Home Care In Birchrunville, PA

NEWPORT — The Preservation Society of Newport County on Sunday announced the winners of the 24th annual Newport Flower Show, a three-day event that began Friday at Rosecliff mansion.

Botanical Arts Division

• The Newport Flower Show Best in Show Award (selected from among blue ribbon winners in the Botanical Arts Division): Dodie Jackson and Mundi Elan, Houston, Texas.

• The Newport Flower Show Botanical Arts Award (showing impressive quality, skill and creativity): Becky Martin, Tyler, Texas.

• The Newport Flower Show Novice Award (most distinctive design by a novice exhibitor in any Botanical Arts class): Stephanie Wenderoth Carr, Newport.

• The Newport Flower Show New Exhibitor Award (most distinctive entry by a first time exhibitor in the Botanical Arts Division): Mimi Favre, Malvern, Pa.

• New England Society of Botanical Artists Best in Show Award: Arleen Hardiman, Watertown, Mass.

Floral Design Division

• Garden Club of America Certificate of Excellence in Floral Design (exhibit of great distinction): Mary Lenssen, Flagler Beach, Fla.

• National Garden Club Award in Floral Design (finest in the design division, blue ribbon winner scoring 95 or more): Michelle Mensinger, Derry, N.H.

• The Newport Flower Show Best in Show (selected from among blue ribbon winners in the Floral Design Division): Jennifer Figge, Chestnut Hill, Mass.

• The Newport Flower Show Novice Award Design Division (most distinctive design by a novice exhibitor in any design class): Alison Corbett, Wallingford, Conn.

• The Newport Flower Show New Exhibitor Award Design Division (most distinctive entry by a first-time exhibitor): Kathy Raspberry and Clare Nelson, Shreveport, La.

• The Preservation Society of Newport County Design Award (most creative use of the majority of challenge components): Catherine Moore, Westerly.

• The Corinne Clarke Reynolds Trophy (best interpretation of a class title in the Design Division): Linda Pare, Ashland, N.H.

• The Bettie Bearden Pardee Award (outstanding design using all fresh plant material grown and arranged by the exhibitor): Ginna Thoma, Kittery, Maine.

• The Candace Morgenstern Design Award (exceptional quality with innovative techniques, manipulation of fresh plants): Barbara Blossom, Warren.

Horticulture Division

• Garden Club of America Certificate of Excellence in Conservation (exhibit of exceptional merit which educates the public on conservation issues and promotes respect for natural resources): Newport Restoration Foundation, Newport.

• Garden Club of America Certificate of Excellence in Horticulture (exhibit of great distinction): Rachel Gaffey, Birchrunville, Pa.

• National Garden Club Award in Horticulture (finest in the horticulture division, blue ribbon winner, scoring 95 or more): Jane Gamber, New Canaan, Conn.

• The Gilbert S. Kahn Sweepstakes Award (to exhibitor winning the most blue ribbons in horticulture classes): Libby Moore, Little Compton.

• The Mrs. Robert M. Grace Best in Show Award (to be selected from Horticulture Division blue ribbon winners): Betsy Szymczak, Natick, Mass.

• The Mrs. Samuel M.V. Hamilton Award (most creatively original and whimsical presentation of plant material in any container): Tracy Firth, Walpole, Mass.

• The Oatsie Charles Award (most outstanding cut specimen of a shrub grown for its flower): Libby Moore, Little Compton.

• The Annie Laurie Aitken Award (most outstanding rose cut specimen in show): Arthur Murphy, Newport.

• The Jocelyn Sherman Propagation Award (container entry by amateur exhibitor): Libby Moore, Little Compton.

• The Newport-in-Bloom Award (most exceptional entry in the Outdoor Container classes): Jane Gamber, New Canaan, Conn.

• The URI Master Gardener Association Award (most distinctive indoor or outdoor container entry by a novice): Betsy Szymczak, Natick, Mass.

• The Newport Flower Show New Exhibitor Award (most distinctive entry by a first-time exhibitor): Tracy Firth, Walpole, Mass.

• The Green Animals Topiary Award (best Topiary in Show): Rachel Gaffey, Birchrunville, Pa.

• The Rhode Island Wild Plant Society Award (best native Rhode Island plant entry in any class): Libby Moore, Little Compton.

• The Newport Garden Club Centennial Award (most creative interpretation of a class or theme in the Creative Container Division): Hope H. van Beuren, Middletown.

Photos by Jim Graham

For decades, Donald Rosato’s horse-drawn carriages are a well-known staple in Chester County and the region’s equestrian circles.

Midmorning on a bright, cloudless day, four of Dr. Donald Rosato’s beautifully groomed, finely geared horses stand outside the barn at St. Matthews Place, the historic Chester Springs home that dates back to at least 1715. Rigged to a gorgeous four-in-hand carriage, they’re silent and almost perfectly still, waiting for Rosato’s command. Each vehicle in Rosato’s collection is unique, as is the figure he cuts sitting in the driver’s seat, with his top hat and suit, next to his elegantly frocked wife, Judy.

Married 43 years, the Rosatos are well-known patrons of the region’s rich horse culture. Rosato has driven carriages through Chester County for decades. His main hunt is Pickering, where he was named master of the foxhounds in 1995. Rosato served as chairman of the Carriage Drive Committee for Willowdale Steeplechase, driving at the event until that component was eliminated. Radnor Hunt has been part of his life since he was a child. He’s also a patron of Ludwig’s Corner Horse Show, and he’s driven carriages at the Devon Horse Show more times than he can count.

Rosato doesn’t wait for special events to use his carriages. He rides them through the back roads—and sometimes the main roads—of his Chester Springs neighborhood and beyond. He’s such a familiar figure that people know his carriages, even if they don’t know the name of the man driving them.

Rosato isn’t a trained equestrian. “When I was a child, I got so interested in the [fox] hunts that I’d follow them on foot,” he says. “With a horse, you can go faster.”

Rosato got a pony when he was about 10, then graduated to horses. “I never had a formal lesson,” he says. “I learned to ride by the seat of my pants.”

At the time, Rosato’s family lived in Devon. The “big house” on Conestoga Road had been in Rosato’s family for generations. Once a fashionable hotel, the 16-room home had fallen into disrepair and become a boarding house. Rosato’s father was born there in 1897 and grew up surrounded by boarders, most of them newly immigrated Italian and Irish families. Indeed, Rosato’s mother was from a South Philadelphia neighborhood he calls “the Italian ghetto.”

When his parents met, she worked at a bank and he was in medical school. They settled in Devon, where Rosato spent his childhood. “Back then, the area was laced with trails, and we could ride to Valley Forge National Park or Radnor Hunt,” Rosato recalls. “It was all country, all beautiful.”

Judy Rosato didn’t grow up with horses. Born in Kimberton, she spent her childhood in West Chester, then became a first-grade teacher at East Bradford Elementary School. After meeting her husband, she took riding lessons. “I realized that if I was going to have a life with Don, I’d have to learn,” she says with a laugh. “I enjoy riding, but it’s not quite accurate to say that I’m a great rider.”

In fact, Judy has taken some serious spills, breaking a hip and an arm, and fracturing the C2 disc in her neck. “She wore the halo and decorated it with lights,” says her husband. “She’s not that good of a rider, but she looks so good on a horse that it’s amazing. The horses love her, and we both love the carriages.”

Rosato became enamored with carriages when he was about 40. He learned from Dr. Clarkson “Bud” Addis Jr., one of Chester County’s legendary horsemen, at his Tally Ho Farm in Birchrunville, Pa. “Bud was a kind, soft-spoken man, and it was a pleasure to be in that kind of learning situation,” says Rosato. “He started me on my first carriage and told me how to get it restored.”

That first carriage was a four-wheeled runabout, with one seat for two people. Rosato bought it in 1975 at a sale in Lancaster County. “It was a wreck, but because of that it was cheap,” Rosato says. “I had it brought back to the barn and started to restore it. Six months later, the barn burned down.”

The fire didn’t douse Rosato’s interest in carriages. His current barn at St. Matthews Place is filled with them in various states of disrepair. Many are fully refurbished. “I bounced back by getting two carriages,” he says.

To start, Rosato got one or two-horse carriages and gigs (two-wheeled versions pulled by one horse). He also acquired more runabouts. One of Rosato’s favorites is a spider phaeton, a four-wheeled convertible carriage that seats two passengers and has a groom’s seat on the back. “A patient gave it to me because she didn’t want it and it was a wreck,” he says. “After we refurbished it, it was gorgeous. Hope Scott loved that carriage.”

Along with nine carriages, Rosato has four sleighs that are pulled over snow by one or two horses. “I started with a one-horse open sleigh—as the song goes—and it was a ball. I graduated to a two-horse sleigh so we could take more people on rides,” he says. “We used to be able to ride on the roads, but now they’re salted and plowed right away, so we have to go cross country. But it’s still great fun.”

Riding in a carriage is equally fun—and the horses seem to enjoy it, too. When Rosato tells them to walk on, they slowly but purposefully head down the driveway of St. Matthew’s Place, ready for another trip down the quiet Chester Springs Road.

Using five of their first six picks of the 1974 NFL Draft on defensive players left little doubt where the Eagles were eager to improve. One of the five, Frank LeMaster, a linebacker from Kentucky, was chosen in the fourth round.

"I was just hoping, first of all, to get drafted," LeMaster said. "They asked me what I thought about going to the Eagles. I said, 'The only thing I know about the Eagles is I like their helmet.'

"I didn't know much about the Eagles at that time other than that they needed a lot of good players because they hadn't had many winning seasons."

He was right.

A 5-8-1 record in 1973 capped a streak of seven consecutive losing campaigns. However, the mixture of rambunctious rookies and seasoned veterans the following year helped the Eagles win four of their first five games en route to a 7-7 season.

Playing mostly on special teams as a rookie, LeMaster moved into the starting lineup in 1975, and collected four interceptions and a touchdown. That trip to pay dirt came in the season finale after he picked off Washington's quarterback Joe Theismann and returned the ball 89 yards for the score.

"That was a day where everything went right," LeMaster said. "I had a lot of tackles. I think I had a fumble recovery and I had two interceptions that day. That particular interception, they were deep in our territory and threw a slant-in. I caught it and took it to the outside. Bill Bergey and I then basically went down the sideline and he was able to throw a key block which put me into the end zone."

Philadelphia made a key move the next season by naming Dick Vermeil as the new head coach.

"It was really a breath of fresh air," said LeMaster. "We were all welcoming the change. When he came in, he was very young and had some great ideas. We were willing to work as hard as he wanted to work to win.

"What he did his first year; he kind of weeded out guys who wanted to pay the price and guys who didn't. He really developed a nucleus of players – 12 to 14 of us – whom he really wanted to build the team around. And then we started working. He really was good about studying the game and because of his intensity and everything, I think it was contagious.

"We just started playing smarter football. It really started coming together in '78, the same year we had the 'Miracle in the Meadowlands.' Going to the playoffs for the first time in 13 years, that's when we turned the corner. The highlight of my career, and I think a lot of other guys, was beating Dallas (in the 1980 NFC Championship Game) and going to the Super Bowl."

Playing for the league championship for the first time since they won it in 1960, the Eagles met Oakland in Super Bowl XV. History, however, did not repeat itself. The Raiders won, 27-10.

"It was a great experience," LeMaster said. "The only thing, even today, that kind of sticks in your craw is we did not play our best game that day. If we'd have played a good game and got beat, that's one thing. But we did not play a good game either offensively or defensively that day."

After playing with the Eagles for 10 seasons from 1974-83, LeMaster has worked for FieldTurf, a company that manufactures and installs synthetic athletic fields for the past 13 years. A regional sales manager, his territory covers five states: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia and Kentucky.

"I played on the worst turf in America, the AstroTurf at Veterans Stadium. When I played, that's all there was out there for multi-purpose stadiums," said LeMaster. "AstroTurf is four times more dangerous than natural grass. And FieldTurf, which we invented, is much, much, much different than the old AstroTurf system.

"It looks like natural grass. In the United States, we have 5,000 installations. Out of every 10 installations in America, we're doing seven of them. We've got 95 percent of the pro market and about 80 percent of the college market. And then we do high schools and parks, commercial facilities, indoor facilities, anywhere that sports are played, basically. We can provide any kind of turf system for that particular sport."

When he isn't on the road making sales, negotiating contracts, handling municipality permits or overseeing the field installations, LeMaster makes his home about an hour's drive from Philadelphia in the town of Birchrunville, Pennsylvania with his wife, Marylou. LeMaster is the father of three sons: Justin, Brennan and Alexander. He also has one grandson with a second one on the way. !

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Are these the best restaurants in Chester County? One publication says so.

Chester County is home to a wide array of stellar cuisine. Hotspots like Phoenixville and West Chester are home to some of the nation's best chains, local food, and ethnic options, while more options are scattered around the county.

But as you ponder your many delicious options this weekend, you might be wondering: where are the best dining spots in the area?

Eight en of them are right here in Chester County, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The publication recently put out its list of the 25 top restaurants in the Philadelphia suburbs. Establishments from Princeton, N.J. to Delaware County, Pa. were included in the analysis.

The dinner menu has a variety of spicy and non-spicy Indian options.

Bangles aims to serve an Indian audience, but also attract mainstream American diners, with a little upscale polish, plus some fusion touches.

BIRCHRUNVILLE STORE CAFE, 1403 Hollow Road, Birchrunville

The dinner menu features venison filet, black angus strip steak, chilean sea bass, roasted rack of lamb, and roasted breast of duck foie gras.

Ringed by misty cornfields and steepled churches, this old general store turned idyllic French BYOB remains one of the single most charming dining experiences in the region. No wonder weekends are booked months ahead for the cash-only dinners. There’s almost always stuffed roast pheasant, fresh fish with wild mushrooms, rack of lamb with minted risotto, and warm butterscotch cake for dessert.

The authentic dinner menu is highlighted by tacos, with burritos, fish, quesadillas, tortas, and more.

The immigrant-rich agricultural community around mushroom country has a long tradition of great Mexican food, but La Peña Mexicana is my absolute favorite. This modest, no-frills taqueria has a paint job that’s impossible to miss, its shedlike buildings striped like a bumblebee in a Mexican flag.

Majolica's dinner menu features four courses, highlighted by oysters, roasted beets, rabbit ragout, and dessert choices like nutella crepes.

Before the new, hip version of Phoenixville took root, Majolica was the pioneer. This ambitious 44-seat BYOB, launched a decade ago by Savona alum Andrew Deery, was the first project that really brought wider attention to the possibilities of Bridge Street as a nightlife district.

Alba's dinner menu includes diverse antipasta, pasta with rabbit, boar, duck, and other unique options, and a "secondi" menu of fish like grouper and trout.

It’s all about the live fire at Sean and Kelly Weinberg’s Malvern oasis, where the aromatic wood grill and the flavors of Northern Italy pair with excellent service and great Piedmont wines for a refined rustic vibe that makes for one of the best overall dining experiences in the suburbs.

The rotating dinner menu always includes fresh ingredients and changes daily. The October menu was themed "American in Paris" and included Frenchie chicken, fruit and fromage, beef croquettes, and more.

Hard to believe it’s already been a decade since the trendsetting debut of this locavore paradise for prepared foods, artisan cheeses, and evening tasting menu feasts put Kennett Square on every gourmand’s hot list. And amazingly, you still need to plan a year in advance to book dinner at the 12-seat country table in the charming market dining room, and a few months out for the smaller butcher block square in the fluorescent-lit kitchen (my preferred choice).

This trendy Main Line locale has a wide variety of beers and options like the game burger, goat tacos, and mussels.

What began a decade ago as a Belgian bar with a novel Mexican twist has settled in, refined its Euro-taqueria bistro menu, and evolved into so much more than just a great beer bar.

The menu includes a variety of pizzas, including marinara, white, covaccino, fior di latte, regina margherita, and much more.

In a world that rewards multitasking, Frank Nattle is single-minded. And his quest — for the perfect Neapolitan pizza — has long been one of the best reasons to visit Phoenixville. Don’t get overly complicated with toppings.

Photo: Morguefile

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Reader: I loved your new dining guide's focus this year on classic Philly restaurants. But what about the suburbs?

Craig LaBan: Well, of course, last year's dining guide was all about the suburbs! I put more than 4,000 miles on my car scouting more than 180 recommendations from Chester County to South Jersey, so I decided this year to stay a bit closer to home. There were, nonetheless, a number of suburban classics noted in this year's edition, too, both in Pennsylvania (Margaret Kuo's, Eve's Lunch, Han Dynasty, Pica's) and in New Jersey, where veterans like Sagami, Ponzio's, Library II, Donkey's Place and Corinne's Place were singled out. But there were many I could not find room for, so here's a list of 16 more great suburban classics that have been serving consistent excellence across a wide range of styles for at least 10 years.

The Original Clam Tavern (2 bells) is a throwback in the very best sense, an old-school fish house of the sort that's all but disappeared in Philly. It has stayed true to blue-collar Clifton Heights for 50-plus years, with fair prices, classic nautical ambience, and devotion to the seafood classics. The clams casino is among the best around. The red-sauced mussels, creamy chowder, lumpy crab cakes, spaghetti with clams, and lobster fra diavolo are all spot-on. But don't miss the signature baked middleneck clams roasted whole in a distinctive steel tray beneath lightly browned Italian seasonings and a tangy, mysterious red dot. 339 E. Broadway Ave., Clifton Heights. 610-623-9537; clamtavern.net. $-$$

Charlie's Hamburgers is a Delco institution that's been serving hamburgers and shakes since 1935, and it has occupied this no-frills shack in Folsom since 1986, when then-owner Bernard "Bunny" McDonald moved it from the original location in Springfield. Now owned by McDonald's son, Steve, Charlie's still cooks every little patty fresh to order just a few feet away, toasting the buns on the shiny side of the flattop for extra flavor. And what those slider-sized burgers lack in size they more than make up for in a powerful savor. There are no froufrou truffled toppings here — unless the Velveeta-like cheese that oozes between the layers counts. Try the "Bunny" cheeseburger combo with raw onions, or fried onions and pickles on the "Charlie." Either way, you'll want two. You'll also want a black-and-white shake. 336 Kedron Ave., Folsom. 610-461-4228. $

Nectar (3 bells) has long been regarded as the Buddakan of the 'burbs, thanks to its Asian fusion menu and the massive silk-printed Buddha behind glass that watches over the soaring modern space. But, really, Nectar has convincingly blazed its own identity as a special-occasion destination, thanks in large part to talented chef-partner Patrick Feury, whose skills epitomize the sophisticated possibilities of East-West fusion. The sushi here is stellar and creative, but don't miss the crisp lobster dumplings and great steamed pork buns, as well as the wild boar lo mein and butter-poached lobster pad Thai. 1091 Lancaster Ave., Berwyn. 610-725-9000; tastenectar.com. $$$