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Getting a Lil’ (Apple) Sauced During CiderFest at Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park’s Woodford Mansion
CiderFest attendee gives the cider press a rotation during a demonstration. “There is a place, September, oh, very far from Pandemonium. A place where it is always autumn, where there is always cider and pumpkin pie, where leaves are always orange and fresh-cut wood is always burning and it is always, just always Halloween” ~~ Catherynne M Valente Story, photos by Sharon Kozden While fall is the Fiona Apple of my ear (read: the aural equivalent of moody, low-slung clouds) I actually know people who don’t like autumn. Weirdos? Nah. Just people doing what they do (read: exercising their right to be). Imma do me. You do you. We all do…
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Uptown Beer Garden Mutates Upside Down for Spooky Season with ‘Stranger Things’ Theme
“People don’t spend their lives trying to get a look at what’s behind the curtain. They like the curtain. It provides them stability, comfort, definition.” ~~~ Murray Bauman, Stranger Things Story, photos by Sharon Kozden Actually, Murray, I beg to differ with your above-referenced statements about “the curtain.” I liked getting a look at what’s behind it … at least I did on the evening of September 28th … when Aversa PR and Craft Concepts Group welcomed media to a preview party like none other at Uptown Beer Garden‘s Stranger Things-themed pop-up bar. Greetings from Hawkins, Indiana. Wish you were here! Perhaps if I had watched Netflix TV’s Stranger…
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Must-read: The Union League Guard House Hosts Gladwyne Free Library’s Annual Fundraiser
The charming floral-patterned invitation was designed by Board Member Mary Kate Bolinder. Story, photos by Sharon Kozden “Bad libraries build collections, good libraries build services, great libraries build communities.” – R. David Lankes Gladwyne Free Library held its annual fundraiser (its first since 2019) on a September afternoon at the private and exclusive Union League Guard House in Gladwyne, PA. Hosted by the library’s Board of Trustees, the $125-per person ticket to the “Library Libations” cocktail reception entitled purchasers to savory light bites, drinks, sweet treats and, most importantly, the opportunity to bid (during a silent auction) on an impressive array of items donated by local businesses and board members in…
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Lehigh Valley Humane Society Hosts Second Annual Garden Party
From left, Lehigh Valley Humane Society Director of Development Jackie Folsom and Executive Assistant Madison Xander woman the checkin desk. Story, photos by Sharon Kozden ~~ for Lilyaulait Kozden (end of mouse patrol, 7/24/17) “Of all the special things we choose to do for our planet, let one of them be of service to animals.” – Paul Oxton “People look at you peculiar if you talk about the feeling you got for animals, saying animals have no souls, no sense of good or bad, no value up next to humans,” he said. “I don’t know about that. Sometimes I think animals are the ones who should be saying such things about…
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Cool Down Inside Pristine Kartchner Caverns in Benson, AZ
Story by Cassie Hepler, photos & video submitted by AZ State Park Super hard to pronounce but worth the drive South, Kartchner Caverns was a very memorable highlight of exploring Cochise County in Southern Arizona. So much so that it has been on my mind through the sale of my condo, purchase of a house and finally getting settled again in North Phoenix, AZ! The attention to the ecological preservation was amazing to me coming from Pennsylvania where people just jump into caves with no real care for the ecosystem at all. I also recall a family vacation to Arkansas where my brother was allowed to climb all over the…
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Gladwyne Library League’s Arts and Crafts Show Preview is Picture Perfect
Colorful signage staked throughout Gladwyne announced the annual event. “I think that the power of art is the power to wake us up, strike our depths, change us. What are we searching for when we read a novel, see a film, listen to a piece of music? We are searching, through a work of art, for something that alters us, that we weren’t aware of before.” ~~ Jhumpa Lahiri “The creative adult is the child who survived.” ~~ Ursula Leguin “To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it.” ~~ Kurt Vonnegut Story, photos by Sharon Kozden It’s…
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Women Putting Arizona Wines on the Map
Story by Cassie Hepler & Arizona Office of Tourism, Submitted Photos Before I was a twinkle in my mother’s eye, she lived in Arizona back in the 70’s being an adventurous hippy with her little yellow VW bug and working at a grocery store in the meat department. She started out in Yuma, AZ before there was any sort of land development then worked her way over to Prescott, AZ. And one of her dreams was to open a vineyard in Arizona. Fate had other plans as she met my father in Pennsylvania who wisked her back East and my brother and I were born. But funny how I ended…
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Barnes Foundation Art Ball Showcases French Artist Suzanne Valadon
By the light of the silvery moon (and purple-hazy pool reflection), one magical evening at the 2021 Barnes Foundation Art Ball took place. “One of the things that’s quite striking when you look at her self-portraits is her attitude to aging. There’s a refusal of prettiness there … and an attention to the artifice of beautifying yourself, and then this very unflinching representation of her body as it changes.” – Nancy Ireson, deputy director for collections and exhibitions at the Barnes Foundation, speaking about Suzanne Valadon Story, photos by Sharon Kozden It’s been some time since I had reason to slither into a slinky cocktail dress and to slip on…
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Round Up Your Squad, Ride Horses and Chill at Rancho de la Osa in Sasabe, Arizona
Story, video and photos by Cassie Hepler With newfound horseback riding skills giving me courage from sister ranch White Stallion, I ventured all the way down by the Mexican border to Rancho de la Osa in Sasabe, Arizona, about an hour and a half southwest of Tucson. And when I say by the Mexican border, I mean almost on it. You can see the wall from the ranch through the high desert grassland. Surrounded by about 120,000 acres of the Buenos Aires Wildlife Refuge, Rancho de la Osa is the most historic ranch in Arizona. You can ride the same trails as U.S. presidents and famous figures like Pancho Villa…
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Lehigh County Humane Society Holds First Annual Garden Party at Bell Gate Farm
Keynote speaker Eve Warsinski poses with husband, daughters and Koda. Story, photos by Sharon Kozden “Our animals connect us to the sacred. What are pets, really, other than an attempt to have a little bit of a God in the house?” – Russell Brand Autumn weather in Pennsylvania felt more like spring or summer than fall. Not cool, literally. Projected temps were near 80 degrees some days. The expected crisp chill? It would be here soon enough. Despite seasonal signs of brilliant-hued mums, cider fests, all things pumpkin spice and Halloween decorations, I continue wearing open-toed sandals and tee-shirts. Consequently, my headspace can’t seem to reconcile this unseasonably warm weather…
