Printing Your book

It is Halloween!  I would be posting a fabulous photo from Thompson Street but I have a new computer and haven't learned how to do that on the new format.  I used to use an HP pc but my daughter gave me an Apple Laptop and I have to wait till she comes home again to teach me how to get the pictures from where they are saved into my blog.  

Today I visited Fort Nassau Graphics for my 2nd estimate for the printing of my 3rd book.  As I have mentioned before, after I retired from teaching, I wrote a book based on two WPA employees working on the State Guide Series.  One, a photographer (based loosely on Dorothea Lange) and the other, a young entirely fictional male writer.  They drove the back roads of South Jersey writing essays and taking photos of 1937 New Jersey.  

Trouble Publishing.  I had given my manuscript to a publisher, but he said he was more interested in Beach Novels, murder mysteries and such.  History has never been all that popular, so I wasn't surprised, but a little downcast.  If you have ever written a book, you know the immense labor that goes into it.  However, I have always been something of a counter-culture person and an independent one, so I decided that I would get it printed on my own.  

Before I retired, I had worked in a summer program and we too the students on field trips.  One of these summer field trips was to Fort Nassau Printing Company.  So I started my search there, but, to my surprise, they were GONE!  Moved!  So I went to Belia Copy Center in Woodbury and asked after Fort Nassau.  At the time, the quote they gave me when I finally located them, but near $1000.  Bella had also given me the name of another printer, Perfect Printing, in Morristown.  They quoted $700.

That quote was for 200 pages, black and white, glued binding.  So I went with them and was pleased with the product, so when I wrote my next book, a kind of relationship novel, I had them print that one too.  

All of that was in 2006.  I just finished my 3rd book, a whole new genre, a memoir.  It is called 1969:  A Road Trip and it covers a year when I was 23, newly married, and my then soldier-husband and I stayed in a VW camper van for almost a year and traveled around 38 countries in Europe after his discharge from the army.  

I decided to write the book because two fellows who called themselves my "fan club" had said the thing they liked most about my historical novel Black Horse White Horse, was that it was a road trip.  That made me think back to my biggest road trip of a great many road trips I had taken in my youth, and I decided to write about it.  

So, back to getting a book printed.  After I wrote the book, a dear friend and superior editor did a first edit for spelling, punctuation,  what we English teachers call 'mechanics' and even though I was an English teacher, I have trouble seeing my own mistakes.  After she returned the manuscript, I made the corrections.  Then I had my daughter do an edit for content and style.  She made many suggestions about details, and expansion of thoughts and feelings, and I incorporated her changes, edit #2.  Then Nancy, my mechanics editor did another run through and I made those fixes (#3).  

Meanwhile I had put in a call to Perfect Printing, but not having heard anything back, I stopped back at Belia and asked if they did such printing.  They said they did and would give me a quote.  I waited.  No one got back to me, so I tracked down Fort Nassau and found out where they had moved (using the internet of course) and made an appointment to see them.  In the mean time, Perfect Printing got in touch and gave me an estimate.

As you might have expected, over the span of a decade, prices rose, and the new estimate was $830.  I kept my appointment with Fort Nassau this morning, and they said they would have an estimate for me by the end of the day, so then I will choose between the two and by tomorrow, my book, on a thumb drive, will be with one of them.

My next question will be how long it will take to get it back.  I'd like to have it for my next Writer's club in November and for  my next Merchantville High School Reunion Luncheon in December.

They used to call "Independent Publishing" Vanity press, implying that if you weren't 'good enough' for a publisher, you could pay to have someone print your implied inferior work.  But my feeling, and the prevailing attitude is that publishers being necessarily in it for the profits can't afford to publish 'niche' works or works they can't be guaranteed a profit on, so independent publishing has proliferated for those of us who have something to say that doesn't necessarily include a murder mystery, or a spy chase.  

So now you know:  Perfect Printing, Glenn Ave., Morristown (on the web) or Fort Nassau Graphics, Imperial Way, Paulsboro (on the web, but don't use the address West Deptford on your gps, use Paulsboro) and Belia, Woodbury.  But I still haven't heard from Belia, so I will choose between Fort Nassau or Perfect Printing.  I'll let you know how it all turns out and if you have a book and want to 'independently publish' go for it.  People spend less on two weeks in Florida or a cruise, and a book lasts longer!

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann

Inky Dinky Spider is on the town tonight! Bordentown, Thompson Street

Again this year 2016, Thompson Street is dazzling in Halloween Splendor.  It is a tremendous treat to visit the street at Halloween and see what the "Outdoor decor artists" have created to inspire, delight and make us green with envy for this holiday.

When I say greeen with envy it is because those of us who love such efforts are envious that we live on dull suburban streets where  the best you can hope for is a scarecrow and a pumpkin.  I try, a few others around my way try, but we never touch the toes of the giants of outdoor decoration who live at 5 Thompson Street.  

They should get an award!  

A friend and I drove up to Bordentown and enjoyed the trees turning colors along 295 North, then we walked up and down Thompson Street, taking in every detail of each house  Four sets of residents were outside finishing up, sweeping up leaves, and as always, happy to chat with their admirers, and I do ADMIRE what they are able to do.  Their ingenuity and their ambition stun me!  I wish I lived there.

We followed this fun with lunch at Under the Moon which was also delightfully decorated for Halloween and I love their decor anyway - vintage stuff speaks to me!  Bossa Nova musuc played softly in the background.  This time I had the quiche of the day with homefries and a  delicious salsa on top.  

We then walked up the street admiring the historic buildings and the other creative decorators efforts on the shops.  For once, I didn't go into the book shop.  I usually do.  I was short on cash and though I'd better stay out.

So if you are looking for a fun day GO TO THOMPSON STREET in Bordentown!
And the main house #5, has the most delightful team working on it.  One, a retired Art Teacher like myself told me he works for Alzheimers patients as a volunteer.  What a great person!  So charming and talented as well.  

Happy Trails,
Remember:
Even a man who is pure of heart, and says his prayers at night
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms,
and the autumn moon is bright! 

Harleigh Cemetery

Good Morning on this Fine October Day.  Always at this time of year, I am drawn to cemeteries.  The impulse has deep roots.  I am of German, Irish, and English extraction and the ancient Celts celebrated a holiday called Samhain (pronounced Sowain) when the gap between the plenty of summer and the dark deprivation of winter made an opening between life and death and people communicated with their lost loved ones. 

South of the border, people celebrate The Day of the Dead around this time of year as well, maintaining the connection between living loved ones and those who have departed for the mysterious realm after death.  They suggest visiting the graves and visiting the loved ones there, a cup of tea, a glass of wine, a little conversation, some flowers - at home, photographs arranged in a little shrine to remember.

All Hallow's Eve - as with  many folk traditions, when the Christian religion conquered the predecessors, for better or worse (the better is the stopping of sacrifice of animals and people to hungry gods - the worse is the burning of alleged witches and the Spanish Inquisition not to mention persecution of other religions) anyhow, they overlaid Samhain with All Saints Day to celebrate and honor the martyrs to the faith and the saints. 

Anyhow, I make my pilgrimage to Harleigh Cemetery to see Walt Whitman's tomb and also to honor the old art of cemetery landscape design.  If you haven't been to Laurel Hill, you should go, if it is too far, go to Harleigh, a very beautiful place for your final rest.  Harleigh is over a hundred years old. located on the Cooper River.  I take Haddon Avenue over 130 into Camden and just befor Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, the gates to Harleigh can be seen   Other luminaries on the fine color map they gave me at the visitor's center include some names I don't know as well as those I do:
Colonel Sewell, Mother Bloor, Senator Baird
To make a fun day of it, you may want to stop for lunch at the Cooper House on Cooper River in Collingswood, then walk around the river, and visit the cemetery afterwards. 

By the way, there are still sites available if you haven't booked your final resting place yet:  856-963-3500, address 1640 Haddon Ave., Collingswood, Cmden, NJ

By the way, I already visited Peter J. Murphy's grave on Labor Day`and over the summer I visited my Lyons family graves in Beverly. Another nice cemetery near Collingswood is off Collings Ave, make a left if traveling towards Rt. 130, just past the railroad tracks, at the old Railroad Station (another interesting building to admire) and with the little one t-he=room Champion School on the right side.  Here are the graves of the early Irish Quakers who settled the Newton Creek area, as well as the graves of soldiers from the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and up.  I found this one through the excellent article by Hoag Levins a the Camen County Historical Society web site.

Happy(?) Samhain!  See you on the trail, the path or alongside a body of water anywhere in South Jersey!  Jo Ann

Deck the Alley - elfreth's Alley and Railroad Days are coming again

Saw a sign at Bordentown that November 25,26,27 and December 3,4,5 will bring us the model railroad platforms I so admire once again this year.  They will probably also be at Burlington, but I have no info on that as yet.

Also if you are looking for something fun, and different and historic near the Christmas Holiday, visit ELFRETH's ALLEY, which will feature 20 decorated houses for you to visit.

Saurday afternoon from 3:00 to 7:00, December 3rd, visitors can expect to view the interiors of a record 20 decorated private homes. 

Author Irene Levy Baker will sign copies of her book 100 Things to do in Philadelphia Before You die, for a donation of $25.  What a great holiday gift!

No other site in the entire Nation celebrates three centuries of working class Americans!  Tickets for Deck the Alley are $25 and help to keep Elfreth's Alley viable for the future. 

(https://elfrethsalley.ticketleap.com/deck-the-alley-2016/)

Also for mor info visit www.elfrethsalley.org or visit on Facebook at www.faceook.com/elfrethsalleymuseum/ 

Now you are set for things to do for Halloween, Thanksgiving (Railroad Days in Bordentown, and Christmas!)

Magazine Review - New Jersey Monthly, October 2016 edition

To be perfectly honest, I have never subscribed to this magazine although I love magazines and New Jersey, mainly, the cover topics I have seen in the past have not been of interest to me.  My daughter is 32 and sothe best  high schools in Nj would not capture my interest, nor would the best doctors, nor the best recipes.  I HATE cooking magazines and cooking in general.  

BUT, this month featured FALL DAY TRIPS and that is a topic that most definitely interests me.  My initial fear was that they would all be set in what I call north Jersey but which is actually more like central.  So much of what is labeled New Jersey ends up being set in Monmouth, or Morris or Sussex counties.  My blog and my interests have been set more in Camden, Gloucester, Salem and Cumberland counties.

Many of the harvest festivals in the magazine have already been held as it is October 6 when I write this and a good number were held last weekend, however, I found two things of interest to me, one is the Fall Flea Market at Allaire Village on October 8th, the other is Indian Summer Weekend in Ocean City 8 to 10th.  

Then, I found something entirely new that wa captivating to me on several levels.  As you know, I LOVE trains and I had no idea there wa a Pumpkin Express!  It is run by the Delaware River Railroad Excursions out of Phillipsburg.   I don't know where that is yet, but I plan to find out. (It is a STEAM train!!)

So here is the info - weekends in October, train leaves at 11 am, noon, 2 pm and 3:30 pm, $17 per adult, address 99 Elizabeth Street, Phillipsburg and the website is
877trainride.com 

All Aboard!  
Happy trails and day trips to you!  
Jo Ann

ps.  a magazine subscription costs $15 for 12 issues and each issue on the newstand (I got mine at SHopRite) is $4.99 - a bargain!

Cooper House Restaurant on Cooper River in Collingswood, NJ

Yesterday, Monday October 3, 2016, I met a friend for lunch at the Cooper House on Cooper River in Collingswood, NJ.

The Courier Post has been running articles in the Sunday paper about restaurants in the area.  It's a good thing, because I didn't even know that the old Lobster Trap had been bought out and replaced with the elegant new Cooper House.

I used to spend a lot of time at Cooper River, but since my knees  became a problem, I have limited my walking to 2 miles rather than the 4 it takes to get around Cooper.

So, we had flatbread with seasonal roasted vegetables for an appetizer, and cream/roasted cauliflower soup, then bean and roasted vegetable tacos - delicious all three items.  We both had coffee and the bill came out to $20 each including the tip, which we always pay at 20%, so it was a tiny bit more than I usually spend for lunch but a bit more than I usually eat for lunch too.  Usually I wouldn't have an appetizer and soup but my friend, Nancy, is very interested in food and recipes so we tried a few more dishes.  

I would definitely recommend this restaurant, and because they weren't busy and we were interested, we were given a tour.  There was charming outdoor seating areas with the many joggers enjoying the breeze and sunshine, and there was a beer garden for evenings.  

What I especially liked was the small walking oval behind the restaurant along the river and around a little pond, so you could have a nice walk before or after lunch, and benches to enjoy the pretty view of the river.

This was a wonderful lunch experience and my friend and I decided we would definitely go there again and recommend it to all of our friends.

If you are looking for a long hike around the river followed by a delicious lunch, vegetarian or not, or a short stroll around a nice little pond and lunch, you can't beat it.  Also, with one of the many events offered at Collingswood this is a great place to go for dinner after say, the Book Fair! or the Craft Fair.

Here is contact information from their business card: 
info@cooperhousenj.com
5300 North Park Drive
Pennsauken, NJ 08109

Also, a note on history - across the river, you can just barely see a bit of the Hopkins House.  I don't go there much anymore either since my poetry days are over, but they have literary and music events.  The house was owned by the nephew of Elizabeth Haddon, founder of Haddonfield.  She brought her sister's son over to the colonies from England to be her heir and his land stretched from Camden to Haddonfield and the Cooper River.  Another note, the Cooper River was named for another founding family, whose homestead is a historic site in Camden (located behind Lady of Lourdes Hospital) Pomona Hall, with a fine library, and interesting tours.  Two other Cooper family historic homes are destroyed, one by arson, and one by vandalism.  I visited them all and possibly did a blog entry on them.  I will check and see and if I didn't, I will at a later time.  Now, it's time to do the chores!

Happy Trails and Bon Appetit!
Jo Ann

Tree Make Paper, Paper makes Books, Writers Study Trees

In an earlier entry I remarked that I was reading The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohleben, a Forester in a protected forest in Germany.  I LOVE this book:  "A tree can be only as strong as the forest that surrounds it.: page 17.  Trees have been my friends from the first poor prisoner locked into a three foot square of earth on the city block of row homes where I grew up in Philadelphia.  You always remember your first love.

A much later tree experience I had was in the Black Forest of Germany when I was living there with my former husband, a soldier stationed at Wharton Barracks, Heilbronn, Germany in 1968 and 69.  The canopy of those fragrant giants was so dense that it was dark at noon.  But most impressive to me at the time was the immeasureably thick needle carpet upon which I tread and which released an intoxicating perfume of evergreen when you stepped.  

Also in Europe, once, at midnight when we had missed our train back to the campground, we had to walk through the Bois du Bologne, which took so long that we walked through a night in the forest, and I watched enchanted as spirals of mist rose from the earth to twist and curve as they joined the low falling fog that turned everything silvery and mysterious.  It was indeed the Enchanted Forest.  

Now I live in a small preserve of my own, of 18 neighborhood trees planted roughly around the time of the second world war.  We are a tiny oasis of decimated land.  All the neighbors cut their trees down when leaves became unpopular and they became too old, too lazy or too poor to arrange to have the leaves removed.  I bought a mulch mower and I pay a guy to run it over the yard, which grinds the leaves to enrich my soil and help keep my old trees healthy.  

My latest book on this subject is as good if not better than the first mentioned.  It is called The Forest Unseen by David George Haskell, and it tells about his year of watching a plot of a nearby forest in Tennessee.  He is a science professor in a college near there.  It is delightful readingm "This is where the snowflakes symmetry begins.  Hexagonal rings of water molecules build on one another, repeating the six sided rhythm over and over, magnifying the arrangement of oxygen atoms in a scale visible to human eyes."  pg 9.  

To my dying day, I hope I have the delight I have had since childhood when the first now falls.  Even at night, I would take my daughter into the yard to look up into the black sky and see and feel the magic of the snow falling and kissing our faces.  

These are the books I am reading about the woods, but I have another waiting, and this one is about people and what the internationally renowned entomologist/philosopher, and nature writer, Edward O. Wilson learned from watching ant societies all over the world.  it is called On Human Nature.  Like the other books mentioned, since we are in fact a part of the community or family of nature, we can learn a lot about ourselves as well as the world that supports us from these books.

More on that later, right now I'm off to Mount Holly to meet an old friend from my high school days for lunch at The Robin's Nest. 2 Washington Street, Mount Holly.  To find out more about this delightful cafe' call 609-261-6149 or google it.  They have a web site.

Happy Trails!  Hope they take you through the forest
Jo Ann