end of pumpkin time when they need to be disposed of if you are a development dweller? And not all of these pumpkin vomiting on porch businesses offer removal, and if they do, yeah, that costs extra, doesn’t it?

Pumpkin placement services are joy suckers. And expensive. And everything these people do no matter where you live, all looks the same.

Do you really want to be Stepford about pumpkins too?

it’s stepford tribble…err pumpkin season

I wrote about this last year and am again this year. Don’t be a pumpkin joy sucker. Go forth and find your own pumpkins.

Live dangerously and remember how fun it used to be to do your own pumpkin styling.

how about deer culling and less development in chester county?

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Yesterday we saw this image from the screenshot above all over TV news stations. The backstory? A 15 year old boy named Kevin Donohue, a sophomore at Malvern Prep in Malvern PA ( public source on this is NBC10 Philadelphia.)

NBC 10 had this to say about young Kevin:

“It is with deep sorrow and profound sadness that we share the tragic news of the passing of Kevin Donahue, a beloved student of Malvern Preparatory School, who was tragically killed in a fatal car accident. Kevin’s untimely departure has left a void in our community, and our hearts go out to his family, friends, and all who knew him during this difficult time,” school officials said in a statement. “Kevin was known for his bright spirit, kindness, and positive attitude. As a student at Malvern Prep, he was admired not only for his academic dedication but also for his genuine compassion and friendly nature. Kevin’s presence was a source of joy and encouragement to peers, teachers, and staff alike. His infectious smile and warm personality made him a beloved member of the school community, and his loss is deeply felt by all who had the privilege of knowing him.”

Kevin was transported to the hospital, but did not survive his deer related injuries. The was on Route 322 in West Bradford. We can’t say deer alley because well Chester County is overrun with deer. Young Kevin’s sister apparently survived and I can’t imagine what this family and his school community are experiencing. I do know Malvern Prep parents who were devastated by this news.

As the media has reported, including our own IrishEyez in Chester County, the deer was hit by a vehicle traveling the other direction (eastbound 322) and was literally thrown onto this car (traveling westbound 322.) The other vehicle has not been located and police would like to speak with the person. They were possibly driving a black Toyota Sienna. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Pennsylvania State Police Embreeville barracks at 610-486-6280.

Malvern Prep is I am told asking for people to respect the privacy of the family, classmates, and school who have suffered a great loss. To that end, be wary of clicking on crap on social media. I have personally reported innumerable and ghoulish predatory Facebook pages today on this. It is click bait and if you click who knows what will happen to your device, computer, etc. Here are few examples so you can avoid them:

This horrible event also prompts a conversation we need to have in Chester County. development has eradicated and drastically condensed not only native habitat for deer, but the predators of deer. I mean yes we have plenty of coyotes, but they seem more intent on what we as humans leave behind, and even our pets.

Deer herds need to be culled, drastically. And humans should want that, not feeding them because they are cute bearers of deer ticks and Lyme disease. I don’t want to hear about BS of deer birth control that will occasionally crop up. We need to cull those herds. All over the county. It needs to be done legally, but it needs to be done. This year there seem to be more deer than ever.

Development. All of the development county-wide, gobbles land like a Pac Man. Why can’t we get Harrisburg to update the Municipalities Planning Code and even allow moratoriums on development? It’s NOT sustainable.

I am so sorry for what people and family of this young man are experiencing. I hope the driver who hit the deer first comes forward. It was a freak accident but their input is needed. Media reports put the accident on 322 near Romig Road.

https://6abc.com/post/kevin-donohue-identified-malvern-prep-student-killed-freak-accident-involving-deer-route-322-chester-county/17722112

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/deadly-crash-deer-west-bradford-township-route-322-chester-county-tuesday/4262862

the song remains the same in tredyffrin

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No it’s not Sullivan Hall on Villanova’s campus. It’s Mt. Pleasant in Tredyffrin. The neighbors as in the full time year round residents are in hell. Party season for off campus housing is back.

And the song remains the same as in the same year after year. Tonight there was a call regarding Mount Pleasant. The residents don’t call unless it’s really bad and what happened? As always not much.

Mount Pleasant deserves better. Tredyffrin Township needs to get it together. There are plenty of student rentals in the region where it’s not like animal house every single year.

But in Tredyffrin its animal house every single year. One would think with all the overpriced infill development going in around Mount Pleasant that Tredyfrrin would be a little more on top of the student houses.

Come on Tredyffrin, how many years? Why isn’t this township embarrassed?

matine’s café was merveilleux!

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My friend and I had been trying to get into Matine’s Café in Devon for months. There were either lines out the door to get in, or you simply could not get a space in the parking lot.

The parking lot is an odd configuration, which is not the fault of the café, but I imagine the owner is making a tidy rent off of these people, and they could do better with the parking lot.

This place was so worth the wait to get in . We both couldn’t remember the last time we had so enjoyed lunch out. We were there for quite a while and just took our time and because it was the last week in August it was a steady but not impossible flow of people in and out.

We ate inside, which was less crowded than outside. They have a lovely outside dining area and that was completely full.

Among other things, we had an actual French woman wait on us. And that made the experience even more fun.

When you walk in the building is deceptively small compared to when you go inside. I think it would be a marvelous place to reserve seating for a luncheon if they did that. This café is spotlessly clean, including the ladies room.

When you are inside, it reminds you of an actual French or European Café. It is light and airy and old style marble top café tables. The tables are so authentic, that I have to wonder if they were purchased in France and shipped over.

They have a wonderful café menu that I imagine might have seasonal adjustments. One of the things I love best is the coffee and tea and the tea, when you are ordering an iced tea, is a pour over so the tea is super fresh and that makes all the difference in iced tea in my opinion. They use loose tea, which is also my preference at home. My friend had I think it was a mango peach iced tea, and I had the Ceylon gold. Ceylon gold is a loose tea I enjoy at home. It is flavorful, but not too acidic nor does it get too dark.

My friend had an artichoke quiche that was beautiful looking. I had the smoked salmon tartine. she loved her quiche and one thing I loved about my cartoon other than how fresh it was and how good quality of smoked salmon it was that they used, was the Tzaziki sauce they used on it. And it also had baby fresh arugula on top. I adore arugula.

Tzaziki is something you think of in Greek cuisine which is Greek yogurt, cucumber, dill, mint, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. On the Tartine that I had, it was perfect.

Both of us opted for gazpacho on the side. I am picky about gazpacho, and quite frankly, I rarely order it out because I make my late mother-in-law’s Andalusian version of gazpacho and it’s just pretty much my favorite. Their gazpacho is the best I’ve had outside of my own kitchen, ever. To me there’s also is reminiscent of an Andalusian gazpacho, and interestingly like me, they serve it with crumpled feta on top. I never knew this was a thing. I literally tried it one time with my own gazpacho because I just happened to have some in the refrigerator and I thought the tastes would go well together. Also, a lot of restaurants think they can get away with gazpacho made from canned tomatoes, and the taste is just not the same. Matine’s is fresh and there is a slight citrus accent as well.

We also sampled their cheese plate, which they described as being enough for two people, it could have fed more. It was a great selection of cheeses, including a magnificent brie, and we took leftovers home. What I liked about the cheese plate as it was simple and pretty to look at. It wasn’t fussy.

The plates they use for our lunch were a pretty matte blue ceramic disc.

Because it was a belated birthday lunch, we split a dessert crêpe made with Nutella. And although Nutella is an Italian product, ironically the first time I ever had it was in France when I was a teenager.

While we were there, I ran into a friend who was also enjoying a belated birthday lunch with one of her friends!

After we finished eating, we shopped in their little market inside the store. I brought home croissants and a little bread boule, along with some French pantry items like Marie-Antoinette Tea and a fabulous Dijon mustard, as well as Roger & Gallet Fleur de Figuer Eau Parfumée.

Oh, and they have a Little Free French library outside!

We are very excited to have been able to get in and have the time to appreciate this place properly. We look forward to going back again, and I have a feeling it will become a new spot for us. They list the address is Wayne, but it’s really Devon to me because it is just before the Whole Foods if you are headed west and just after the Whole Foods if you are headed east on Lancaster Avenue.

https://www.matinescafe.com/

Matine’s is located at 757 Lancaster Avenue, Wayne, PA and they are open seven days a week 8 AM to 5 PM.

You can now book a table via a reservation at resy (Click here.)

I will note because it’s important, I was not compensated for this post in any way, shape, or form. I did not seek compensation for this post in any way shape or form. I was simply a normal customer, and I loved the experience and the food and will be back again.

À bientôt!

jury duty encore…

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I took this photo in 2022 when I had jury duty the last time

Surprise! I am a chosen one…again….and within the last 3 years. Yup I a jury duty encore

When I was called last time, I actually wrote about it. I don’t mind jury duty, but if the rule of thumb is every 3 years, and when I was called in the year last time….I should be called in 2026. And given all the things I cover as a blogger, I am always amazed they want me because they seem to jettison regular reporters. I also do suffer from lymphedema which literally makes sitting for hours difficult at times. But it is something we all should do, it’s just for such a large county, I am amazed they don’t have other people to choose from.

The jurors room in the Chester County Courthouse is really pretty nice. I don’t like the arm desks we have to write on because I am left handed. The courthouse people are all very nice. Last time I was excused after voir dire. The Judge knew who I was. He is retired now, and was a great judge I thought.

I have to tell you that overall this was kind of an interesting experience. I enjoyed the process for the most part. It’s a good way to learn how things happen inside a courthouse. I do recommend bringing a book.

I am curious if other Chester County residents feel as if they are called more so than others? People always want to tell you all of the excuses to get out of jury duty, but it really isn’t that I want to get out of it, I just feel as if I was called too soon again.

If I am indeed to serve, I wonder what kind of a case it will be this time? Last time it was a civil case.

I will let you know how my West Chester Court House experience is if I end up being called for sure the night before.

they solicit live people…for death

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Yeah I wonder how I got on the Join Us…..For The Last Supper mailing list.

I cannot tell a lie, my friend thought up the Join Us…..For The Last Supper of it all. It’s brilliant and apropos. I see a Saturday Night Skit…

Anyway, my new friends are from Logan Funeral Home and are in Broomall, Malvern, Philadelphia & Exton. Their website says they have an onsite crematorium too. They must be super fun at Halloween.

But the whole idea of breaking bread over funeral arrangements for the future is well…creepy.

I also got one in the past couple of months from Calvary Cemetery in Villanova/West Conshohocken now run by some company named Everstory Partners who keeps the cemetery like crap. Oh and I know that because my father is buried there. Twice in recent years when I’ve stopped by to visit his grave, there has been dirt from other graves being dug on his grave. And what was really offensive about their solicitation as it was a Dear Occupant letter. One would think they would cross reference their mailing list with families who have family interred there.

I get that businesses have to solicit, but soliciting about death is just really bizarre to get in your mailbox.

If anyone knows who’s mailing list, Logan Funeral Home gets their addresses from, let me know. Drop me a comment.

“cold” feds in lincoln court in east whiteland township chester county this morning.

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Earlier this morning in Lincoln Court Shopping Center Chester County. Apparently that was the second time today?

Yes. ICE. I did NOT take the photos. Others who work there in the shopping center did.

Yes police know they are around. They are here on things based on active warrants. That hypothetically means it could be a more traditional criminal type of warrant or a warrant for expired visas, or someone who was previously deported and came back illegally.

Since this surfaced today, I will admit that it is a very odd feeling when it’s a place you specifically know. There are small businesses here, the driver’s license center, a Giant supermarket, state liquor store, oh and a Mexican restaurant that is a community favorite.

I get that the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers AKA ICE have a job to do but seeing it in our home communities? It strikes a sad, odd, uncomfortable, horrible chord.

This combined with Washington DC seeming to morph into a police state the past few days? What is our country becoming ironically as we prepare for the Semiquincentennial?

Purportedly, 2026 marks a time to celebrate the birth of American independence and democracy, but who and what are we now?

I just don’t know. It makes me sad.

is it time for suffragettes to be reborn in 2025?

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I don’t write much these days about national politics. In some aspects I think women have to be careful because we’re being targeted. That sounds paranoid, but is it really?

So there’s a headline that’s been bothering me and it concerns the seemingly pickled Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

It started with a sub stack post by Heather Cox Richardson.

Then I followed her links to NPR and The Guardian.

https://www.npr.org/2025/08/09/nx-s1-5497226/women-pastor-pete-hegseth-vote

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/09/pete-hegseth-video-pastors-women-voting

So Hegseth has reposted and shared an interview from some Christian Nationalist pastor or minister of some militant Christian church who says women shouldn’t be able to vote. Essentially it should be up to our husbands. And there are other cuckoo ministers who seem to agree with this man.

OK, I’m going to curse here and if you don’t like it, turn away from this blog now, but what the actual F people?

None of this is OK. Even having to talk about it is not OK for all that the suffragettes went through with all of the people involved in the suffragist movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries I can’t even believe we are here again? This guy actually has said out loud in an interview for CNN that women shouldn’t vote and the Secretary of Defence for the United States of America in 2025 re-shared this which is his implied agreement and consent.

And this tool also says things that women are people that people come out of, yet apparently according to him we all shouldn’t do that either because I guess he must have parameters on how women should spawn?

It doesn’t really matter what your political persuasion is. I think we can all agree that we all should have the right to vote in this country as US citizens.

Until the National Park Service is forced to take it down, they have a nice list of suffragists we should know. (CLICK HERE)

People we are not all Mississippi on this bus. Why do I mention Mississippi? Simple – Mississippi didn’t ratify the 19th Amendment or woman’s right to vote until 1984!

I guess people take for granted that English common law saw a woman with no legal status of her own and women was legally considered indistinct from their husbands.

The demand for women’s suffrage has roots in the 18th century, but it really didn’t take hold until the 19th century.

The first women’s rights convention was around 1848. It was called the Seneca Falls convention and was an upstate New York in the finger lakes region. Then there was the Rochester Women’s Rights convention the same year also in New York State. In 1850 there was the Ohio Women’s Convention. Also that year there was the first National Women’s Rights Convention in Massachusetts.

The Civil War interrupted suffrage movements in the United States. After the war was over, there was another National Women’s Rights Convention. In the 1870s the suffragist movement grew.

In the 1870s Susan B Anthony was taken to court for trying to cast her vote in a presidential election. Susan B. Anthony was arrested for violating the Enforcement Act of 1870 by casting a vote in the 1872 presidential election.

During Susan B Anthony’s trial, the judge apparently instructed the jury to find her guilty.

According to a Wikipedia page on women’s suffrage:

When [the judge] asked Anthony, who had not been permitted to speak during the trial, if she had anything to say, she responded with what one historian has called “the most famous speech in the history of the agitation for woman suffrage”.[120]She called “this high-handed outrage upon my citizen’s rights”, saying, “… you have trampled under foot every vital principle of our government. My natural rights, my civil rights, my political rights, my judicial rights, are all alike ignored.”[128] The judge sentenced Anthony to pay a fine of $100, she responded, “I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty”, and she never did.[120]However the judge did not order her to be imprisoned until she paid the fine, for Anthony could have appealed her case.[126]

So how ironic is it really the Donald Trump during his first administration pardoned Susan B Anthony? Yep it’s true, On August 18, 2020 he pardoned her on the anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment. The ones so-called women’s suffrage amendment was introduced Congress in 1878. It was not ratified until it became the 19th amendment in 1919.

So now Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is supportive of a minister who wants to roll back the clock on women? Is this a drinking game or something?

No one should be OK with this.

For more information on what it took to get women the right to vote I found many interesting pieces to read. Here is one that’s stuck with me:

Women’s Suffrage @100

#Suffragettes2025