Fran

Stories from Fran

Beekeeping, Sheldon-style

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Saturday, October 23rd, 2010
A Saturday festival, weekend workshop, local guild meeting, online resources and several books under our belts, we continue to think we can manage having bees in our little slice of suburbia.

A Tour of Woodmont (Palace Mission) with Mother Divine

By: 
Paul
By: 
Fran
Date: 
Saturday, February 20th, 2010

When we learned that one of Lower Merion Conservancy's Winter Treks was a "Divine Saunter," a tour of the Woodmont Estate, led by Mother Divine, we signed right up.

Woodmont

Sweet potato soup with ginger and coconut

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Thursday, December 17th, 2009

A vegan soup everyone will enjoy.

Ingredients:

Celebrating Thanksgiving

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Thursday, November 26th, 2009
What happens when the children aren't children anymore? They start hosting family events! This year Amy offered to host the Thanksgiving gathering, and what a good time it was. The kids arrived the day before for sibling partying and then worked together on Thanksgiving Day to prepare the family meal. All Paul and I had to do was show up.Thanksgiving 2009

Ronald McDonald House

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Paul heard that the local Princeton alumni group had volunteered to cook an evening meal for the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House residents, and we thought it was something very much worth doing. After a flurry of emails from the organizer and other volunteers, we signed up to bring baked ziti. Because it was the day before Thanksgiving, numbers were somewhat short of the 80 to 90 they usually have attending the evening meals.

Ronald McDonald House

Thanksgiving dinner, courtesy of HIAS

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

HIAS and Council sponsored a Thanksgiving dinner on November 22nd for the entire South Philadelphia community of refugees from Burma, held at the Houston Community Center at 8th and Snyder.

Community Thanksgiving

Ready for the Mendel Dinner

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Saturday, November 21st, 2009
The annual Mendel Dinner, at which Villanova University honors a man or woman who has made outstanding contributions in science with the award of the Mendel Medal, is one of our favorite events.Dressed for Mendel Dinner

A visit to Princeton

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Although I had never been to Princeton and Paul hadn't been in years, we were amazed to be invited to two events there on the same day. One was a networking event for Princeton alumni and the other was a lecture entitled "Mushrooms and the History of the World" presented by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Professor of Anthropology, University of California - Santa Cruz.

Princeton

Celebrating John's birthday

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Saturday, November 7th, 2009
After brunch at the Country Squire, we continued celebrating John's birthday with cards and gifts back at the house.John's birthday

Mushrooms around the campground

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Saturday, October 17th, 2009

We arrived at our campsite at Milburn Landing, Pocomoke River State Park, at dusk, and it was dark when we went up to the ranger station to register, but that didn't preclude mushroom spotting. An Amanita practically glowed in the reflection of the station's security lights, although it was a few yards away, in a stand of loblolly pines. Why didn't I take my camera?

Coprinus comatus

The campsite lab

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Saturday, October 17th, 2009

After returning from the Forest Trail with several specimens, I set them up on the cook stand at our Pocomoke River State Park campsite where I could take some photos and collect spore prints. Lesson learned: rain and wind are not ideal conditions for making spore prints.

The lab

Visit to the Eastern Shore

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Saturday, October 17th, 2009
With fall break affording some time for adventuring, we decided on a trip to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, camping at Pocomoke River State Forest, visiting some of Fran's old haunts and having dinner with a friend who dates back to playgroup dayFerry

Forest Trail, revisited

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Friday, October 16th, 2009

We hadn't completed even half of the Forest Trail on the first day of our Eastern Shore trip, so on the last day we went back to see if we could finish the job. Not a chance. We were far too busy feasting our eyes on a dozen or so more new-to-us mushrooms species to make any time hiking.

Macrotyphula

Pemberton Park

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Pemberton Park was one of my favorite parks to visit with my two young sons when I lived in Salisbury, and we went there often.

Grifola frondosa

Bald Cypress Trail

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Bald Cypress Trail at Pocomoke River State Park offers three different types of forest, a bald cypress swamp, loblolly pine grove, and a mixed hardwood forest, all in just one easy-to-hike mile. Of course the warm rainy weather had brought out lots of mushrooms we had to stop to see, and it was pouring rain, so it took us two hours to make the loop.

Pholiota

Pocomoke River Forest Trail

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

The Forest Trail crosses a swampy area of bald cypress before entering a forest of mostly loblolly pine. The loblollies don't crowd each other, so visibility is excellent. Even from a distance we could easily spot chalk-white mushrooms that

Amanita citrina

Boys' best friends

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Saturday, September 19th, 2009
When Alex and his housemate were both going to be away for the weekend and needed someoneAkira

Spelunking in Delco

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Sunday, September 6th, 2009
Who knew there were caves in Delaware County?spelunking

Brandywine Zoo

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Sunday, August 30th, 2009

Many of our refugee friends long to visit the zoo. I had promised the boys I would take them over the summer, but the pricing at the Philadelphia Zoo is prohibitive, especially since so many people were interested in coming along. Also, there are so many costly extras, you're in the position of spending even more or disappointing the kids.

Brandywine Zoo

This camera does macro

By: 
Fran
Date: 
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
I loved my Nikon CoolPix, but my macro shots always turned out blurred although they had looked fine on the camera screen. Very frustrating. That, and the fact that the camera fogs up in rainy weather, convinced me it was time for a new camera. Poring over camera sites, I finally came across the Pentax W80 (http://www.pentaxwebstore.com/detail/PTX+17751) and knew this camera was the one.Pine