Puerto Rico comes to Bristol

By Diane Davies-Dixon Correspondent | 2 comments

With a smile from ear to ear, Kayla Ruiz bowed down to the drummer and began to lead the dance as the sound of drums and maracas filled the air.

The Puerto Rican Cultural Association of Bucks County put on the 41st Annual Puerto Rican Day Festival at Lions Park in Bristol on Sunday.

Kayla, 12, of Bristol, looks forward to the Puerto Rican Day Festival all year, said her mom, Lucy Mercado. The festival blends America and Puerto Rico and helps her daughter understand her culture.

“She is always curious,” said Mercado.

She looks forward to bringing Kayla to the festival to learn about her Puerto Rican heritage. Mercado and Kayla’s father were born in Puerto Rico but Kayla was born in America and they don’t always have time to explain the culture to her.

Dressed in a blue and white Puerto Rican cultural dress with a red flower in her hair, all borrowed from The Puerto Rican Cultural Association of Bucks County, Kayla participated in the Rhythm and Movement Workshop where she learned how to lead the drums in a dance.

First the dancer salutes the drummer with a bow and nod of the head. The drummer watches the dancer, beating the drums to her body movements until the dancer bows down again signaling she is done.

To read more go to: http://www.phillyburbs.com/my_town/bristol/puerto-rico-comes-to-bristol/article_e46536bd-7a82-5f7c-81f7-3ae931723818.html

Poor Clares of Langhorne

By Diane Davies-Dixon Correspondent | 1 comment

Sister Jean, 57, of Maine, used to work for a newspaper. She also went to college and earned a degree in accounting. That was before she felt a religious calling that brought her to Middletown's Monastery of St. Clare which sits secluded behind St. Mary Medical Center.

“Through my journey in life I felt the pull of faith and wanted to commit myself more to prayer and to administer to the poor,” she said.

She describes her calling as a kind of mystery. "It is peace, joy and rightness," she explained.

The order of Poor Clares was founded on Palm Sunday 800 years ago in Assisi, Italy. Since then, it has established monasteries throughout the world. There are about 50 in the U.S. representing different branches of the order, all devoted to a simple life.

“Simple and pure like Christ and Mary did; totally dependent on the Father,” said Sister Jean.

She is one of 11 nuns who live in the monastery.

The journey to becoming a Poor Clare can take between six to nine years, she said.

to read more go to:http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times_news/poor-clares-of-langhorne/article_2f488052-1a7c-553e-9bd6-ab6507d18b27.html

Possible ties to underground railroad

By Diane Davies-Dixon Correspondent | 4 comments

While digging up dirt to repair a leak in the root cellar just outside the Goodnoe Farmhouse estate in Newtown Township, a mystery was uncovered.

The cellar’s roof wasn’t made of modest materials normally used for such underground cooling rooms. Instead, a type of shale more often seen on church tops covered the cooling room.

Why? That’s the mystery.

The president of the Doylestown-based Heritage Conservancy wonders if the root cellar was a hiding place for fugitive slaves escaping the South in the 19th century.

“There are no recordings of structures that could have been used as Underground Railroads since it was an illegal activity,” said the conservancy’s Jeff Marshall, “but any underground structure could have been used to sneak people out.”

The Underground Railroad wasn’t a rail system but a network of people who believed slavery should have been abolished. Abolitionists offered their homes as a safe hideout or provided runaway slaves with a ride to the next stop on the freedom trail. Many Quakers and Presbyterians in Bucks County were active in the network, according to historians. An estimated 100,000 fugitive slaves escaped to the North between 1810 and 1850 via the Underground Railroad, they said.

To read more go to: http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times_news/was-unique-root-cellar-a-stop-on-underground-railroad/article_bd4f3a98-6ce0-577b-9f02-6e97d65937c1.html

Middletown has first their first July 4 parade

Diane Davies-Dixon Correspondent | 0 comments

Residents of Middletown have waited a long time for a parade in town. Some have waited a whole lifetime.

And this year they got it.

This year they didn't have to pack up the family and travel to give their children the experience of watching a parade.

"I am so glad the parade is local and I can walk to it and see neighbors," said Jamie Neiman, 38, of Middletown.

"The Fourth of July makes everyone proud of their country," she said.

For the 38 years she lived in Middletown there was never a parade. She had to go to other townships if she wanted to see one.

Middletown celebrated America's birthday with a July 4 parade Wednesday. There was an abundance of support and respect from the community proving that people have not forgotten the reason for the celebration.

Residents lined the streets dressed in red, white and blue. They came out to celebrate the country’s freedom. Families scattered about in chairs and on blankets with flags in hand displaying pride in the country and delight for a parade in town.

"It is about time we have a parade," said Jay Domback, of Middletown.

His thoughts were echoed by other residents of the town.

to read more go to: http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times_news/middletown-has-its-first-july-fourth-parade/article_e4acfc36-8858-59bd-9c22-5cd0eb9b3a0b.html

Mosquitoes are bugging us early this year

By Diane Davies-Dixon Correspondent | 2 comments

The mosquitoes are here, and have been for awhile.

It was the mild winter and wet spring that caused the biting bugs to appear earlier than normal this year. And with the buggers, comes the West Nile virus.

The first mosquito tested positive for the virus in Bucks County on June 14, in Bristol Township.

Last year, the first mosquito in the county tested positive on June 28, according to Amanda Witman of the Department of Environmental Protection.

She said the virus typically emerges in mid-June but across the state this year it showed up earlier.

The first mosquito in Pennsylvania to test positive for the virus was on May 3.

A higher number of mosquitoes are around in general, not just infected ones this year, according to DEP.

A total of 158 mosquitoes were trapped and tested for West Nile virus in the county so far this year, according to the agency’s website. Four mosquitoes in two different species — culex pipens and culex restuans — tested positive.

Three of the insects with positive results were found in Bristol Township. The other one came from Haycock, according to the Pennsylvania West Nile Virus Control Program.

In 2011, 486 mosquitoes were tested and 37 were positive for the virus in the county. One human case was reported in Bucks County last year, but none so far this year, according to the program.

to read more go to: http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times_news/mosquitoes-are-bugging-us-early-this-year/article_88ad90ee-7081-5feb-9057-3b16531a6790.html