Friday, September 16, 2011
Poems are courtesy of poets local to the Upper Moreland area.
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Friday, September 16, 2011
Each week, Upper Moreland-Willow Grove Patch is happy to present poems selected by the members of the Willow Grove Coffee Shop Writers Group, as well as poems from the residents of the Upper Moreland area. This week's poem: I Pick Your Trash, John Leonard, Now That You're Gone By Ruth Z. Deming At first they put out the commode seat up to let it sink in. It sat on the grass a week, kids passed by what would they know of your rosebushes out front, or the hospice nurse green Dodge parked in the drive or about you, John Leonard, ninety-five and shuffling to your garden out back in house slippers and morphine. On garbage night the invisble hand brought out some broken rakes and tumbledown shelves, your wife’s perfume bottles lying in a…
Monday, August 22, 2011
Active writer for Patch, who once thought her suffering was forever, finds instant relief from the debilitating pain of sciatica.
It had been two years and I had tried everything. Anti-inflammatory medication, physical therapy, spinal epidurals. Nothing helped. I would watch people walking down the street, swinging their arms, and be amazed that they weren’t in excruciating pain like I was. Would I ever walk again? I found the answer the first week in April. I was home recovering from the gift of life – a kidney transplant from my daughter Sarah. Grace was a visiting nurse sent out to help me post-op, tutoring me on how best to take my antirejection medication. “My worst problem,” I told Grace, was not the healing of my kidney. It was my “sciatica agony,” (pronounced 'sigh-atika') a throbbing, burning, sizzling pain that ran like a hot river down my left leg. Grace …
Monday, July 18, 2011
The Coffee Shop Writers Group meets monthly at Weinrich's Bakery in Willow Grove to help emerging authors with honest, but positive feedback.
For an author, constructive criticism could mean the life or death of a yet-to-be-published work. The members of the Coffee Shop Writers Group are all for giving such critiques. “I’m glad to be here because I get such great feedback,” Linda Barrett, a writers group member, said. The group, which was founded in 2003, meets monthly in the coffee shop of Weinrich’s Bakery, located in Willow Grove. Weinrich’s Bakery, a family-owned business, has given the writers group several opportunities, providing members with a venue where they can recite their work to the public, as well as publishing the group’s first collection of poems, titled “Icing on the Cake.” “I think it’s wonderful,” Stella Weinrich, Weinrich’s Bakery manager, said. “It’s nice …
40.14293
-75.11607
Weinrich Bakery
55 Easton Rd, Willow Grove, PA
/articles/local-writers-group-never-at-a-loss-to-share-a-good-word
861582
/locations/4872917
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
It's going to happen: Your kids will watch TV, play video games or play on the computer at some point today—so should you monitor or restrict screen time?
This week's Mom Talk is brought to you by Upper Moreland-Willow Grove Patch Moms' Council members and Patch contributors Heather Greenleaf and Ruth Z. Deming. --- TV was once a rare commodity to be found in the American household. In 1959, a total of 5,749,000 televisions were sold in the U.S., bringing the cumulative total from sales dating back to 1939 to 67,145,000 units, according to tvhistory.tv. According to a 2009 Nielsen’s Television Audience Report, there are 54 percent of homes in the U.S. that have three televisions or more—making the number of homes with TVs across the country 114.5 million. And, of course, TVs aren’t just tethered to the home—they’ve become mobile. TVs can be found on the back of car seats, on buses, at …
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Members of the Moms Council give their two cents on dealing with in-laws.
It’s that time of week once again for a little Mom Talk. Patch takes the chance to inform our readers about something new: moms, dads, grandparents and family friends alike. This week's Mom Talk is brought to you by Upper Moreland-Willow Grove Patch Moms' Council members and Patch contributors Heather Greenleaf and Ruth Z. Deming. --- Although there is a generational gap between Deming, a mother and grandmother, and Greenleaf, who is a mother of two young children, they both have the same perspective on relationships with the in-laws. They say, regardless if the subject is breast feeding, what solid foods should a toddler eat or what pediatrician a child should see, the decision should ultimately be left to the mother and father. "I have …
Monday, April 11, 2011
A gift of love gives writer a whole new life after her daughter donates her kidney.
On Friday morning, April 1, a light snow was falling when we drove down Broad Street to Einstein Medical Center for my kidney transplant. Taking the drug lithium for bipolar disorder had ruined both my kidneys. I was reunited with my daughter Sarah, who in several hours would cede her left kidney to me in the operating room. We hugged and were in great spirits. Her husband, Ethan, was with her, as was my boyfriend, Scott, and my son, Dan. Dressed in a blue hospital gown that opened at the back, I slid into a gurney and removed my contact lenses. Everything was a big fat blur of colors and moving shapes. A regular abstract painting. And I was the painting’s subject. The Gross Clinic by Thomas Eakins. Tubes were put into my left hand and …
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
This week's topic: dealing with difficult conversations with your children.
It’s that time of week once again for a little Mom Talk. Patch takes the chance to inform our readers about something new: moms, dads, grandparents and family friends alike. This week's Mom Talk is brought to you by Upper Moreland-Willow Grove Patch Moms' Council members and Patch contributors Heather Greenleaf and Ruth Z. Deming. --- Deming, who is a mother of adult children and a grandmother, brought up the topic of how parents should deal with difficult conversations, such as a death of a loved one. "It's really important to explain things in an age-appropriate way," Deming said. Greenleaf, who has two young children, responded by sharing a story of when she witnessed a father helping his daughter cope with the death of her mother. …
40.14341
-75.120509
Gymboree
2500 W Moreland Rd, Willow Grove, PA
/articles/mom-talk-difficult-conversations
862452
/locations/3915746
Monday, April 4, 2011
Seek and you shall find museum-quality art the moment you step inside.
The Upper Moreland Public Library combines knowledge and imagination with its stunning original art collection. Elaine Klawans of the Friends of the Library reawakened interest in the artwork at a recent township commissioner’s meeting, just in time for the upcoming Willow Grove Tri-Centennial Celebration, which begins in April. Elaine Klawans noted that the works on the library's walls are “museum-quality original works of art.” The pieces were painted by renowned artists whose works appear in museums and in private collections alike. Who knew? She and her husband Alan assembled the library’s art collection. Back in the late 1990s, the library board, of which she was a member, asked Alan Klawans’ for his help to create the crown …
40.144027
-75.117764
Upper Moreland Free Public Library
109 Park Ave, Willow Grove, PA
/articles/art-treasures-adorn-walls-of-upper-moreland-public-library
861650
/locations/3892720
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
The long-term use of lithium for bipolar disorder caused irreversible kidney damage to a Patch contributor.
Today, my new T-shirt arrived in the mail. “Ask me why I have three kidneys,” it reads. I ordered it online and plan to wear it when I return home from my Einstein Hospital stay after I receive a new kidney later this week from my daughter Sarah. They leave the old kidneys in. I lost vital kidney function after taking the medication lithium for nearly 17 years for manic depression, also known as bipolar disorder. It kept my moods stable and allowed me to live a vibrant, productive life. When I first went on lithium at age 38, I was aware of this major risk. But every drug carries risks, even aspirin. I did well on the drug—raising my two children as a single parent, working as a writer and copy editor for the Doylestown-based Intelligencer…
Monday, March 21, 2011
The third generation of florists readies for spring on Davisville Road in Willow Grove.
On a sunny Saturday in late March, Kremp Florist is gearing up for spring, as it has since it first began selling flowers in 1958. Monica Salvatore, a young employee who’s worked there for nine years, uses her artistic expertise to fashion a bouquet for new customer, Marcy Juliani, of Philadelphia. Juliani’s granddaughter, Sarah, is in a school play, and flowers make the perfect gift, she said. For years, Juliani had heard about Kremp’s, and finally, she visited the florist. “They have such a good name,” she said. For three generations, the Kremp family has remained a top competitor, constantly growing its business and expanding into the Internet age. Kremp's was named “National Retail Florist of the Year” in 2006. Its aromatic showroom …
40.14416
-75.11338
Kremp Florist
220 Davisville Rd, Willow Grove, PA
/articles/business-profile-flowers-are-a-family-affair-at-kremp-florist
861483
/locations/3752174
linda barrett
11:10 pm on Friday, September 16, 2011
Linda Barrett writes: Ruthie, I admire your style so much, that I'd like to copy it for myself! more ›