Seventy years old is an age noted by
two rather noteworthy writers -- Moses and Shakespeare.
In Psalm 90 Moses wrote (attributed)
most famously:
“The days of our lives are threescore
and ten....”
In Macbeth (Act II, Scene 4) a
character called simply “Old Man”(!) says:
“Threescore and ten I can remember
well....”
Having reached this literary milestone
– and refusing to view this milestone as any sort of “a
milestone around his neck” -- Jake and his Number 1 headed out for a
three-night celebration in the historic and picturesque Brandywine
Valley of Pennsylvania, just southwest of Philadelphia.
Monday, April 24, 2017 -- The
predicted rain stayed away from our couple long enough to allow them
a wonderful day of outside pleasures. First on the list was nine
holes of golf (Stone walking in caddy-for-a-day duty) at the Ed Oliver Golf Course in Wilmington, DE. This 18-holer recommended
itself mostly by being on the way via the trusty NJ Turnpike, and
being one of the few courses in the area to have a reasonable price.
Still, $20 for nine holes seemed excessive to Jake, who is use to his
cheap-o, senior rate at his home course, Tamarack in East Brunswick.
The course, which honestly is not worth going out of one's way to play, proved to be an
interesting golf history lesson. Ed “Porky” Oliver was a popular
and successful PGA pro in the 1940s and 50s. Oliver was certainly a Delaware
guy. Born in Wilmington, Oliver got married to an Army nurse
while on duty at Fort Dix in 1942. The course that now bears his name was the
original site of the Wilmington Country Club (now a tony golf club
some three miles north; Joe Biden became a member there in 2014)
where Oliver was a caddy before turning pro at age 18. The course had
quick greens and some strong holes, but it was pretty beat up in
general. However, it seemed to be getting some much needed major
maintenance.
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| Jake by Brandywine Creek |
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| Stone at Ridley Creek |
The rain clouds threatened, but the rain
stayed away as Jake and Stone had nice little bike ride up and down a
bit of the Brandywine Creek, but a ten minute drive from Ed's golf
place. Then it was on to a longer, vigorous ride at Ridley StatePark, which provided various terrain, creek views, and a wide, paved
trail.
At the edge of the the state park is La Porta, a ristorante that provided a nice late lunch. La Porta
had a good wine list, and featured a welcoming, cozy, somewhat rural
ambiance. The mushroom soup was especially tasty.
Our couple's hostelry for their three
nights away was The Inn at Grace Winery in Glen Mills, PA. Here the
main draw proved to be the expansive grounds and buildings, which
included the main inn (which is historic and elegant) and several
“cottages,” of which the Brandywine Cottage featured a jetted
tub, so Jake needed little more incentive to choose it.
The inn does
all the big things quite well – the staff is wonderful and the
atmosphere is a sort of restful, understated country chic, but the
inn was not without its small irritants. The wi-fi was inconsistent, a
dog roamed the breakfast room, and though they state “free
breakfast,” to get more than yogurt or oatmeal it will cost you
extra. Such a fine establishment is demeaned by such
nickle-and-diming.
Speaking well of the inn's staff, the
welcoming desk did well indeed to direct Jake and Stone to the
Harvest Seasonal Grill and Wine Bar for dinner. Both Jake and Stone
were immediately struck by mimicking of the much larger chain,
Seasons 52. If you have been to a Seasons 52 then you will find
little different at Harvest Seasonal Grill. Luckily, both chains are
real good at what they do – attractive atmosphere, attentive
service, good menu, lots to drink – and Jake and Stone enjoyed
their drinks and food.
Tuesday, April 25, 2017 – The
rains were in full force on this day. So it was into Philly for a
look at the American Watercolor exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of
Art. Both Jake and Stone thought the exhibit one of the best they had
seen in quite some time – interesting, just the right size,
educational, and downright amazing to look at. Neither had realized
the versatility of the watercolor medium, nor how Americans came to
dominate this artistic scene in the 19th and early 20th
centuries. Best of all, there were some classic Winslow Homer and
John Singer Sargent works to look at – the juxtaposing of which was
fun to see. Both Stone and Jake have realized over the years that
they like their art to be representational, and one can hardly do
better in this category – at least by Americans – than Homer and
Singer.
But even better than the planned art
was the serendipity of the past recovered. Stone's father grew up in
Narbeth, PA, outside Philly. When Stone was a child, her family spent
many a holiday at her dad's home. On the way to Philly, Stone soon
recognized the Narbeth area, and with a little good luck our couple
found the actual house! While Stone was taking pictures of the house
to show her brother back in Jersey, the owner pulled into the
driveway. Soon Jake and Stone were invited into the old house.
Amazingly, except for a new kitchen and an added ½ bath, it had not been renovated. Stone toured the house, with the gracious owner at
her side, for more than 20 minutes; Stone on the edge of tears more
than once. Wondrous indeed.
After the art and an arduous drive from
Philly back to Brandywine country, it was still raining like hell, so
Stone and Jake made the quick trip to La Porta again for dinner. This
time the food was less wonderful, but the wine was still delicious
and the vibe most sheltered and homey.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017 – A
major draw of the Brandywine area for Jake was the chance to play a
golf course he had longed to patronize since he was the webmaster of
the now forgotten, but still legendary, in Jake's mind, Internet site,
Jerseygolf.com. Back in the heyday of Jerseygolf.com, Jake featured a
story about the Golf Course at Glen Mills in Glen Mills, PA. In 2000
the Glen Mills Schools, a school for troubled youth that dates to
1826, had golf architect Bobby Weed design a golf course on the
school's grounds. Since then, the schools' course has given students
the chance to develop hands-on training for careers in the golf
industry.
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| The Golf Course at Glen Mills |
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| Yikes! |
The starter warned Jake (and his golf cart co-pilot Stone) that the course was pretty difficult. Understatement! Even sometimes using what Jake came to call the “grandfather tees,” the blind and pur-blind shots, the roller-coaster terrain, the humpy-lumpy greens, the thousands (so it seemed) of bunkers, all provided a fun day of golf -- if, like Jake, one doesn't lower the tone of the day by keeping score. With the right attitude, or really good golf skills, Glen Mills is a terrific place to play.
Did someone say “terrain”? Perhaps
our couples' most enjoyable meal was at Terrain Garden Cafe Restaurant, about eight miles from the Glen Mills course, on US Route
1 – often referred to in theses parts at the Baltimore Pike. Their
apres-golf, late lunch, which was served in an old greenhouse, was simply
delightful: they shared a creamy yogurt/granola/fruit plate, and each
had a bowl of Kennett Square mushroom soup. Little wonder reviewers
from Open Table to Tripadvisor give this unique eatery such high
marks.
(Why Kennett Square mushrooms? Kennett Square,
PA, about 20 miles away on the "Baltimore Pike," is the self-proclaimed
Mushroom Capital of the World, and it most likely is just that. The
surrounding area not only produces over 50,000,000 pounds of
mushrooms a year (half of the total in the USA), the town also has it
own two-day mushroom festival every year, and on New Years Eve they
often drop a rather large mushroom (say, about 800 pounds) in lieu of
a Times Square ball at midnight.
That night's dinner was the Gables atChadds Ford, about a 30 minute attention-necessary drive from the inn. (The up-and-down,
winding nature of the skinny roads – typical of much of the
Brandywine Valley -- reminded both Jake and Stone of the golf
course.) The Gables promotes itself as an up-scale food place, but
on entering the large eatery (housed in an old barn) Jake and Stone
had their doubts. However, they both found their Gables Farmhouse
Salads (one with chicken, one with salmon) to be first rate. The
martinis were perhaps the coldest and best of the trip.
The Brandywine Cottage features,
besides the mentioned jetted tub, a nice little porch. It was here,
after dinner and the drive back to the inn (Stone at the wheel, thank
you very much), and after a final rub-a-dub-dub in the jetted tub, that Jake
enjoyed a Romeo Y Julieta cigar. Like Macbeth's “old man,” Jake
could, thankfully, remember well his three-score-and-ten.
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