The Michael Huber Prairie Warbler Preserve is at Sooy Place Road, Vincentown, Phone 856-342-6523. You'll have to go to their web site for more info and directions as I was a passenger in Barb Solem's car and couldn't find my way back there without her or my gps.
222.njconservation.org/html/preserves/michaelhuber.htm
What a beautiful day for a hike in such a splendid autumn woods. The trail was nice and wide and there was a gorgeous clear spring crossing it for the dogs to wade in and drink from. The weather was idyllic and it was one of those days that I call myhappiest.
Also we had lunch at the Tabernacle Inn, which I have written about before and I can tell you the soup I had hit the spot - it was mushroom barley soup with hot rolls.
Looking for something to do? Gas up and head out! Don't make my mistake, though. I forgot to spray. It is still warm enough to be tick scary, so spray!
Today I'm off to Thompson Street in Bordentown before a dog walk at Knight's Park and lunch from SaladWorks in Collingswood, then I've got to get home in time to don my fortune teller costume and greet the kids! My town has delightful children in clever and adorable costumes. The parents and the children have so much fun, and I like to give back for all the wonder and mystery my daughter Mounenjoyed in her childhood Halloweens in our little hometown. I'm all decorated and ready to go!
Friday, October 31, 2014
Monday, October 27, 2014
More Things To Do part 3
Events coming up at Whitesbog:
November 1 - Village Tour 1:00 p.m.
8 - Moonlight Walk 7 p.m.
30 - Greens Sale (Good place to go for Holiday decor and gifts!!!) 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
November 1 - Village Tour 1:00 p.m.
8 - Moonlight Walk 7 p.m.
30 - Greens Sale (Good place to go for Holiday decor and gifts!!!) 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Double Feature: Pakim Pond & Whitesbog
What a treat - on Saturday when Barb Spector, Trixie and I pulled into the lot at Pakim Pond for a hike around the pond and a couple miles on the Cranberry Trail, we found the picnic pavilion hosting the New Jersey Mycologist Association. www.njmyco.org
They had their finds all laid out on the picnic tables so I was able to have a look and a chat.
I had noticed the wide variety and the bounty of mushrooms in the woods lately. I promise you I wouldn't eat one unless told it was safe or unless starving. First off, I hate to say this in front of the mushroom collectors, but, although I like to look at them - even marvel at their colors, shapes and the little villages they create, not to mention the 'fairy circles' I am not a fan of the mushroom as a food item. Dr. Fuhrman of channel 12 fame (He's a health and nutrition missionary) says the you should eat what he calls G BOMBS - Greens, beans, onions, mushroom, berries and seeds. I do and I even add mushrooms when I get a salad for lunch at SaladWorks in Collingswood, but they aren't my favorites and they do go bad so swiftly.
Anyhow, we hiked and the weather and the woods were splendid! Also, I forgot to mention, when we arrived, we ate our picnic lunch and dessert, which was a pumpkin pie purchased at the Red Top Market. The last one left in the case, and the best one I have tasted this season.
After our hike, we rested on the 20 minute drive to Whitesbog, where we found the store open and one of the tour guides had just completed a tour. If you've never toured this old farm village, located on Whites Bog Rd, Browns Mills, NJ, I strongly recommend you take a ride out and register in advance for a tour. It is the home of the cultivated NJ Blueberry, an effort of Elizabeth White. The bogs are empty now, the harvest is over, but its such a beautiful place to walk (with the exception of one interruption from a gang of loud and destructive ATV's throwing sand into the air in great clouds and tearing up the roads between the bogs. I wish they would keep to motor sports parks and leave the woods and other places of peace for hikers. www.whitesbog.org
But you can't let things like that spoil an otherwise perfect day and after they rumbled through, they were gone and we had the peace and beauty of the bogs again!
A GREAT WAY TO SPEND A DAY!!! So easy, Pick up a picnic at the Wawa on Rt. 70,
turn right on 72 to the entrance to Brendan Byrne Forest, on the left, just oppposite the Lebanon buildings on the right, and follow the signs for Pakim Pond. Of course, I'll include web sites for more information. Hope you are inspired to get on out there while the leaves are in full color! http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/byrne.html
Happy Trails, Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
They had their finds all laid out on the picnic tables so I was able to have a look and a chat.
I had noticed the wide variety and the bounty of mushrooms in the woods lately. I promise you I wouldn't eat one unless told it was safe or unless starving. First off, I hate to say this in front of the mushroom collectors, but, although I like to look at them - even marvel at their colors, shapes and the little villages they create, not to mention the 'fairy circles' I am not a fan of the mushroom as a food item. Dr. Fuhrman of channel 12 fame (He's a health and nutrition missionary) says the you should eat what he calls G BOMBS - Greens, beans, onions, mushroom, berries and seeds. I do and I even add mushrooms when I get a salad for lunch at SaladWorks in Collingswood, but they aren't my favorites and they do go bad so swiftly.
Anyhow, we hiked and the weather and the woods were splendid! Also, I forgot to mention, when we arrived, we ate our picnic lunch and dessert, which was a pumpkin pie purchased at the Red Top Market. The last one left in the case, and the best one I have tasted this season.
After our hike, we rested on the 20 minute drive to Whitesbog, where we found the store open and one of the tour guides had just completed a tour. If you've never toured this old farm village, located on Whites Bog Rd, Browns Mills, NJ, I strongly recommend you take a ride out and register in advance for a tour. It is the home of the cultivated NJ Blueberry, an effort of Elizabeth White. The bogs are empty now, the harvest is over, but its such a beautiful place to walk (with the exception of one interruption from a gang of loud and destructive ATV's throwing sand into the air in great clouds and tearing up the roads between the bogs. I wish they would keep to motor sports parks and leave the woods and other places of peace for hikers. www.whitesbog.org
But you can't let things like that spoil an otherwise perfect day and after they rumbled through, they were gone and we had the peace and beauty of the bogs again!
A GREAT WAY TO SPEND A DAY!!! So easy, Pick up a picnic at the Wawa on Rt. 70,
turn right on 72 to the entrance to Brendan Byrne Forest, on the left, just oppposite the Lebanon buildings on the right, and follow the signs for Pakim Pond. Of course, I'll include web sites for more information. Hope you are inspired to get on out there while the leaves are in full color! http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/byrne.html
Happy Trails, Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Uncle Bill's Pancake House and Family Restaurant
On Friday, I drove to visit my cousin Patty in the Villas and after a delightful walk along the bay with Trixie, my Labrador Retriever, we headed over to Uncle Bill's for his famous pumpkin pancakes. They are beyond delicious!!!
Sidenote: This was especially fun because my cousin Patty's father was my father's brother and his name was Bill! So he was my Uncle Bill. He made the best cheesecake (aside from my mother's - she made the BEST everything.)
As you know, although I started out mainly talking about historic sights, I early branched off into fun places to go and things to do, so I recommend you go to Uncle Bill's for brunch or lunch one day soon before the pumpkin pancakes are out of season! If that happens, you can get the sweet potato pancakes all year round.
By the way, Uncle Bill's has several locations:
Avalon - 32nd and Dune
Stone Harbor - 309 96th St.
Cap[e May - Perry & Beach
Ocean City - 2 locations, 2112 Asbury, 40th and West
Strathmere - Willard & Ocean
Villas (aka North Cape May) 3820 Bayshore
Wildwood - 4601 Pacific
While you are in the Villas, a quaint and homey community, with some really great real estate bargains and relatively low taxes) take a drive over to Cox's Creek Wildlife preserve to hike off that pancake brunch!
What wonderful weather. I hope you are enjoying it too!
Happy Trails, Jo Ann (you can e-mail me at wrightj45@yahoo.com)
Sidenote: This was especially fun because my cousin Patty's father was my father's brother and his name was Bill! So he was my Uncle Bill. He made the best cheesecake (aside from my mother's - she made the BEST everything.)
As you know, although I started out mainly talking about historic sights, I early branched off into fun places to go and things to do, so I recommend you go to Uncle Bill's for brunch or lunch one day soon before the pumpkin pancakes are out of season! If that happens, you can get the sweet potato pancakes all year round.
By the way, Uncle Bill's has several locations:
Avalon - 32nd and Dune
Stone Harbor - 309 96th St.
Cap[e May - Perry & Beach
Ocean City - 2 locations, 2112 Asbury, 40th and West
Strathmere - Willard & Ocean
Villas (aka North Cape May) 3820 Bayshore
Wildwood - 4601 Pacific
While you are in the Villas, a quaint and homey community, with some really great real estate bargains and relatively low taxes) take a drive over to Cox's Creek Wildlife preserve to hike off that pancake brunch!
What wonderful weather. I hope you are enjoying it too!
Happy Trails, Jo Ann (you can e-mail me at wrightj45@yahoo.com)
Monday, October 20, 2014
FiberArts Cafe, Millville, NJ
On Saturday, a friend and I hiked the Maurice River Bluffs after a hearty lunch at Wildflowers, Vegan Restaurant in Millville, NJ. I had a delicious vegetable soup and Barbar Spector had the bean burger - so good!
The hike was wonderful, the views delightful and the temperature perfect for hiking. So many mushrooms this year! We did the red trail and the white trail, taking the blue trail to get there and again passed two pretty beaches and the World War II ruins.
While we were browsing the little shops in the Glasstown Arts District, we stopped in at the Fiber Arts Cafe and I bought a colorful and warm afghan to put over my legs when I kick off my hiking shoes and settle back with a nice cup of tea and a cat on my lap. The colors were so perfect for fall. I may have to go back for the sweater I saw there too!
You never know what you'll find when you shop the Arts District. If I had hundreds to spend, I would buy a painting or two every time I went to the gallery across the street, I think it is the Galleria - such beautiful work that even I who do my own paintings, find myself wishing I could take them home.
Barbara bought a charming neck scarf at the Fiber Arts Cafe and we both recommend a visit before the really cold weather comes in. Also, get out there and visit the bluffs!
Happy Trails,
Jo Ann
The hike was wonderful, the views delightful and the temperature perfect for hiking. So many mushrooms this year! We did the red trail and the white trail, taking the blue trail to get there and again passed two pretty beaches and the World War II ruins.
While we were browsing the little shops in the Glasstown Arts District, we stopped in at the Fiber Arts Cafe and I bought a colorful and warm afghan to put over my legs when I kick off my hiking shoes and settle back with a nice cup of tea and a cat on my lap. The colors were so perfect for fall. I may have to go back for the sweater I saw there too!
You never know what you'll find when you shop the Arts District. If I had hundreds to spend, I would buy a painting or two every time I went to the gallery across the street, I think it is the Galleria - such beautiful work that even I who do my own paintings, find myself wishing I could take them home.
Barbara bought a charming neck scarf at the Fiber Arts Cafe and we both recommend a visit before the really cold weather comes in. Also, get out there and visit the bluffs!
Happy Trails,
Jo Ann
Monday, October 13, 2014
Batsto Events
Sunday, Barbara Solem's book launch at Batsto Village Visitors' Center was a great success: the lecture hall was packed to standing room only, many tours of the mansion were given, and at the book signing, the books sold out! I bought three, myself, to give for Christmas gifts as well as to keep for my own book shelf on the pines. It was a delightful day and I had the opportunity to hike around the village twice, which I enjoyed enormously. It brought back so many memories of autumns years gone by spent hiking around the village and the lake and canoeing on the lake.
UPCOMING: COUNTRY LIVING FAIR 2014
HISTORIC BATSTO VILLAGE October 19, 2014, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
crafts, food, antiques, quilters, potters, steam engine, music, farm equipment, chain-saw art, pony rides and moore
Route 542, Hammonton, NJ 08037
FREE ADMISSION and plenty of parking
for more information call 609-561-0209 or 60-561-5019
UPCOMING: COUNTRY LIVING FAIR 2014
HISTORIC BATSTO VILLAGE October 19, 2014, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
crafts, food, antiques, quilters, potters, steam engine, music, farm equipment, chain-saw art, pony rides and moore
Route 542, Hammonton, NJ 08037
FREE ADMISSION and plenty of parking
for more information call 609-561-0209 or 60-561-5019
Saturday, October 11, 2014
It is enough to make you want to become a mycologist! The great number of fascinating and different varieties of mushrooms along the trail at Brendan Byrne State Forest yesterday had me fascinated and my phone/camera clicking every few yards. What a great day to take a hike! And especially in view of the day that followed - today, Saturday, Oct. 11 - a cold, damp, rainy day that has kept me in the house reading, writing, and doing household chores, computer chores and art work.
But yesterday was heavenly, my favorite kind of day - a nice hike on the cranberry trail, a picnic in the shelter by Pakim Pond, and a stop at the Red Top Market on the way home for a bag of winesap apples! I am tempted to hyperbole - well, I'll give in to it - it was the most PERFECT Day in the world! My dog, Trixie, would agree, as would my hiking companion of the day, Barb Spector.
Today I was planning to go to the Book Fair at Collingswood until the weather intervened. But I am happy at home always - that is, if I can't be in the woods.
Happy Autumn, Happy Halloween, nad always Happy Trails! Jo Ann
Link to Brendan Byrne Forest and Pakim Pond
http://www.njwildlifetrails.org/PineBarrensTrails/Sites/tabid/1698/Scope/site/Guide/PINEBARREN/Site/277/Default.aspx
But yesterday was heavenly, my favorite kind of day - a nice hike on the cranberry trail, a picnic in the shelter by Pakim Pond, and a stop at the Red Top Market on the way home for a bag of winesap apples! I am tempted to hyperbole - well, I'll give in to it - it was the most PERFECT Day in the world! My dog, Trixie, would agree, as would my hiking companion of the day, Barb Spector.
Today I was planning to go to the Book Fair at Collingswood until the weather intervened. But I am happy at home always - that is, if I can't be in the woods.
Happy Autumn, Happy Halloween, nad always Happy Trails! Jo Ann
Link to Brendan Byrne Forest and Pakim Pond
http://www.njwildlifetrails.org/PineBarrensTrails/Sites/tabid/1698/Scope/site/Guide/PINEBARREN/Site/277/Default.aspx
Friday, October 3, 2014
Quick note: Dog Grooming
The other day my dog, Trixie, rolled in a whole lot of "Sh....." and it was HORRIBLE! I tried to find the Do-It-Yourself Dog Wash, or anyone who would bathe her without an appointment. She is to big for my bad back at 70 pounds. I need help! No one was available without an appointment till I called The Dog House856-547-8716. They did it all - bath, nails, ears, teeth, and gave her a Halloween scarf and treats. They were wonderful and very very reasonale at $42.50. I strongly recommend them to anyone with a pet. 315 East Atlantic Avenue, Auduon, and plenty of easy parking too!
Upcoming October Events
Hello, along with the festival days I posted earlier, here are a couple of new events I just found out about today. A friend and I were having lunch at the Blue Plate in Mullica Hill and browsing antiques at the Red Mill today and I picked up these two postcard announcements (along with a very nice pumpkin):
CIVIL WAR LIVING HISTORY WEEKEND - Fall Open House 45th Annual October 11th and 12th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.: camp life, skirmishes, ghost walk, lantern tour, live music, food & more!for more information go to www.mullicahill.com or call 856-223-5440
Mullica Hill's Annual GHOST WALK - Saturday October 11th tickets are available online or at the Blue Plate 47 S. Main Street, every 10 minutes beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Don't forget - Barbara Solem's book launch, power point presentation and book signing event at Batsto! Sunday the 12th ay 1:00 p.m.! http://www.batstovillage.org/
the Batsto website doesn't have a post on Barbara's book launch, but, I assure you it is there! Here is one they did post on their speaker series: The Real Story of the Jersey Devil, on the 11th. go to their website and then to speaker series for more info!
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
CIVIL WAR LIVING HISTORY WEEKEND - Fall Open House 45th Annual October 11th and 12th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.: camp life, skirmishes, ghost walk, lantern tour, live music, food & more!for more information go to www.mullicahill.com or call 856-223-5440
Mullica Hill's Annual GHOST WALK - Saturday October 11th tickets are available online or at the Blue Plate 47 S. Main Street, every 10 minutes beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Don't forget - Barbara Solem's book launch, power point presentation and book signing event at Batsto! Sunday the 12th ay 1:00 p.m.! http://www.batstovillage.org/
the Batsto website doesn't have a post on Barbara's book launch, but, I assure you it is there! Here is one they did post on their speaker series: The Real Story of the Jersey Devil, on the 11th. go to their website and then to speaker series for more info!
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
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