July 2009 Archives

Remember my post last month on why so many locals call the village in Chanceford Township "the Brogue" instead of Brogue?

A new commenter, Rita, helped me out with some insight on that question. (Hi, Rita!) She writes:

Well, we won't give Rita any grief, right? Not when we're such fans of York County phrases like doing something awhile or saying something is "all"!

Now, for reading this far, here is a great photo from Brogue:

Here, Carole Hale of West Wind Bison Farm in Brogue feeds the bison apples early in the morning in 2002.

What I really should do is make a trip down and find out more about this Brogue Hotel. Is it still there? Is it still open to the public? Can I take pictures? This might be a road-trip project!

Commenter Amy tipped me off that the Hellam Carnival is going on through Saturday at Lee and Beaver streets.

I've had a hard time finding any information about it, but I did read on the Kreutz Creek Valley Library Friends Group's web site that the group is going to be at the carnival from 4 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, selling their fundraising items as well as books, videos, DVDs and audiobooks at reasonable cost. They'll also be having a "grab bag" game for children and a "number match" game for adults, plus a raffle for a small quilt and another for a Little Jack Horner doll.

Backing up a day, on Friday, there will be a "Cruise Nite" from 6 to 10 p.m. at the carnival. You can showcase your car and also enjoy the carnival rides, food, games, raffles and free music by The Roadsters, an oldies group. For the cruise, there is a $5 registration fee that benefits the Hellam Area Recreation Commission; for details, call 252-0101.

If you go, let me know how it is! I'll be working those nights, so it's not likely I'll head out, but you never know!

Around lunchtime yesterday, I happened on a flier for the Olde Tyme Carnival and Fireworks at West Manchester Township's Sunset Lane Park, which was taking place from 5:30 to 10 p.m. that night.

Since I knew I'd be home from work by about 6, I made some quick plans to go with my mom and Sarah. Why not, we figured? It's free, after all!

First, I want to say that this drew a HUGE crowd. More, even, than the Dover Fireman's Fair does on some nights. Much like many small-town fairs, it was made up in large part of middle- and high-schoolers looking for someplace to chat and eat, in addition to the usual contingent of parents, grandparents and neighbors.

We didn't get there until close to 7:30 p.m., and we parked several blocks away, along the street. We didn't mind the walk, and it was nice to see so many people come out.

Best thing about the carnival: LOTS of food stands. Mom and I went in for the waffles and ice cream (and Sarah went for ice cream in a dish); Mom also got an old-fashioned cherry vanilla Coke, with the real syrup flavoring, which she enjoyed a lot.

Not-the-best thing about the carnival: We had some trouble finding the games at first, and by the time we found most of them, around 8:20, they had decided to close them down before it got too dark.

That said, we were able to hear a little bit of the band, The Citations, and everyone seemed to enjoy them. And Sarah played one game where you get to catch a pingpong ball in a net for $1, and based on what's on that ball, you win a small, medium or large prize. You guessed it, we got a small. Most expensive bouncy ball ever, but she liked it.

We decided not to fight the crowds for a place to sit to watch the fireworks, and headed home. Less than an hour later, though, we DID get to see fireworks - out our upstairs window, where we had a clear view of all but the lowest sparklers.

Sarah liked that. No crowds, but a great light and sound show. She had some interesting comments, too, for the organizers... she said, "It's really nice that they buy all the fireworks and do that so people can come see it." She also said the band was nice. "They took time out of their day to come there and play music for the people." I was happy to see her so interested in how such an event came together.

I know there are several other town fun fests coming, including Craley Days in early August. If you know of one - please, post a comment. I'd love to tell people more about these events, which are a great way to meet your neighbors.

Remember gun bingo?

Well, if you missed last year's, we're only about a month away from a similar event. The Airville Volunteer Fire Company will host Sportsman's Bingo on Aug. 29 at the fire hall on Route 74 in Chanceford Township.

Door open 4 p.m. and games begin 6 p.m.

The event feature 20 games with sports-related prizes and a raffle for a muzzle-loading rifle. Bingo tickets are $15 and raffle tickets are $3 each or two for $5. Both may be purchased in advance by calling 862-3282.

I'm not a sportsman or sportswoman of any sort, though my maternal uncles and aunt have long been trying to get me involved. I've fished. I've even baited my own hook. That's about as good as I get at outdoor sports, though of course I do love hiking.

But if you go... let me know how it is!

I love that my blog readers let me know about what's going on in the community! I've had so many event notices lately, and I really appreciate them.

From Jo (not to be confused with Joe from yesterday) comes a reminder to me - that I'm sharing with all of you - that the Greater Dover Historical Society opens its working blacksmith shop to the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the second Saturday of every month through October. That means there's one coming up Aug. 8!

At the shop, pictured above, you can watch smithy Ted Ziegler forge hot steel on the anvil. Items Ziegler makes are for sale during the open houses, and proceeds help defray the cost of materials and support the society.

It's definitely worth checking out. I've been promising Jo to get to one for several months; in this case, I'll be heading out of town that day to visit my father-in-law in Rhode Island, but if I get my packing done early (insert crazy laughter here) I would love to stop up. If not, I've still got September and October!

Faithful reader Joe tipped me off to this coming event, in which you can get yummy food and help a local organization, too.

From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday, Aug. 1, at the corner of Parkway Boulevard and Pacific Avenue in York - RAIN OR SHINE - the Bring On Play group is having a chicken barbecue to raise funds for the recently renovated Lincoln Park. (Read a guest column here by Mayor John Brenner on the group's efforts; that's his wife, Adrienne, and son Sam, then 4, at the park in 2008, before renovations in the picture at top.)

For $7, you get half a chicken, a baked potato, applesauce, a roll and butter. Joe says there's also plenty of room to run and play at the pickup site, if you want to either work up an appetite or work off the chicken!!

You don't have to pre-purchase your tickets, though Joe does recommend it. You can do so by calling him at 495-3878.

Sounds YUMMY. I know this is "barbecue season" and there are many such events to support; if you have one, feel free to let me know, because I'd love to publicize it.

I think I've mentioned before how much I love to scrapbook. It's kind of a sickness. :) I've been working on several albums, including my high school years, my daughter's first few years (of which the picture here is the cover), and - amazingly - I finished a 2008 family album and am starting a 2009 album.

But in the last couple of months, I've taken on another project - organizing, captioning and getting into scrapbooks the OLD family photos from both my mom's and my dad's families. (Hubby, meanwhile, got bit by the bug and is organizing HIS mom's family photos. Yes, we're insane.) And I'd never worked with "old" photos before. It's harder than it seems!

Well, coming soon, there's a program at the York County Heritage Trust that will help folks who are in the same boat. From their release:

Sounds pretty fun. If you go, you might see me there ... I REALLY need some tips on this old memorabilia.

Winner of my grilled cheese vs. toasted cheese name-game poll was...

Sorry, those who voted for "toasted" cheese. I can see the argument either way. I would even say you could use them both, depending on if you toasted the bread and then added the cheese, or if you grilled the whole thing.

We like putting ours under the broiler, which makes them much closer to "toasted," but I guess I'd have to call them "broiled cheese" to be exact, and that's just silly.

Here are some my mommy made me for lunch earlier this week:

Can you spot one of my favorite foods tucked into it? Comment and let me know! (C'mon, this is an easy one.)

Biz reporter Sean Adkins recently blogged about and wrote a story about York County's "big box" dilemma, in which we have an awful lot of large-scale retail space sitting empty.

Some examples, and I'm sure you can come up with more:

- The old Circuit City in Springettsbury Township
- The former Giant next to the mall in West Manchester Township
- The previous Linens N Things in The Crossroads in Manchester Township

After many jokes with Hubby - who suggests we put a "zombie laser tag" game where the Giant used to be - I have come up with what I think is a decent idea for the space.

Why not turn it into a farmers' market? Many of you know that my family, for years, had baked-goods and candy stands in the Market & Penn Farmers Market.

And while I love the market - and its historic old building - there are a lot of "downs." Some people, whether fairly or unfairly, don't want to visit the city to shop. It's always been terribly hard to park in the market's lot when it's busy. And the building, while a treasure of history, has needed a new roof since before I was born - and it's not exactly a wonder of modern air-conditioning, either. (Try selling chocolates there in the summer - ugh!)

And don't get me started on the city's rules for selling home-cooked food. I fully support the concept of a clean place for food preparation, but from personal experience, there are some technicalities - like, say, needing two completely separate kitchens in your home - that used to be in place that made it nearly impossible for a small business to succeed. I'm not up to date on the current rules, so I can only hope some of this has changed.

Anyway, off that soapbox. Back to the old Giant building.

Assuming it wasn't totally gutted, it would have setups for deli and produce departments, as well as for a seafood vendor. A small luncheonette/restaurant could use the former "cafe" area. Other vendors could fill the center, with neat aisles.

Add in the good lighting, the modern ventilation system, and nice restrooms, and it definitely seems like somewhere I'd spend my time. It's on the bus route, too - so anyone who, say, is used to shopping in the city because they don't have a car, could get here by way of bus! (And if you do drive - there's certainly plenty of parking!)

As an aside, this is an idea that was tried - with mixed success - a bit north of here. For a time, there was a former big-box store in the Colonial Park area near Harrisburg that had been made into a market, and we were vendors there, too. The down-side, besides the somewhat lengthy commute, was the higher stand rent. Hey, that air-conditioning system came at a price!

So do you think a farmers' market could work in the old Giant building? I'm really interested in what you have to say.

The Concilio relatives have gone, I'm back at work, and we're almost ready to resume our normally scheduled programming here on the blog.

But first, you have to put up a quick wrapup of the weekend's festivities; a bunch of us went to the Phillies game on Sunday, in which we beat the Pirates 5-1.

My uncle Lenny was really in the spirit before we left:

And we had great seats:

If you happen to like baseball, check out the YDR's MLB section and The Southpaw, written by one of my friends and employees, Pat Abdalla, about all things Major League Baseball.

If you're NOT a baseball fan, thanks for sticking with me. And speaking of "sticky" things, don't forget to vote in my poll about grilled/toasted cheese! Grilled is winning by a landslide, but there's still plenty of time to cast your vote.

I'm out of town today at the Phillies game (part of the big family reunion extravaganza) but I wanted to show off something really cool that my sister Linda made yesterday for the big reunion get-together: Concilio brownies!

You're jealous, aren't you? You've never had family-personalized brownies! Hahaha. It does make me think, though - what's the best "family gathering" food you've ever had? Leave me a comment!

Did you see today's Living cover about National Hot Dog Month this month?

We celebrated that month in BIG style last night. We're having a family reunion this weekend, with all my dad's brothers descending on our house. It's been crazy! To feed them all (30+ people) on Friday evening, we have been buying hot dogs as they've been on buy-one-get-one-free sales at Giant and Weis for a couple of months, and we grilled them all up.

Here's the "prep" for all those dogs:

And here they are after Hubby worked his grilling magic:

Amazingly, we still have dogs left over. I'll be eating them (and some other leftovers) for weeks to come, and I don't mind a bit!

This morning, over breakfast, we started talking about hot dog toppings; apparently, I'm VERY unpopular for putting ketchup on mine. You guys don't mind ketchup on dogs, do you??

Yesterday evening, Hubby, Sarah and I took Coby the dog for a LONG walk on the rail trail.

We parked at Brillhart Station and headed two miles to the Howard Tunnel to find our next letterbox (this was No. 6), then hiked back.

What a walk! Even the dog was beat by the end. Here are Coby and Sarah at the tunnel (halfway point).

The good news is, while walking, we ran into my doctor and a friend, also walking. So next time he says I should exercise more... Hahaha!

This one is easy and fun, brought to you by my friend and former coworker Megan. Bonus points: Comment and tell me either (a) why you voted the way you did or (b) if you think the are both valid but describe two different things - and if so, why?

I pick on Hubby all the time on the blog - you know, referencing his purchase of "special" meat for lunch and his unusual marshmallow-grilling technique.

But Chris is a great guy, and if I'm going to tell all of York County about him, I think it's only fair that I share this GOOD story that sums up why I'm so lucky to have him.

Last Wednesday was a busy day - Sarah had tennis lessons in the morning, we needed to buy some books from a woman in Dover Township in the morning, we in turn had people coming over to buy some books from us in the afternoon and evening, and we wanted to go to the Women of Today fun fest in Dover.

Sarah, a day or so before, ended up with a killer ding on her nose. I say bug bite, because it's either that or a world-record-sized pimple, which I doubt, but either way, it was a mess. She had scratched at it in her sleep, it looked kind of infected, and it was just huge. So, being a good mom, I took a tissue and tried to get off the ickiness. Yes, I know that's gross. But bear with me.

She cried. She said it hurt, and since I hadn't TOLD her what I was going to do, I wasn't surprised. I offered to get a Bandaid, but she was a little dubious about letting me near her again. So, I said, that's OK, "Daddy can put it on for you!" So he did, and that was fine, but then she started to wonder about how it looked, you know, with a big ol' Bandaid on her face.

Hubby is a genius. And a very loving person. "Hey, Sarah!" he said. "Do you think I should put a Bandaid on my nose too?" She looked at him kind of funny. "I have special nose Bandaids upstairs!" he added. Well, of course, this made her giggle, and she says, yeah, go get one!

So he did, and came back with his "nose Bandaid" on. I didn't think much of it - until later, when I realized that he'd worn it to sell books to people at our house, worn it to the Women of Today carnival, and worn it to Palasta for dinner.

There they are: Sarah with a Bandaid, and Chris with his "nose Bandaid" - one of the Breathe-Right strips he wears at night sometimes to help him not snore.

They named themselves the "Bandaid twins." They were even glad to pose for a picture.

Now isn't that a good dad? LOVE YOU, HUBBY!

Last week, I took the family and headed out to the Dover Women of Today fun fest up in Dover, which you'll remember came as a spontaneous invite from a couple of women I met while selling items online.

I am really glad I met up with these ladies, Brenda and Cheryl. Not only did it give me blog material - for which I'm always grateful - it gave my family a really fun night out and didn't cost us more than a few cents. Oh, and daughter Sarah won a bunch of fun prizes!

I know you'd rather see Hubby's pictures than read my ramblings, so without further ado:

The kids could play free games to win tickets, which could be turned in for prizes. I hate clowns, so I was hoping Sarah would kick butt in the "clown knock off." (She didn't, but that's OK.)

Possibly a bigger money-maker than the club expected was the penny pitch. Sarah won a cute Precious Moments "Friend" mug, which was fine. Thankfully, we didn't bring many pennies, so we did not end up taking home an entire set of mismatched dishes, like some of the families there did. (And that is also OK!)

Sarah's favorite game - in which she won tons of tickets - was a version of Plinko, a la "The Price is Right."

And then there was EVERYONE'S favorite part:

Little alpacas!! These cuties were from Rusty Rocks Farm outside of Dover, and they were just the softest, nicest animals I've ever met. You could pet them and everything. And, of course, we did, because we're total animal junkies.

Now, instead of arguing with West Manchester Township about owning a goat, I think I'd like to figure out how to pass off an alpaca as a pet. C'mon, it's not that much bigger than my dog, just with a longer deck. (And probably smarter!)

I do have one more photo from last Wednesday's goings-on to share, but it's got its own special story, so it'll come in another post. Thanks for reading this far!

Well, as of this writing, my vote for your veggie name poll is tied with 15 votes for "green beans" and 15 votes for "string beans."

Now, here's the funny part. If I voted, I would NOT have a tie-breaking vote! Want to know why?

Well, my friend Phil has the same reasoning, so I'll let him tell you:

"I really should vote twice and pick both. It depends on the dish. If served alone, 'green beans.' But in certain dishes, it changes. For example, 'string beans and ham.' "

That's exactly how I say it. I call them green beans, but a family favorite dish is "ham and string beans."

There you have it. 30 votes and two weeks later, still no definitive York County voice on the great bean debate of aught-nine. Ha!

(That said, thanks to all of you who weighed in on this one. I love hearing everyone's stories, including Jo, who had to tell me TWICE because she couldn't get her comment to post, and Joe, who makes a good case for "green" beans - all beans start in a "string," so you gotta tell them apart somehow!)

Remember the seaweedy Yorkers from yesterday?

Well, I promised to tell "the rest of the story" today, so here goes. This was among a set of pictures e-mailed to the office by Susanne Daly.

Here's her story:

"The attached pictures are of myself and several others at my parents' annual 4th of July picnic at Rosewood Farm in Dallastown. Every year we have lots of food and lots of people. The children - and young at heart adults - will usually go for a swim in the pond. There is a rope swing and a large raft, from which feats of water gymnastics can be performed. This year, there was less than the usual participation in the water sport aspect of the picnic - I suppose for good reason; the pond is smelly and covered with what appears to be "seaweed." To liven up the party, I suggested that we emerge from the pond covered in "seaweed" and proceeded to the picnic area demanding dessert. Everyone thought it was a grand idea and proceeded as directed. A photo shoot ensued - with the attached photos resulting. My parents' friend said that he had such a good laugh that maybe others in York County would be interested and that the photos should be sent to the newspaper."

Boy, are we glad you did, Susanne - I had a great laugh, too, and I can't wait to print them in a future edition!

Susanne summed it up the best, for my money: "Fireworks pale in comparison to this!"

I bet you didn't do it the way THESE Yorkers did!

I celebrated the holiday at work - I can still hear fireworks from the office, and it's 10:50 p.m. - but if you want to know the story behind the "Creatures from the York Lagoon" above, check back tomorrow morning!