Taken from Towpath Park, East Coventry Twp.


From Black Rock Sanctuary, Upper Providence Twp.


River birch at Black Rock boat launch


From Towpath Park


From Black Rock boat launch

Pennsylvania really is a gorgeous state.

Labels: nature, Philly burbs, weekends

Mom and I went over to the new Philadelphia Premium Outlets this morning. Here are the highlights of our visit, in photos:




Not so crowded at 9:30 a.m.


Having this store only a four-minute drive from my house spells "trouble" for me.


The Huz is fearing for our checkbook...


I'm doomed. Doomed, I tell you!




People in line waiting to get a VIP Shoppers card.


First-ever sighting for me of a "manbag!" Sidenote: Mom yelled at me afterwards for taking his picture.


We left just before noon and this is what the entrance to the outlets looked like...

All in all, a very good day. The outlets are beautiful and I will definitely be spending time there, once the initial hubbub dies down.

Labels: local news, Philadelphia, Philly burbs, shopping, weekends

Just a few things I want to point out to the very sweet German girls who've been following this blog and emailing me about The Lovely Bones filming schedule:

1. I don't know Mark Wahlberg or any of his handlers.

2. From what I understand, the movie is shooting on-and-off in Hatfield, PA, not in downtown Philadelphia, for the next few weeks.

3. Hatfield, PA is not really close to downtown Philadelphia at all.

4. The movie set is closed, meaning you won't be able to watch any filming and that you may very well be chased away by security and/or local police.

Viel Glück, Maedchen!

Labels: local news, Mark Wahlberg, movies, Philadelphia, Philly burbs, technology, The Lovely Bones, writing

Tomorrow is the grand opening of the Philadelphia Premium Outlets, located about a five-minute drive from my house in Limerick.

(OK, technically it's in Sanatoga, PA).

Of course, being the completely insane person that I am, I'll be checking it out on Saturday morning. And I'm bringing my camera!

I'm a bit befuddled by the Chelsea Group's naming of this place, though. Limerick is thirty-five miles northwest of Philadelphia, so I think that identifying it as the Philadelphia Premium Outlets is a little misleading. But I suppose that Sanatoga Premium Outlets just doesn't have the same sort of cachet.

Labels: local news, Philadelphia, Philly burbs, shopping, weekends

So this is what's going to take the place of the now-defunct Valley Forge Country Club that is bordered by 422, North Gulph Road, and 202.

Just one more reason I'd never venture down to KoP.

Ugh.

Aerial view of the site plans

Labels: bad news, bitching, local news, Philly burbs

This post might only interest the locals who read my blog (yeah – both of you!).

I heard on the news this morning—Good Day Philadelphia, to be precise—that the Borgata Casino and Hotel will be announcing their plans today or this coming week to build a casino and resort in Limerick Township.

WHHHHAAAA???

Further, the reporter said that there will be premium outlets going up in the same area.

Well, you KNOW I had to try to verify this information. So I called Limerick Township and spoke to a very nice lady named Mary this morning. Here is how the convo went:

Me: “Hi Mary, my name is Lori and I live in Limerick—Heather Glen, to be exact. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s called about this, but I was wondering if you could tell me anything about the proposed Borgata casino that I heard about today on Fox.”

Mary: (giggles) “No, we have had a few phone calls about that already today. It’s news to us!”

Me: “Really?”

Mary: “Yep. None of us here had heard anything about it until we watched the news this morning. The township manager walked in this morning and mentioned it, and he didn’t know about it before, either!”

Me: “Hmmm. That’s…interesting. So, where are they proposing to have it built?”

Mary: “Right off the Sanatoga exit of 422.”

Me: “And is it true about the outlets, too?”

Mary: “Uh, yeah…we’d heard about that already but they’ve only been proposed…not officially approved by the township yet.”

Me: “Well, thanks for the information. Have a nice day!”

I’m not sure what to think about this, if it’s true, that is. I suppose that a casino/resort could be a good thing—taxes would probably stay low for residents, and new jobs would be created. Plus, it’s far enough away from my neighborhood that I don’t think we’d be directly affected by it.

But I’m TOTALLY into the outlets.

Yep. Could spell lots of trouble for Lori...

Labels: local news, Philadelphia, Philly burbs, politics, shopping, TV

No, this post doesn't have anything to do with Thanksgiving, though I'm already stressing about that...

This morning, on my way to work, I was nearly accosted by a turkey.

You read that right. A turkey!

I see this bird occasionally when I take Brian's "secret" way to work (aka, the back roads through a rural part of Chester County). He told me about it before but I never believed him, mostly because he said to watch out for the big bird. He didn't know it was a turkey.

I saw it for the first time a few weeks ago and almost died laughing. It's one of the ugliest things I've ever seen! But it is GINORMOUS. It really is a big bird. Usually it just hangs out on the side of this tiny, one-lane road I take, next to a very old farmhouse. I guess it's someone's pet. I think its owner lets it out in the morning to take a walk. This strikes me as hilarious, for some reason.

Anyway, like most of us in the Philadelphia region, it was having a bad morning today, but not because of the SEPTA strike. When I turned down this little, narrow road, I noticed a line of cars at the far end of the lane. This struck me as odd, since it's normally a very deserted road. Then I got up to the corner and found out why there was a backup.

This turkey decided to plant itself in the middle of the road. It waddled precariously to and fro, allowing one car at a time to pass it. Of course, when I got to the head of the line, it stopped moving and just stood there, staring directly at me. I honked my horn, hoping to frighten it off the road, but it didn't even ruffle this turkey's feathers (pun intended). Then I rolled down my window and tried to verbally shoo it away. None of my attempts got even the smallest reaction from this bird.

I glanced in my rearview mirror and saw a line of cars idling behind me. So I decided to take a more aggressive course of action. I put my car in Park, opened the door, and walked around to the front of my car. The turkey stood about 10 feet from me. I did my own version of a turkey dance, or at least what I would imagine a turkey dance to be, while saying, "Shoo, shoo, shoo..."
The turkey just looked at me. I know these things aren't known for their high IQs, but I swear that this particular bird knew exactly what it was doing. As it watched me do my little dance, it let out a high-pitched gobble at me IN DEFIANCE...

Then it lunged at me.

Man, those birds can move! For such an ungainly-looking creature, it covered a lot of distance very quickly. I squealed and jumped back into my car. Just as I slammed the door, it began pecking on my driver's window. If I had been just a moment slower, my ass would've been taking that pecking!

So this Thanksgiving, as I sink my teeth into that delicious bird, I will have a new respect for the turkey.

Labels: funny stuff, local news, Philadelphia, Philly burbs, stress, weird, work