Revolutionary War History fans - this Saturday!

The Skirmish

Saturday, June 1 | 10 AM -  4 PM

Indian King Tavern Museum, Haddonfield

 

The British are coming to Haddonfield! Troops colonial pirates, town criers, horses, and more will walk through the streets of the downtown. Visit the British encampment, visit with the Queen's Rangers horses, and see colonial displays. There will be kids games and tours at the museum, as well as colonial cooking and beer making demonstrations. Haddonfield Plays and Players will be performing musical selections from "Kings Road." Even the farmers market will go colonial! 

Reminder 1st Annual South Jersey History Fair at Gabreil Daveis Tavern

Just a reminder that next week, June 8th, the first annual South Jersey History Fair will be held at the Gabreil Daveis Tavern in Glendora.  (Rain date June 9)  Info about the historic importance of the tavern from their web site:

Gabreil Daveis Tavern was built to accommodate travelers headed east and west over the Irish road and watermen moving lumber and other products by way of the Timber Creek. The building ceased being a tavern in 1768 when Sarah Daveis, the widow of Gabreil, declined to renew the license. From this point forward the building became home to some of the Township’s most important Revolutionary War figures.

Today’s visitors to the building can be certain about its date of construction because it was recorded by the bricklayer builder in the building’s western gable. Dating buildings was a common practice among the English forefathers of the West New Jersey’s earliest settlers.

To those interested in historic buildings and the early architecture of the area, “gable end” houses are a familiar sight. They range in style from the simple addition of the date to the gable end brickwork, to dates and initials of the original owners, to patterned brickwork beneath the dates and initials. Patterns include diamonds, chevrons and zigzags. In some instances, there are intricate flower and coronet patterns in the brickwork. The patterns are created by the use of vitrified headers, or bricks whose ends are burnt to a dark blue-black in the kiln.

However, when viewed in terms of American building traditions, they are quite interesting. There are about 175 such buildings in the United States and over 100 found in the historic colony of West New Jersey. There are none in what was East New Jersey and only five in Pennsylvania. Gabreil Daveis Tavern is the only gable end house in Gloucester Township. The building’s restoration has preserved a small but visible part of the region’s unique cultural heritage.”
(The History of the Township of Gloucester 1695 to 2003, by E. E. Fox III, R. Thompson, J. F. Kaitz, published by Colour Printing, Inc, in cooperation with the Historic and Scenic Preservation Committee and The Township of Gloucester, New Jersey, U.S.A.)

The Gabreil Daveis Tavern is located on 4th Avenue and Floodgate Rd, Glendora, NJ.

WaltFest Laurel Springs

Don't forget the Walt Fest at Laurel Springs this Saturday, June 1t from 11 to 3 featuring poetry, art, a tour of the Whitman Stafford House, the Train Station, trolley rides and places for lunch.  I had plans to go but my friend has fallen down the stairs and broken her arm and hurt her back and may not be able to go.  Maybe I will see you there, maybe not - depends on how her back feels for driving.
www.laurelsprings-NJ.com for more information - look at events.
Don't be misled by a poster that erroneously listed it for Saturday, June 2nd.  Saturday is the 1st.

Happy Trails!
It is the 200th anniversary of our greatest poet Walt Whitman!
Jo Ann

World War II in South Jersey On My Mind

Memorial Day ALWAYS makes me think of my family who fought in every war we have been forced to engage in since the country began.  Relatives on my mother's side, from the Big Timber Creek area, the Cheeseman men, fought in the Revolutionary War.  I found their names in Striker's List at the Gloucester County Historical Society when I was a volunteer there.

Same side of the family, but on the Garwood side, provided Union soldiers for the Civil War.  One of them was imprisoned in Andersonville, the most horrific prisoner of war camp in that war.  He survived and went on to live a productive and (I assume) a long and happy life, after his release.  

My Grandfather Lyons, also on my mother's side, married to her Aunt Lavinia Lyons, who raised my mother and her sister, Sarah, after their mother died, fought in World War I, only he was stateside along the Mexican border during that fantastical history event when the Germans tried to enlist Mexico in a war against us.
I have a photo of him by his tent in an arid and dusty field.

World War II is where my father's side shows up.  My father was in the Navy in both the North Atlantic and the South Pacific on troop transport ships.  A story he told us had to do with a destroyer that was guarding them that was hit and sinking.  the sailors who escaped were picked up by my father's ship and one of them was his own uncle, my Uncle Yock.  Uncle Yock had been in World War I when he was underage and lied about his age, and again in World War II when he was over age but again, lied and got away with it and served in the navy.  Both my father, his brother Clyde, and their Uncle Yock, came home alive and uninjured from the war.  How lucky were we.

My brother served in Vietnam, and again, he is alive and well and living in West 'by God' Virginia on my father's property.  My brother was in the marines, so we covered all the branches except the Coast Guard:  Grandpop Lyons in the army, Cheeseman and Garwood in the army, Dad, Uncle Clyde and Uncle Yock in the Navy and my brother Joe in the marines. 

Which brings me to my mother, Mary Lavinia, who worked at the Philadelphia Navy Yard to support the war effort.  All I remember her telling me of her work there was that she was a courier which was great fun because she learned to drive and she got to drive a jeep.  

One of the best history programs I have ever seen, and I have seen decades of them on every kind of war and history topic in all kinds of historic sites from Monmouth Battlefield to the Bayshore Discovery Project at Port Norris, was the presentation given by Stacy Roth, a history re-enactor.  I have seen Stacy Roth portray Molly Pitcher, but my all time favorite was her portrayal of Rosie the Riveter.  If you have read any other posts you may have seen me praising the artwork of Norman Rockwell, American's greatest illustrator and the chronicler of our world in the decades that he painted the covers used for the Saturday Evening Post.  His cover of Rosie the Riveter is iconic and it was the first time I saw an image of that character who, like Molly Pitcher and Betsy Ross, stands in for all the women who supported all the great events of our nations history.

Stacy, when she portrayed Rosie the Riveter, had the works:  she had the riveter equipment, she had a local woman who worked as a riveter and her diary.  Stacy had numerous paper artifacts as well, magazines, booklets, and statistics on women war service in the local area.  It was enlightening engaging and highly informative. 

Once I even did a history performance of my own for World War II.  At the time, Red Bank Battlefield was hosting a World War II re-enactors encampment.  Although Red Bank Battlefield was a Revolutionary War site, its location on the Delaware made a a site for a World War II watchtower and lookout facility.  Don't forget, we had German subs on our own Atlantic coast in New Jersey, and we were ever vigilant of the risk of them sneaking up the Delaware River.  

World War II sites in South Jersey:
A few years ago, my cousin Patty and I went to visit the opening of the Cape May Fire Tower World War II exhibit.  This fire tower was a lookout for subs on the coast.  A very nice WWII veteran gave us a tour and we were honored to give a donation to the support of this memorial.
Another site I visited many many times hiking with my friends, Barbara Solem and Barbara Spector, was in Estelle, the site of the Belco Plant - the ruins of which are in the woods beside a wooded hiking trail.  It is where they made shells for World War I.
Sea Girt has a museum now with an exhibit for World War Ii and when I get my new car I will definitely visit.  It is a coast guard base museum but is currently sponsoring World War II exhibits.

The most amazing World War II site I have ever visited (back in 2010) in the U.S. was the Reading, Pa. largest WWII re-enactment in the WORLD.  They had an entire French village to re-enact street by street combat, refurbished World War II aircraft flying air displays, jeeps, trucks, a German army camp, Red Cross, and even a USO show with singers and musicians.  It was vast!  I will look it up and see when it is happening again and I will let you know.

Here it is:
Mid-Atlantic 29th Anniversary Air Show and World War II Weekend June 7, 8, 9, 2019, Reading Pa.

DATES OF FUTURE WORLD WAR II WEEKENDS

In case you like to plan long-range, MAAM's WWII Weekend is always held the first full weekend (including Friday) in June.  June 5-6-7, 2020;  June  4-5-6, 2021;  June  3-4-5, 2022;  June  2-3-4, 2023 ;  June  7-8-9, 2024.

Happy memories and Happy Trails - I hope your Memorial Day wa safe and enjoyable and that you took a minute to remember those who fought to keep us SAFE and FREE.
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

Repair Wizards - Smart Phone and Electronics Repair - EXCELLENT!!

As you know, I rarely (maybe never) review businesses on my blog but I had to say a word about Matt at Repair Wizards.  They are located at 604 Station Ave in Haddon Heights, near Station Cafe' and a friend recommended them after her husband's screen on his phone was shattered.  (856-352-5589) www.TheRepairWizards.com

I bought a printer recently and could not get it working, so I tried them.  I took the printer and my laptop over and Matt got them working within the hour.  But when I got them home, I couldn't get them working AGAIN!  So I called and as it happened, he was out on a job and said he would stop by my house and fix it.  

He came by, put in another hour and got both my phone and my laptop working with the printer.  I cannot tell you how relieved I was.  I have been having so many problems printing for about two years and I use my color printing for my art work so it was a big pain to not have this tool.  Matt was polite and friendly and helpful and I strongly recommend his shop for your computer and phone problems!  

Have a Happy Memorial Day and say a little prayer in your heart for all the soldiers who gave their lives for our country!  We had a World War I grandpop and great uncle veterans, a World War II father veteran, and my brother was a Vietnam veteran.  My brother fortunately survived his tour in Vietnam and has lived a long life and is happy in West Virginia!

Happy Trails
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

Read it in the Sunday New York Times

This morning, Sunday, an article that caught my attention was in the Business sector and titled "I wanted a Mobile Art Studio, so I Built One, in a 2009 Honda Element, by Wendy McNaughton.

The reasons that this article stood out, are several:
1.  Once I lived for a year on the road in Europe in a 1969 VW van, with my just released US Army soldier husband.  We traveled through 38 countries in that van and it was glorious.
2.One of my all time favorite artists, Canadian painter, Emily Carr, had a repurposed vehicle she called the Elephant that she used as a mobile Art Studio so she could camp out on the northwestern coast of Canada and paint, among other things, deserted First Nations Villages and their Totem Poles.  I was most drawn to her landscapes - spectacular and living visions of the northern forest.
3.  I have always been a big fan of "Little Houses" and the movement of taking up a smaller, more economical space.  I detest these un-economical, un-environmentally aware mega-mansions where it seems every person has to have a bathroom, bedroom, living room, to his or herself, strewn throughout a three story, clerestories ostentatious McMansion that uses too much electricity to heat and light and cool.  I HATE waste!  

So, our author, with the help of a carpenter/woodworker, designed a created a mobile Art Studio with the modern necessities - a computer, scanner, fax machine, so she could produce her work, on the road and send it in from the road.  Love it!

One of the many many things I love about the Sunday New York Times is that in sections I would never look at in other newspapers, I can find articles of interest in the Sun.NYT, such as this one in the Business section.  Usually the business section in other publications is dry stuff about acquisitions, stock market health and so on, but in the Sun>NYT, here is this wonderful article with a little blueprint showing exactly how this designer set up her Mobile Art Studio in her 2009 Honda.  

By the way, if you were an educator, you can get a discount on your Sunday subscription, 50% off!  So you can get the Sunday paper for less than if you bought it each week = $21.  A true bargain.  I buy it mainly for the Book Review, but I have learned to enjoy a lot more since I have subscribed.  I found out about it from Facebook.

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

NJ EAT GLOBAL MAY ISSUE plus Walt Whitman and T. Thomas Fortune

No doubt you have noticed the wide array of gossip magazines devoid of any useful information or purpose, lining the aisles at check-out in the supermarkets.  Half of the names splashed across the covers bemoaning cheating partners, weight gain, or struggles getting pregnant, married, divorced, or mentally stable.  Usually the only informative or interesting magazines are the Time/Life series with a special focus, on something like Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address, or The US Space Program, or Dogs.  Rarely do I spend any money on a magazine and also rarely do I bother to pull a magazine out of the rack to browse while I wait in line to pain for my groceries.  If I want a magazine and I have several favorites, I subscribe, or go to Barnes and Noble in Cherry Hill, in the shopping center I always refer to as the Legman's shopping center.  I think it is where the old Garden State Racetrack was.  There I buy history magazines, ArtJournaling, or Ancestry magazines, sometimes a literary magazine.

Anyhow, after that long introduction, my point is that I bought the May issue of New Jersey.  From time to time, they have put out issues with a cover story that is of interest to me, most recently, New Jersey Walks, however, I find that most things labeled "New Jersey" somehow have a North Jersey focus.  The most recent issue, Eat Global caught my eye because I have been trying to tempt myself to a more healthful diet at home.  Eating out, I ALWAY have healthful and nutritious meals but at home I tend to lean towards fast and easy - sandwiches, cheese and crackers, cereal and almond milk, protein drinks.  I bought a Wok with the intention of making stir fry but sadly it still as its wrap-around cardboard collar like the day I bought it.

Within the first several pages of New Jersey, I found two interesting articles of history note:  The celebration of Walt Whitman's Camden Days, from age 53 till his death.  There will be tours of the Whitman House at 328 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd from May 22 to June 8, and at the Stedman Gallery on the Rutgers campus from May 30 to December there will be an exhibition of paintings, photographs, glassworks and sculpture.  For more information, visit:
whitmanat200.org/calendar


The other item of interest to me was the renovation and repurposing of the T. Thomas Fortune Homestead in Red Bank, NJ.  I had never heard of T. Thomas Fortune before, which was surprising to me as I have done a good bit of programming on African American themes in South Jersey history.  T. Thomas Fortune's estate, Maple Hall was a hub for such luminaries as W. E. B. Dubois, Booker Washington, Ida B. Wellsand Marcus Garvey, all names and careers with which I was familiar.  T. Thomas Fortune had also created the National Afro-American League, a precursor to the NAACP, and wa a strong supporter of African American unity groups to help in the struggle for equality in civil rights in America.  The newly renovated building will be used as a cultural center and a meeting place for advocacy ventures, much as it was in the days of its founder.  

One of the things I found interesting about this renovation was that it was accomplished by a builder and developer who planned to use it as a focal point for a residency development on the grounds behind Maple Hall.  

This was especially interesting to me because it is the way the Benjamin Cooper Ferry and Tavern is being saved in Camden.  A developer has bought the property and plans to renovate the Cooper house and use it as a 'branding' focal point for a development of residences and shops.  

This is a salutary and innovative way to save the buildings that are just too expensive for historical groups to save.  The developers who can often be the enemies of conservation can be more civil minded and use our cultural and natural treasures for everyone's benefit!

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

May events from Crossroads of the Revolution

A note:  I don't post everything that Crossroads sends me in e-mail because a lot of it is in North Jersey, places like Piscataway, and my focus is on South Jersey, but when something looks relevant, I will post it:

May 18

Colonial Craft: Felted Flower Fairies at the Whitall House/Red Bank Battlefield in National Park. Make an adorable craft, then explore the home and grounds of Revolutionary Neighbor Ann Whitall. 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Reservations and more information.

May 19

Spring Antique, Glass and Bottle Show at Batsto Village in Hammonton. Visit the show and tour the historic Batsto Mansion and ironworks community. 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. More information. 

Happy Trails!  The weather couldn't be nicer - cool and everything blooming in the partly sunny skies!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

ancestry, DNA and Genealogical Society of Salem County

Have you had your DNA analyzed?  A few years ago, I went to the genealogical convention in Philadelphia and purchased a dna kit from ancestry.com because it was discounted for the convention.  I think I paid $69, when, at the time, the kit was going for $100 a were most of the other dan analysis companies such as 23 and me.

It was fun.  I had wished I could have done 23 and me earlier when they were permitted to give you medical information, before the AMA stepped in with federal support and stopped them being able to give you that information on the basis that it should only be disclosed by doctors!

Anyhow, I was surprised at my results when I read them on the ancestry site.  The 52% English, didn't surprise me as my father's line is English.  But the 17% Scandinavian was a total shock as I had, as far as I knew, from my family tree research to date, NO Scandinavian ancestors.  The tip that resolved that little mystery came from two sources.  First, a book I had read about dealt with geographic understandings of DNA.  Naturally, as we well know, borders change, and countries change, and even more importantly, having lived for a couple of thousand years in an institutionalized patriarchy, we rarely think of the female side of our family lines.  

I was well aware of my mother's line, and had done a good bit of research on her Irish ancestry, but nowhere in the DNA analysis did it mention Irish!  Well, a female ancestor from Scotland had married a northern Irish man and together they had come to America.

The Scandinavian, I later supposed must have come from a Danish female ancestor from the Jutland peninsula who married a German. Two strong lines of German ancestry (also not disclosed on the DNA) had come through female ancestors.  My paternal grandmother was from German extraction.  Her mother and father were both descendants of German immigrants.  As it turned out, Jutland had been Danish then German, then Danish, then German.  
And my mysterious "Eastern European" ancestry according to DNA, must have been from the wavering borders on the eastern side of Germany.

Later, ancestry sent e-mail that their DNA analysis had been refined thanks to a greatly increased data base.  So I checked it out and the Eastern European became German and so did a good bit of the Scandinavian.

Anyhow, if you are interested in learning more about any of this here is your chance:

Greetings--

The Genealogical Society of Salem County will host a program on "Navigating AncestryDNA ThruLines" presented by Bonny Beth Elwell on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at 7:00 pm in the Friends Village Auditorium at One Friends Drive, Woodstown, NJ.

AncestryDNA is currently one of the most popular DNA tests available. The recently introduced ThruLines tool has the potential to assist researchers in determining their connection to their DNA matches. It also has the possibility of misleading researchers to draw false conclusions. Experienced genealogist Bonny Beth Elwell* will explain how to use this new tool and what pitfalls to avoid. She will also demonstrate a few additional new tools available on Ancestry.com.
This program is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.gsscnj.org, call 609-670-0407 or email genealogicalsocietysalemcounty@gmail.com.

By the way, I had also hired * Bonny Beth Elwell to help me complete a large form family history chart.  She is enormously helpful and very inexpensive in her fee for genealogical assistance.  She would be a good one to hire to help you get started and then later to help when you hit snags or dead ends.  She also resolved a couple of sticky family history questions I had run into and was unable to figure out.  

Happy Trails,

Jo Ann

wrightj45@yahoo.com

Books and Reading

It is Friday midday, May 10, and again the weather forecast was way off but to my advantage.  That is of course, if you follow the circular logic of my favorite self-composed adage "Things always turn out for the best if you make the best of the way things turned out."

It was supposed to rain all day according to the radio weather forecast yesterday, and since Knight's Park floods, our Art Club painting in the park was cancelled and I got to sleep late, walk the dog and do my favorite thing - READ!!  

I only have about half a dozen reading left-overs - magazines I started and didn't finish, a NYT Bk Review or two, some gathered newspapers and a new New Yorker.  

The Sun. NYTimes Bk Rev. has a feature I love where they ask an author to talk about the books on her/his night table, last 'great' book read, childhood reading and so on.  Whenever I read that, I always think about the beginning of my serious reading career, when I left the world of children's literature and entered the world of Great Literature via a series of European classics on a bookshelf in my Grandmother Lyon's basement.  No one ever talked about those books, where they came from or why they were in the basement.  There was also a really big fat dictionary, the kind that has its own pedestal and is about 10 inches thick with the oxblood colored hardback covers.  

It was there that I met a book that informed for better or worse, an understanding I would have about the world for the rest of my life.  The book was the collected stories of Guy deMauppassant and the story was "Ball of Fat."  In brief, the story was about a prostitute fleeing Paris at the time of a Prussian invasion.  She and a carriage of aristocrats and petite bourgeois of the merchant class were approaching a guarded border crossing.  As her fame had carried even so far, the Prussian border officer demanded that she offer her favors in exchange for the border crossing permit.  Ball of fat was a patriot and outraged at such an affront.  However, the other carriage occupants who had scorned her throughout the trip and shunned and shamed her, suddenly warmed to her and beguiled her into giving him what he wanted so they could get safely across the border. She acquiesced and as soon as the transaction was complete and they were permitted to cross, they carriage occupants again shamed Ball of Fat, in fact, even more scornfully because she had given herself to the enemy.

If I had to explain what I learned from that, I would say that those often considered "betters" were rarely better, that you can't rely on friendship, and your own character is the only lasting value.  

Second only to the European classics was Outdoor Girls on a Hike, which introduced me to plucky independent girls who solved mysteries, hiked in the woods, unafraid, and made plans and went places on their own.  They were the models for my future.  I have collected about eight of the books in the Outdoor Girls series over the years, and when I was sunk into a deep depression and suffering from pneumonia the year I retired, they kept me company on the sofa, under a quilt, through the weeks of my solitary recuperation.

Books and animals have been the mainstays of my existence.  I LOVE them, although I love the animals more and of course, that is because the animals can love me in return.  One is sitting beside me as I type this entry, a fat cat named Little Yock who was rescued from a cemetery, and a dog on the other end of the sofa, rescued from the Camden Animal Shelter.  They nap while I read.  

We all enjoy quiet, and unlike many humans, they can sit quietly while I read without demanding attention or getting restless.

So on my blog theme of "Places to Go and Things to Do" I suppose this one is stay home and read!  If you have nothing to read at home go to a book store, I recommend 2nd Time Around Book Store in Rancocas Woods, on Creek Road.  If you want a recommendation of a book, I am totally enjoying BECOMING, by Michelle Obama, a warm, well written, totally engaging account of her adventure of a lifetime, growing up and marrying the man who would become America's first African American President.  She is a woman to be admired and they were a couple to celebrate and remember with sad regret and longing (that we had such grace and grit and competence once and it has been replaced by moronic bombast and self serving greed.)  Those were the days, my friend.

Happy Trails,
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

A Mother's Day Idea

Well, I just heard the weather forecast for Mother's Day and it doesn't sound good.  Showers all day and 55 degrees cold!  

I had been looking for something to do with a friend, another mom who will be on her own this weekend.  My daughter is going away and won't be home - the first time since she was born that we didn't have Mother's Day together, but that, too, is part of Mother's Day, letting go.  

So looking around I found a couple of things I would like but the weather cancels them, including the Arts and Crafts day in Mullica Hill,  BUT in the rain?  I don't think so.  Then I saw this -

Located in the Down Jersey Folklife Center at WheatonArts, the “Old Masters: Buddhist Art and Pottery” exhibition features a variety of Buddhist artworks from the private collections of Frederick Kramer and Losang Samten.

View pottery showcasing distinct ceramic styles of several Chinese periods, including Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties; Balinese pen and ink paintings; Chinese Brush paintings; sculptures of the many Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and other deities; as well as Tibetan thangkas – Buddhist paintings on cotton with silk appliqué.

Open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., April 2 through June 30, 2019.
I don't know if my other mom friend will be up for that long of a drive, but we can see.

Happy Mother's Day!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

Vegan Lunch and Wonderful History adventure

Today, Barb Solem, author of Ghosttowns and Other Quirky Places in the Pine Barrens, as well as Batsto, Jewel of the Pines, and I enjoyed delicious vegan lunches at the Colonial Diner in Woodbury, which I mentioned in an earlier post has the most wide menu of vegan and vegetarian offerings I have ever seen!  This time I had the black bean chili tacos, a marvelous soup (so tasty) and even though we were full, vegan muffins with raspberry sauce came with the lunch.  I took mine home.  

After being notified by our scrumptious lunches, we headed off to Camden and found the Benjamin Cooper Ferry House which was recently in the newspaper (the Inquirer) because the property developers are working with Camden County Historical Society, to create a South Jersey Revolutionary War Museum in the house.  We found it at 60 Erie Point, parked and had a walk around and took photos.

Next we headed over to the Camden County Historical Society Library and had a wonderful tour with Josh.  I especially enjoyed the new African American History room and the colorful collage right outside of it of the Obamas.  I am reading Michelle Obama's memoir Becoming which is beautifully written and inspiring.  It is good to read about good people with high hopes in this time of political rot.

I picked up several copies of the newest issue of the Heritage magazine, (for my Mount Ephraim Seniors Get-Together) as well as a copy of the new History Alliance Heritage Trail Map (an award winning publication) and the brochures for the houses on the trail that I am interested in visiting.  

This is such a rich area for history and the more you look, the more you find!
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

Pete Seeger - 100 years since his birth

Pete Seeger was born on MAY 3, 1919.  He would have been 100 this yer but he died six years ago, aged 94. 

For those too young to know who Pete Seeger was, he was the balladeer of the Labor struggle and then of the Anti-war movement.  
Both of those peoples' movements were of great interest and importance to me.  My father was an ardent union man.  We was a treasurer for his union for many years, a dangerous job in those days.  The treasurer before him had been disabled when a thug threw acid in his face.  My father wasn't a religious man but I always said the Labor Movement was his religion.  

Anyhow, folk singers like Pete Singer helped push my latent interest into actual research.  I read the biographies of great union heroes like Joe Hill, after hearing "I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, alive as you and me.  But Joe, your ten years dead said I; I never died said he.  I never died said he?"  Their efforts on behalf of there fellow men always moved me.  They were brave and stalwart and they changed the lives of the millions who came after them.  Like Joe Hill, many were beaten, murdered, and jailed, but they never gave up.  

Another old union song that used to move my heart was "Brother can you spare a dime."

They used to tell me I was building a dream
And so I followed the mob
When there was earth to plow or guns to bear
I was always there right on the job

They used to tell me I was building a dream
With peace and glory ahead
Why should I be standing in line
Just waiting for bread?

Once I built a railroad, I made it run
Made it race against time
Once I built a railroad, now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once I built a tower up to the sun
Brick and rivet and lime
Once I built a tower, now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell
Full of that yankee doodly dum
Half a million boots went sloggin' through hell
And I was the kid with the drum

Say, don't you remember, they called me Al
It was Al all the time
Why don't…

And as for the peace movement, it was boys my age who were drafted and sent to Vietnam regardless of their conscience or their emotional or mental readiness.  To be forced into the military against your will and shipped out to a country to kill or die when you didn't believe in any of it, was to me, the soul of injustice.  It reminded me of one of the things we fought for in the Revolution, to stop England from raiding our ships and ports and conscripting American men to their navy.  Conscription is the opposite of the right to Life and Liberty.  If you don't own your own life, what do you own?

Some of the injustices perpetrated against our own citizens are heartbreaking and fill you with despair.  I am thinking of the protest of the veterans of World War I when they were denied their benefits after the war, and they camped outside the White House and the cavalry was called out against them, and our own soldiers beat and shot and trampled our own veterans.  

Pete Seeger sang about these things and educated us about those parts of our history often eft out of the history books.  He followed in the hallowed foot steps of Woodie Guthried and other balladeers of justice and courage.  He may be dead but he will never be forgotten.

A personal note:  the first album I ever bought with my own money, to play on the stereo turntable my father and mother had bought me for Christmas that year was a Pete Seeger album, the one with "Little houses, made of tricky tacky, and they all look just the same"  I got it, even as young as I was that it was a metaphor for conventional thinking and conventional behavior.  

His most famous anthem was probably, "We Shall Overcome"  which he learned from a woman who taught at the Labor School for the tobacco workers of Charleston, South Carolina.  I wish I still had my Pete Seeger album, but we can't hold on to everything or we would need a warehouse to live in.

Visit South Jersey

In my e-mail was the usual Visit South Jersey posting with a dozen fun and intersting things to do and places to go.  Most of them are not of interest to me as I don't drink either beer or wine and they lean heavily on promoting wineries and breweries, also evening events, like concerts and I don't drive at night.  That said, this one looked interesting, so I am passing it on.  I live Millville, the Vegan restaurant Wildflowers, the Bluffs hiking area, the river walk area, and the book store - Bogart's.  Also the Art Gallery across the street from Wildflowers, so if you ar down that way for this event, you may wish to stop and visit those others places.  Oh, ad soon, Captain Dave will be offering his boat rides on the Maurice River!  I think he starts this month, May.

ECO Fair: Artful Living, 

Handmade & Homegrown

Saturday, May 4 | 10 AM - 5 PM

WheatonArts, Millville

 

In partnership with the Cumberland County Improvement Authority, WheatonArts presents the 13th annual ECO Fair, a free family day inspired by natural living! The event showcases the handmade works of New Jersey artists, as well as environmentally minded organizations, family art activities, live music, and more. Local gardening clubs, including Rutgers Master Gardeners, will have a variety of plants and herbs for sale throughout the day. Keynote speaker Pat Sutton will present "It's a Jungle Out There: Life and Death in the Wildlife Garden" at 1:30pm followed by a book signing. 

Vegan Menu at the Colonial Diner

Yesterday, Wednesday, May 1st, a friend and I went to lunch at the Colonial Diner.  My friend, Barb, is a vegan, I have a few vegan friends.  I am vegetarian.  I tried vegan for almost a year, but I really don't want to give up cheese or coffee cream, so I compromise and buy ONLY certified cruelty free eggs, and eat vegetarian the rest of the time.

If you are wondering what the difference is between vegan and vegetarian, vegans eat NO animal products - that means no honey, no eggs, no dairy.  Vegetarians just don't eat animals.  

All over the world people have different levels of acceptance of what kinds of animals to eat and how much.  For example in many parts of the world, the diet is predominantly vegetarian, such as India.  In India, cows are sacred.  In China, they eat dogs!  

I began to eat vegetarian in the 1970's after reading Frances Moore Lappe's DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET.  I feel compassion for other animals, abhor cruelty, and I respect and love the planet earth.  
So, I try to eat responsibly for the health of my planet, my fellow creatures, and my own health.

It was with surprise and delight that my friend and I found an enormous menu of vegan and vegetarian food choices at the Colonial Diner.  She had heard about this, and we went to try it out. 
The Colonial has been in business for 40 years.  I knew it from the old days but had not been there since it was renovated and the menu changed.  I ordered the Green Goddess salad, romain, avocado, tomatoes, olives,  roasted tofu, and warm pita slices.  Barb had the chili tortillas with sides of brown rice and black beans.  Both were delicious!  Both lunches came with vegan muffins for desert and cost around $15.

The Colonial is located on the northern entrance to Woodbury, 924 North Broad, Woodbury, phone - 856-848-1935

People usually ask, how can you be sure you are getting enough protein if you eat vegetarian or vegan.  Many foods aside from meat have protein including many kinds of vegetables and beans rice and grains, and if you are vegetarian, so does dairy.  Also, the average woman needs 45 grams of protein per day and the average man needs 55 according to Fed. Gov. guidelines.  If you have doubts, you can always supplement with a protein drink.  Mine has 30 grams in it and there are vegan protein drinks as well.  Mine is Pure Protein, caramel flavor from Walmart and costs about $6 for a four pack.  

If you'd like to give it a try, experiment with one day a week, and try vegetarian first then move on to vegan.  Vegan is, admittedly a bit more difficult.  I have found that most places have vegetarian choices, such as veggie burgers, even some fast food places although you may have to ask and it may not be on the menu.  You can always take a pack of veggie burgers from Shop Rite to a picnic and ask the host to put them on the grill, but you might find everyone else eating your veggie burgers because they are curious and veggie burgers are GOOD.

As more and more people become concerned with their health, their  weight, and environmental issues, you will see vegan and vegetarian becoming more common.  Check out the menu at the Colonial for good food ideas!

In the summer when the weather is hot and I don't feel like eating hot foods, I lean heavily on smoothies made in my Bullet.  A banana, an apple, some blueberries or strawberries, a yoghurt and some almond milk makes a filling and healthful summer lunch or dinner!

At the check-out at the ShopRite today, I picked up a booklet put out by Prevention called EAT CLEAN.  I will let you know what I learn from it after I read it.

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com