Sunny Weather and Cherry Blossoms, Week March 10-16

 By Nate Feldman

*The weather

After a rainy, blustery weekend, the sky cleared up for a mostly sunny and warm workweek in the Philadelphia area.  Daylight Savings Time began on Sunday, so people now have an extra hour to enjoy the sunshine.  The temperatures also warmed up to spring-like weather, with highs in the mid-70s in the middle of the week.

Sunny weather in Berwyn, PA 

*The Outdoors 

The Cherry Blossoms in Clark Park in Philadelphia began turning bright pink, showing that spring is just around the corner.  The Forsythia bushes also started turning yellow with their flowers popping up everywhere.

I went with Kipper, my golden retriever, to Teegarden Park, a local place where dogs are allowed to roam with their owners.  He had a lot of fun playing with other dogs.

Cherry Blossoms at Clark Park, Philadelphia, PA 

A forsythia bush with bright yellow colors in Berwyn, PA

*Local News

The Tredyffrin-Easttown Middle School in Berwyn, PA performed its annual play this week.  The middle school actors starred in Singing in the Rain, Jr..  The show took place on Wednesday for elementary school students, Thursday during the day for the middle school itself, and Thursday and Friday evenings as well as Saturday afternoon for the general public.  

*Peace and Dialogue 

Interfaith Philadelphia, an organization dedicated to inter-religious dialogue in the Philadelphia area, is hosting an event on April 16, from 2-4 PM, titled "De-Escalate Conflict by Complicating the Narrative: Civil Conversation Workshop."  This program will focus on how people of different religious, cultural, and or political viewpoints can engage with one another in a meaningful way.  The event will be held at Gwynedd Mercy University.  

An Australian news channel did a report on the Neve Shalom/Wahat Al Salam village in Israel, a town where 50% of the inhabitants are Jews and the other half are Arabs.  The village has a school where Jewish and Arab students study together.  Its curriculum is both in Hebrew and Arabic.  The reporter interviewed teachers and students at the school about their perspectives of studying together, especially in light of the ongoing war in Gaza.

  

You can watch this video and learn more about the village at this website: https://www.oasisofpeace.org/.  

Another news report about the village and its activities was done by the Israeli news channel i24NEWS English, which can be found on You Tube (Community built on coexistence navigates difficulties of post-October 7 reality).  

*Personal News 

In my personal life, my father and I are planning to see a minor league baseball game in Allentown, PA at the end of March, the first time I will see a game there.  I talked with two guys I know at the local YMCA while I was working out.  They were good conversations.  

My daughters performed in the aforementioned school play and did great!  On Thursday, my sister, her husband, and my nephew joined my mother, father, and myself in watching the play.  My sister told me she would like to check out the Ryers Farm for Aged Equines, a local farm that takes care of older horses.  I saw the play again on Friday, and on Saturday, my former wife and her in-laws were there.  I had a good conversation with her father-in-law, and she even bought me a soft pretzel and a drink.