Upcoming Events received through e-mail - Whitall House, Red Bank Battlefield & Glo.Co.Hist.Soc. Archaeology

Saturday, May 20, 2017, 10am-4pm, 
Red Bank Battlefield Park

Archeology Day at Red Bank

Co-Sponsored by Gloucester County Chapter of 
the Archaeological Society of New Jersey

 The Whitall House will also be open for tours.

 The Gloucester County Historical Society will also be open 
for free tours of its archaeological collections from 10am-12pm.

****Wednesday, June 21, 6:30pm-8:30pm****

Community Read/Discussion of John McPhee's 
The Founding Fish

West Depford Public Library! Discussion  
Discussionlead by Dr. Joe Coulombe, 
a Rowan University English professor. 
Refreshments will be served. 
The Whitalls had a shad fishery at Red Bank, 
so this is a great opportunity to learn about foodways 
and environmental history linked directly to this site.
 Then, come to shad day at the Park, 
Saturday, June 24, 12-4pm.

Things To Do - MayFest Smithville

In case you don't see the Sunday Courier Post, or if you do see it but missed the ad, Town of Histtoric Smithville is holding its 
MAYFEST - Saturday & Sunday, May 20 and 21st from 10 am to 5 pm.

Over 100 Juried Crafters will display their handiwork, and there will be food, rides, exhibits, and entertainment.

For more information call 609-652-7777 or visit:
www.historicsmithvillenj.com
www.SmithvilleNJ.com

Location is 1 North New York Rd., Smithville, Nj 08205
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By the way, a follow-up on an unrelated story:  some time past, I believe I posted a story from Collingswooe's town newspaper, the Retrospect, about a South Pacific Islander who found a 1939 Audubon school ring on the beach.  The original owner's family was located.  The original owner had been in World War II which is how the ring got to the South Pacific.  

My father, too, had served in World War II, in the navy.  He had been in both the Pacific and the North Atlantic.  Just before he died, he had been reading a book about the Battle of Tassaferonga, which he had witnessed.  

In the Sunday Courier, there wa a follow up article in which Audubon High School sent a high school class ring to the Islander who had returned the lost ring.  I thought that was very thoughtful of them and a nice ending to that story.  My daughter's Audubon Class ring is in my jewelry box.  My own class ring from Merchantville is long lost.  

I liked this story especially in view of the upcoming Memorial Day holiday.  My Memorial Day family photo postcards have just been completed by Belia Copy Center, 1047 North Broadway, Woodbury, NJ.  I put my Mothers' Day design in just a bit too late to get them out for Mothers' Day, but I can send them next year.  The Memorial Day cards look wonderful and I am very happy to be able to honor the memory of my Grandfather Lyons (WWI), my father, Joseph Wright (WWII), and to show respect to my brother, Joe(US Marine Corps), who fortunately survived Vietnam and lives peacefully and happily in West Virginia.

To all who answered their country's call, ThankYOu for your Service, and to those who didn't come home, your memory lives on in our hearts!

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann

Mothers' Day at the Riverview Restaurant in Burlington City

Do you remember the Cafe' Galleria in Burlington on the corner of Farnsworth and Pearl.  It had those lovely large windows looking out to the Delaware and Burlington Island and the walls were filled with beautiful paintings.  I loved that place.

Then, it disappeared!  All of my friends and I wondered what happened - such a great location, and a wonderful restaurant and very little competition in Burlington City.....Then we discovered Curtin's Wharf and were happy again.

Today, my friend Gail and I tried Robin's Nest in Mt. Holly first, but they had buffet in a tent, one of those event tents, and it was     c o l d out there today, so I said no.  And we tried out luck at Curtin's Whart - not opened until May 21st.  Why would you not open for Mother's Day, surely a very profitable day or restaurants as we moms are supposed to be released from kitchen duty.  Oh well, we drove over to where the Cafe' Galleria used to be to ees if the new restaurant was open yet and VOILA! it was. 

The only seating still available was on the patio, but by then it had warmed considerably, 65 degrees by my phone and there was a lively breeze off the river and a lovely view, so we were happy.
Gail had Juevos rancheros, and I had creamed oasted cauliflower soup with a nice spring salad and a lemon grass tea.  The soup was delicious!  The salad was a little too much greens and not enough other kinds of salad goodies.  If you are going for a spring salad, some strawberries would be nice, or grated carrots, but it was good and healthful.  

Gail found her jeuvos's rancheros overcooked.  The eggs were hard and it was too much potatoes and hardly any black beans.  But those few minor complaints aside, the music was delightful, a mellow selection of standards in jazz of the Billy Holiday variety mixed with some soul and R & B, very smooth and calming and conducive to thinking about old times and old loves.

The big excitement came when a very assertive breeze carried off one of the large red umbrellas and sailed it like a tethered space shape over the fountain, barely missing two daughters and their mom.  Soon, though, the other umbrellas were closed and the crashed plane umbrella was righted and closed and all was safe on the patio again.

I am so glad that the restaurant opened there in that lovely location and I wish them the best of luck.  I would definitely go there again to have lunch and I will recommend it to my friends, too.

We drove home in the late afternoon sun, and took a detour to Knight Park for a walk, a quiet sit on a bench by the pond, and then headed home.  

My daughter had sent me a pretty little Honolulu bay blue ukulele for Mother's day which was a thrill!  I was happy to find that Black Horse Pike Music Store was still open and operating yesterday so I could buy a tuning helper.  The proprietor tuned the uke for me and with the help of a few internet sites of ukulele for beginners, I gave it my first one hour practice.  

She sent me that gift after I mentioned that I had answered a question in a creativity book about what one thing I had always wanted to do and had never done.  I had always wanted to play a musical instrument.  The piano was too hard (for me) and the harmonica gave me sore lips.  The guitar gave me sore finger tips.  I was hoping the Luke would be friendlier to a slacker with tender fingers  I'll let you know how it goes.

Happy Mother's Day!  Hope your day was as good as mine or better!

Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

Mothers' Day 2017

The gift of a mother's love and care has been celebrated since the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans.  In medieval England, a Sunday in May was given as a holiday so people could go home and visit their mothers.  It was called Mothering Sunday.

In America, Anna Jarvis' mother died in 1905 and Anna worked to create a holiday in America to thank mothers for all they do.  On the anniversary of her mother's death, Anna arranged for living mothers to be given a pink carnation, a white carnation was given for those who had lost their mothers.  She then worked to get the government to pass a bill to make it an official holiday, which President Wilson did in 1914.  For Jarvis the point was to get young people to write a letter to their mothers thanking them for all they had done for them.  But commercialization soon took over and the handwritten thank you letter was replaced by flowers and cards.

In fact, Mother's Day is the biggest day, in the U.S.,  for florists and the phone company!

Personally, whatever acknowledgement I get from my daughter is dearly appreciated, and she does many things to help me.  She just texted me that she has bought me a ukulele which I mentioned to her that I would like to learn to play.  More on that when it comes - I'll post an update on ukuleles and my progress.

Meanwhile I want to remember my mother, Mary Lavinia Wright, who was a gentle, loving, gracious woman, unfailingly kind and devoted to her family.  She died in December 2000 and left a wound in this family that can never be healed even by time.  My mother bought me blooks on every holiday because she knew I loved to read, and she sewed me lovely clothes with her tremendous skill.  She was not only a fine seamstress, she was a wonderful cook, baker, and she loved to paint.  I have one of her landscapes from West Virginia hanging in my den.  My mother loved to play the piano, and the organ, both of which were supplied to her by my father who appreciated all that my mother did to make a beautiful home for us and he supported her efforts.

My mother also found time to volunteer for the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and for her church, the Episcopalian church.  She was a good friend to all and a popular neighbor.  One of my fondest memories of our life in Maple Shade was when the other mothers would gather in my mother's dining room for coffee after the husbands and kids were off to school.  The Bond Bread Man, Steve, would drop in for a cup of coffee from Mom's large silver percolator, and she would buy donuts.  All the ladies would sit around drinking coffee, eating donuts, smoking their cigarettes and sharing their life and experience stories with one another.  They would be in their housecoats with their hair in pin curls wrapped in scarves, and I loved to stay home from school sick, so I could hide out of sight but not out of hearing of this view of the grown up world.  

My mother also loved to can and preserve the fruits and vegetable my father and she grew in our large kitchen garden in the back.  When they moved from Philadelphia to New Jersey, they threw themselves into gardening.  The main thing I remember about them was how happy they were.  They were so young and beautiful, and grateful for their many blessings.  My father had survived the War, and my mother had the home of her dreams.  

I was lucky to have such a wonderful mother, an inspiration and a consolation.  Also, I would have to say that in my own life of many adventures and accomplishments, my greatest achievement was having and raising my own daughter who has always been the true love of my life.  I had a great mother, and I strove always to be a good mother.  If the health, beauty, and goodness of my own daughter is any proof, I succeeded.  

It isn't easy to be a mother.  You start off at the very beginning learning how much of yourself you have to sacrifice.  You have to put someone else's needs always ahead of your own beginning with getting up in the night to feed the baby when you want to sleep, and changing the diapers, and staying home when you want to go out, but you learn soon enough that the sacrifices are small compared to the love that you give and the love that you get from that child and the fun and joy you get from sharing their childhood, when your own childhood has been left so far behind in time that you have forgotten the beauty of it.  What an adventure enjoying the years as your child grows up to be an adult.

So, I am grateful for the mother I had, and grateful that I had the opportunity to be a mother!  To all the mothers - Happy Mother's Day and to all who had a mother - remember her today!

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann

The Best of.......

Annually the Courier Post runs a "Best of South Jersey" survey and prints the results.  This is an invaluable tool, not only for finding out where you can get something done, or buy something, or eat, but where your neighbors think they have gotten the best service, help, health care, and so on.

Often in early years after retirement, my friends would ask me how I know about "these things" "these places" "these events" and how I know is mostly from local newspapers such as the Retrospect, the Gloucester City News, or the big one, The Courier Post.  Many of my friends have very streamlined homes and lives and don't want to be bothered with the detritus of newspapers, magazines, or pamphlets, but I am a print voracious person with a comfortably lived in bungalow and I can manage with a little clutter.  Now, don't get me wrong, I am not a hoarder, but we do have weekly recycle pick-up so I can take the newspapers, pamphlets, magazines, and read them, pass them on or recycle them.

Several of my favorite places made the South Jersey Best lists:  Belia's Copy Center (where I get my postcards printed, among other things), Maritsa's (one of my favorite luncheon places) and for many years, my veterinarian made the Best of list:  Dr. Sheehen in Fairview section of Camden.  

Here are some categories I would like to add, and the reasons:
Best local park to walk in:  Knight Park in Collingwood
(it is paved, a veritable arbor museum of large old and beautiful trees and it has new clean bathrooms)

Best Historic House to visit: James and Ann Whitall House, Red Bank Battlefield, National Park, NJ (reasons:  gorgeous house and park with paved walked trails, picnic shelters, and many great events such as the October Re-Enactment of the Battle of Red Bank of 1775)  I have a runner-up:  Pomona Hall, Camden County Historical Society, Camden, Nj (reason:  beautiful house, interesting history and excellent museum about Camden County History, PLUS a genealogical research library and Bonny Beth Elwell, a wonderful young historian and genealogist.

Best History Lecture Series:  Corson Poley Center of Burlington County Historical Center, Burlington City, NJ  (reason:  when I think back on the most interesting lectures I have heard I always come back to the monthly lectures at Corson Poley Center where I just heard the lecture on Pirates last Sunday

Best Book Store/Coffee Shop:  Bogarts in Millville (reason:  really good music, free, lots of books and good coffee and tables to enjoy it.)

Best Garden Plants:  Platt's Farm in Mickleton, either Democrat Road or Harmony, you can look it up on your computer, (They have everything!  And competitive prices)

Best auto mechanic:  Rob's Auto Mechanic Shop, corner of Market and Green, Mt. Ephraim, NJ (reason:  I have always found Rob to be kind, talented, and fair.  His work is excellent and very reasonable, and as a woman, honesty is important to me - I have a fair understanding of auto mechanics, but who can understand the engines of this century with the computerized and sensor technology.  I trust Rob and have had good, fast, inexpensive service from him every since he opened his shop.)

Best Vegetable and Honey Market:  Verccio's, Brooklawn Circle (I drink herbal tea and thus use a lot of honey - Verccip's is local honey, inexpensive and the widest array of vegetables and fruits I have ever seen - also seasonal and holiday plants and cut flower bouquets at very reasonable prices!)

Best Road Side Markets:  Red Top and Green Top on Route 70 near Marlton, Medford, Shamong area (reason:  I pass them on the way to Pakim Pond and always stop to buy apples or fruits and plants and to gaze upon the beauty of the plant displays - abundance!)

Best Fast Salad Lunch:  SaladWorks in Collingswood (reason:  for $9 you can get a big salad with 5 toppings, or soup and salad and a delicious hot whole wheat roll and the staff are always friendly and polite and helpful.  If you are health conscious, you want to go there for lunch!)

Best Art Lessons/Gallery/Gift Shop:  Main Street Art in Maple 
Shade where you can book a "Sip and Paint" experience or an Art Party for child or adult, and take lessons or buy interesting hand-made gifts for an upcoming birthday, or Christmas)

Best Dog Park:  Timber Creek, off Chews Landing Road in Blackwood (reason:  old Slim's horse back ranch - great woodland trail that was the old horseback riding trail, varied scenery along Tomber Creek and a lovely little pond for our dog to frolic in, bathrooms, picnic table and a nice nasture to walk around or the leashless fenced in park which can get muddy in season)

I will add more later and I haven't forgetten to add my list of really old trees, But it's time to get ready for the gym!  Also, I will finish my Museum of the Ordinary Person tale one of these days.  I promise!

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann

Gardening and our State

Admittedly, I was a city girl with no experience of gardening when I  bought my house 31 years ago.  Over the years, however, I have planted no less than 250 shrubs and trees. 

My yard is relatively large, my house being over 70 years old and built before tract housing came to New Jersey.  I don't know feet and yards, but my backyard borders the substantial yards of three other properties.

My property is pie shaped, so at the front, I have only a dozen sidewalk squares and a driveway, but we expand out in the back like a fan shape. 

Over the years I have come to deeply love my yard and the residents thereof, the old trees, the wild roses on the back fence, the wild flowers that bloom in the grass, white ones, buttercups and dandelions, are all welcome to visit me.  And to feed the neighbors, squirrels, opossums, birds of many kinds, and rabbits.  

Most of my planting originally came from holidays, the Mother's Day azaleas, the root ball Christmas trees we always bought, my daughter and I, until I got too old and tired to dig the holes and haul out the heavy trees after Christmas was over, and had to go to an artificial tree, which is an Appalachian styled tree I bought in West Virginia.  I could never go for cut trees, a beautiful healthy young tree killed for a week in a holiday.  

Anyhow,  one day, on NPR, I heard a great garden show and mention of the concept of Permaculture.  I bought a book about it and it got me to thinking about the ways we can live in harmony with our natural world.  Now, my yard is a natural yard in the sense that I have lots of trees, shade, little grass in front, and patches in the back, but I didn't know enough to think of planting native species when I did my plantings.  I got lucky in one way, I have always loved holly bushes, and they are both native to New Jersey (see Elizabeth White of Whitesbog and her career in holly culture) and happy with our sandy soil.  I have half a dozen in my yard.

One way that I got unlucky was that I planted ivy to fix a mud pit in one section of the yard beneath a big old tree.  The ivy, like the British Empire, spread to all parts of the yard, and one summer, several years ago, I spent $600 getting it pulled out.  It is an invasive species.  It did however fix the mud pit, and now I keep it trimmed back.

This past weekend, one of my friends was volunteering at the Pinelands Preservation Alliance Annual Native Plant Sale, which sold out the first day leaving many disgruntled shoppers with nothing to buy.  It is encouraging to think that native species are becoming more popular and that people are thinking that way.

I have had many disagreements with friends who cut down their trees to dispense with leaf raking in fall, and who poison dandelions.  How could anyone look down into that hopeful and radiant little yellow face and poison it?  I don't know, but then I am not and never have been a fan of what I think of as the boring golf course style lawn - give me the wild and free and diverse!

Speaking of gardens and trees however got me to thinking of South Jersey's oldest arboreal citizens, which of course makes me think of the Salem Oak which I have visited many times.  I copied information on other largest and oldest trees in South Jersey, and tomorrow when I have more time I will post what I copied.  

My e-mail is     wrightj45@yahoo.com   if you want to contact me to talk about old trees, gardening or any of my other posts.

I've got to go now - heading out to dinner with a friend for her birthday, and to an Art show at the JCC in Cherry Hill in which a friend of hers has work on display.  Tell you about it later - 

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann

America's Pirates and Their Hidden Treasure, Lee Ireland

Today, Barb Solem and I attended Lee Ireland's lecture on Pirates in the New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland waterways.

It was both informative and entertaining. I bought Mr. Ireland's book published at his own publishing company.  

I did not know that treasure was buried all along the coast and particularly along Long Island!  Another interesting fact, as recently as 1992, gold coins were found at Cape May and that a pirate ship, Blackbeard's,  was recently found off the coast of North Carolina!

The author described the difference between pirates and privateers.
Pirates were unsanctioned robbers, privateers had letters of marque authorizing them to prey on ships of enemy countries.  

My friend, Barbara Solem, had written a book around 2002 on a related subject, The Forks.  The Forks is the waterway at the junction of the Mullica and Batsto rivers if my memory serves me correctly.  There, a buy Colonial era shipbuilding and privateering enterprise went on until the British raided and burned Chestnut Neck.  

The privateers liked the New Jersey rivers because they led off the Atlantic inland through circuitous routes where the British war ships couldn't find them or follow them.  

Also, if I remember correctly, Benedict Arnold's beginnings of rancor and betrayal began when his profitable load of goods from his privately invested privateer ship were about to be looted by the British attack on the Forks.  He used army men, carts and horses to bring his loot to safety, thereby earning a severe sanction from his superiors for using military resources for private profit.  Apparently he was having trouble finding the money to court his young finance'  Peggy Shippen in the style to which her wealthy family had raised her.  

Lots of fascinating and surprising history in the Pines, in the pine where the un barely shines.

On another topic, the entrepreneur who started the Dark Net business called the Silk Road, which old drugs and guns and other illegal materials was recently captured after he attempted to hire a killer to assassinate a client who had robbed the Silk Road.  This young man who developed this illegal business called himself "Dread Pirate Roberts!"

In my next post, some upcoming events at Vincentown.

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann

A Great Site and contact info for me.

If you want to contact me, my e-mail is
wrightj45@yahoo.com

A really great site for my fellow hikers, and walkers is   https://southjerseytrails.org

I have found great tips there for places to go and additional information about places I already go, so if you are looking for fine photographs and useful information on places to hike, I strongly suggest you visit this most excellent site.

A Happy tale of Small Town Libing - We get a citation!

Last night a policeman knocked on my door and asked for my daughter  I explained that she didn't live here any more and was residing in New York and asked if I could help.

He told me our town was giving my daughter a merit citation for her part in helping to save a neighbor's house from burning down at Easter.

We were walking the dogs around the corner when my daughter called out, "Mom, look, a chair is ablaze on Krauss's porch!"  I looked up and sure enough, the wicker furniture on my neighbor's house was burning in a regular bonfire.  

The flames were peeling the ceiling off the porch and had in seconds gone from one chair to the whole set ablaze!

I noticed a window open and the car in the drive-way, so I rushed up to the door and banged on it, ringing the bell and calling out to see if anyone was at home, possibly sleeping late.  It was about 10:00 am.  No one answered so while my daughter called 911 and gave the report, I ran to the neighbors.

One man, Mark, came out with a fire extinguisher, and another from across the street, with the assistance of a woman from another house across the street, found the hose and turned it on.  Between the hose and the fire extinguisher, by the time the fire truck came, the blaze was out.  The firemen checked the house in case the fire had gone in through the window that had broken out from the heat, or in case it had gotten into the porch roof.  

The Policeman at my door had been the first responder.  They arrived just a couple of minutes after my daughter's call.  

Just last year, in March, my sister's house had burned to the ground because the fire got into the roof and walls where the hoses couldn't get to it, so I knew how lucky it was that we happened to be passing at just that moment, in time to save the house.

As it happens, it was Mrs. Krauss who had called me on the phone at school, 31 years ago to tell me about a cute house around the corner where she could just picture me and my (then) little girl.  I went over at lunch, with the help of a friend who had a car, and got the phone number of the Realtor and made an offer, full price and points!  The rest is history. 

I have lived here all those years in peace and harmony and I can honestly say I LOVE this town!  Mt. Ephraim is a wonderful small town with kind and helpful neighbors (at least on my street for sure) and it is an honor for me to go to Borough Hall and receive the citation for my daughter.  I am so glad she saw the fire and made the call and we could save the home of the people who made it possible for us to live in this great small town for all these years.  I hope I can stay here for the rest of my life..

More things to do and places to go - May 2017

The Farmers' Markets are opening again!  On Saturday May 6, the Collingwood Farmers' Market will hold its annual ribbon cutting to announce the opening at 8:00 a.m. 

It is held on Atlantic Avenue along the Collingwood PATCO Hi-Speedline.  It opens eery Saturday through November from 8 to noon.  There are special events you can attend by signing up at collingswoodmarket.com (I've never done this so I can't vouch for the link or the activities, but I can tell you the Farmer Market is a fun place to shop and to have brunch or breakfast, or early lunch.  There is usually music by the crepes concession.

I noticed that the Haddon Heights Farmers' Market is also opening in May and is held on Sundays as well, in the area beside the train station and tracks down Station Avenue.

Here is a sweet one:  The Delaware and Susquehanna Model Railroad will have the Haddon Heights passenger station open and their HO scale train running.  The West Jersey National RR Historical Society will show train videos at Town Hall and the library will show chid friendly train videos.  Free Trolley rides from 10:30 to 1:30 and the town cafes and restaurants are open.  The Pine Barons Barbershop Chorus will stroll and sing for you.  Sounds like a fun day, Saturday, May 13th!  You know I LOVE Model Railroads!

All aboard!
Hope to see you there!  Happy Trails - Jo Ann

Jury Duty in Camden

Yesterday, I served one day, eight hours of Jury Duty service in Maria Greenwald Criminal Justice Court in Camden, New Jersey. 

Somehow, I and the lady I met in the parking lot, Barbara, have been called up every 3 years of our adult lives.  Many of the other people with whom I spoke, in particular April and Monique had the same experience.  We concluded it was because we vote in every election and because we have driver's licenses and keep our registration in order.  None of us wanted to serve.  For most of us it was both an inconvenience and a physical ordeal.

Alice has degenerative hips, I have degenerative spine, so sitting for such long periods is painful for us.  Barbara works for a small doctor's office and being away put a burden on the rest of the staff, the doctor, and the patients.  I am sure everyone there had similar feelings and I could hear grumbling when we moved from place to place throughout the building.

By the way,  Maria Greenwald was the first woman surrogate in Camden County, and there is a park named for her in Cherry Hill, too.  

My other problem is eyesight, so I missed my turn off after route 130 and then the Admiral Wilson Boulevard, onto Martin Luther King Boulevard, and floundered a block or two until I found a crossing guard who helped me get back across a little highway bridge into Camden, then my memories of the basic layout helped me find MLK again.  I went to college at Rutger's The State University for 2 or 3 years in the 1980's, and I was familiar with Cooper Street, MLK Boulevard, and Broadway, the main streets.  

I found the parking lot and met Barbara during a brief downpour.  I had seen a huge bank of black clouds over the Delaware as I was parking, but fortunately, my cluttered car always contains an umbrella or two, and hats, gloves, extra shoes, socks, and other necessaries.  We took the shuttle to the Greenwald Court building and went to the room that housed the jury pool.

I had left an hour early, but having gotten lost, I got there just exactly on time, 8:15.  The first jury room was already packed, no empty seats, and we were directed to room 2.  We were told that juries were being picked for 5 cases, 14 people for each.  First call was for 75 people and MOnique's number got called, next call was for 125 and Barbara's number was called  I was one of the last to be called for the third panel for a criminal case.

I reported to jury room 56 and had Judge Schweitzer, presiding.  I remember her name because of Albert Schweitzer.  We all filled out a lengthy questioner and read two pages of instructions.  Then we were called one at a time up to the judge, where the two lawyers were standing.  I had answered two or three questions one of which was whether I had served on any other trials.  I had served on two both of them traffic accidents.  The judge asked if I thought justice had been properly served on both and I said on one it had, and on one not so much.  She asked for details.

"On my second trial, a pretty young nurse had run a stop sign driving to an emergency for a diabetic.  She had her two children in the car.  She had hit broadside, and elderly woman on her way home from a bakery.  The elderly woman had the right-of-way, on a large boulevard.  It seemed clear to me that though the pretty nurse was doing a kind deed, she had broken the law by running the stop sign, but we had to distribute percentage of blame and responsibility.  I thought the elderly woman had no blame, but there was a man who was charismatic and won the other jurors over to his side and finally, I had to capitulate as we had been there till 4:00 on a Friday and everyone wanted to go home.

The judge asked if I thought this would influence my participation, and I said that more so, would be the severe pain I experience with my back problem and sitting upright for hours a day, which would be distracting in the extreme.  She excused me.  The officer had told me that after the 14 are chosen and seated, the lawyers can excuse any juror they don't like and then the election goes on to replace that juror.  

Needless to say I can't discuss the case I was called up for because we were instructed not to.

But, I had to report back to the jury pool in case I was needed for another case.   I went outside for a breath of fresh air while we were on lunch break and met April   We sat and talked for a time.  She was in pain too, about my age, but with hip problems.  As she was main babysitter for her daughters children it was a big problem for them.  She was very nice, also a retired teacher.  We noticed many tv trucks outside the building and wondered what was going on.

Back in the jury pool, I met up with Barbara and Monique, but Monique got called up again.  Barbara and I sat there until 4:00!  People were picked all around us even up to 3:30.  I felt sorry for those people who slumped out of the room like the dead being condemned to purgatory.

When I got home, I called a friend and she told me the tv people were there because of a tabloid case where a man murdered his toddler son so he could stay with a teenage girlfriend he had been seeing after his divorce.  The teenage girl didn't like that he had a little boy.  He reported the boy missing but the child's body was found near Cooper River, and the father was the main suspect.  All he had to do was give up custody, but I guess he was too bitter to give his wife the satisfaction, so he murdered that little child who loved and trusted him.  Although, of course, innocent until proven guilty.

I am glad I didn't get on that case, or for that matter any case!  I am going to ask my doctor's for notes when I have my next appointments in case I get called up again in 3 years!  I am glad I have always done my duty, but I HATE jury duty!  And I think I should have been able to opt out for age.  I think if you can retire from everything else, you should be able to retire from jury duty when you have done your duty so many times and are older.  Of course, we are just the people who probably make the best jurors, because of maturity, experience, and judgement.

Well, it is all over now and probably my last time doing it.  My back was screaming at me by noon, by 3:30, I was in abject misery.  Fortunately the jury pool room had better chairs.  But that was just too many hours upright for my spine.  I have desiccated disk disease and both a herniated disk and stenosis.  That alone should get me out.  My back doesn't hurt if I get on a recliner after half a day.  It is hours upright that count.

The jury system is as old as ancient Greece but has its roots in ancient Germanic, Anglo Saxon tribal traditions whereby eight to a dozen villagers were chosen to investigate as well as to judge in a case.  It even goes back to ancient Greece.  What I thought was interesting when I did some research was that in the Middle Ages, in Glasgow Scotland, it was decided that  dozen was too many for honest neutrality, and a number that could likely lead to being swayed by a charismatic member, and that seven was more likely to retain integrity of the members.

Now that I think of it, I bet the reason they kept us so long and had so much trouble filling that last jury, the one Monique got called for the 3rd time to, was they were filling the one for the father who killed the toddler.  That would be a long long case, and a terrible one.  My case would have been 3 days this week and 2 next week!

Life in Camden County!
Happy Trails,
Jo Ann

Photography and New Jersey

Perhaps the most famous photographer (and you can argue with me about this if you like) who was born in New Jersey was Dorothea Lange.  She was born in Hoboken on May 26, 1895.  And it is also arguable (I guess) that her Depression Era photographs made her most famous.  She worked for the Farm Security Administration which was also responsible for saving images of many historic places across the nation, and, especially important to me, in New Jersey.

So my post today was inspired by an article about another famous New Jersey Photographer, of whom, I am embarrassed to say, I hadn't heard until I read the article, despite my Art education background and lifelong interest in photography.  

The Sunday Courier Post ran an article and samples of the work of Irving Penn, born in Plainfield, NJ in 1917.  His work is being shown in New York at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through July 30, 2017.  He made his mark mainly through fashion photography but used his success to fund his experiments in more aesthetic art photography in contrast with his commercial work.

One of my favorite photographers in New Jersey today is Albert Horner who has taken simply magical photographs of my favorite place in New Jersey, (my favorite state) - the Pine Barrens.  You can find his work on-line.

If you take photographs, you might enjoy sending them to be shown on the SHOW US YOUR SOUTH JERSEY page of the Sunday Courier Post.  This Sunday, April 30, 2017, it was on page 15C.  Some are so beautiful, I cut them out and paste them in my giant Sketch pad journals.  Some of my favorite photographers in this section of the Sunday paper, have been hollyferret, oskhernandez, memorieslostintime, and andrealaing - their on-line names.  
If you have some gems on your phone that you might like to share with the world, The Courier suggests you post your phone photos to Instagram #SJshowus.  So if you have some beauties, you might want to send them in and try it out, if you know how to use Instagram - can't help you with that, I've never done it, but when my daughter comes home again in a week or two, to visit, I may ask her to show me how!

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann