The Local Post Office: Selling Stamps and Community

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Salfordville Post Office, Old Skippack Pike

Salfordville Post Office, Old Skippack Pike

In January Marla described her trip to one of the small post offices near our house.   A few days ago I took a drive to visit other nearby post offices.  On my drive I took photos and talked to the post men and women to learn more about them.  I wanted to learn something about these towns and what the post offices meant to them:  it was more than just sending packages and selling stamps.  For many of these tiny dots on the map, a post office and a zip code is about identity. Continue reading →

Groundhog Day: the day after

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Bill Murray in Groundhog Day

 In the movie   Groundhog Day Bill Murray plays a weatherman who wakes up to discover that each day is February 2nd and is forced to relive it over and over again.   Finally, after what seems like a lifetime of anger, bitterness, nastiness, depression, and a lot of humor, he changes his fate by changing his behavior.  I never tire of watching this movie.  It has such a feel good message of redemption through personal growth.

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Digging out: the day after

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The view from the garage.

On Sunday we woke up to a cacophony of snow blowers.  It was our neighbors clearing their driveways.    It seemed like everyone had a snow blower.  Larry went out to join them and try to get us out.  It was trial by fire for the poor machine, first time out in the snow with the challenge of two feet to move and our long driveway. Continue reading →

The blizzard of 2016

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The blizzard hit the east coast on Friday, 22 January and didn’t end until Saturday.  We were happy to be out of the DC area for this one, but we still got hit hard.  Before the snow we treated ourselves to a pizza lunch at an Italian restaurant near our local ski lodge.  Then it was home to wait.  In the afternoon it began. Continue reading →

First snow of winter 2016

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The pond frozen over with a dusting of fresh snow.

A few days ago we had our first snow.  It started with a blustery wind and chunks of snow that blew around the yard.  About half an hour later it was over.  The few flakes had already melted as the temperature rose to the high 30s.  We went to the gym, we fed the dogs, and I settled down at the table with my computer, answering and writing emails.    I had sent a number of emails to friends the day but some of them had not arrived . . . gremlins at work, so I was trying to reconstruct them. Continue reading →

Vegetable tagine with friends

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Over the weekend we hosted our first dinner party.  Well, not exactly a party in the traditional 1950s sense, but a dinner with friends.   Since I love to eat and I love to cook it was an opportunity to try out something new.   I decided to focus the meal around Turkish food, one of my favorite cuisines.  What’s not to love?  Garlic, tomatoes, eggplant, olives, feta cheese . . . seriously, this is great food.

The lentil soup is already done.

The lentil soup is already done.

I stuck to some old standbys that I knew would come out well.  I started with baba ghanoush and artichoke hummus as starters with pita bread.  For the soup course I made a red lentil and bulgar soup.  For the main course I served zucchini squares and vegetable tagine. Continue reading →

Time Travel at Zern’s Farmers Market

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On Friday nights and Saturdays the place to go for local food items and an assortment of other shopping pleasures is Zern’s.   This place is hard to describe.  It’s part food market, part flea market, and part craft market.  Wrap it all up into an indoor shopping experience in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania.   This iconic place has been around a long time.  As a boy in the 1960s, my husband rode his bicycle there from his home in Pottstown, about six miles .   Continue reading →

Season’s End

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In honor of the end of football season, at least in Philadephia, and because it’s the New Year and the time for new ideas, I asked my husband to write a guest blog.   Larry was eager to write about one of his favorite topics, the Philadelphia Eagles.

There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture… We control the horizontal. We control the vertical… we will control all that you see and hear. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to… The Outer Limits.

Coming out onto the field when hope springs eternal

Coming out onto the field when hope springs eternal

Football season is over.  Okay, not really.  Continue reading →