And that’s a wrap until next year! Another amazing holiday house tour from Surrey Services for Seniors
I am an in kind and regular sponsor which I am just mentioning so you know WHY I do the photos and that they are done as a volunteer. (Otherwise you’re not allowed to take pictures inside people‘s homes obviously.)
This year, the houses were so beautifully and perfectly festive!!! I have to say the homeowners knocked themselves out for all of us and it was much appreciated!
I loved all the homes and will be going through photos over the next couple of days, but I will be sharing a little video with you guys below so you can get a flavor for the tour and the shops afterwards, which were also so much fun!
I do have to say my favorite house was on Poplar Avenue in North Wayne. I love that section of Wayne. It is so historic and just being in the neighborhoods there makes you happy because mostly everyone decorates.
If you would like to give a Christmas donation to Surrey, which does so much for people follow this link:
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?
The gallery is quite literally art in an unexpected place and it’s fun! It’s a big well-lit space on the second floor of the auto spa.
As a matter of fact an amazing artist I know named Leah Macdonald who is an encaustic artist has a show there on Saturday, November 8, 2025 from 4 PM – 6 PM.
Anyway, discovering Leah was doing a show was the cherry on top of the delightful surprise of discovering this new gallery. There were a few different galleries that were in Malvern Borough over the past few years which are now sadly gone.
Art is one of those things that makes the world a happier place, so I hope you check it out. Again the gallery space is on the second floor of the Franklin Auto Spa in their lounge area.
I have to admit it was very nice to hear a supervisor (Carlotta Johnston-Pugh) speak up for Mount Pleasant tonight. But Tredyffrin needs to buy a clue and it needs to actually help Mount Pleasant.
The time for lip service is done.
This has been going on for years. It took forever to get this Township to enact a student housing ordinance. It still takes forever to even get anyone to deal with the problematic student houses. Blue Tarp Villa is a favorite example.
For how many years has Blue Tarp Villa been a problem? for how many years has Tredyffrin blown smoke up the asses of the residents of Mount Pleasant?
Why isn’t zoning code and general code enforcement of the student houses back there done more proactively? How many complaints do these houses need to have before whoever that person is who does the zoning and code enforcement gets out from behind her chair and does something?
Year after year, it is the same old song. And these supervisors and their predecessors know it’s a problem back there. They have known it’s a problem back there for how many years now?
I started following this issue in the early 2000s, so unless these officials(paid/appointed/elected) all live under a rock, why is it nothing ever really gets done? Like the Murph guy? Hasn’t he basically been a supervisor since the dawn of time?
Just because this isn’t a million dollar neighborhood per se, although it has some ridiculously overpriced close to million dollar infield development townhouses that are butt ugly, it doesn’t mean that this area should continually be ignored, right?
Yes, sorry, holy run-on sentence, Batman. Sometimes it just can’t be helped, and other times I just don’t care… but I digress.
At this point, it is just downright discriminatory and people need to say that out loud. It is downright discriminatory that Tredyffrin for decades has been looking the other way with regard to Mount Pleasant.
And yes, I can have that opinion.
I can’t even count the number of meetings I have watched over the years where people from Mount Pleasant have gotten up and begged for help.
Enough with the lip service Tredyffrin. The zoning people and manager need to start to earn their keep, don’t they?
I mean, gosh, Tredyffrin will it take something like a civil rights action before you help these residents?
Mount Pleasant matters. Start acting like it, Tredyffrin.
OK this all started with someone contacting my blog’s Facebook page. This woman’s friend’s daughter, whom I assume is of adult age has a cat and was fostering a cat. Long story short apparently, ACCT Philly was told to pick up the daughter’s foster cat when she was out of town on a family emergency and ACCT picked up the WRONG cat. They were supposed to take a cat that the woman was fostering named Garfield, but instead they took the woman’s few year-old cat Simba, who she has had for a few years.
It seems like there was a cat sitter involved as well ?
However, not to be judgmental but WHY would you leave responsibility for the right cat getting picked up with someone else? That is something that this young woman probably should’ve handled herself or waited until she got back home.
Nevertheless, the unthinkable seems to have happened, and we’ve heard of it happening before because cases like this have made the local news. ACCT Philly which I personally feel is a train wreck of an organization, took the woman’s cat by mistake and adopted it out and isn’t that horrible? And I have to ask they are a rescue and they know how to scan for microchips so why didn’t they, because this woman’s cat is chipped and the foster cat as well?
Now what is making this worse is I have found reference to this cat on social media posts and where the mother seems to be posting on Reddit, and there are no names so it seems like a scam/spam post.
I said to the woman who contacted me if we don’t know who the person is who lost their cat it’s not particularly helpful. And then the mother is posting from out of state and apparently lives in New England or something, and one of the posts I found is from a friend of hers on Facebook? I don’t get what they don’t get that they need to humanize this and put a face to the young woman suffering because of this, and why can’t this young woman step forward and say hey this rescue took my cat by accident instead of picking up the foster cat?
I am sharing all the screenshots I have found. I think ACCT Philly if they have to, needs to go to the house of the people who have the wrong cat with an animal control officer and get it back. And if these people who adopted the wrong cat purely because of the shelter, making a huge mistake, supposedly now know they were given someone’s pet in error, why haven’t they returned the cat yet?
Anyway, this is what I found and I think it really honestly is something that deserves a little media attention because if rescues tell people to get pets microchipped so they can easily be returned if lost, etc., etc. , why didn’t this work? Why didn’t they scan the cat they picked up when they got to the shelter to at least make sure they had checked back into the system, and the right cat prior to adoption?
ACCT Philly needs to get its act together or get out of the rescue business.
That young woman deserves her cat back. And if the people who adopted her cat won’t return it, should they really be allowed to adopt the foster cat when all is said and done?
Anyway, I’m throwing this out there. These are the screenshots I found I have maintained the message I received. I’m not making this up, I don’t think these people are making it up but again as I said at the opening of this post, the cat owner who was wronged needs to step forward. And I’m saying that because I think it will help.
And my last thought is the past few months there has been horror story after horror story of dumped animals, abandoned animals, problems with shelters, and so on. It’s heartbreaking.
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.
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.
I am sharing this because I just got a call from a local farmer in Willistown who called the police about this guy who showed up while he was doing something and his farm hands had to deal with this guy.
Unfortunately, by the time the farmer knew this guy had been there, he was gone, but a police report was filed.
Apparently this guy showed up on some kind of a scooter or hoverboard thing to them. But the reality is he came uninvited down a driveway that is really long. A place that can’t be any more clear about having security and posted private property don’t trespass.
And when the guy was discovered, he was nosing around the cows on the farm.
He didn’t seem to get the concept of private property, which couldn’t be posted any clearer at the beginning of the really long driveway. This guy has also shown up at other people’s s properties in Willistown and several other municipalities in Delaware and Chester Counties.
And he got caught on ring camera in a video posted yesterday to NextDoor. I’m about to show where he’s not only knocked on the door. He seemed to be checking for spare keys.
Now this is a common enough occurrence in the summer months, these random people who just show up. Either they’re selling something or you just find them wandering around your property. We had it in my neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods with the random driveway resealing guy who ignores no trespassing signs and every year acts like you didn’t tell him the year before to get off your property.
But this guy seems to be off from the way people describe him and also seems to be looking for spare keys. So that somebody who’s trying to figure out when people are on and off of their own properties and in and out of their houses. opportunistic? Definitely and for what reason? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to find out.
People are calling the police about this individual, which is not wrong, what he’s doing is wrong.
When Bryn Clovis is the setting any party immediately gets a leg up, but add the magic of a Surrey Services for Seniors fundraiser/friendraiser and the result was magical!
Surrey Services threw their annual garden party recently and the back drop was Willistown’s Bryn Clovis and a Scottish Highlands theme…complete with bagpipers!
It was a crazy summer night and the thunderstorms held off long enough to enjoy the party. It was humid and warm but there were a few breezes and really good fans in the event tent. There were tables and other seating areas dotting the landscape, so one could enjoy the splendor of the surroundings and the planted fields in the distance.
Inside John Serock catering and the volunteers of Surrey Services created magic and no detail was overlooked. Truly, this was a wonderful event with guests who were simply enjoying a garden party in Willistown. The event was the way events used to be, devoid of social climbing, camera aping wannabe “influencers” and other assorted human detractors.
If you have the opportunity to support Surrey Services by attending one of their events, you really should. It’s a ticket worth having! They had a lovely buffet, a silent auction, and even a scotch tasting in keeping with the Scottish theme. And they also had a friendly floral competition between local floral designers.
I love supporting Surrey Services and I was also a photographer volunteer for them at this event because that is fun for me to do for them. Event photographers are expensive, so I was happy to do this.
