Category Archives: rambling

did you know historic yellow springs got beaten up by storms recently?

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I’ve been meaning to write about this and I just have had time get away from me, and not enough hours in the day. Historic Yellow Springs is one of my favorite places in Chester County. I was introduced to the village many moons ago by my late father who loved this little piece of Chester County. (He also loved the antique show they used to have that they should bring back.)

Anyway, it’s no joke that we keep having these series of thunderstorms with accompanying winds and more that are wreaking havoc on places. And the ones just after Fourth of July did significant damage to Historic Yellow Springs.

They are working their way through it, but I never saw any local media pick up the fact that this beautiful historic village was a storm victim. They showed lots of other storm damage, why not Historic Yellow Springs Village?

For example, the poor library experienced damage from a storm in February, it sustained more damage in early July.

According to what they wrote, and I will share screenshots and their photos more than 100 trees were damaged or destroyed. That’s a significant amount and this is a place with very old growth trees as well. Cleanup is going to take months, and they are in a township that I think leaves a lot to be desired as far as being clear about anything, and if West Pikeland can’t be trusted with keeping a police force, how can they be trusted with the village?

So I think Yellow springs is doing a marvelous job of navigating the process of doing what they have to do to take care of the structures that were damaged and storm cleanup, but I’m sure that right now they could use a little extra help in the donation department because as homeowners we know how expensive this work is, let alone being responsible for an entire village of historic assets.

Chester County has a lot of deep pockets who could help one of our county treasures, so I’m putting this out there with their words to follow in the hopes that people can even give a small contribution.

https://yellowsprings.org/support/donate/

Now to follow, is life in the village in their own words published on their socials yesterday after this storm in early July:

Storm Impact Update

Having climbed the fields of shattered and fallen trees, and listened to the chainsaws for days on end, we feel incredibly fortunate for the relatively limited damage to buildings that occurred with the dangerous storm on July 7th. Additionally, I am incredibly thankful for the forethought of our programs team to heed weather warnings, and decide to cancel classes proactively, likely saving lives, given the severity of the event.

This storm tore through our property with extraordinary force. Estimates are showing nearly 100 trees were destroyed or badly damaged, with cleanup efforts likely to continue for months.

The days following the storm were focused on safety assessments and clearing access. Staff and volunteers mobilized quickly, working tirelessly to make the village safe again. Every tool in our arsenal was leveraged just to try to move enough limbs to uncover all corners of the village and reach some sense of normalcy.

Once paths were cleared, hidden structural damage began to emerge:

  • The glazing space behind the old studio barn was smashed.
  • The courtyard fountain, power supply, and roofing on the Washington Building suffered major hits from a fallen sycamore limbs.
  • The Chester Springs Library, sustained new roof damage that allowed water infiltration.

As you may recall, a previous extreme weather event in February, led to structural damage to the roof of the Library. Since then, HYS and the Library have worked closely with insurers, engineers, and contractors to bring this historic structure up to code and safely reopen the Library. We empathize with the public for the loss of resources during the library’s closure and have offered alternate village spaces for free programs whenever possible.

While the temporary protection applied to the roof after the February event held up impressively, wind torn limbs and the fierce rain from the most recent storm punctured new holes on the opposite side of the roof and allowed water to reach inside the building. Within a day of forging a path through the storm debris, we had professional carpentry crews on site ensuring the roof was watertight and not in danger of falling, and commercial-grade air handlers and dehumidifiers were added to move out moisture. Cleanup continues and collaboration between HYS, the Library, engineers, and insurers is ongoing with the goal of getting this historic building bustling again.

During this recovery period, programs continue in unaffected buildings across the village, and we maintain a robust calendar of events to keep our community engaged and inspired. We are constantly discussing new opportunities with partners, and looking for creative ways to make programs happen.

We are deeply grateful to those who have already offered time, talent, and funds. We will keep you informed about progress and ways you can help as we restore every facet of the village for a vibrant future.

Now I’m going to show you the screenshots I took today off of Facebook and everything is from the village’s social media, including their photos. This place is a little slice of heaven, and if you can help them out with a small donation, it would be great. You can also maybe let the county commissioners know when they’re finished designing bad logos, and hiring lots of people that this is a historic asset worth supporting. (sorry not sorry, sometimes I think they need to get out of the Borough of West Chester more.)

With the United States having a big birthday in 2026, and Chester County being a big focus, we want this jewel shining bright and strong.

worth noting: trying to find traffic solutions in bryn mawr and haverford in haverford township.

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Before I moved to Chester County many years ago now, I lived in Lower Merion Township. I was in the Haverford neighborhood sandwiched between Montgomery and Lancaster Avenues near the Haverford School, which was across Lancaster Avenue as a matter of fact, it had a nickname called “the island.”

This wasn’t the north side (as in other side of Montgomery Avenue or the Merion Cricket Club side) of Haverford neighborhood I grew up in that had then, and still has today insanely soaring real estate prices. This was just a pretty transitional neighborhood close to the Haverford train station, where you could easily walk to both Ardmore and Bryn Mawr.

The neighborhoods across Lancaster Ave from me were actually in Haverford Township. That used to confuse people to think Haverford Township came to there, but it did and it still does. It’s a county and municipal line, and five points in Bryn Mawr is also two counties, but three municipalities.

One of the best things about my then neighborhood was you could walk a relatively short distance to get access to the Haverford Nature Trail. It was awesome. I used to walk myself and my dogs over there once, if not twice a day. When I first moved into the neighborhood, you had to move quickly but you could safely cross Lancaster Avenue via North Buck Lane (Lower Merion) on my side and Buck Lane (Haverford) on the other side. By 2007, it really wasn’t safe to do that. Traffic was bad but unwanted development was starting to march through, which would ultimately increase traffic in my opinion.

Rugby Road: Another Main Line neighborhood at risk

In 2007, we watched as lovely houses were torn down for McMansion-ish dwellings on Rugby Road in the Haverford Township side of Bryn Mawr. It was when many of us started talking about the need for the Municipalities Planning Code of the Commonwealth of PA (MPC) to be comprehensively overhauled to help protect suburbs and exurbs.

Rugby Road plan clears another hurdle in Haverford
Our neighborhood doesn’t need to be developed
Neighbors ‘furious’ about proposed development

The day after Christmas in 2008, or Boxing Day, my neighborhood watched as a developer tore down houses, including one of which was technically historical. It was initially for a condo building. Eventually it became “carriage homes” / townhouses. I will note that even today, the structures don’t truly fit into the neighborhood and in my opinion still complement nothing much. Oh, and they still overlook Classic Auto Body. I still can’t imagine paying Main Line prices to overlook a couple of body shops as there is still one I think across Lancaster Avenue from Classic Auto Body.

Haverford neighbors fear a demolition for Christmas

In 2007, the then editor of Main Line Media News who before his death was editor of The Daily Local penned an editorial that still resonates today about development:

Moratorium on development needed on the Main Line

Neighbors of these developments came together, organized, and attended so many meetings during the early to mid 2000s. In some ways it helped, but in other ways it was soul crushing to see development that had little to do with the area itself taking over and not necessarily being harmonious with the neighborhood invaded. In late 2007, I wrote an editorial for Main Line Media News celebrating these neighbors groups:

It was the year of the neighborhood group

In case you missed it, this is why I get upset about a lot of the truly wanton development in Chester County. I lived it, in part, before. This is in part why I know in my heart Malvern Borough has made a mistake with that absurdly named Duffryn Mawr across King from the Flying Pig.

But I digress.

Why am I revisiting this? Because in my opinion, traffic issues we saw before the development projects I have mentioned in Bryn Mawr and Haverford even happened, have now morphed into a need for Haverford Township to rethink the configuration of what will always be small streets to protect the community and pedestrians.

I don’t pay close attention to Main Line and just off of the Main Line stuff like I used to, but this newsletter from 5th Ward Commissioner of Haverford Township Laura Cavendish:

https://mailchi.mp/havtwp/july122025?e=f434c78b67

Allow me to share the excerpt that caught my eye:

July 13, 2025

Dear Neighbors,

The Board of Commissioners will hold its monthly public meeting on Monday, July 14. In the meantime, I wanted to share a few updates and reminders from around the Township.

Safe Streets Demonstration Project on Buck Lane

Within the next few weeks, Haverford Township will begin a Traffic Safety Demonstration Project on the 800 block of Buck Lane (between Railroad Avenue and Panmure Road), as part of the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program. 

Key features include:

  • Converting Buck Lane to one-way northbound travel (Railroad to Panmure) to reduce southbound cut-through traffic and improve pedestrian and bike safety.
  • Reconfiguring the roadway for one lane of traffic, a buffer, and a protected multi-use path for pedestrians and cyclists.
  • Temporarily eliminating on-street parking on the block during the project.

During peak times, 65–75 vehicles per hour will be rerouted, but traffic studies suggest minimal impact on surrounding roads. The Township is coordinating with local schools to adjust transportation routes.

A community feedback survey will be shared about three months after the project begins. You can find the Brynford Safe Streets Study here. For questions about this demonstration project, contact Jaime Jilozian at jjilozian@havtwp.org or 610-446-1000.

Here is the link to what she referred to on Haverford Township’s website:

Click to access FINAL_Brynford_Bicycle_and_Pedestrian_Safety_Study_91423.pdf

It’s so weird to think that part of Buck Lane will be one way, but I applaud Haverford Township for seeking solutions. When we tried to get traffic calming in our Lower Merion neighborhood back in the late 90s to early 2000s before the development projects I have discussed here were begun, we only got so far and we got a municipal smack back.

The impetus was a hit and run of a neighborhood dog back then, and subsequent realization of how many little kids we had as well as pedestrians. We pushed for a traffic study and I believe that my then small street had a crazy number of something like over 1200 vehicle trips per day clocked.

Our neighborhood back then was a big cut through between Lancaster and Montgomery Avenues, and probably still is. We had neighborhood meetings called parlor meetings with township officials including the police in our living rooms. I remember this well, because I hosted the first meeting at that time in my own living room.

We looked at surrounding areas, and were particularly interested in something Radnor Township was doing back then: speed humps. As opposed to speed bumps. This was before 2006, but I don’t remember the exact date. It was before the current 10th Ward Lower Merion Commissioner in Lower Merion was elected. (He’s still there)

I remember speaking with traffic safety folks in Radnor to get speed hump information. They even gave me PennDOT information at that time.

But Lower Merion was having none of it. It got to the point where the Lower Merion Commissioners then introduced an ordinance to prohibit speed humps. They seemingly erased all evidence of this today because more recently they have selectively introduced speed humps in the township since that time. But I personally know that this happened as during the course of this all those years ago, I received a letter in the mail basically warning me off from asking for speed humps in my then neighborhood.

So because of all of this, I am glad Haverford Township is trying new traffic calming measures. But, this remains a cautionary tale in my opinion, of what happens when too much development comes to an area over time.

Take a look at what Haverford Township is trying to do here and I welcome comments from neighbors in the area if they read this post to learn their thoughts.

willistown is being ruined by the nutbag brigade.

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In Willistown, the nutbag brigade is ruining this township. Even if this was a place that had a lot of media coverage, they literally wouldn’t have enough reporters to cover the nutbag brigade in Willistown.

If they’re not trying to shut down flower farms, they are seeking out conspiracy theories in haystacks.

Now let me set the stage here.

People criticize me and say that I’m hiding because I’m called Chester County Ramblings, even though every post here is signed with my name. But the biggest problem is on Facebook because my blog’s Facebook page is “Chester County Ramblings”. Hello village idiot collective? That’s the name of my blog. Duh.

Some of the biggest complainers are the nutbag brigade from Willistown. They know exactly who I am, and then they literally run around and are among the people that will contact anyone possible to say what a horrible terrible person I am. This does make me laugh because every once in a while somebody will say to me (paraphrasing here) “You know people think you’re a bully and thought you would want to know.”

To them it’s a smile and the reply, thank you for telling me because I do appreciate that somebody cares enough to tell me that. But most don’t see the root of it. The root of it are these people that I don’t agree with or wish to interact with wherever they are, a lot of the time I choose just block them because I simply don’t feel like listening to them…which ironically and honestly they are in fact trying to bully me, malign me, defame me. But I can’t control their behavior. I can only control mine, remove myself from their crap, and look in the mirror every day. And back to the point of this post is the fact that some of the biggest offenders are from Willistown. Yes, beautiful, bucolic Willistown with the rotten underbelly of so many nasty residents. (Incidentally, I have many friends in Willistown who agree with me on this. )

These unpleasant people in Willistown literally live in one of the most beautiful municipalities in the entire county. But they can’t realize their good fortune, and they have to literally pick everything apart every day, 365 days a year. A lot of the people who do this are failed politicians, similar malcontents, or those who simply don’t have the balls to actually stand up and participate in their community. They view their “participation“ as this nonsense.

Lately their nonsense has formed into a bitch fest collective, and a new Facebook page. I find it amusing that their page is anonymous. I mean, it’s not really anonymous. You know who’s behind it and I have a pretty good idea who runs the profile that is not actually a page per se, and I don’t really care if they want to give themselves a cute little name like “Team Willistown.” It is of course their right to operate that way, but the hysterical irony is they’re doing worse than what they criticize me for doing.

So their latest target when they’re not submitting 10 million right to know requests (and do they do it now under “Team Willistown”?) is they are attacking Willistown and the way they have decided to get the public works building rebuilt or updated in a crazy economic environment. The whole process was transparent. It was discussed at multiple meetings and now they have decided it’s no bid and bad. Very, very bad.

So once again, they’re starting on one of their letter, writing campaigns and voluminous and constant Facebook posts, including polluting a community group which until them was pretty nice. Of course, if you disagree with them, then you are evil.

These people are consistently rude to township staff and supervisors. They have quite the elitist attitude towards all. and again the great irony here is, they don’t really know what living in a bad municipality is about. But then again they don’t get out much, they stay behind their keyboards most of the time. Oh, and let us not forget that the crap they pull constantly? This costs the taxpayers in the end. It doesn’t just cause serious turnover and turmoil of township staff.

If not some letter writing, lawn sign toting campaign, they drive up and down the roads of Willistown in their Teslas or similar complaining that some roads have the nerve to be old-fashioned unpaved roads. And some of the roads, paved or not, are in rough shape because there are stormwater issues. Some of the stormwater issues could perhaps be alleviated if some property owners were more cooperative with the township and why not do that?

And then I love when they start about sidewalks. And I’m not saying sidewalks aren’t important, but what I am still saying is not all roads will do well with sidewalks. Add the questions they can never ever answer when they rant on about sidewalks and it’s who will pay for what. Because everybody knows when sidewalks go in the property owner is responsible, even if the property owner didn’t want a sidewalk.

Let’s talk about some of the property owners that don’t want sidewalks. First and foremost, they know that some places are completely dangerous and it’s bad shit crazy to put sidewalks in those places.

Then there are the people who own and raise expensive horse flesh or cattle and so on, and that’s a HUGE liability for them. Are these big mouths who want sidewalks going to provide these land owners with the kind of coverage they would need and pay for it?

And then there are the people with properties that would need to be seriously graded in order to put in a sidewalk so how much land would be taken?

These people want to run everything, but at the end of the day do they really want to do anything besides bitch to Willistown about Willistown? You don’t see them moving though do you? It’s a horrible terrible place to live and why don’t they go where they’re happy?

Now look, do I think Willistown could see improvement? Let’s be honest, what municipality wouldn’t benefit from a little improvement? But it’s what these people are about that is the issue with me. They’re just offensive. And whatever good ideas they might have on occasion is lost in their unending barrage of brain farting verbal diarrhea.

Team Willistown is an individual profile on Facebook- it’s one person. But it’s the same old people attached to this person. Plus a couple of new additions who do not know about the Willistown dog who carries the bone and insecure enough to always spill the tea. So eventually everyone will figure it out. It’s literally the sewer rats with a couple of others, isn’t it?

Politics make strange bedfellows, and they come from both sides of the aisle in Willistown…and elsewhere. They are pretty much using the Republican candidate running. He’s young, a Trumper, and perhaps a patsy. And then she of peek-a-boo blouses and photo posing with John Fetterman? Rumor mill has it she’s going to perhaps try to run for supervisor again in a couple of years?

And it’s pretty obvious that they have as their next objective to get rid of Supervisor Bill Shoemaker. Now I will say the guy running as a Democrat this coming November is actually a good guy.

But the sewer rats by any other name? Are they motivated by anything other than revenge?

You don’t have to like my opinions, but I am entitled to them. And the reality is in cases like this if they didn’t put so much BS out there, there would be nothing for anyone to opine upon.

And the funny thing is, I’d actually rather listen to a rooster than listen to any of these people. I bet you never thought you’d hear me say that did you?

Rant over.

good night, and good luck is not vintage, it’s timely…and some other thoughts.

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Edward R. Murrow was a pioneering television broadcaster who died way too young. He died of lung cancer in 1965 at age 57. Good Night, and Good Luck was a movie about a period in his life that came out in 2005. He is really the guy that shaped the television news. He worked for CBS. he started out in radio and covered things about World War II from London. He was head of the network’s then “European bureau.”

Eventually, his career took him to television news, then in its early days. He was a force for free and uncensored media ergo free speech in the era where he really changed our television news during the nationwide hysteria of the communist hunting McCarthy era the early 1950s. He literally took on the establishment and won.

The movie centers around Edward R. Murrow and essentially the pissing match between him and whom he referred to as the junior senator from Wisconsin, or Joseph McCarthy.

This movie has been translated into a stage play with a limited run on Broadway and tonight, CNN and Max broadcast it live from a Broadway theater called the Winter Garden Theater in New York City.

George Clooney has the starring role of Edward R Murrow, and from the movie to the current stage version this has been his baby and what I saw tonight was nothing short of freaking fabulous.

You’re watching a play set in the 1950s about what happened then, yet it’s a version what we’re experiencing today as in right now in this country. It’s almost eerie.

Also important, this is the first time a Broadway play has been broadcast live on television. I really think CNN was sending this country a message by doing this. George Clooney certainly is and I applaud him for the courage of his convictions.

Clooney showed us the new McCarthyism loud and clear. Will it be a catalyst of popular culture to enact positive change? I don’t have the answer for that question.

What I do know is the show has shown us the importance of free and fair journalism and the First Amendment. This show showed us the importance of why we can’t just allow this country to evolve into a fake monarchy or an unpleasant oligarchy meets a political circus, more accurately.

Now I’ll get to what this post was originally about, so read on.

I saw a gentleman on Lancaster Avenue or Route 30 in Malvern/Frazer on Friday. This is not the scene you expect to see out here. You don’t expect to see an unhoused man with his life in a grocery cart out here. A friend of mine told me they saw him in Thorndale Thursday, so that’s quite a journey on foot if he was passing through Malvern/Frazer Friday.

This kind of visual is something you expect from a more urban setting. Although you don’t expect such a sight out here I am told there are plenty of homeless that you don’t see and a lot of them are probably hiding in plain sight.

What is being done for these people now I’ve heard of tent cities or settlements in Pottstown (Chester County and Montgomery County) and further west along the river.

There was a bigger tent city in Norristown (Montgomery County) that was broken up by their borough council and I don’t know where those people ever went.

We don’t seem to have anything that can help these homeless, many of whom have serious mental issues. We have lousy mental health system in this country. There are too few solidly good practitioners, and there are sorts of levels of other kinds people who call themselves mental health professionals, only they’re not.

We have a healthcare system that is so frustrating that there are no words for most people some days if they even have health insurance. And then there’s just the general economy. It’s supposed to be so fabulous now, so where’s the fabulous? Has fabulous been subjected to a tariff, by chance?

There are people out out of work and there are people can’t afford to have safe and decent places to live. There are people can’t afford groceries or medicine. There are many who are white collar slaves at work.

And most of us are just trying to get through each day, each hour of each day, and each week with our heads down and pray for something better. Do prayers work come? Sometimes I wonder.

To see that man Friday in front of Planet Fitness pushing a shopping cart with his life in it really gave me pause. The simple truth is that could be any of us, you just don’t know. There are people I know who struggle, yeah, most of us ourselves are just getting by. It’s like when you see somebody going through cancer or who has lost a loved one, that also could be any one of us on any given day.

We have elected officials of every level of government who have forgotten why they are in office, or they never really cared in the first place, and we were deceived.

Then we have the good eggs, kind of like the proverbial white hats who bang their head on the wall just trying to do their best to help their constituencies.

And while the fat cats seem to get fatter, our media coverage seems to decrease day by day. Local papers have become eviscerated by soulless, nameless, faceless, hedge fund owners.

Regional newspapers, suffer similar issues and every week another voice who represented us retires or leaves or moves on. Some of the young and new reporters that you find don’t really have the institutional knowledge to get some of what they’re covering, and some of them I wonder if they actually have the intellectual curiosity. And I’m not trying to be unfair, because there are also some who are new and tremendously talented and very good. Only you don’t hear their voice often enough.

And then you go to television news. First of all, I want to know who is instructing half of the women what to wear on air, especially when there broadcasting from the studio. And the men aren’t much better and maybe I’m just showing my age, but it really bothers me when I see male newscasters on air wearing sneakers or similarly walk the dog or go to the farmers market type shoes. Can we also talk about how they don’t know how to correctly pronounce the names of the people they’re interviewing or discussing or the streets or the towns?

Next onto what’s covered. And it’s like a game of bingo to try to get a local issue covered. It’s just as hard as it is to connect with your local TV station as it is to get a live person when your Internet goes down and you can’t and you want to talk to somebody from Verizon or Comcast.

And then you wonder when a local story does get placed that affects so many no matter where they live, do people actually care?

These are all my meandering thoughts for the day. You can like them or not like them, it’s entirely up to you. And if you don’t like what I or any other blogger writes about, you are free to start your own blog and see if you can do it better.

Ciao for now.

life is not an episode of yellowstone, right?

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Well, it’s over… For now. I’m not sharing any spoilers. I have always been fascinated with how many different kinds of people love this series.

Why have people loved Yellowstone so much? Is it because it’s emblematic of all the things we’ve actually lost in this country?

We’re not all cowboys and not many run ranches. Farmers are a dying breed and our open space is being taken over by some form of development or another. And that That is one of the things that has always struck me about Yellowstone is it’s portrayal of people trying to save what they love, where they live.

It has been a wild story of life and loss and love. It has been an escape yet it’s very raw and real feeling at times. It gives a lot of air time to American native peoples that we haven’t seen since the spaghetti westerns of our childhood and it’s a lot more accurate and not cartoonish. In Canada, indigenous and native peoples are a big part of their television programming.

The whole talking about the land and how nobody can afford to buy it unless it’s a developer definitely resonates here.

It’s a story of good and evil. Sometimes the evil is not what you thought. That’s kind of symptomatic of life. I think.

I actually know people who call the wild places of Montana and Colorado and other places with wildness left home. The longer I am here the more I understand the need for the wild places, a way to restore the balance between humans and nature.

Since before COVID we have been delaminating as a society. It’s a nationwide disease. Boundaries and manners? Optional at best.

I’m a blogger. In the OG category. I started blogging before it was a thing. I started blogging because it gave my community at the time a voice to try to stop what was happening to it (eminent domain for private gain.)

This blog here has been a journey since coming to Chester County. Blogs are opinion based and once again we live in a universe where your freedom of opinion is somewhat subjective, and it’s not what the founding fathers intended, but this is what it is right now.

Yes, there are things I think about. There are things that interest me. There are things that don’t interest me. It’s not a media outlet and doesn’t pretend to be. People think there are things that I should be writing about just like there are things that are public information that I shouldn’t be writing about and I’m always bemused by both scenarios, especially when it is not like I am the only person talking about whatever in the first place is it?

I think the strangest thing about being a blogger now is the obsession that some people have for me as a person. Like they own a piece of my soul or they should own a piece of my soul. I’m just one woman so I don’t quite get it. Maybe I’m not supposed to? We can’t control everyone else’s behavior. We can only control our own right? So why is this particular blog and me a thing that needs to be controlled?

People seem to live life like it’s a giant reality TV show. The problem with that is then sometimes you find people that are supposed to protect us or legislate for all of our best interests only they don’t. They’re part of the problem. This isn’t about conspiracy theories, or conspiracy theorists. These are observations of things just going on around us.

I think political corruption is as real as political disillusionment. Of course that makes it hard for those who actually do things for the right reasons as opposed to personal gain.

I recently heard about someone who seems to be setting their proverbial cap so to speak to be a county commissioner. I think they made a lame attempt to try to be a state rep once as well. Yeah good luck with that and bless your heart. If this one runs, it will be a bring your popcorn situation to their election cycle.

And then talk about political disillusionment. Recently, a former local politician turned minister was charged with some pretty heinous acts against someone with intellectual disabilities. And people are saying, the churches circling the wagons? They will protect someone who did this? What kind of God is that they worship exactly?

People’s perception of God and religion is another thing that I have marveled at the past few years. I don’t get all these people that love their angry God. Can people not have their individual faiths and religions? Why is one better than the other? Are we all supposed to be the same? That of course brings me full circle to are we all Stepford on this bus or are we supposed to be?

And then there is the world where we live where people who are supposed to enforce the rule of law seem to think they can make up their own laws along the way? This isn’t anything specifically locally, it’s kind of a nationwide issue and it gives the true white hats a harder go of it, doesn’t it ? North South East West.

From coast to coast, we’re kind of a messed up country right now. What is it we believe in and what is it we are supposed to believe in?

Monday we learned of another school shooting. In Wisconsin, a school called Abundant Life Christian School in Madison. According to the New York Times “ a private school founded in 1978 with the goal of providing “academic excellence in a Christ-centered environment,” according to the school’s website.”

Once again, the shooter seems to be another kid. Yes a juvenile so what are we doing in this world that this is where kids think they need to go? And this time a girl. When I was a kid, I remembered not liking the mean girls, but I don’t remember anyone wanting to shoot them. I also don’t remember kids having such easy access to firearms, even if their parents owned them.

What is our world about today? What are we about today? 

We have our families and maybe that’s where we need to focus? Why are we paying attention all the time to social media?

And as far as the fake influencers and the stuff, that is just such bullshit that you can’t believe somebody posted it.

I don’t pay attention to the fake influencers. They don’t interest me. They live their plastic lives in their plastic world in their bubble. They can have their bubble.

Yet this is our weird world in which we exist.

We live in strange times. We live in sad times. We live in times where people think because I blog I should be a super public person. And then there are the ones that reach an obsessive point because I don’t want to write about whatever it is their topic is. and the thing is this would they do that to a regular reporter? I think the answer is no.

Things that are important to me? My friends and my family and they’re none of anyone else’s goddamn business.

I’ve had three losses in 2024 a friend from childhood and a friend from college years that I didn’t even know had passed away essentially the same time as my other friend because again she lived far away from here now. The last was an artistic and family friend whom I knew since I was a little girl. Three really great loving women whom it was a privilege to know.

These are the things that really matter. I tried to explain that to someone this weekend who was talking about particular local government and I finally just kind of said to them that I was in a social setting and that was not appropriate or desired conversation in that moment.

I don’t know what people expect of each other at times. I do take interest in a lot of different things that is happening around us, but not everything interests me all the time, either. Does that make sense?

It’s almost Christmas. Maybe we could all due with a little reflection. 

And no, this post isn’t like some secret Beatles song you’re supposed to play backwards while juggling in the air or something. It’s just some random thoughts in mid December. 

what do you do on a glorious october saturday afternoon? #buymorepumpkins

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I’m somewhat ambivalent about the Halloween of it all, and I generally speaking, do not carve my pumpkins, but I love pumpkins! And I do not need a service to place my pumpkins. I can go pick my own pumpkins out myself. (And yes I also buy them from BloomBox!)

So today we went this afternoon we went to Sugartown Strawberries after the rush rush of other things for the day was over.

I love Sugartown Strawberries. It makes me happy to go there. And I have a lot of happy memories taking our son there when he was little.

When we went today, it was packed to the gills. I am not showing the crowds in the photos I’m posting because I like to take pictures of the pumpkins and the farm. Oh and I saw a bald eagle too!

Saw Bob and also picked out my perfect mellow yellow pumpkins 🎃, and that’s actually their name!

Kristina, Bob’s wife, told me about their recent visit to Bucks County, and what it was like to meet Kamala Harris. I think it all sounded pretty cool. And with the exception of the great bloviator and his faux hillbilly, I actually enjoy meeting candidates for office when I can. It’s so helpful when you can see them on a more human level.

The Farm was bustling, and all you saw were happy faces of adults and children alike. And although the farm was busy, there were no rushing, people were enjoying themselves. They were going on hayrides, finding the perfect pumpkins, and they were taking in the beautiful Chester County vistas. One of the best things was seeing the faces of the little kids when they saw the rows of pumpkins!

Of course (and sadly), over at Twatwaffles for Trump Chester County Slumber Party HQ the have been in a tizzy over the farm too.

Not surprisingly they are now suddenly anti Sugartown Strawberries. Most of them do have the average bandwidth of a gnat, except what do you have against gnats?

At first glance one wonders why a “Joyful Warrior” would have to post anonymously in their twisted sisterhood?

The comments are literally priceless and here let’s discuss some of them 🤣:

  • Why do Republicans donate to Democrats, they must be a mole of some sort.
  • How they own many acres in “Elite Chester County” and “buy into the lies and scandal of January 6th” (guess she loves her Toll Brothers plastic house though because that’s SOOO Chester County)
  • Because Bob wrote a tongue in cheek horror movie and it was filmed on his farm “these do not seem like the type of people who should provide educational activities for school or who should be doing hayrides for children at their farm.” And then there is a rando comment about Great Valley School District which makes no sense.
  • Then another one pipes up that they “heard” they are actors not farmers (i.e. they read it on X 🤣) and a comrade replies that Bob is a liberal farmer 🤣
  • Then there is the one who is going to vet all financial records (what and take away from those slumber parties with Lara Lee and Ivana? ) and then some mumbling about Republicans running as Republicans and governing like “Dems” (cue the law and order drama sound)
  • And my favorite is the Mensa candidate who has also been verbally vomiting on Josh Maxwell’s page claiming victory because Bob contributed to Senator Andy Dinniman’s campaign – duh AND d’oh most farmers DID regardless of political affiliation because he supported FARMERS – she doesn’t get the nuance of OMG you can legally split your ticket.
  • Another one is asking if Bob was paid by the Democrats to do the commercial which is also hysterical.
  • More nonsense about the movie “with little readers around” whatever that means – next they will say that the actors were drag queens.

How can they all be so miserable about pumpkins? How can they all be so stupid about things you should’ve learned in basic civics classes or American history classes?

I’m still trying to figure out what’s so wrong about Bob’s movie if you don’t like horror movies, it’s pretty simple you don’t watch it, and one would think that these women and men would be able to keep tabs on what their children are watching in the first place, right? But they don’t and that’s everyone else’s fault.

It’s a big world out there and I’m sure they can find things more to their comfort level. Like maybe they would prefer a pumpkin concierge service?

It was a totally delightful afternoon at Sugartown strawberries, and it’s really nice that we have this farm to go to.

Even NPR was there visiting today.

#BUYMOREPUMPKINS

so “blondie” was a nerve hit? bless your heart, no apologies will be forthcoming.

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Gee, was it something I said? Oh my…. it must have been this post:

oh neil, you really do have a wince worthy campaign. THAT is the “teachable moment”

LOL LOL LOL LOL the Twatwaffles for Trump must be peeved. There has been a swivet storm. They are polishing their gas masks and fake golden lassos and all of it. Keyboard warriors saddle up!

I am a predictable and inevitable blogger, like an elementary school playground script, yet she barely gives me a glance? Yet she gave it an @everyone post?

Alrighty. Come on now we know y’all pore over every word. Every word. And that cracks me up.

The woman who wears gas masks to school board meetings and is known for ummm…behaviors calling me a bully? Yet when she and they (meaning plural people not a pronoun because we all know how weird they get about those, right?) name call and bully and malign, they are “Joyful Warriors of Chester County”? That is actually as hysterical as her Wonder Woman garb.

So she basically is also saying I am fat without saying I am fat as well in her little passive aggressive rant. Yeah ok, next. I mean what do we expect of the Twatwaffles for Trump? Actual normal behavior? Nope. Just narcissistic nasty hypocrisy. If you aren’t like them, you are against them etc. etc.

They don’t live rent free in my head because most of the time I forget women like this exist because I do not have these types as friends. They also aren’t actual conservatives, they aren’t real Republicans, they are just and assortment of coast to coast nutters under the umbrella of a woman who likes threesomes in Florida, but hey they are all Good Christians, right?

https://www.newsweek.com/moms-liberty-co-founder-admitting-threesome-sparks-backlash-1849054

https://abcnews.go.com/US/moms-liberty-founder-faces-calls-resignation-school-board/story?id=107071594

Now they have moved from book banning (or they are quieter about it) onto trans kids. They are such lovely inclusive people, aren’t they? Yet they always include me regionally because well…I always live rent free in their heads…weird, right?

Oh wait sorry. Yellow flag for overuse of the world weird….

https://slate.com/life/2024/09/moms-for-liberty-donald-trump-tiffany-justice.html

But hey, I’m the problem it’s me. Talk about a yawn. I have a need for mindfulness techniques and apparently they wish to teach me how to write. I guess I should start capitalizing Region? I have “deep issues” because I think they are ridiculous and embarrassingly ignorant women? Mmmmkay.

Oh but wait…that’s bullying the in their minds.

The bottom line is I still chose not to know these people, and I am good with that. They can live in their echo chambers of hate projecting who and what they are on everyone else….that is what is truly predictable. If you aren’t like them and in in their Psycho Stepford, you’re bad.

Then dayummmm, I must be bad to the bone and damn glad of it.

Neil Young’s campaign is tanking, in part thanks to Twatwaffles for Trump. That is why a lot of Republicans who could help him, avoid him, and won’t help him. It’s why his campaign is essentially fund free.

But hey Shann-O, I don’t actually have a need to have friends like you and I am beyond cool with that. You do you, it provides endless entertainment when you surface and demand attention, because that is what that screenshot is about isn’t it?

Signing off happy that I make such a difference in the limited little lives of Twatwaffles for Trump. I am bummed however that there will be no sleepovers, sharing of confidences, and hair braiding…..oh well….

to air bnb or to bnb in chadds ford…that is the question

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Chadds Ford, PA is actually Delaware County, PA but to me has always felt more Chesco than Delco. Chadds Ford has beautiful twisty roads, some gems of homes and estates, and used to be quite understated. I say used to be, because like every other slice of heaven between Devon and Wilmington….there is development.

Anyway in April, 2024 an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer by a reporter whom I respect and follow caught my eye:

Owners of a Chadds Ford home once owned by the du Ponts have been fined $17,000 for renting through Airbnb

Short-term rentals remain a thorny issue for many towns.

by Frank Kummer

Published April 9, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET

Well…noise travels, doesn’t it?

Then the Philadelphia Inquirer had another article in the form of a newsletter in the same month of April, 2024. By another reporter I follow:

Real Estate

$17,000 in fines for renting estate as Airbnb | Real Estate Newsletter

And ‘million-dollar’ Pa. communities.

by Michaelle Bond

Published April 11, 2024, 6:20 a.m. ET

Smithbridge goes to court novDownload

So it looks like Smithbridge Partners (or maybe their lawyers since do we think the owners will go to court?) has put off their court date until after their zoning hearing board hearing event which looks like October 22? Now zoning hearing was put off from September, correct? When I last looked they were supposed to go to court this week on the fine stuff, and now the dockets read November?

And what is it to be at zoning October 22nd? If it reads like September 4th which was postponed it will be “1465 Smithbridge Road – Appeal of Zoning Code Enforcement/Variance to operate B & B”?

So are the owners going to be ON PREMISES to run a B&B AKA Bed and Breakfast Inn? It’s kind of 24/7/365 as I have known people who have operated B&Bs and one who still does? As a matter of fact, one person I know operates a B&B in PA and has a separate Air BnB in another state which is professionally run by a real estate company with strict rules.

So how come that Air BnB became such a mess? Did the property owners think neighbors would just give up their personal reasonable expectations of quiet enjoyment for the profit of others? I mean if there is the money to do things right, why not do just that?

https://delco.today/2024/04/chadds-ford-airbnb-citations

https://www.suburbanrealtorsalliance.com/news/2024/04/12/delaware-county/chadds-ford-fines-owners-of-former-du-pont-home-17k-for-renting-through-airbnb

https://www.the-sun.com/news/11049874/fined-17k-after-renting-home-airbnb

So would you want to be known as the people who purchased part of a former Du Pont property and then was all over media for this? Supposedly, these folks own about 400 acres of land in Chadds Ford between Smithbridge and Ridge Roads? Below is what I found on various properties under or affiliated with this entity:

Now with regard to the Air BnB at 1465 Smithbridge Road I have to ask, what is currently going on? Is it now empty or is it still being rented out as an Air BnB? Another wrinkle is a conservation easement on the property perhaps? It is (and already was when they bought it) under conservation easement with Brandywine Conservancy, correct? The easement states, “No industrial or commercial activities shall be conducted or permitted on the Property, with the exception of agricultural and livestock activities.” The conservation easement is copied below.

1465Easement copyDownload

How is either an Air BnB or a B&B not a commercial activity? What does the esteemed Brandywine Conservancy say about this? And if there is an easement, can you use the easement as in is there a trail? if so, is it maintained and by whom? I ask not because I know anything suspect, I ask because we have all heard of properties out here with conservation easements and I am guessing someone does maintenance so they can be used the way they are supposed to be used, right?

So the Air BnB of it all got a cease and desist letter in 2023:

Violation_Letter 2023-04-11Download

So what is the end game with the thing going to zoning later this month about being a Bed and Breakfast? Is this just to wiggle a door back to Air BnB? And given the other properties they own are any of them regular rentals? If so why can’t 1465 Smithbridge just be that? Or don’t they have any relatives who could live there and just let it be a normal property in a beautiful area with a conservation easement? And again where is the Brandywine Conservancy on this?

Now I asked around to those who know more than I and they came back with a famous court case that seems similar. There’s is interesting and relevant legal precedent for this case. The “Slice of Life” case was heard by the PA Supreme Court in December of 2018.

In its opinion, the Court concluded that even though the applicable zoning ordinance did not specifically prohibit the short-term rental of residential homes, such use was nonetheless prohibited. The Court stated that prohibited uses of real property do not have to be expressly excluded on a zoning ordinance.

The critical inquiry for the PA Supreme Court was the interpretation of the term “single housekeeping unit.” Past court decisions in PA have consistently applied this functional standard in its analysis to cases with similar facts. For example, courts have allowed the use of a residential home by a homeowner to provide lodging, meals, and care to physically and mentally disabled persons in their home. Conversely, courts have determined, under the same standard, that a residential home is not allowed to be used as a half-way house or a group home for foster children. These decisions turned on the fact that the average stay at a halfway house (2-6 months) and at a group home was too short to be compatible with the single-family concept.

Slice of LifeDownload

Now the Slice of Life of it all came up again in a New York Times article this past spring about a community in the Poconos. I have been to one of the fancier of the cabins/lake of it all communities up there years ago now. It was beautiful and closely held to keep out short term rental issues. It was so beautiful and natural. It was a delight. And tiny Medford Lakes, NJ has legislated against Air BnB type short term rentals in their community to preserve it’s character.

Here is the New York Times article:

FOLLOW THIS LINK TO READ

Air BnB rentals have created controversy in all sorts of communities in Southeastern PA, and in Chester County I can think of West Vincent and Willistown and West Chester Borough. I still do not know who is on first where.

Now one of the other properties these Smithbridge People own is of interest to me. And octagonal house.

https://chaddsfordlive.com/2023/02/07/from-a-schoolhouse-to-church-to-a-home

Has anyone been by this lately? What’s the current condition? Now that could make a great long term cottage rental couldn’t it?

I don’t really have much else to say on the topic. I definitely don’t have a horse in the race, except I have to say while I would not mind a traditional actual owner operated Bed and Breakfast Inn in my neighborhood, I can say the big old no to the Air BnB of it all.

This is still a situation to watch. I will be curious what happens to 1465 Smithbridge and the cool little octagonal house.

Thoughts?

mind blown: lower merion is new grifter capital of the main line?

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Goodness ….WHAT, I say WHAT is in the water in Lower Merion Township? It’s like the summer of rather interesting Lower Merion location articles, n’est-ce pas? August 2nd, I wrote about Josh Verne, touched on Joseph La Forte and other certain Lower Merion denaro-centric scandals…

BUT STOP THE FREAKING PRESSES AGAIN THERE IS A NEW SCANDAL. This one will be a peach. Hat tip to the Philadelphia Business Journal for breaking the story wide open and public…but the guy they mention in the article is not the only one suing their “advisor”…AND once again, yes more fine upstanding Lower Merion Township residents? Perhaps the Magic Kingdom has priced itself out of residents with moral compasses? And I think the Philadelphia Inquirer article is going to be a fan favorite (and the subscription is much more reasonable, sadly, and I like and appreciate the Philadelphia Business Journal as well.)

https://www.inquirer.com/business/scott-mason-rubicon-ponzi-investor-complaint-20240813.html

Yup. Mind blown.

But wait…more articles…from the Philadelphia Business Journal who popped out with these ahead of the Inquirer. All articles are interesting…very interesting….very interesting….

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2024/08/06/blue-bell-rubicon-wealth-lawsuit-stanley-tulin.html

Philadelphia Business Journal Philadelphia-area wealth manager sued for allegedly stealing $20M from client By Jeff Blumenthal – Senior Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal Aug 6, 2024

And yet another PBJ article came out about others filing suit.

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2024/08/08/blue-bell-scott-mason-rubicon-orchard-lawsuit.html

Philadelphia Business Journal: More alleged victims, millions in losses emerge in Philadelphia-area wealth manager case By Jeff Blumenthal – Senior Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal Aug 8, 2024

Of course I am legit wondering aloud what in the Sam Hell is in the water in Lower Merion these days. And OMG the woman the articles filing suit is the guy’s aunt according to press so far?

Here’s an article from 2005 that shows the beginnings of the SEI relationship with Rubicon/Mason:

https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2005/05/23/story3.html

Philadelphia Business Journal: SEI tries franchise concept By Larry Rulison  –  Staff Writer May 23, 2005 Updated May 19, 2005, 11:30am EDT

But this is not the most interesting thing of all, is it? If you cross reference an obituary notice you can verify that this is not the only Mason who has had issues, isn’t it? Like father like son?

(And yes the First Amendment, the SEC, and the New York Times can back this ALL up, can’t it?)

sec.gov_files_litigation_litreleases_lr15124Download

I can’t find much on the Orchard Park whatever business other than this:

However…when I went perusing the Montgomery County dockets I found three cases all filed within the past few weeks plus the SEI related one:

I went and pulled what I could find for Rubicon Wealth Management/Scott Mason. There was a Rubicon Securities on FINRA that was in Bala Cynwyd that looks like it closed up shop in 2002 and when you try to clickaroony on the Rubicon Wealth Management website , https://www.rubiconwealth.com/ it is “not found”. It disappeared apparently as a website? I found some stuff on Zoominfo.

40130Download
883851 RubiconDownload
individual_1023965Download

Society snippets of yore, tell their own story, right? Social climbing and needing to belong? Just go noodle through Newspapers.com with their names in it.

I am feeling sarcastic towards Lower Merion Township and their new found “celebrities” but I am seriously wondering what is in the water. In all seriousness, this is kind of disgusting and I think like the other stories of the Nouveau Main Line it is going to grow legs. As an issue, it’s like all these Madoff types came to town isn’t it? It’s sad, gross, disgusting and God don’t like ugly too, isn’t it?

This is all so Ponzi-esque and Madoff-esque isn’t it?

As I close this out, I ask again if perhaps the Magic Kingdom has priced itself out of residents with moral compasses? Is it SO important to live high SO high on the hog? And since I started sharing the Philadelphia Business Journal articles I have received some unpleasant private messages from the 19035. To those people I say wake up. Before this is over how many people will be hurt including their innocent family members? Philadelphia Business Journal and the article about Mason’s Aunt. OMG

This continues to grow legs, including a blip in the Glenside Local. This seems like it will be a tall tale of many articles? The Main Line is so not what it used to be….

But buy more popcorn, Lower Merion’s ugly underbelly is getting another scratch this summer, eh?

The postscript is for those not familiar with that Squires club there was quite an amusing article in Philadelphia Magazine in 2016:

https://www.phillymag.com/news/2016/07/30/squires-the-last-boys-club

Squires: The Last Boys’ Club

High-stakes gambling. Near-death experiences. Semi-naked golf. For decades, what happened inside the exclusive, strictly all-male Squires golf club stayed in the clubhouse — until now.

By Tom McGrath· 7/30/2016, 9:00 p.m.

now THIS is chester county – a delightful discovery (and an estate sale.)

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We went today to the Sales by Helen sale in Kennett Square on 640 N. Walnut Rd. We got there late – there were things I wanted that were garden related but it was just too hot to move earlier.

I think it was like a horde of locusts descended upon the sale because the place was pretty stripped when we got there, which was fine because I don’t need anything REALLY, but I did want to see the property which was AMAZING!

The house is not a 19th or 18th or even early 20th century Chester County farmhouse. It was built in 1973 and the barn was built in 1998. (Here is listing while it exists.)

I marvel at this crazy beautiful property because it was built in exacting detail to look old and to be utterly Chester County. Not a McMansion of plastic or bad stucco, but a stunningly beautiful place. It looks old, yet it’s perfectly modern and turn key. You could move right in.

I got a basket full of red napkins for Christmas, mostly Ralph Lauren. And a couple of bars of expensive craft soap in their wrappers, a porriger, a wee Santa and an old tiny china doll for the Christmas tree….for $10!

But again, the best part was seeing this spectacular property on conserved land. Just shows what can be built. Imagine if developers trampling Chester County had actual talent and imagination? We might get more of this and fewer McUglies.