Magic Carpet

Menu: All vegetarian, mostly Middle Eastern, totally filling. Two locations: 34th Street between Walnut and Spruce, 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m.; Spruce between 35th and 36th, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday. Look for: A dark-green awning and a line about 10 deep. How long: Family-owned and -operated since 1984. Web: magiccarpetfoods.com. Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Magic-Carpet-Foods/130251873665043 . The old-fashioned way: 215-334-0948. Order: Magic meatballs.

"In some ways, you could say that looking at rugs was the TV of the old days," says Felice Fischer. "You could spend hours looking at the trees and flowers and figures and trying to figure out the stories the craftsmen were trying tell us. " Fischer is standing before "The Cosby Show" of Oriental carpets, the 16th Century Persian "Tree Carpet" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a 17-by-12- foot cotton masterpiece with enough colors to tax the...

Every time you heard that distinctive baritone, deepened by a million smokes and marinated like fine bourbon aging in oak casks, you felt something soothing and reassuring. God's in His heaven, Harry the K's in the booth, and all's right with the world. He was, for generations of Phillies fans, The Voice. If Harry said it, it must be so. That voice was stilled today. Harry Kalas, one of the true troubadors of baseball, died. He collapsed in a press box in Washington not long before the Phillies were to play the Nationals, and that site and circumstance seemed altogether fitting - if he could pick his exit, you know it would have been in a booth, readying for another game.

With the National Hockey League season short-circuited by labor trouble, the only professional ice skating going on in this town is happening courtesy of Walt Disney's World on Ice. The boys and girls from Disney are back with "Aladdin," the same production that set Spectrum attendance records for a family show when it played there last year. Close to 300,000 people came out over the Christmas holidays to see the popular film come to life. This engagement, which extends through Sunday, is for fewer performances than the Christmas visit.

DEAR ABBY: At this time of year I have seen letters in your column from couples describing how they met. I hope you will print ours. During a study break one evening in April 1937, I walked to Bruckner Boulevard Park in the Bronx to sit on a bench. A cyclist whizzed through the center walkway, then stopped and slowly backed up to where I was sitting. "Hello," he said. I responded. "Who are you?" he asked. "I'm Queen Elizabeth the First," I told him without batting an eye. "Well," he replied, "I'm Sir Walter Raleigh - unfortunately, I don't have a coat to place at your feet.

It was supposed to be just a walk in the park for Pat Williams. No pressure, no great expectations, just a visit to the big city for a stroll in Central Park, a bite at the famous Carnegie Deli, and a little television exposure for his Orlando Magic and their lone pingpong ball. "I read all the Dallas Green articles, had a nice roast chicken," he said yesterday. "Just had a wonderful day. " With one shot in 66, the Magic - excuse the expression - low-balled the whole lottery this season.

As the youngest of three, illusionist Brad Ross always yearned for attention. When his parents hired a magician for his fifth birthday party, it opened his eyes to a world of magical possibilities - and stirred his desire to be a magician. Ross honed his skills performing at parties and local events, which led to his own show at Six Flags. This weekend he is one of the magicians headlining Disney Live! Presents Mickey's Magic Show at the Academy of Music. Ross says the performance is a spectacular celebration of the "magic that lives inside of us. " The crowd is invited on a magical journey as Cinderella's rags are transformed into a beautiful ball gown, Princess Jasmine floats through the air without the help of a magic carpet, and the dancing brooms from Fantasia sashay across the stage.

In a game of Can You Top This?, the professional sports world would be hard-pressed these days to come up with a more improbable story than the Flyers. But the Montreal Canadiens should be considered a worthy contender, and they happen to be the Flyers' opponent for the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final, which begins Sunday at the Wachovia Center. Pardon the Canadiens if they are only mildly impressed by the Flyers' feats. These descendants of NHL royalty have pulled a few rabbits out of their duffel bags themselves, and they could lay claim that their magic tricks have trumped the Flyers' in improbability.

Ed Turner calls it "the grungy look. " He likes it that way. It's good for business. "People take a look at my dirty windows, dusty shelves, all the clutter, and think, hey, this old guy might have something good inside. They come in, look around, wind up buying something," reasons Turner. "If I cleaned the windows, kept the place spic-and-span, people wouldn't come in. It's all psychological, studied chaos. Something I picked up through the years. " Turner's picked up thousands of tricks through the years.

After a successful West Coast trip that confirmed that their fast start wasn't a fluke, the first-place Phillies last night returned to Veterans Stadium to see if their early-season magic was still working. Phillies 4, Cardinals 3. The magic carpet ride continues. Despite committing three errors, despite going 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position and despite falling into an early two-run hole, the Phillies outlasted the Cardinals before 33,739 spectators. Dave Hollins delivered three hits, including a two-run homer that gave the Phils the lead for good in the fifth, and winner Tommy Greene pitched 7 1/3 innings to pace Philadelphia.

DEAR ABBY: At this time of year I have seen letters in your column from couples describing how they met. I hope you will print ours. During a study break one evening in April 1937, I walked to Bruckner Boulevard Park in the Bronx to sit on a bench. A cyclist whizzed through the center walkway, then stopped and slowly backed up to where I was sitting. "Hello," he said. I responded. "Who are you?" he asked. "I'm Queen Elizabeth the First," I told him without batting an eye. "Well," he replied, "I'm Sir Walter Raleigh - unfortunately, I don't have a coat to place at your feet.

Gowns in sparkling nudes and vibrant shades were the major red-carpet trends Saturday evening at the 155th Academy of Music Anniversary Concert and Ball. Off-the-shoulder gowns seemed just as popular as strapless ones. And A-line silhouettes were preferred to ball gowns. In fact, Philadelphia's doyennes stepped up the glamour quotient to such heights that some of the dresses were dead ringers for gowns worn by celebrities on red carpets past. For example, first lady Lisa Nutter was particularly radiant sailing up the Academy of Music steps in a deep purple Nicole Miller gown.

Menu: All vegetarian, mostly Middle Eastern, totally filling. Two locations: 34th Street between Walnut and Spruce, 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m.; Spruce between 35th and 36th, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday. Look for: A dark-green awning and a line about 10 deep. How long: Family-owned and -operated since 1984. Web: magiccarpetfoods.com. Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Magic-Carpet-Foods/130251873665043 . The old-fashioned way: 215-334-0948. Order: Magic meatballs.

In a game of Can You Top This?, the professional sports world would be hard-pressed these days to come up with a more improbable story than the Flyers. But the Montreal Canadiens should be considered a worthy contender, and they happen to be the Flyers' opponent for the best-of-seven Eastern Conference final, which begins Sunday at the Wachovia Center. Pardon the Canadiens if they are only mildly impressed by the Flyers' feats. These descendants of NHL royalty have pulled a few rabbits out of their duffel bags themselves, and they could lay claim that their magic tricks have trumped the Flyers' in improbability.

Every time you heard that distinctive baritone, deepened by a million smokes and marinated like fine bourbon aging in oak casks, you felt something soothing and reassuring. God's in His heaven, Harry the K's in the booth, and all's right with the world. He was, for generations of Phillies fans, The Voice. If Harry said it, it must be so. That voice was stilled today. Harry Kalas, one of the true troubadors of baseball, died. He collapsed in a press box in Washington not long before the Phillies were to play the Nationals, and that site and circumstance seemed altogether fitting - if he could pick his exit, you know it would have been in a booth, readying for another game.

As the youngest of three, illusionist Brad Ross always yearned for attention. When his parents hired a magician for his fifth birthday party, it opened his eyes to a world of magical possibilities - and stirred his desire to be a magician. Ross honed his skills performing at parties and local events, which led to his own show at Six Flags. This weekend he is one of the magicians headlining Disney Live! Presents Mickey's Magic Show at the Academy of Music. Ross says the performance is a spectacular celebration of the "magic that lives inside of us. " The crowd is invited on a magical journey as Cinderella's rags are transformed into a beautiful ball gown, Princess Jasmine floats through the air without the help of a magic carpet, and the dancing brooms from Fantasia sashay across the stage.

Tom Steigerwald's the kind of guy who gets upset if the sky isn't blue enough. No wonder he's a gardener. "It creates a little oasis for me," he says, "a counterpoint to everything else in modern life. " But Steigerwald's oasis, which wraps around a converted 19th-century firehouse in Elkins Park, would intimidate less-adventurous souls. It's almost all shade, a condition many gardeners fear makes it hard to grow anything colorful or fun. Not so. So not so! Since moving from Philadelphia 13 years ago, Steigerwald, an artist who specializes in huge floral paintings, and his wife, Patrice, an engineer at Lockheed Martin, have transformed their long-neglected yard into a charming, slightly wild cottage garden.

George Jevremovic didn't set out to become the savior of the Oriental rug trade. He wanted to be a writer until he followed his college girlfriend to her native Turkey in 1979, caught what he calls "the rug bug," and began scouring the country for Oriental rugs to sell to dealers and collectors. At first, Jevremovic (pronounced Yev-REM-o-vitch), who traveled back and forth between Turkey and the United States, traded strictly in antiques. That's because new hand-woven rugs were sorry specimens.

The designs are intricate and geometric, and repeat themselves, almost like woven hieroglyphics. The colors - vivid purples, reds, golds and browns - swirl like those in a kaleidoscope. They're as soft to the touch as silk - of which they're sometimes made. We're not talking about options to shag or plush pile here. Oriental carpets are more than floor coverings. They are works of art, each piece hand-made, speaking of its time, region and culture. Over the last 20 years, American appreciation of Oriental carpets has heightened, and more collectors have emerged.

Ed Turner calls it "the grungy look. " He likes it that way. It's good for business. "People take a look at my dirty windows, dusty shelves, all the clutter, and think, hey, this old guy might have something good inside. They come in, look around, wind up buying something," reasons Turner. "If I cleaned the windows, kept the place spic-and-span, people wouldn't come in. It's all psychological, studied chaos. Something I picked up through the years. " Turner's picked up thousands of tricks through the years.