Recently in Dover/West York Category

Yes, Halloween has come and gone, but I'd be remiss if I didn't direct you to the stories of some paranormal happenings in York County that were recently told as part of our "Remember" series.

One of the stories happens to be from a good friend of mine, Whitney Stover, whose mom passed away a little more than a year ago. In addition to the event Whitney describes in the article, I was present for another "happening" related to it.

Whitney is part of a group of ladies that I scrapbook with occasionally in the Stoverstown area. One time, not long after her mom passed, Whitney looked at the door of the room we meet in and said, "It feels like she's just going to walk in at any minute and join us." The amazing thing? The door opened a bit, then softly closed. Now, this is a HEAVY outside door - and it hadn't even been cracked before. Needless to say, all of us there were pretty shocked.

Now, I'm sure there are some of you who don't believe in ghosts. I'm not one of them. I believe that I have seen things that were a bit out of the ordinary. When I was about 8 or 9 years old, at the house I grew up in (on Blackberry Road in northern Dover Township), I walked out of our bathroom, heading through my parents' room to go downstairs. As I walked into Mom's room, there was a woman standing at her dresser, looking into one of Mom's jewelry boxes. As Mom certainly had friends at the house on occasion, I didn't think much of it. The woman turned to me and said, clear as day, "You're Joan's daughter." Again, I didn't think much of it, just said, "Yes," and went on my way. Later, I asked my mom who the lady was - imagine my surprise when, as I described her, Mom told me that was HER mom, who died long before I was born, and who I'd never seen a picture of. And the jewelry box the woman had been looking at had been my grandmom's.

Strange things do happen in York County, and that one made a "ghost believer" out of me. So when I read the stories in this month's "Remember" installment, all I could think was, "Oh, thank goodness I'm not crazy."

How about it? Ghosts? Yes or no? Vote below, and leave a comment if you've had any kind of supernatural/paranormal experience!

Wow, so many things going on in the coming days! Got a news release that the Bob Hoffman YMCA on Palomino Road in Dover Township is having a free Fall Fitness Festival from Monday to Oct. 30.

Among the activities:

· Anyone 14 and older can participate in fitness classes and use the fitness center.
· A free seminar, "What You Can Do About Your Cancer Risk," will be offered by Wellspan from 9 to 11 a.m. Monday.
· Free blood-pressure checks will be offered by Dover Ambulance from 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesday
· Free chair massages will be offered by Touch Of Life on Wednesday morning and evening.

There will also be refreshments and daily prize drawings. Want to know more? Call the Y at 292-5622.

Not doing anything this Saturday evening? Brave the weather and head out to my alma mater, Dover Area High School, for the fifth annual Dover Band Show.

According to their news release, this marching band showcase features many of York County's non-competitive bands and was created five years ago as a way to give the students a late-season performance opportunity. (And I give the band folks huge props for performing this late in the season; it is COLD out on that field!)

Gates open at 5 p.m., and the show begins at 6 p.m. Tickets are $7 for adults and $2 for students and senior citizens, and can be purchased at the stadium gates. If it rains (not that THAT has happened lately, ha!) the show will be held in the high school gymnasium.

The schedule includes:
· National Anthem performed by Dover High School's select choral ensemble, "Renaissance"
· Hanover "Nighthawk" Pep/Marching Band
· Northeastern "Bobcat" Marching Band
· Steelton-Highspire "Roller-Pride" Marching Band
· West York "Bulldog" Marching Band (my daughter's school, so YAY for them too!)
· Central York "Panther" Marching Band
· Dallastown "Wildcat" Marching Band
· Dover "Eagle" Marching Band
· Full Band Retreat performing "America the Beautiful"

The release also pointed out something I'd missed - that the Dover district was recently named one of the top 100 communities for music education in the United States by the National Association of Music Merchandisers. Central York was also selected for the honor.

If you want to know more about the show, call band director George Bradshaw at 292-3671, ext. 10304. (And tell him Joan Concilio sent you!)

So head out if you're free! I'll be here at work, but if you go, let me know - I'd love to hear all about it!

Maybe you're familiar with the idea of the Halloween "boo" - leaving an anonymous gift of goodies for two people who are each supposed to pass a gift on to two more people. It's like a chain letter for gifting, and you usually need to hang up a sign once you've been "booed" so that no one else gifts you.

Well, imagine our surprise the other night to find a "boo" hanging from our front lamppost! I had done this a couple of years ago at work, but never in a neighborhood sense. So of course we were all excited to pass on our own boos to some friends and neighbors.

The photo here is the boo we made to give, not the one we received. If you'd like to start your own booing with two friends or neighbors, here are my suggestions:

1. Get something sturdy to put your goodies in. Even if it's not pouring out - like it was this weekend - you probably will have your boo sitting on the ground overnight on someone's porch. Hence our plastic pumpkin.

2. Include a "ghostie" for the booed family to hang on their door. (You can see ours in the photo; here's a printable version, though you can certainly draw him - it's not hard!) Here's an extra tip - given our bad weather, dig up a sheet protector, tape your boo on a piece of black construction paper and slide it inside. That's what we did, and it's not only keeping him dry, it also makes him stand out on our white front door. Don't forget to "boo" yourself if you're starting the booing!

3. Choose a bunch of small goodies, mixing candy-type stuff and other items. We gave some candy, but also some "rubber eyeballs," a little orange decorative pot, a small fall cookbook and a notepad. (Target's dollar bin was a source of most of our items; any dollar store is also a good start.)

4. Include the directions! If you've gotten booed already, you can copy or rewrite them, but if you're starting the chain in your own neighborhood, feel free to print copies of my direction sheet. Ours came handwritten, but the copy editor in me had to jazz it up a little.

If you give this a try, or if you see any neighborhoods around town that have had a booing going on, leave me a comment! Bonus points if you e-mail photos of your booing to me at jconcilio@ydr.com.

Teresa Strickler of Dover Township snapped this photo of a hummingbird with its tongue out.

Way back in early August, I wrote about a reader, Teresa Strickler of Dover Township, who'd submitted some wonderful hummingbird photos.

We published them in September in the Weekly Record, and when we went to post it online, well, Teresa had so many photos that we couldn't originally include them all.

But my friend and fellow online staffer Rose came to the rescue recently and made a slideshow of all Teresa's wonderful photos.

It's getting colder out now, but if you check out the story and photo gallery, it'll give you a bit of summer all over again. Enjoy!

I love art. I get that from my mom, who is good at almost any art that comes her way. I, on the other hand, am normally not good at it, but I do it anyway!

So when our pastor's wife - a local artisan - offered a mosaic class to our church's members, Mom and I both jumped at the chance. Over two sessions, with a little homework, we each created a masterpiece for our house.

Here's Mom's, an abstract piece that works with the colors of our house:

Here's mine. It's sort of "impressionist" - it's supposed to "be" something, but it might not be obvious. Can you tell what?

If you're interested in creating your own masterpiece, The York Town Craft Guild offers classes just like the ones we took, also by Lynn Gilbert. Check their site for details; the next two-class mosaic session will be Oct. 24 and Nov. 14. They offer tons of other classes, too, so if breaking glass isn't your thing, maybe you can find another new hobby! I know I will definitely be making more of these in the future.

Many of you know that frugal living is among my passions. Reading newspaper ads and coupon-clipping are like breathing for me.

So imagine my delight this week, when one of the most expensive things I buy - disposable razors - turned out to be an awesome deal!

The Bic Soleil razors are on sale at Target, advertised as a 4-pack for $3.99. Now, that in itself is great. But this Sunday's paper had a coupon for $3 off the Bic razors. So I'm thinking, four razors for $1.05 with tax? Awesome!

It just kept getting better, though! I got to Target, and in the bin with the sale label, were bonus packs with two FREE razors.

All in all? Six razors. $1.05. Happy Joan!