CLOSE UP Video Interviews

Moverama ( a concatenation of “move” and “Rama”) is a Philadelphia-based moving company with Krishna consciousness. The Hindu Lord Rama, an incarnation of the God Vishnu is central to a Sanskrit epic, the Ramayana.

Your correspondent encountered the shiny black moving truck with its unique logo down the street where they were moving in a new neighbor. One of the movers I encountered said his business partner is “into” the tradition He thought Rama might come from the earlier Vedas but there is much debate this online. The company company‘s logo is an eye and in the eye, a circle representing for the iris and pupil. In the circle is the face of the monkey God of strength, Hanuman, Lord Rama’s greatest devotee. Resting on his forward-facing palm-up hand is a green mountain with trees and a temple. The drawing references the following story from Hindu scripture:

“One of Hanuman’s greatest moments occurred when Indrajit struck with black magic in the middle of the night, severely wounding Lakshmana and knocking him unconscious. Listening to advice from the physician Susena, Hanuman headed for Gandhamadana mountain in the Himalayas to bring back the herb visalya-karani, which alone could save the lives of Lakshmana and the many vanara soldiers that had also been injured. To do this, Hanuman had to defeat an army of protective demigods, uproot the entire mountain because he couldn’t distinguish which plant was the correct one, and swiftly return before it was too late.” https://iskconnews.org/lessons-from-hanuman-lord-ramas-greatest-servant,1741/

The Moverama crew says their moving is as good as their logo is beautiful.

Watch video interview  of Krishna conscious movers here.

Hilltop Books, the bookstore of the Friends of the Chestnut Hill Library, now has on display historical ledgers of the Chestnut Hill Library and other historical records of the Free Library of Philadelphia system. Two ledgers contain daily counts of circulation by subject area at the Chestnut Hill Branch appearing to date back as far as 1937. A large, dried-out leather edition “Registration Book Vol 1” of the “Chestnut Hill Branch” with ribs on the spine contains 1476 numbered and handwritten names and addresses and appears to date back to 1897. These, possibly, are individuals who had borrowing privileges at the branch. Among these are a number of prominent Chestnut Hill family names. The Free library of Philadelphia Annual Report of 1896 indicates it was the first such report. It appears that this book is preserved in electronic format. See the worldcat record here.

Interim bookstore manager Laura Lucas indicates that the Friends are working with the Chestnut Hill Conservancy to preserve these and other historical treasures.

Download phone camera generated Free Library of Philadelphia First Annual Report 1896.pdf (26150.8K)

Click here for a small photo album of the books.

Click here for a small video of a "page-through" of the books.

Two vacationing young couples from D.C. and the Philly area came out on the Cape May beach before 7 AM on the first day of spring to catch the sunrise. Because the beach faces more southerly than east, they had to position themselves out on a jetty to better see the sun peek above the horizon. One of them planted her phone in the sand to capture a time-lapse movie of the sunrise. Your correspondent had come to the beach at the same time to do the same! The friends had not yet visited Sunset Beach and your correspondent recommended an excursion there to witness a spectacular sunset from bayside on the west coast of the cape. Watch Cape May sunrise and conversation with vacationers here.

From multiple sources your correspondent (“I”) had learned about and followed through with signing up for a COVID-19 vaccine through the Philadelphia government website. Shortly after I got my first vaccination! Here’s how it went down. A few weeks after registering I received a notice that I could make an appointment for a shot by filling out a form. The form took me step-by-step through what I needed to provide in the way of information about my health and age and and such. I was given an opportunity to select a time of day and then was assigned appointment date on March 15 at 9:30 am. By about 9 AM hundreds of us were already gathering in a long line along the western wall of the convention center. Yellow vested attendants prompted us to keep our distance and to have our identification ready. They also asked few preliminary questions about our health today. The line moved slowly but deliberately along to the entrance. There, a uniformed soldier asked to see our ID again and provide a couple particulars. Once inside, we were directed into long lines and turning a corner, were directed by a small cadre of military personnel assigned us to one of what seemed to the hundreds of tables where other personnel were administering shots. I said at the end of the table and another person at the other end. As soon as the marine finished administering her shot he had me roll up my sleeve to the shoulder and and politely shot me with what looked like a small orange click needle, handed me my CDC vaccination card and directed me to the area where I needed to sign up for my second shot. A jolly FEMA worker stickered us, those willing, with “I got my Covid-19 vaccine!” labels. I could have waited in line to schedule an appointment with personnel but I opened to scan with my phone camera the QR code that another worker offered me to do this online. This took me step by step through the registration system for the second shot. And then, we vaccinated, wound our way toward the exit where another attendant cheerily reminded us, “See you on April 5th!” As we exited the doors, hardly 20 minutes after we had first entered, I may have felt like waving my arms above my head in exultation but the woman in front of me actually did. Watch military personnel administer vaccines to people at FEMA mass vaccination site in Philadelphia here

Pete Golascewski and a workmate from David Brothers Landscape Services brothers were about to clean off a lower wall of a house and patch and seal it after excavating a 3 foot deep trench alongside it. Water had been coming into the house. An engineer suggested the project to stop the infiltration. The trench will be filled with a clay soil which is less penetrable than the naturally existing soil. The soil will be put down in layers, sloping away from the house. The work crew will also install new window wells. Golascewski says these jobs have become ever more frequent in recent years because of very heavy rain falls. He doesn’t profess to be a scientist but nevertheless believes the heavy rainfalls contributing to the burgeoning demand for this type of landscape construction work can be attributed to climate change. Watch video interview of landscaper describing basement waterproofing construction job here.

Apollo Heidelmark, Manager at the Weavers Way Co-op Mount Airy store reports that sales of beef have grown tenfold in recent years. Your correspondent was intrigued by a notice in the co-op’s E-News that the store was giving away beef fat for free so stopped in to find what that was all about! Ideally, Heidelmark would like to sell the fat but the store just has too much of it on hand. The store currently buys two cows a month from a local farmer. The cows, which are born and grow up to between 900 and 1200 pounds within six months to a year are strung up after slaughter to age. The cow is then halved and shipped to the store as a “primal” along with the beef fat. The staff cuts the beef into popular steak portions. Since flank steaks are popular but there are only two per cow, the store needs to buy additional flank steaks separately from a larger cooperative Also, to meet demand for meat, the store has acquired meat grinders to convert trimmings into ground beef. Heidelmark attributes the dramatic increase in demand to the protein value of the meat and great desirability among co-op shoppers for the meat of grass-fed cows. (The meat the coop sells comes from cows that may be “finished off” with grains.) Heidelmark anticipates coop members will render the beef fat for cooking, use it to make candles or soap or feed it to birds, squirrels and raccoons. Watch video here.