how to throw an old school garden party fundraiser/friendraiser

Posted on June 25, 2025 by carla

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.

As always, I am NOT a compensated blogger.

romper room in tredyffrin ?

Posted on February 19, 2025 by carla

Part of the February 18, 2025 board of supervisors meeting in Tredyffrin contained members of Mount Pleasant community coming forward and asking for help from their township. Tredyffrin Township…again…

First of all, I would like to commend the residents of Mount Pleasant for coming forward again. They have come forward so many times over the years and I have been following this issue personally for about 20 years now.

Second of all, I would like to know what the zoning gal in Tredyffrin actually does? all I really heard out of her mouth is what she couldn’t do or excuses. A no-no queen. What does it take for this employee paid by the taxpayers to get off her ass? This woman talks about needing evidence how much evidence does she need? How about she goes and looks for herself? How about she does her job?

It’s everywhere. People post photos on social media. They call the police. They contact the township.

This has literally been going on for years.

Why is it that the public has to carry the burden of proving all of this? Where has the Township manager been all of these years? And as far as the parking issues on the street? Maybe it’s time for a South Philly lawn chairs movement?

Years ago, when this Township did not, and at that point was not putting in a student housing ordinance I had friends that were homeowners that moved out of this township to other municipalities because of that.

And for the supervisor Carlotta Johnston-Pugh who wanted to know about just calling up Villanova University and finding out if it was a student house, is she for real? Everyone knows that for years Villanova really doesn’t have a clue as to where their kids are living off campus. And if Ms. Johnston-Pugh went there, did she show bias last night ?

Let’s talk about the latest off campus student house. Residents remarked a car from NY, CT, and I forget where. You can watch the video I have embedded. You know it would be really nice if municipalities paid attention to off-campus student housing and rentals the way they are supposed to wouldn’t it? So for what it’s worth for this to have 927 Mt. Pleasant to have become a student house it should have possibly gone through zoning except for the holes in the freaking ordinance that Tredyffrin that Tredyffrin has known about since they created this ordinance reluctantly years ago, correct? Does this house even have a certificate of occupancy as a rental?

Mazie B. Hall’s home before it came down years ago. Now this where I have always been puzzled about Tredyffrin. They have bragging rights to Mazie Hall since she lived in Mt. Pleasant. I think they named a park after her. So why have they never honored her 103 years on this earth by trying to preserve the community she fought for and called home?
**Every time I hear anything about Mt. Pleasant I feel like they are trying to erase it.**

Get off your asses, Tredyffrin Township supervisors and staff. Quit making excuses, saying what you can’t do, quit ignoring the people of Mt. Pleasant. Last night, Tredyffrin Township supervisors and staff, you were seen. Clearly. And get yourselves a new manager and zoning Chiquita. It’s well past time.

this view never gets old

Posted on June 9, 2024 by carla

rainy day

Posted on May 10, 2024 by carla

the west whiteland developers don’t want you to notice

Posted on November 2, 2022 by carla

a beautiful saturday in marshallton

Posted on October 9, 2022 by carla

Yesterday was the celebration of Humphry Marshall’s 300th birthday and Marshallton was alive with happiness and history. It was so much fun!

These are the events I love. A pretty day spent with friends and family walking around a wonderfully pretty and historic village. I went around lunchtime and we started with lunch at the Four Dogs Tavern (fabulous), and then we explored. This way, I escaped the politicians who like to appear at fall events during election season.

I was a little disappointed the blacksmith shop was closed but thrilled that the Merchant of Menace was open!

I had a lovely afternoon. Enjoy the photos. I will also note that we are supporters of the Marshallton Conservation Trust.

restoration in progress?

Posted on February 20, 2022 by carla

Now given that people seem to bitch about everything, they may bitch about this post too. But this is a cool old house in Malvern Borough, and it looks like repairs and restoration are happening. I think that is awesome if so.

A lot of the old houses everywhere just rot, so when you see this it gives you hope that people still care about old houses. Thank you to whomever is bringing this old house back to life.

bad day for home depot in frazer, pa

Posted on February 11, 2022 by carla

Can you imagine popping into Home Depot for something, and coming out to see this?

Ouchies.

Light pole fall down and go boom? Or something hit light pole and it falls down and go boom?

photos…rambling around

Posted on November 21, 2021 by carla

renewed faith in humankind

Posted on October 16, 2021 by carla

Today was a VERY nice day, and long overdue. A beautiful day with nice people, people who do real good in this crazy world in which we live. A day where everyone was friendly, people were fine wearing masks at a school as we are still living the COVID life. A day with no one with an axe to grind, only positivity and community in the best sense of the word.

One of my friends from Shipley is part of the development office team at Church Farms School. She told me a while back one of my friends and classmates from Shipley, syndicated cartoonist Robb Armstrong would be honored and be part of the Farm Fest parents Weekend 2021. Robb’s cartoon strip is called Jump Start.

This weekend has many activities and it was also the dedication of the buildings Church Farms has been working on and renovating and creating adaptive reuses of on campus. This school should get a historic preservation award for adaptive reuse. Greystock Hall and the Buck Family Center for the Arts were dedicated, they announced the Joseph E. Rhile Endowed Scholarship, and presented their inaugural CFS Medal to Stacey Shreiner Kley, Caroline Buck Rogers and Cannie Crysler Shafer.

So my friend Robb Armstrong was the youngest nationally syndicated cartoonist and is perhaps also today the most widely syndicated black cartoonist. I will note that I think there are only four syndicated black cartoonists. He created the interior of our Shipley yearbook, and we were all memorialized in his drawings. At Syracuse, where he majored in Fine Arts, he penned a strip in college newspaper called “Hector”. His strips are still drawn by hand, and he is also a motivational speaker.

***Robb Armstrong speaking at Church Farms School, October 16, 2021***

Robb spoke to the kids, and faculty, and parents, and the rest of the guests (which had a rather fun Shipley School contingent!) I am including most of what he spoke about. I missed the first few moments because of connectivity issues. I am also including the opening remarks from the Head of School, The Reverend Edmund K. “Ned” Sherrill II. I found him to be such an inspiring individual. He is a Head of School that is there for his students. He refers to what they do as “for the boys”.

It was a day that was full of good. For a few hours we left the strife and nastiness of everything locally, regionally, and in the world behind. It was so nice. It was also inspiring and soul rejuvenating. To see actually good people, spend time with them, learn what they had done and what Church Farms is about today, was just so nice. My husband and I had a wonderful time, and we also got to see a couple of our favorite teachers from high school.