Women in the Time of the Revolution, Part two

It is one of nature's little cruelties that such a book loer as myself should be losing my eyesight, but so it is. I have Fuch's Dystrophy. For a couple of years, I have been weeding out books and donating them to the Free Books Project at Newton Friends Meeting i Camden, NJ. I have 3 cartons ready to go in my car. This gave me the idea of donating my Women in therevolution collection to the young woman I met who volunteers at the Red Bank Battlefield. She is away at present studying in England, but a friend of hers is volunteering at Red Bank so I called a volunteer friend of mine, Harry Schaeffer, and asked him if he would pick up and take to the Whitall House, a tub of my collection of books about the Women in Revolutionary America. He came over and picked up the tub and also walked the dog with me. I gave him a treasured and relatively new book on an interest that we shared: runaway indentured servants. It was really nice seeing Harry again and I felt really good about letting those books go to young women who may be able to enjoy and use them. Here is the bibliography of the books I donated:

Belonging to the Army, Holly Meyer Margaret Morris, John Jackson Betsy Ross, Marla Miller Women in Colonial and Revolutionary America1607-1790, Bonnie Eisenberg Remember the Ladies, Linda Grand DePauw Great Women of the American Revolution, Brianna Hall Never Caught, Erica Armstrong Dunbar Not All Wives, Karin Wulf Weathering the Storm, Elizabeth Evans Fron Slaves to Soldiers, Robert Geak Camp Follower, Suzanne Adair When Heroes of the American Revolution, Susan Casey Sally Wister’s Journal Abigail Adams, , Phyllis Levin Founding Mother Cokie Roberts Glory Passion and Principle, ,Melissa Bohrer Following the Drum, Nancy Loane The Diary of Hannah Calendar Sansom, Sex Among the Rabble, Claire Lyons Revolutionary Mothers, Carol Berkin Patience Wright, Charles Sellers Betsy Ross, Jennifer Silate Terrible Virtue, Ellen Feldman One of the things I learned about the way women during Revolutionary times were portrayed seemed particularly cruel and evil minded The only women you tended to hear about were what were called "Camp Followers" who were said to be prostitutes that followed the army and were a pestilential torment to George Washington because they had to be fed from army rations. The truth was that the camp followers were laundresses, cooks, nurses, and most were the family members of the men enlisted. They ahd been left behind on small farms or in other circumstances with no way to support themselves or survive, so they were forced to follow their husbands, fathers, any male upon whom they had depended for their food and lodging. In return, they provided the necessities of the soldiers - laundering, cooking, nursing the sick and wounded. Probably among them were women who were forced to traffic in sex for food and survival, but they were not the primary inhabitatnts of that group of unfortunates with squalling babies on their backs, pushing wheel barrows of pots and pans, or dragging bundles of tents and bedding. You have to read books by women historians to get the real story, and by the tiem I was a history volunteer there were many women histories putting a proper balance to the historical record, at last. I hope my gift carries the torch to another generation of historical scholars. When I was a young student, college access had been out of the reach of many young women. Some colleges, like Princeton, were still all male. The Women's Revolution, along with the Student Revolution changed all that and the college doors were blown open, so that intellectually vigorous readers and learners like myself could have a chance. Soon enough, books came out of those opportunities, written by women in graduate programs all over America and we met our ancestors in literature, Art, history at last!

Women in the time of the Revolution - Book essay

When I first began to study Literature for my first college degree at what was then, Glassboro State College in Glassboro, New Jersey back in the late 1960's, I looked for the women writers. I had read male authors my entire life and I was a book worm, so I read a LOT. In fact, I had cut my teeth, so to speak, on the classics of American Leterature and European Literature, thanks to a bookshelf in my Grandmother Lavinia Lyon's basement. No one else had any interest in those books but to me it wa like discovered treasure. My Mother read to me and bought me books and that must have been the origin of my enchantment, because enchanted I was! For most of my childhood, all I wanted to do was read, read, read! I was particularly captivated by sea stories for some reason, Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson. Perhaps I felt that after I had been in the amniotic sea, I had found myself shipwrecked on a mysterious island too.

Among the many sets of books in my Grandmother's basement book shelf, were the whole collection of Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. I read them all, although I must confess I didn't finish A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Twain. I couldn't understand it at all. Among the classics of European literature in the set on the shelf were books by Boccacio and de Maupassant. I read the Last Days of Pompei from that set as well as The Decameron. In my teens, after I moved from Philadelphia to New Jersey and got a library card, I expanded my reading with sets of books more appropriate to my age, which I devoured like candy: Cherry Ames. Student Nurse, Nancy Drew, Detective, and others. They had been inspired by one book from the basement shelves called OUTDOOR GIRLS ON A HIKE, which I loved wih all my heart. It was in a special class of beloved books which was shared with Anne of Green Gables also from the basement. Later in my more turbulent teens, I came under the sway of the Russians, Turgenev, Dostoevski, Pasternak. Their work seemed to suit my tormented teenaged soul.

What I loved about all of those books was my TOTAL IMMERSION in those other worlds. I was that kind of strange child with that kind of strange concentration. Those other worlds transported me and also prepared me for a life among humans, for better or for worse. So, of course, when I went to college to study literature, I wanted to learn the magic art of writing books, and having met, by that point mostly male authors, I was eager to see the world through the eyes of women, but where were they? After a dispute with a literature professor over a coarse called Survey of World Literature which included NOT ONE female author, I did my own indepencdent study and created a bibliography of lost, forgotten, or ignored women authors and I read them beginning at the beginning with Lady Murasaki and the Tales of Genji, the first novel written around 1000 a.d. I worked my way through the famous ones like George Sand and Edith Wharton, and the Bronte' sisters, and I sought out women who had been good enough to be published but who had later fallen into the dustbin of history, Dorothy Canfield Fisher.

Similarly when I studied Art in my 2nd Bachelor's degree at Rutgers, I looked for the Women Artists and again it was a true excavation through the lives of male artists. But I found Artemisia Gentileschi, Marie Laurencin, Mary Casatt, Georgia O'Keefe (soon to become famous again thanks to the Women's Movement). Fortunately I had a woman professor who had written a book on lost women artists, Wendy Slatkin: Women Artists - Antiquity to the Present.

I am going to finish this in a new entry because the blog has limited the amount of text space I can use. to be continued.

Christmas Events - Candlelight Tour Red Bank Battlefield

I haven't been posting many events for people to enjoy for the holidays because I assume most people get e-mail notices and most people, (unlike myself) are also on facebook. But I wanted to highlight this one because of my old time long association with the James and Ann Whitall House at Red Bank Battlefield and because it is special to me because of its location beside the mighty Delaware River. The views from the windows of the river remain magical in my memory from my days as a volunteer there, the deep indigo sky at twilight and the way the house and the river bring you back through the centuries to the family who lived in that place in those momentous times in our Revoloutionary history. It is a quiet event - not a problem with parking or crowds - as I recall. And it is a kind of peaceful and warm experience.

If you are unfamiliar with the James and Ann Whitall House at Red Bank Batttlefield, it is in National Park. When I drove there I took the National Park exit off Rt. 130 and drove straight down Hessian Avenue to the park and there is parking both by the Ranger Station and along the River facing lot. Dress warm if you are planning to take a walk along the paths because it is a cold wind that blows over the Delaware.

The Candlelight Tours will be held:

Friday December 8th from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Saturday December 9th 3:00 - 8:00

Sunday December 10th from 4:00 to 7:00

My home is all decorated inside and out for the upcoming holiday as I love the decorations so much I want to enjoy them for my birthday and Thanksgiving. They brighten the dark days of early winter. The storms have been knocking out my outdoor lights somehow, but I push the re-set button at the outlet and they come back on - gotta go do that right away - the wind yesterday was fierce!

Happy Holidays!

Jo Ann

wrightj45@yahoo.com r

Thanksgiving story

On Thanksgiving, 2023, I was driving south down Kings Highway to Clarksboro to my sister's house to have dinner with her and my brother who was up from West Virginia. I had the radio on and I was enjoying the music as I enjoyed the gorgeous array of trees along Kings Highway south of Woodbury, tall stately everygreens, expansive golden canopied trees, some scarlet and others nearly empty but clad in a delicate veil of pale leaves on their black ink drawn branches. The radio announcer said 88.5 was going to play the music from The Last Waltz. For those who don't know or who have forgotten, the Last Waltz was a celebration of the last touring concert of The Band, a hugely influential and popular rock band of the 60' and 70's. The final concert was held on Thanksgivingin 1976 in California. Some of their hits were "Up On Cripple Creek" and "The Day They drove Old Dixie Down." My personal favorites were "Ophelia" and "The Shape I'm In" but most of all "I Shall Be Released."

The Band had famously backed Bob Dylan, and in the last concert after 16 yers on the road, they were joined by Dylan as well as Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and other greats of the era. Martin Scorsese filmed the concert and made a now famous documentary from it. His relationship with the lead guitarist, Robbie Robertson, started a whole new career path for Robertson who scored several films for Scorsese including Raging Bull.

Some years ago, I had seen a documtary about Levon Helms. I don't remember much about it other than he died shortly thereafter and that he had suffered a disappointment about the end of the Band and the documentary which he felt gave too much credit to Robertson. An interview with Robertson explained that he understood how Levon Helms felt and that it was simply his perspective and that he loved him like a brother. Robertson had been an only child and the members of the Bankd were like siblings to him.

They are all dead now except Garth Hudson (86) who is in a Care facility in Canada but who still plays the piano. Robertson died this year at 80 of prostate cancer leaving a wife, an ex-wife and two adult children. To many of us The Last Waltz was like the end of our own youth. I was 31 in 1976 when The Band broke up and played their last concert and I was separating from my husband, and starting a new life, truly leaving my youth behind in many ways. Listening to this music really moves me but I don't indulge in the past very often. Nonetheless, it stirred me enough that today, Black Friday, I took the day off from chores and errands, other than walking the dog and I watched the Scorsese documentary The Last Waltz, and a few interviews.

Last fact and an interesting one, Robertson's mother was a Choctaw/Mohawk born and raised on Two Rivers Reserve in Canada. His biological father was Alexander Klegerman, a professional gambler who died in a hit and run accident. So celebrating the life and achievements of Robbie Robertson is also a way to celebrate Native American Heritage on this holiday which is increasingly an opportunity to reflect and observe the culture of First Peoples.

By the way, my daughter and her husband, sister, brother-in-law and her father and step-mother all celebrated Thanksgiving in Woodstock (with the step-mother's mother who lives there and is in her 90's) which is where The Band did their work with Bob Dylan and spent many creative years. The son-in-law and Lavinia's father and brother-in-law are all musicians.

My Thanksgiving was wonderful and meaningful in many ways and I hope yours was too! Happy Trails!

Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com (don't bother with 'comments' - it is destroyed by spam.)

Healthful benefits of gratitude

We have all read the healthful benefits to our brains and bodies of taking the time to reflect on all we have for which to be grateful. I just filled a survey to that effect on our local news e-mail thread and I decided to do the same here: I coud go on too long, but I will modify myself. I am grateful for: being able to live to the ripe old age of 78, to have had good parents and a boom time in America in which to grow up, to have a healthy daughter who is happy and successful in her adult life, to have my siblings still alive and to be able to spend Thanksgiving with two of them, to have my own little bungalow which I love in a cozy and comfortable town with great neighbors, to live in AMERICA the wonderful, to have good friends who care about me and about whom I care, to have had a wonderful education and tools that allowed me to be a lifelong learner to have a satisfying and useful career that helped my fellow man. I am grateful that my ancestors took the big risk of leaving their homelands and coming to this great country, and I am grateful to have lived in the twentieth and twenty-first century to see such wonders in medicine and progress in society, despite the problems that people still struggle with in other parts of the world and in our own country - we are making progress! I am grateful for sufficiency i both my personal ife and in the place where I live - we mostly have all we need and we don't face famine or civil war or any of the plagues that beset outher parts of the world. I am grateful for the presidency of President Joe Biden who saved us from the chaos created by the previous administration. I am grateful to have lived in the period of the struggle for equality for women and to have benefited from that struggle. I am gratdful for my animal companions and the means to afford to keep and care for them. I am grateful to live in a property with trees and hollies and birds and other creatures. I am grateful for the ability to read and for the gifts I have been given to write and to paint and for the asssociations that allow me to share these gifts with others, local galleries, local journals, this blog! I am grateful to have lived in a period where we were challenged by evil but prevailed in two wars and two undeclared wars and I am grateful that my father and brother served in both and came home safely! I could go on but I think two of these long lists for one day is enough and I don't want to challenge the gods with too many gifts They say whom the Gods wish to punish they firwt give great gifts, but I never went in too much for ancient classical pessimism - especially the Greek form. Christianity offers much more hopeful optimism and less predestined doom! I am grateful for George Fox and the Society of Friends!

Happy Thanksgiving and I suggest you make a list too and surprise yourself!

By the way, I am grateful for my vegetarian life these many decades and how it has helped my health and I want to remind you there are many alternatives to meat eating for Thanksgiving.

The Happiest Woman in the World!

Okay, I know I am tempting the Gods by saying this but today I felt like the happiest woman in the world and I must admit that I often feel this way! Perhaps it is my nature, perhaps it is my circumstances, inheritance, maybe it is chemistry or brain structure, but I just find happiness everywhere and today on my 78th Birthday, I was especially aware of the extraordinary beauty of the Fall Day, the trees were lush with gold, extravagant with blood red illumination, and delicate and exquisite with pale sun gilded leaves hanging on to the very thin lacy ends of the bare branches.

The day began with a trip to the Nail Salon for my monthly pedicure. So here is the balance: my back, hip and knees are so stiff and my eyesight so diminished I can no longer do my own toe nails and they MUST be done! If you let them go too long they can bend in or break off - both bad circumstances. At my favorite nail salon of the past 8 years, Wonder Nails in Audubon inside the Pine Plaza, the ladies are all familiar to me and unfailingly gentle, polite and calming. Today they had a show on tv where Chinese peasants were growing fields of food and a woman was foraging and bringing back interesting fruits and greens and cooking them in a huge kitchen in such large quantities that she used a kind of small shovel to stir them. Then when the dumplings were steamed and the vegetables were boiled in broth, a group of people came and sat around a huge table and ate with their Akita looking on. Maybe it was a commune. Anyhow, the music was calming and the scenery was lovely and my feet were so happy to be trimmed and soaked and pampered after all their hard work.

Next, I drove to meet Barb Solem at The Station for lunch. I had breakfast croissant and creamy pumpkin soup which was delicious! We chatted and Barb gave me a card which I hated but, of course, I didn't say so. It was a fat lady on a recliner with a cat on her stomach. I laughed but it was insulting. I left it on the table and she went back for it, so I put it in my pocket, but when I got home, it was gone - my birthday karma made it disappear! I don't care if it was true, it was mean.

At home, Yard Guy Bobby came and took out an invasive shrub from my beautiful Juniper where I usually hang Christmas lights each year, and he mulch mowed the yard because I am not leaf blowing any more due to environmental impact of the noise and the fumes and also because my e-mail news feed has had a few articles about how good the leaves are for the earth and insects. It was only $80, which I thought was quite fair.

Lavinia called and told me about the progress of her "Love All Alices" theater and film project. And she told me about Justin's musical Stereophonics, and her plans for Thanksgiving and her birthday - Kentucky for Thaksgiving and Woodstock, then Atlantic City for her birthday. When she comes home at Christmas, I asked her to reserve a Sunday so she can look at the old SODAT building because she has some music and art friends who might be interested in space! I will put that on a back burner for the time being. I don't want any more troubled waters with Dietrich, the obstackle and disappointment maker.

Anyhow, back to the happiness, All day and all week I have felt immensely fortunate to have had such a great life and to have such a great life right now!

On Sunday, our new WFM visitor, Francis brought pumpkin bread to Meeting, Jenny and Landon brought cookies and Jerome and Susan threw me a bagel bar party in what was the SODAT reception area. They cleaned it all up and it is going to be the Woodbury Friends Art Gallery soon! What a surprise and what a wonderful thing to hope about. We just need to do a few other things - painting mainly.

Family all well, Sue and Joe contacted and Neal and daughter, texts with Alex and the world in my small sphere is turning in balance and grace. I feel enormously fortunate in every way! I just want to say THANK YOU! to the fates, the gods, karma, whatever directs the flow of human affairs! Also to my parents and ancestors who brought me here.

Happy Trails from Jo Ann on my 78th Birthday November 13, 2023

Cedar Run Presents: Hunters of the Sky

Cedar Run Presents: Hunters of the Sky All Ages Participants are introduced to a variety of raptors (birds of prey) through hands-on exploration and an engaging lesson, during the live animal show. Observe each species’ unique characteristics and learn about its adaptations.Participants will spend time learning how raptors fit in our ecosystem and use these adaptations to succeed in the wild.

Riletta L. Cream Ferry Ave Branch Library Tuesday, November 14th, 4 pm https://www.camdencountylibrary.org/ferry-ave-branch-directions

Link to register for the event: https://tinyurl.com/mvvh2kwv

Happy Trails, Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com

Tiny Art Show Opens!

The Station, 10 East Chestnut in Merchantville opens its annual TINY ART Exhibition this weekend. The Opening reception is from 6 to 10:00 this Friday night 11/10/23. I cannot recommend the food highly enough at the cafe - during the day, so if you want to stop in and have a bite and see the show during the day, enjoy! It is a wonderful place in so many ways. And it is unique for this side of the Delaware! There may be other galleries, and there may be other healthful food cafe's and restaurants, but here you have BOTH. You can eat a delicious meal, and perk up with a specialty coffee and see the art! If the sun is shining and the weather is mild, you can sit outside and enjoy the autumn beauty as well.

It is my honor and my joy to have six tiny paintings in the show - by tiny I mean 5x7 inches, acrylic on canvas, framed and ready for your wall! All of the subjects are autumn and local beauty spots from the Red Bridge at Knight's Park in Collingswood to the beautiful trees of Audubon Lake!

The first time I truly understood the power of Tiny Art was many years ago when I visited an art exhibition in New York City that featured postcard size paintings of scenic places in Europe. They were done for the tourist trade before the advent of printed postcards and they were exquisite! Ever since, I have been making tiny paintings to capture a feeling from a special place and time in my life as each of my tiny paitings in the show do. I hope you get to see them and enjoy them as well as the other works. All the exhibitions at the Station are wonderful and once you visit, you will go back for each show and for the delicious food!

May your Happy Trails lead you to the Station and you can also enjoy walkng the Rails to Trails just in front where the train used to run.

Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com

Thinking about Death and how we deal with it. Gloucester County Historical Society event

THE ART OF MOURNING is now on exhibit until November 11th at The Gloucester County Historical Society Museum and on November 8th there will be a presentation titled GRAVE MATTERS with Jane Peters Estes, a look at Victorian customs in regard to Mourning.

Call Museum at 856-858-8531 for more information.

The Museum is located at 17 Hunter Street, right on Broad in Woodbury, NJ.

https://gchsnj.org

By the way I used to volunteer at the Library (behind the Museum) and if you are interested in South Jersey history there is no finer place to begin your quest. Same goes for genealogy. The same can be said for Camden County Historical Society and both organizations are most worthy of your support, your time via a visit, or your volunteer efforts!

Jo Ann

Leave the Leaves

As soon as I moved into my beloved bungalow in South Jersey, I began to reearch ways to avoid having to rake for days and weeks each year. I LOVE my trees, and I have a couple dozen of them. Finally, I bought a great Leaf Mulching mower that lasted for about 3 decades. When it finally went, I was unable to get another one, but by then I was too old for yard work anymore anyhow. My Knees, hip, and back didn't permit it. So I lurched into the dark world of lnadscape guys, which by the way is a misnomer because NONE of the ones I hired were landscapers and some didn't know a English Ivy from a periwinkle. They were mowers, and most were welded to the seats of their tractors, so I couldn't get them to weed whack or do any trimming or anything that required getting off the tractor seat. Finally I found a more or less cooperative young fellow recommended by a neighbor and we have been working together fairly cooperatively, but generally, at some point each year, I hire my sister who actually is a CERTIFIED LANDSCAPER and she helps with trimming the trees and shrubs.

Anyhow to get back to the leaves, I have an excerpt for you from a bulletin I receive via e-mail about TREES:

FALLEN AUTUMN LEAVES HAVE ECOLOGICAL BENEFITS

As the temperatures cool, the leaves of deciduous trees transform into the beautiful oranges, yellows, reds, purples, and browns of autumn, blending together a new world of colors.

It truly is a sight to behold, but eventually, those leaves fall to the ground and crunch beneath our steps. During this season, many people decide to rake piles of leaves and discard them. Perhaps they rake in a pile to jump in for some classic fall fun, but eventually, those leaves are removed from yards and sidewalks.

Turns out, all that endless raking doesn’t have the best ecological benefits! This year, try leaving (no pun intended!) all that fall foliage on the ground. Not only do fallen leaves provide food and shelter for larvae and other organisms, but they also provide many essential nutrients as they decompose.

These decomposed (or even partially decomposed) leaves help to improve the soil structure, loosening heavy clays by adding essential draining properties. In sandy soils, they increase water retention by improving water-holding capacity.

For all of the gardeners out there, the organic matter of fall leaves also helps to improve soil fertility by providing important nutrients that will benefit plants and crops in your garden. So, save yourself from raking all season long and rest assured that you’re doing what’s best for your garden and the environment!

Happpy Trails Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com

Tiny Art at The Station (Eiland Art Center) Chestnut St., Merchantville, NJ

Tiny Art exhibition returns to The Station this month through December and I am honored and overjoyed to have three of my small paintings accepted into the show. My three paintings are all autumn landscapes because that is what moved me when I was getting ready to do work for this show. All of the works are about postcard sized. Mine three framed acrlylic on canvas paintings are 5 X 7 and ready to hang. One is the Red Bridge at Knight Park in Collingswood, another is a splendid tree at Audubon Lake, and finally the third is my second painting of the final autumn of the little woods that used to be on Northmont Avenue in Mt. Ephraim. The little woods held a small rustic home in a large pasture beside it. The property was purchased and four large two story homes were built there and the woods cut down. Before the demolition, the little woods blazed in a final gloroius splendor in an autumn afternoon sun.

I have been going regularly to the Station Cafe for lunch lately, twide last week, in fact. One day, Chef Jenny had made the most delicious butternut squash soup I have ever tasted. I wish she would make it more often, that alone is enough to draw me back! I don't know if you have ever cut up a butternut squash but it is no easy task. I am only too happy to have someone else do the work and for me to enjoy the delicious results! Along with the delicious soups, there are wonderful sandiwhiches. My current favorite is the breakfast croissant which is scrambled egg and cheese and coonut bacon (Vegan) on a flaky croisant - YUMMY! My friend Barb with whom I had lunch on Friday has a favorite too, the Vegan BLT on foccacio bread!

Along with a great art show, there are charming gifts and cards to browse for your upcoming holiday season gift giving. So many reasons to visit the Station, and get on their mailing list becaue they have pop up gournmet dinners - another great gift idea for that special someone.

Happy Trails Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com

Hunting History - Log Cabins

When I was growing up, Davy Crocket was BIG! That whole frontier world was immensely popular. People had sofa's upholstered in fabric showing scenes from frontier life, log cabins, old wells, people gathered around the old oak tree, stage coahes. Fes Parker was Davy Crocket in a tv series that ignited the popular imagination. It was a Walt Disney production in the heyday of family fare, l954-1955. All of us kids had Lincoln Logs and I loved to build villages in the bag=ck yard with sticks to make fences and pebbles and rocks to create scenery. I was just reaching ten at the time.

The love of log cabins and that early settlement architecture has stayed with me my whole life. I am not sure what re-ignited the fire but during my early driving explorations in South Jersey right after retirement, I began to hunt out log cabins of which there are surprising quite a few. I found one just as you enter Swedesboro, beside the church ol the hill, an excellent historic beauty on its own. And I found one just as you enter Salem. There is another really old one in Greenwich that you can tour during their harvest festival each autumn. Once when I was there visiting the log cabin as you'd visit an old friend, I met a man who had written a book on log cabins and I bought his book. In those early days of history hunting, I drove all over the place and found fascinating buildings and towns which excited even more avenues to explore, such as One Room Schools and Civilian Conservation Projects!

The closest log cabin to where I live happened to be the oldest log cabin, not just in New Jersey but in the whole Eastern Hemisphere, in Gibbstown! It is a Finnish/Swedish log cabin which was at the time owned by the Rink family, who had lovingly preserved it. The day I found it, Mrs. Rink was haning out wash in hwe back yard and she gave me a tour. It is the Braman-Nothnagle Cabin built in 1638! One of the reasons it is the oldest standing log cabin is the Scandinavian cultural tradition of taking down and burning an old log cabin when a new home was built. This cabin has been so famous, Scandinavian royalty has visited! It is actually Finnish style. The Fins flattened the bottom and top of the logs so that they fit so snugly there was no need for chinking.

The Rinks got older and Mr. Rink, sadly passed away. Mrs. Rink put the log cabin and their adjoining Colonial home up for sale but she felt honor bound to protect the log cabin and most of the highest offers were from the philistine developers who wanted to tear down the historic cabin as well as the now historic adjoing house to build new homes. She showed great integrity in turning down their offers and accepting one that was a fraction of the value of the property, just so she could ensure that the log cabin would be maintained and preserved. The original asking price was over a million, but she accepted $225 thousand. It seems to me that we are in a period where istory isn't as respected as it was once. Mrs. Rink however, showed her love.

Perhaps the biggest period of respect for history in the popular culture was the Bicentennial, in the 1970's. Those were halcyon days! Oral history flourished, Historical Societies saw a resurgence in membership, and old buildings were visited and admired and resored and preserved. In these days, even a Revolutionary War era treasure such as the brick house in St. Mary's Cemetery in Bellmawr, are casually destroyed for no more than a highway sound barrier. The St. Mary's house was built in the mid 1700's and had been owned by a hero of local militia who mortgaged his own home to raise a militia that fought in the local battles such as Gloucester City (the first battle of the Marquis de Lafayette when he earned his officers stripes). How sad. Preservationists protested, but the wrecking crew came in during the early pre-dawn hours and desroyed this irreplceable piece of American History in our own backyard.

On the plus side, another piece of early history has been preserved by the Camden County Historical Society, an early Cooper family Delaware River ferry tavern. We have all watched the struggle to save this building and we await its transformation into a Revolutionary War History Museum in the not too distant future.

If you, too, are either a follower of log cabin history or Swedish/Finnish settlement in the early Colonial period, look up the Nothnagle Cabin and have a drive over and get a look while you still can. And let's all say a hearty thank you to the Rinks for standing in the long line of history lovers who have preserved our shared history!

Do you love trains?

Embark on a rare-milage autumn-themed journey along the Woodstown Central Railroad! Take in the lush woods and scenic farmland as our train travels to the beautiful Fenwick Grove. Here, passengers will disembark for 30 minutes and enjoy many of the activities included in your train ticket:

-Pick out a pumpkin (decorating kit included)

-Enjoy cider and a donut from our station

-Play fall-themed activities

-Take in the views along the Fenwick Creek

This is an unforgettable Fall experience that you won’t soon forget. Please allow approximately 90 minutes for your entire experience

Personal Note: Okay, heere come the tears! Whenever I think of train rides I think of my fathr and the last train ride of the many we took throughout our family lives as childresn. My father loved trains and having grown up in the last days of the era of train travel, I loved them too. We took train rides in Pa., W.Va. and any place we traveled that had a train ride available. When my daugher was a bit older, I took her on train rides in Strasbourg, Pa. and Jim Thorpe, Pa.

Our last family train ride was the Thanksgiving Train Dinner out of Petersburg, W.Va. We loved it! It must have been 1999 or so because my mother died in 2000. Almost every day I have a memory of my mother or my father and it brings tears to my eyes, but I am grateful for all the very happy memories we gathered before they left us. My father died in 2011. I would love to go on the Woodstown train trip but I find myself at this point in my life, I am 77, soon to be 78 in one month, not really able to drive many places due to declining eye sight, and like so many people in this period of our history, my daughter lives far away. New York City isn't that far geographically but the traffic and difficulty of getting here from there combined with their busy lives making a living in today's difficult economy make any kind of family event difficult. I hope you can make the Woodstown train ride and store up a happy memory for yourself and whoever you take with you! Happy Trails Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com (if you wish to comment as the comment section of blogspot is destroyed by spammers)

Nobel Peace Prize 2023

A young woman, 22 years old, was dragged off the street by the Iranian so calle "Morality police" for nhaving part of her hair exposed by her head coveering. She was murdered in prison and sparked a human rights revolt in Iran which is still going on despite 300 protesters being jailed and killed. Thousands have been arrested. Iranian women live in a social prison as do so many women in the East. Women and girls in Afghanistn cannot receive education cannot hold jobs, cannot walk outside uness covered in every way but their eyes which are bhin a kind of fabric grate in the head cover. They have no protection from abuse, domestic violence, and live in a culture of oppression and subjugation. Many women in parts of the world have not risen far above this level of enslavement. Only reenly, women in Saudi Arabia won the right to drive a car.

The punishment for trying to stand up for their rights is harsh in these parts of the world and include beatings, lashings, imprisoment and murder. Rape is an ongoing form of intimidation and terror as is seen even today for example, in India. Just 7 years ago, a young physical-therapy student, Nirhbaya was attacked and gang raped on a public bus. She was known for her love of education and her kindness and her wish to devote her life to helping others. She died of the physical abuse she suffered. Recent crime statistics in Dehli show that there are still 93 cases of rape a day.

Needless to say, the Middle East and Arabic countries have the worst record on human rights in regard to women.

The Iranian activist, Mohammadi was one of 351 candidates for this year’s award – the second-highest number in the history of the Nobels. She became the 19th woman to win the award in more than 120 years of the prize.

Oleksandra Matviichuk, a Ukrainian human rights lawyers who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, commended the committee’s decision to honor Mohammadi.

“We live in a very interconnected world. Right now, people in Iran are fighting for freedom. Our future depends on their success,”

Although in Western Nations things are indeed infinitely better for women, the battle for our rights has taken a turn recently in the United States in the increasing bans against a woman's right to make medicat decisions in her own reproductive life. The right wing of the Republican party has gone so far as to block military promotions and live our defenses hampered in their war to force the military to adopt a no support of reproductive choice for female soldiers. Reproductive choice is one of the basic pillars of a woman's independence and ability to protect and support herself. We, in America, must work harder to protect the rights our ancestors have sacrificed and struggled toprovide for us or we, too, can sink back into the segregation and discrimination that marked our past.

Hail to the mighty, the brave, the heroes who rise above fear and fight for the rights of women all over the world!

Happy Trails from Jo Ann - a woman, a teacher, artist, mother, and a long time supporter of equality for all!

Saddler's Woods with Naturalist! Upcoming event.

Sunday Autumn Hikes with Naturalist Jeff Calhoun:

10/15 and 11/12 11am - 1pm

Join naturalist educator Jeff Calhoun for a 2-hour tour of our local treasure. We’ll take a closer look at the old-growth trees, wet meadow, and early successional woodland all contained in this 25-acre urban forest surrounded by suburbia. Participants will gain an understanding of the ecology, native biodiversity, environmental challenges, and SWCA’s conservation effort. Children ages 12+ are welcome with a responsible adult. Fee: $20 donation per person, per session. Registration is required. Attendance limited to 20

Link to register: https://forms.gle/vT9aCr6gQxffowyd9 Meeting Location: Welcome area of 250 MacArthur Blvd. Haddon Township, NJ 08108 ( meet by the Saddler’s Woods sign.)

Halloween Art Show at The Station/Eiland Arts Center, Merchantville

Once again, we are fortunate in having a wonderful Halloween Art Show at the charming Merchantville venue called The Station and/or Eiland Arts Center. It is located at 10 East Chestnut in Merchantville, NJ. It is a repurposed Train Station and houses not only a wonderful Art Gallery upstairs and down, but a great Cafe' and Coffee bar. My friends and I eat there regularly and the food is superb! The chef makes the most delicious soups - my favorites are herbed potato and carrot ginger. My favorite sandwiches have been the BLT with vegan coconut bacon, and the flaky croissant with egg and diced tomato and coconut bacon. I also like the grilled cheddar on focaccia bread with soup. The theme of the show is Hallowwen - HAUNTED PLACES.

The opening reception will be this Friday, October 6th at 6:00 p.m. and the show will be up all month. I am both happy and honored to say I have two paintings in the show. I chose to work from photographs I took of Mount Moriah Cemetery, an abandoned cemetery near Yeadon, Pa. that I discovered while researching family burials. My paternal grandfather was buried there in the 1930's but I couldn't ind the grave even though I had the plot number becaus Mt. Moriah was abandoned many years ago and has been allowed to be overtaken by a jungle. Fortunately, volunteers have been struggling to clear it of debris dumped there and to make some headway mowing in various sections. The once stately facade was almost completely destroyed by vandals who set the towers on fire. The front of the structure remains to show what it must have been once. It is so sad. Frankly I didn't know you could just abandon cemeteries like that.

My other painting is also from a photo I took from one of my many visits to the grave of Walt Whitman, right here in Camden, NJ at Harleigh cemetery which is a model of a beautifully maintained cemetery. Generally I have visited Walt Whitman's grave on his birthday to honor his immense and immortal soul.

This year, another artist and friend, Jerome Barton, has a piece entered in the show, a gorgeous stained glass piece. Jerome was a student of mine many many years ago and has kept in touch over the years. I am delighted he has become an artist and enormously proud of his beautiful work.

All works are for sale, but by all meeans, just come and enjoy the opportunity to see the show!

Happy Trails ( even through the cemetery!)

Jo Ann

wrightj45@yahoo.com

18th Century Field Day at Red Bank Battlefield

On October 22, from 10:00 a.m until 4:00 p.m. you can enjoy a glipse of life in the Colonial period and you can re-visit a monumental day in the history of our country. Three hundred years ago on that day, a vastly outnumbered American Revolutionary force faced a fierce and widely experience army of Mercenary soldiers from Hesse Cassel Germany, hired by the British to defeat us and open the Delaware River to their ships.

They needed to re-supply their forces which had captured our capitol city of the time, Philadelphia. The River was defended by a fort on the Philadelphia side, Fort Mifflin, and the fort on the New Jersey side at Red Bank, Fort Mercer.

It was a David and Goliath story. The greatest British warship of the time, the Augusta was in the River and the 2000 strong army of Hessians was marching on the 200 Colonials in a trench fort at Red Bank, the farm of the Quaker Whitall family.

The short of it is we WON and it was a turning point for our morale and for the faith of others in our ability to persevere.

Just recently in an archaeological dig, the bodies of a dozen of the Hessian soldiers who died in the battle were uncovered in a mass grave on the site. This and other fascinating facts and stories will be available on this exciting and colorful day. There will be demonstrations of colonial arts, muster drills, and a grand finale' the re-enactment of the Battle of Red Bank.

And it is all FREE! Red Bank Battlefield is in National Park and there are places to have a great picnic while you are there plus the historic farm house which still stands will be available for tours. There is also a great playground for the little ones.

Happy Trails? for comments you can reach me at wrightj45@yahoo.com

Love Dogs? Then this one is for you! and your best friend.

90% chance of rain on Saturday? No problem! We've pivoted before, so let's pivot again! We're moving Woofstock INDOORS!!!!!

We're taking over the whole first floor of the Voorhees Town Center (VTC)! The main entrance will be located at the Food Court Entrance on the Laurel Rd side of the VTC. That's where our food trucks, and covered Food Court and Beer Garden tents will be too!

Pet Contest? Still ON! Alumni Parade with Hegeman String Band and Dawn Timmeney from FOX 29? Still ON! Gift Basket Raffle?? You guessed it, still ON!!!

Your well behaved four-legged friends are still welcome too! We ask that you make sure they take their potty breaks outside and that you clean up thoroughly after them.

NO RETRACTABLE LEASHES PLEASE!!!

Over 125 vendors and rescues will be there!!!! We hope that you will too!! 27th Annual Woofstock Festival

Septmber 23, 2023 - 11:00 - 4:00

INSIDE the Voorhees Town Center

Fall Craft Classes!

Gloucester Co. Certified Gardeners are once again offering their popular craft classes!

For the first time, the classes will be held in our larger space at the Shady Lane Complex

254 County House Road, Clarksboro, NJ 08020

9/30 - 10:00 a.m. needle felted pumpkins

12:00 p.m. paper holiday ornaments

10/28 - 10:00 a.m. felt card holders

12:00 p.m. Rag Rug Making

Call 856-224-8045 for more info and to register, class size is limited!

Batsto

I don't get to the pinebarrens much these days but I always like to hear from them and today I got their quarterly newsletter in my e-mail, so I aam letting you know what is going on there: Save the date! Be sure to check out the Fall Glass and

Bottle show on September 24, 2023,

kicking off the Fall and Winter events at Batsto, including the Country Living Fair, the Haunting, and Winter in the Pines! Plans for the Fall show include an additional row to accommodate up to 100 anticipated dealers. For more on times and dates, google Batsto

Happy Trails!

Jo Ann

Connect

Here is a link which has a huge number of markets shows, festivals and music events in South Jersey this month and next. If you aren't subscribed to Visit South Jersey, you should be! Sorry I couldn't put this in as a link but it didn't work so try copying it and pasting it then when you reach it subscribe. You'll be glad you did.

visitsouthjersey@spark-creative.net

An Essy of LOVE - September 2023

I wanted to write an esay of love about my little house. It has been the longest romance of my life, almost 40 years! Walking up the path to my front door is a daily delight for me. As soon as I enter the shade of my tree crowded yard, I feel the love. This house is so much more than my shelter, it is my turtle shell, a part of me. All the homey details, like the two cats, Lucky and Mr. Boots meeting me and Uma at the bottom of the driveway when we come home from our walk, the trees waving their cheery greeting, all the green glow of the happy rain watered neighbors - the hollies and the cedars, the maple trees and the hedges, the leaves of the flourishing Lily of the valley - all of them speak to me and greeting me with their comradeship. The view out of each of my windows is a continuing joy to me and is always changing.

The window I see here from the sofa is a mosaic of green, and shadow with an occasional yellow leaf fluttering down like a bird. In a few weeks the leaves will change and carpet the yard a foot deep and the trees outside will present a black lacework of bare scratched ink drawn brnnches agains the sky.

A couple of times a week, I wave at the township maintenance men on the truck when they come for recycle or yard waste, or trash. They all know me and my dog and somehow some of them know my name and say "Hello Miss Wright!" Maybe they were students. I run into students from time to time, such as this past Monday when I went to the Dermatologist, the assistant said she had been a student of mine at Mary Ethel Costello School. I asked her if she still did art and she said she liked to do little painting on the beach. I was glad.

My house and I love to spend cozy evenings watching old mystery films. I am at present watching old Peter Wimsey episodes, but I think I have run out of my favorites, those with Ian Carmichael as Wimsey.

My nephew helped me take down my summer decorations yesteday and now it is time to put up the autumn ones - garland on the banisters and maybe some orange twinkle lights. I have two pots of chrysanthemums on the porch and a big fat pumpkin glowing with ripeness and fecundity, it will be a feast for the squirrels in a week or two. The cats and the dog and I were sitting on our shadow dappled porch in the frisky breeze admiring the pumpkin after our morning walk. The mums are still hiding in their buds and we will enjoy watching them open in the sunshine of each day marking the rest of this month of Septmmber In about 10 days it will be my 60h high school reunion. This will be the first one I attend without my best friend Chris who is wrapped in so many of my childhood memories that I can't think of her without crying. Every time I think of her, I think of Christmas and us showing one another our presents under the tree and our newest flowered flannel nightgowns still bright in color and not faded by many washings and so cozy on the cold winter nights in our bedrooms In fact, I have to leave that memory before it breaks me down and takes me from this happier moment.

It won't be as though I don't know any one at the reunion because I have re-acquainted myself with Sue Troy who will be moving up this way from down at the seashore soon now that she is widowed, and I will see Liz Sylvestry, formerly Betty Krachun, this grief stricken woman who has lost her husband, her son, and her own home and lives in an apartment made up for her by her grandson out of a basement in his building. How lucky I am that I have my own home and my daughter is well and my siblings are all well and we have each other.

Well I guess this is my big "Gratitude" for this day, a gratitutde for home, and small town living, and neihbors and sufficiency of every sort and all the many blessings that have been showered down on me like the golden leaves of the autumn trees.

Happy Trails - Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com

Fall Harvest Festival at Red Bank Battlefield

Free Family Fun and Activities

Learn about the vital role the Pennsylvania Navy played at the Battle of Red Bank!

See Batoe Moon,an 18th century sloop, and meet her crew.

Cider Making Demonstration

Colonial Food Preservation and Hearth Cooking Demonstration

Plants for Sale for Fall Gardening

Straw Bale Maze

Live Period Folk Music

Colonial Conjuror Magic Show

Free Kids Crafts & Games

Farm Animal Petting Zoo

September 17, 2023 from noon to 4 pm

Happy Trails-Jo Ann

Edgar Allen Poe Event in October

Gloucester County Historical Society Presents:

An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe. Helen McKenna-Uff as Edgar Allan Poe offers us an evening of spine-chilling storytelling and insight into Poe's life. This event will be held at Woodbury Friends Meetinghouse, 124 N. Broad St. Parking is available in the GCHS lots or the County lot on Hunter St.

$25 Tuesday, Oct 17 6:30 PM

You can buy your tickets online on their website set up for the purpose

https://www.gchsnj.org/shop/poe/

For more information call 856-848-8531

The oldest road in America

"The oldest road in the United States was a 1,300 mile road. It was constructed on order of King Charles II of England and was built between 1650 and 1735. Long before there was a United States it ran through his colonies and it ran through New Jersey. Sure there were little paths and dirt roads. But this was a road as in what we’d call a highway today, eventually running all the way from Massachusetts to South Carolina, long before the concept of automobiles was here.

Sure there were little paths and dirt roads. But this was a road as in what we’d call a highway today, eventually running all the way from Massachusetts to South Carolina, long before the concept of automobiles was here. Only In Your State calls it the oldest road in America.

At first it was used by post riders to deliver mail. Later it was smoothed and widened so that stagecoaches and horse-drawn wagons could travel it. Basically it was the first concept of what would be the interstate highway system. Eventually a real highway system grew. And much of The King’s Highway became Route 1. Yes, Route 1 is part of the oldest highway in the United States."

Every Sunday, I drive from my house, 4 houses off of Kings' Highway, to Woodbury to the Woodbury Friends Meeting. Our Meeting is 300 years old! and it sits on a gentle hill operlooking the oldest road in America. I already knew that, but Ijust received a local news e-mail to which I subscribe and it offered the above confirmation of that fact so I thought I would share it. I have driven the Kings Highway all the way down to Greenwich on the Bay. It is a wonderful drive, I highly recommend you take a ride on it and follow it either North to Burlington, or South to Greenwich, and see all the cool towns along the way.

Freedom and Free Books!

FREEDOM AND FREE BOOKS!

Last night, I happened to come across a program where two women were discussing Soup Joumou. Now, I am no cook but I do make soup, often, and so although I don’t watch food shows in general, this one seemed unique because of the historical connection.

Soup Jomou is made of several ingredients but a main base is squash. You can find out the ingredients by googling the name of the soup. This soup comes from a tradition evolving from the Haitian Revolution in the 1700’s. Enslaved people were forced to make this soup for the rich and the plantation owners but forbidden to make it for themselves. When they freed themselves from Colonial enslavement, people who left Haiti for Louisiana brought the recipe with them and on Haitian Independence Day each year, they make it and enjoy the taste of freedom in every spoonful.

By coincidence, this morning, in my e-mail, I received an invitation to join the Free Books Project at Newton Friends Meeting for Squash Soup on Saturday! Unfortunately, I was unable to visit this Saturday, but once again, I was impressed with the generosity and creativity of the Free Books Project at Newton Friends.

Also, for the most successful early gardeners, I believe we are in or approaching that season when the prolific squash rises in abundance and becomes widely available, often for free from gardening friends, so what a great time to find the recipe that suits your taste and to think of the long noble history of this healthful soup. Bon Apetit!

Jo Ann Wright wrightj45@yahoo.com

An Essay from a friend - good thought!

My Ode to Clover and Pollinator-Friendly Lawncare: a Friend’s Idea for Better Stewardship of the Earth Many of the residents in my 55 and over community remember the time when lawns often included and were even encouraged to include white clover. Clover seeds automatically came with the grass seed. “75 years ago, no one planted a lawn without mixing a little white clover in with the grass seed (Roger Swain, The Victory Garden, PBS).” It was often packaged with the grass seed.

Historically, clover became an unwanted weed after World War II during which 2-4, D was discovered. Its original purpose had been to destroy potato crops in Germany and rice crops in Japan. In the form of a weed killer, it became popular for lawncare, known as WeedOne , thought to be much more toxic than RoundUp. to which it has often been added. With long-time and frequent use of RoundUp, studies have increasingly uncovered health problems with it as well with many countries currently choosing to limit or ban its use. As soon as it was found that weed killers also killed the clover, their producers encouraged calling clover an unwanted, unsightly weed.

Keep in mind that lawns of turf grass comprise the single largest irrigated crop in America, about 40,000,000 acres (twice the size of Kentucky).

Studies of mixed lawn and clover show that such lawns attract many kinds of pollinators, as many as 2 to 12 different species of pollinators, and in some areas, up to 200 different species of pollinators, and there are 3,500 native bees in all of North America. Moreover, such a mixture renders lawns friendly to microbial and earthworm habitat. They also sequester carbon, which helps fight climate change. If during the mowing process, clippings of grass and clover are left on the lawn, enough nitrogen is provided for lawn health without adding fertilizer.

Our zealous desire to kill off clover and other weeds has come to favor the use of neonicotinoid pesticides (e.g., clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam) which are the worst threat to bees. They interfere with the mobility, navigation, feeding behavior, reproduction, and overall colony health of bees. They seriously endanger many species of plants and insects that are already classified as endangered. Such pesticides have been banned in the EU and in Canada. New Jersey is one of the few states that have banned neonicotinoid use. Because these chemicals remain in the plants and soil for years, they continue to harm those who use lawns for play and recreation or for food. The question is if the American public and its politicians will be brave enough to stand up to Big Ag and the Fish and Wildlife Service. That would help avoid the end of pollinators and even the kinds of wasps that feed on cutworms, grubs, and other lawn-and-crop-eating creatures. The report on these chemicals came out in May, 2023.

I am personally willing to live with some clover. I recently welcomed the various bees I found in little patches of clover. Clover can be beautiful once again. In conclusion, let us support our friends, the pollinators, in whatever way we can. It will give our children a more livable future.

Resources included:

https://www.pollinator-pathway.org/

https://psci.princeton.edu/tips/2020/5/11/law-maintenance-and-climate-change

https://www.beyondpesticides.org/assets/media/documents/infoservices/pesticidesandyou/CloverCited.pdf

https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/epa-three-popular-neonicotinoid-pesticides-likely-to-drive-more-than-200-endangered-plants-animals-extinct-2023-05-05/

http://nebula.wsimg.com/cca8724b79162214c52d2ee6b227fad4?AccessKeyId=D2195B5438568F141D86&disposition=0&alloworigin=1

https://extension.umn.edu/landape-design/planting-and-maintaining-bee-lawn

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/24-d-most-dangerous-pesticide-youve-never-heard

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9101768/

The Grapevine -

Our kind and wise assistant clerk at Woodbury Friends Meeting, Carleton Crispin, suggested recently that it might be interesting and worthwhile to take a note on our discussion themes in our Adult First Day School each Sunday. I volunteered to do that and decided it might be of interest to share with others. This is what we talked about today.

One of our members, Marilyn, had recently attended the 78th Annual Seabrook Buddhist Temple's Obon Festival with her husband, who is a long time reader of Buddhist literature and practitioner of Buddhist meditation techniques as well as a teacher of Tai Chi.

Back in the 1970’s, many Americans (including Marilyn’s husband Ralph and me) became acquainted with Buddhism through two books that were best-sellers and immensely popular on college campuses and among counter culture folks: The first was ZEN MIND BEGINNERS MIND by Shunriyu Suzuki. The other was Alan Watt’s book, The Way of Zen. Watts, was born in England and studied philosophy. Both authors popularized the study of Buddhism in America. Alan Watts was also a vegetarian because, he said “Cows scream louder than carrots.”

For simplified information on the basics of Buddhism, I recommend a pbs website accessible through google. It describes the 4 noble truths which involve human suffering and the eightfold path out of suffering.

My own personal study of Buddhism continued from the above mentioned books into the writings of Pema Chodrin, American Abbot of Gumpo Monastery in Nova Scotia. She has a gift for translating abstract ideas into applied behavior. It is no exaggeration to say that her books came to me at a time of great pain and confusion and saved me. The first book I read was When Things Fall Apart, the second was Start Where You Are, and then Comfortable with Uncertainty. I have since read my more. She is known for teaching the Path of Loving Kindness, in which, I am sure, we can all find parallels with our Quaker faith.

The Light Within has glowed in the hearts of people of many cultures around the world and throughout time. I find it hopeful to know that.

Jo Ann

The Electronic Divide

First of all, I am not alone in this. Secondly, it is becoming increasingly apparent that among the other divisions we have in our society: race, economics, class, we now have a new way the poor the elderly, and the dsadvantaged are going to be cut out - Electronics. This first became apparent to me during the Covid epidemic when everyone was forced to use on-line access to register for immunization. Shockinly to me, I couldn't get immunized at my doctor's office or the hospital to which she is connected - we could only get signed up ON-LINE. Fortunately for me, through my years in education I had already learned enough to be able to wade through this rubble strewn stream to register at every recommended county/state/national site. Never did I recieve any information from any of them. It was as if I had sent a message in a bottle. Finally, an even more experienced and possible more intelligent or perhaps more connected friend sent me a link through some My Chart portal to register and I got my shot.

Meanwhile, my brother in West virginia, a life-long working class ironworker who lives in the mountains without internet access or any electronic experience whatsoever was shut out entirely although he was in the endangered age group, as was I and he was also a veteran! No, the Veterans associations could offer him no help with this situation and could not offer him vaccination either - you HAD to register electronically. Fortunately on his way home from yet another futile attempt to get some help with this, he stopped at the Liquor store and the woman at the counter used her computer to get him signed up.

If you didn't have a grandchild who could maneuver this land- mine field, you were out of luck! Remember, during Covid the libraries were closed.

Not everyone can afford home internet or a home computer, or even a smart phone. My brother had none of these. He is retired and lives on a meager social security income that pays enough for food and utilities, car insurance and taxes but does not afford cable and internet service, also he lives in the mountains in West Virginia AND he is visually impaired!

So let's stop and think about visual impairment for a minute; one group I left out is the aged, a group to which my brother and I both belong being in our 70's. My vision is failing and my brother's is very poor and has been most of his life. Old people, the very ones most in need of the vaccination were the group MOST likely to have visual impairment and financial limitations. And I can tell you from having taught community education classes back in the 1990's and early 2000's, many people who have never typed or used any kind of electronics were very hampered in progressing with this new skill.

After the pandemic, when people tried to get jobs, they found themselves shut out because all employment was suddenly behind the gatepost of the the internet. You couldn't fill out an application and get an interview anymore, even for unskilled or low skill labor - all jobs were behind the electronic fence of the internet. And to make it more insulting there were headlines about people not wanting to work! They wanted to but they couldn't manage the electronic mine-field of electronic application, even for jobs like Wawa clerks and Diner waiters.

This doesn't even touch on the huge portion of the population with literacy problems and perceptual impairment! So lets talk about how disabled people are also left out in the cold in this brave new world of electronics.

I am in support of the screen writers strike because AI is about to take over writing the pablum that makes tv series these days. The AI uses previously written plots to get the pattern and churns out the crap that is modern entertainment.

Ok, I have let off steam. I was angry because my sister has to attend Drug and alcohol counseling because of a DUI and I had to give her an old laptop, which we took to a computer shop to pay to have zoom put on because neither of us could manage it, and then when she tried to log on at home, there was some problem with one of the many mysteries of internet access - something to do with a firewall. Now my sister is a culinary expert and an expert landscaper and I am a three college degree expert in literature, art and teaching. Neither of us could wade through the obstacle strewn field of this electronic nightmare. Finally her son was able to get her set-up in an old i-phone she had. Her new android phone wouldn't work either. Logged on to her session, the chaos you might expect did in fact ensue - people couldn't get the camera right, get the mute and unmute sorted out and got so frustrated they cursed and got kicked off. Those who don't complete the on-line counselling may have to go to jail. Maybe in jail they will teach them how to navigate this new elecronic world.

At the same time, the SODAT office that used to handle these issues with in-person counseling sessions and drug testing, has been shut down, so there is no alternative to the on-line version.

I am surprised more journalists aren't talking about this but, of course, they are already expert at maneurveiing the zoom world and they don't apparently know enough people in the "lower classes" to have seen first-hand the fall-out from it.

This new "Smart World" is in fact, an inhumane world and further disadvantages those who are disadvantaged. Sadly, I see no escape, at least for the existing generations. I suppose the younger people raised in this world will be more adept at managing it. I hope so, although reports of the ravages of social media and on-line counseling via AI have already been making that look like a fool's hope.

Don't get me wrong, there are good aspects and I am writing this on a blog, after all, but, the downside is huge and glaring. And by the way,libraries are closing down left and right, so where are people supposed to go for computer access who don't have it at home and can't afford it? This is the unforseen Brave New World and 1984 we have been fearing. That's enough ranting for me for today. I am going to the real world to walk my real dog in the Climate Crisis Heatwave that is also wreaking havoc on us.

By the way, I didn't even begin to rage about PASSWORDS! I just joined a new gym and suddenly was confronted with the specter of registering for classes online. I created an on-line account with password and failed at registering becasue it didn't like my password, or my new password, and even after a second phone call I had to persuade the desk clerk to register me.

Jo Ann

MUSICIANS - This is interesting!

From The Stationn, Art Gallery and Arts Center, Merchantville, NJ

Bring your musical instruments, amplifiers, pedals, and other music gear to find potential buyers or trade them for new treasures. It's a perfect chance to upgrade your setup or find something unique to add to your collection! Register here if you like a table

🎤 Open Mic Night: Calling all musicians, singers, and performers! Take the stage and share your passion with a supportive audience. Whether you're a seasoned artist or a first-time performer, this is your chance to shine. Sign up at the venue.

Contact Mat for any questions: mat@eilandarts.com

Asit happens, I have two instruments but I am holding on to them in hope that someday I will be inspired to begin again and learn to play. The one I have the chance of learning to play is the Ukelele which I made good progress on but then I fell by the wayside and now I would have to go back to START. The other is a piano but it really belongs to my daughter and soon as she is settled in her new apartment with her husband, she will come for it (she says).

Pleas use my e-mail for comments as the comments on the blog is completely swamped by robospam and obscenities. Thanks wrightj45@yahoo.com

34 mile bike trail coming!

CAMDEN COUNTY, NJ — A 34-mile bike trail planned for South Jersey has received some significant federal funding. The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the county $19 million to develop key portions of the Camden County LINK.

Once completed, the LINK will span from the Ben Franklin Bridge in Camden to the Pinelands National Reserve in Winslow Township. The grant will fund the development of the pedestrian/biking trail's most complex portions in Camden and Pennsauken Township. See Camden County's portion of the planned trail here.

The LINK will be part of Circuit Trails — a network of multi-use trails around Greater Philadelphia. Circuit Trails currently includes more than 370 miles of multi-use pathways. The coalition set goals to reach 500 miles by 2025 and more than 800 miles of interconnected trails by 2040 across nine counties in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Sadly, my biking days are over but this is such a wonderflu plan when it is finished, I may invest in a 3 wheeler so I can bike again! I had to stop because although my bike was the correct size for me anatomically, it was too tall for me to feel safe and stable, so I gave it away. I can imagine this new trail will possibly spur a bunch of 34 mile hikers! Now more than ever we need to encourage the population to get outside and get moving to combat the epidemic of obesity and related illnesses.

Here's to the great RIDE! Happy Trails - Jo Ann don't use comments it is polluted by robo spam - contact me by email if you wish to comment wrightj45@yahoo.com

Blueberry Festival

To be honest, I don't go to festivals anymore but I feel I have a duty to let you know when I hear about one, so here we go:

Fri, Jun 23, 2023 at 5:00 PM

Trinity Episcopal Church, 207 W Main St, Moorestown, NJ, 08057 Our Blueberry Festival is back! Join the fun.

Blueberry Desserts, grilled sausage, hot dogs and salad. Kids games, music, dancing, bouncy house, Blueberries and blueberry jam for sale. p/> I will tell you my favorite blueberry place, though, it is WHITESBOG! And they have a blueberry festival as well but the parking is difficult there at festivals. You should go visit someday when it isn't crowded. Elizabeth White cultivated the blueberry from the native high bush berry and she was also a famed specialist in Holly growing and her family had cranberry bogs and a big business in cranberries. Her home, Suningive, is still at Historic Whitesbog Village and you can visit there. Hiking the bogs in summer is delightful and gorgeous!

Enjoy blueberry season - one of New Jersey's products! Remember those state products maps?

Happy trails - Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com

The World on Fire June 8, 2023

Last night, for the first time, I could really smell it - the smoke from the wildfires in Canada. Of course it could have been mixed with the wildfires in the Pines around Medford, and also, there was a construction site fire in Philadelpia.

Short sighted people. I read some comments after a red alert e-mail news item, and one of the coments was insulting and scornful against people calling this air disaster "Climate Crisis" The commenter emphasized, "It's Wildfires, not Climate Crisis" and added some insults to push his point home. What he didn't realize was that the Climate problem, the drying world, is pusshing the rest of the trouble, the wildfires, the drying up of rivers, water shortages. One of his insults was against "Woke Greennie Weenies" and I reflected on how so much of the current culture war is about manifestations of gender. Macho male dominance has been challenged by sensitive people who care about the environment, about animals, about the big world. That intimidation begins all the way back in the school yard with bully boys picking on sensitive ones and on anyone else they perceive as weaker.

It is interesting to me that Ron DeSantis in his latest ad against Trump, portrayed him hugging Dr. Fauci, whom the radical right wing have demonized, the man who led us through the pandemic. They hate him. The image was manufactured because Trump didn't embrace Dr. Fauci, of course.

I looked up 'Woke' once and it described people who believe in equality for LGBTQ citizens, environmentalism, animal rights, and women's rights.

The "unwoke" want to return to discrimination against all these groups. They want the rich to be spared paying their fair share of taxes. They want to reduce the power of the federal government, push women back into the house, take away birth control so women will be forced to reproduce and hence noat free to get an education or make a career, and be independent financially. That's what they mean when they say Make American Great Again - they mean take it back to the 1940's and 50's, reverse progress.

Air Quality - I called my vet to see what he would say about walking Uma. He advised that I wear a mask, of course, and that I walk her no more than around the block, just so she can get a leg stretcher but not breathe too much bad air.

bad air, bad water, we have more and more of these environmental disasters!

Well, at least it is still cook which I am enjoying so much!

Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com Happy trails friends!

Red Bank Battlefield Event

Worries and Politics

As you well know if you have visited this blog, I rarely talk about politics, but this time, I was a little worried. If, like me, you rely a lot on social security, this stand-off over raising the debt ceiling was frightening. Fortunately for me, I was a teacher and my career was during the period of the strong unions, so I have pension which is enough for me to survive, if not exactly thrive. Also fortunately for me, my mortgage is paid.

Yesterday in one of my news feeds on e-mail, it could have been npr, cnn or nytimes, I read about homeless senior citizens living in tents while using walkers and canes and struggling with big medical issues. The article said they had lost their homes to taxes or other issues and some have dementia and no family members nearby to help them maintain.

Also fortunately for me, I lived a life fairly free of bad habits so my brain is still in good shape, and I don't have a family history of dementia or alzheimers diseases for which no amount of healthy living can help. I stopped smoking 40 years ago, NEVER took up drinking, and always abided by the rules for maintaining good sleep habits - no blue screens in the bedroom, steady bedtime, and getting up early in the morning. Also no caffeine.

But people fall into all kinds of troubles including not having proper medical coverage and falling into debt for medical services. Also, not preparing for quarterly taxes can be a big one. Anyhow, however it happened I was surprised to read that there are so many elderly people in tents in homeless shelters.

To the point - all the concessions demanded by the right wing were to deprive the poor. There is never any move on their part to make the rich pay a fair share of their taxes. It is absolutely shocking to me that multi-millionaires and billionaires shirk their duty to pay a fair share of the financial burden to keep this country functioning. They use every trick available to avoid paying their share - like a wealthy friend who refuses to chip on the tip after a dinner out with friends. Selfishness and Greed rule the Right, along with bigotry and a deepd desire to dominate and control women's bodies. They don't get that taking care of everyone makes the country a better place. Who wants to live where the poor die in squalor on the sidewalks? Only vastly wealthy people who hide in gated communities and on giants yachts.

Our country is in deep danger because the Right Wing Republican party plays on the bigotry of so many against peope of different color or different sexuality to allow the rich to hide their money and rob the country.

Peope worry about Joe Biden's age, but the thing to worry about is a leaders character and morality and dedication to the good of the population. Franklin Delano Roosevelt got us through World War II and he was disabled! Winston Chruchill was ill and overweight and he got Britain through the worst crisis of the modern age, the Nazi Blitzkrieg!

Let us all keep in mind these facts about President Biden's performance:

"Biden has shown time and again his ability to work with whomever is across the table from him.

He did it in 2011 with Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell on the debt ceiling. And despite GOP intransigence only deepening, Biden has been able to pull off multiple bipartisan pieces of legislation since taking office, including:

the $1 trillion infrastructure bill; the CHIPS Act, which aims to build more semiconductors in the United States; the bill that provided health care and benefits for millions of veterans injured by exposure to toxins like Agent Orange in Vietnam and burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan; and the $1.7 trillion federal government funding bill that got 68 votes in the Senate and included a revised Electoral Count Act." One of the things the McCarthy contingent did successfully strip away was funding for the IRS so that it could function adequately to catch tax cheats!

OK, I have said my piece. I am of the WWII generation nd I know we faced the Greed and Self-interest rise of domination politics in fascism before and defeated it, and we may have to do that again. I have hope that there is enough in humanity of compassion, courage, honor and justice to rise to the challenge and defeat it again.

Time to get outside and walk my dog, isten to the birds sing, watch the new leaves sway in the gorgeous Spring breeze, and put all the political worry behind me - Enjoy your day! For at least two more years my social security check will arrive and let me say one more time - it is NOT an ENTITLEMENT - It was an investment that all of us who receive it paid into throughout our decades of working lives. Jo Ann

BATSTO - Mark your Calendars

This jsust in from the Batsto Citizens Committee Newsletter

9/24/2023 ~ Fall Antique and Bottle Show 10/15/2023 ~ Country Living Fair

10/29/2023 ~ Haunting in the Pines

12/3/2023 ~ Winter in the Pines

Sadly since my eyesight has deteriorated along with knees, etc. I don't get out to the pines as often as I used to. I made weekly trips to Pakim Pond up until the Pandemic, when the age of my car as well as other concerns, put a damper on my hiking aaround the pond. Since then, I have bought a new car, but as mentioned above arthritis has been the restriction on my activities these days.

Still, Batsto was one of my favorite places to visit since my teens when neighborhood kids all piled into Joe McGuigan's car and drove out to the pines to hike and walk around the village. I so fondly recall the early days when the workers houses had actual artisans practicing their crafts, the potter, the weaver, the duck decoy carver, herbal medicine distilling, sheep sheering. Probably that was in the late 1960's or early 1970's.

While my daughter was growing up and after I got my first car, a gift from my Mother who wasn't driving any long, I made Batsto a favorite seasonal visit and hiked with my daughter on the trail along the lake and watched the sawmill buzzing through the tree trunks. We visited the Nature Center and learned about owls, beaver and turtles.

Again, in retirement, I returned to Batsto, and Atsion and all my favorite woodland haunts, most especially Pakim Pond! A couple of other things kind of drove me away, however, the hunters whose presence all along the road to the pond with their guns pointed into the woods made me nervous, and the ticks!

But I still celebrate the beauty and the history of the pineslands and in fact today I will be lunching with my old friend who has written three books about the pines, Barbara Solem. Her books include Batsto: Jewel of the Pines, Ghosttowns and Other Quirky Places in the Pinebarrens, and The Forks. W made many happy hikes to the hidden and mysterious places in our natural treasure that is the Pinebarrens.

If you go to any of the events, they are enormously popular, so be prepared to go early or park far away and make a hike to get there.

Happy Trails! Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com

MEMORIAL DAY 2023

A small ceremony was held on Davis Avenue in my town, Mt. Ephraim, NJ today to honor the service of those who fought and died defending America. Around town, many of us put up our flags, and also many of us epressed our gratitude for the good fortune of having our loved ones return alive from war, at the same time as we shared the grief of those who lost a father, son, brother, husband in war.

Our family has had, on my Mother' side, a member of the Cheeseman family survive the Revolutionary War, a member of the Jaggard family survive the Civil War and Andersonville Prison, a member of the McQuiston family survive the Civil War at Gettysburg, an Uncle, Joseph Lyons, survived WW I, and my father, Joseph Robert Wright, and his uncle, Frederick Joseph Young (Yock) survive the US Navy in World War II. Dad was on a Troop Transport and Uncle Yock was on a Destroyer. My brother, Joseph Stephen Wright, a marine, came home safely from Vietnam. We have been the most fortunate of families.

When I visited the Vietnam War Memorial, like most, I cried, and thought of how that could have been our Joe on the wall and his pitiful youthful mementos placed at the foot of it, but our Joe came home.

It truly breaks my heart to think of the families who lost their loved ones It is a gap that cannot be filled. The profound awareness at holidays of the one who is missing, who didn't get to fall in love, be married, have children, enjoy holidays, and grow old. It is sad beyond measure.

But their sacrifice saved us from Hitler and the Nazi attempt to take over the world and destroy democracy. And it is our duty to see to it that the democracy they died to protect remains sacred and safe. When I saw a varity of events on television and I saw the Capitol building, I thought of that symbol of our nation and our democracy that was so recently defiled by fakers self-proclaimed militia men, all camoflage and no honor. Their grandfathers must have been turning in their graves to know their descendants smashed their way into our sacred capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power in an American election.

Well once again, the fascist impulse to domination and destruction was defeated and democracy was maintained, so for that we also have to be grateful, and to remember the Capitol guardians who died as a result of that insurrection, those men also died serving their country!

Jo Ann

this weekend

THE 42ND ANNUAL MAY FAIR

Saturday May 27th | 10 AM - 5 PM Haddon Avenue

Collingswood, New Jersey will be bursting with art, music and activities for all ages on Saturday, May 27, 2023 as Collingswood Partners hosts the 42nd Annual May Fair. What began in 1979 as a small “clothesline art exhibit” now encompasses more than a mile of the business district! Multiple stages of live music will feature blues, rock, folk and more. An antique & classic auto show adds to the festival’s appeal. Visitors will also find several Food Courts complimenting the downtown restaurants and cafés.

“Unheard Voices of the American Revolution”

Now through May 31st | Downtown Haddonfield

“Unheard Voices of the American Revolution” is a free, seven-part lecture series telling the stories of Quaker pacifists, African Americans, Loyalists, Jewish people, Freemasons and women, as well as the role of disease during wartime.

And there wil be an opening of an exhibition ofsmall Landscape paintings on Canvas at the Markheim Art Center (also in Haddonfield) May 31st from 5:30-6:30, please check via google for more information

Lots to do this wekend - don't forget to honor the sacrifice of so many by attending a local Memorial Day ceremony

FREE BOOKS AT Newton Friends Meeting, Cooper St. in Camden, NJ

I just saw a quarter page ad in the Camden County Historical Society magazine about this project to give away free books and I loved it, so I wanted to share the information. I copied this from site named "Indy" which you can find by googling Free Books at Newton Friends Meeting, if you wish:

"The Newton Friends Meetinghouse was built in 1872 to serve as a spot for people of the Quaker faith to pray. It’s still in use today, though the purpose it serves has changed and expanded over the years.

Every Saturday from 9-2, it serves as a free bookstore for Camden residents and for the greater Delaware Valley. The bookstore is an extension of the Free Books Project (formerly the Camden County Pop-Up Library) headed by Tom Martin. Martin had always dreamed of opening a free bookstore. Since 2017, he has handed out books on the streets of Camden, and him and his team installed “book arks” around the city to house books.

After attending a few meetings at the meetinghouse, he found willing partners for the bookstore with the folks at the Meetinghouse. Cindi Kammer, the Meetinghouse’s clerk, was looking for more ways for the community to use the building anyway, and so the Free Books Project and the Meetinghouse were a match made in heaven.

“I started attending meetings here every once in a while,” explains Martin. “I started talking to Cindy and she was mentioning how she wants to utilize the building to help the Camden community. And I was like, I want to do the same thing. I need a building and she needs a cause. So we took my cause and her building. It ended up being perfect.”

The cause of literacy is a hard one to argue against, and it’s one that Martin has been taking up for a while now. Getting books into the hands of children is important and it’s something that Sean Brown, an East Camden resident and book ark volunteer has witnessed firsthand.

“My mom was a teacher and I grew up with a lot of books,” says Brown. “But, unfortunately, a lot of younger people are more inclined to digitally read books than read a paper book. Research shows that having a book in your hands and actually being able to read it is very helpful. But also children read more when their parents read. I can’t tell my children to read if I don’t read. So to set an example, we have reading time in our house.”

Brown sets the example by reading a ton of business books, and his kids are big into the Dog Man series. There’s a little bit of everything at the bookstore and that includes popular titles such as those by James Patterson and self-help books. There are also books that are written in Spanish as well for Camden’s Hispanic population. Julie Beddingfield, owner of Inkwood Books in Haddonfield, was a huge help in making this happen.

“We have books in Spanish that are primarily thanks to Julie purchasing them,” explains Martin. “Last year we got a $5,000 grant from the Domenica Foundation to purchase books in Spanish. We have a giant Spanish-speaking population in Camden and we haven’t really tapped into that market.”

Beddingfield always had a book in her hands when she was young because her parents didn’t want to hear their children complain about being bored. Her love of reading grew and grew, and eventually she met Martin. Beddingfield appreciated the simplicity of Martin’s goal, which was to get books into the hands of people that needed them.

“Because I work in books for a living, I work with a lot of literacy organizations,” says Beddingfield. “This is the only organization I know that actually stands out on the street corner or goes to a place and puts books in the hands of the readers. It’s the connection of the book and the person who is actually gonna read it.”

Lachisha Laws and her goddaughter Zania Sims of Sicklerville have been familiar with the Free Books Project for years. Sims has been an avid reader her whole life, and likes the fact that the books are free.

“I like that you can get away in reading,” explains Sims. “Sometimes not everything is going as planned in reality. So you could use a fantasy book or any type of book in general to get away from it, and there’s a lot of books that have helped me get away from it.

“Not everyone has a lot of money to spend on books and this place will help people out a lot.”

Right now the plan is to continue to grow the free bookstore and get more visitors there. Even though not a ton of people live in downtown Camden, the bookstore is located up the street from Walter Rand Transportation Center, which is Camden’s main transit hub. Beddingfield would like to see the bookstore expand to offer more services as well.

“I really think it would be great to have all sorts of books for everybody and have a place where groups can come,” explains Beddingfield. “Maybe it’s a senior center or maybe it’s an after-school program and they can come and we do storytime and everyone leaves with books.”

For more information, follow the Free Book Project on their Facebook page, The Free Books Project.

A couple of Friends and I will be going over this Sturday, May 27, if we receive a reply to an e-mail and telephone call asking for confirmation that they will be open this weekend - since it is a holiday weekend. I will let you know how it goes because you may be like me and o many of our friends who have books they want to give away but no place that wants the books! Have a safe and happy Holiday Weekend Friends!

Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com

CONTACT INFO:

Hi JoAnn, Thank you and yes we'll be open. Call or text me first just to be sure? 856 308 6992

Tom Martin Executive Director

The Free Books Project

camdencountypopuplibrary@gmail.com

The Free Books Project, formerly CCPUL

Website: https://camdencountypopuplibrary.org/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/CCPUL

IG: https://www.instagram.com/ccpul/

DONATE NOW A registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization: 82-3078732

PayPal ID: GWHX59DWRC362

Venmo: @CCPUL

Places to Go and Eat and Think

Today, I was out having lunch with two close friends and we were talking about our favorite places to eat lunch. All three of us mentioned The Station, 10 E. Chestnut St., Merchantville, NJ. I love everything about this place, the ambience, the food is ot of this world and very healthful, and there is an art galery as well as, great gifts, cards, and super delicious coffee and passtry. What better way to spend a lazy spring afternoon than lunch at the Station and a coffee and pasty to take home for dessert! Enjoy the art while you enjoy the food. The chef here is a marvel! Did I mention the roasted red pepper tomato soup? That soup and a vegan blt is a perfect combination.

The Station in Merchantville https://www.merchantvillestation.com The Station / Coffee, Art, Culture. We have art classes, a gallery, live music events, cake catering, photography studio, retail store and much more all ... ‎Station Coffee Menu · ‎Eilandarts Center · ‎Events

My friends and I were having lunch at Charlie Browns in Woodbury, NJ when the discussion came up. We LOVE the SALAD Bar there and we are not salad bar peope in general. Charlie Browns salad bar is always terrifically fresh as well as full of an array of salad dishes. On top of or beside your mixed greens with shaved carrots, you could have pasta salad, rice salads, potato salads, beans, beets, olives a few different kinds of seed such as sunflower seeds, olives, grated cheese, and I could go on and on. There is also always a tray of fresh bread: today it was French bread and corn bread but my favorite is cranberry walnut bread.

One of the things I am grateful for in both of these places is that they recognize that most people come to a cafe' for lunch not for someone else's choice of music. Since my friends and I eat out often, we are especially gratified when we don'e find ourselves in a blaring din of someone's favorite music play list. We actually like one another; we like to converse when we get together, food and conversation are our main pleasures in eating out. From time to time, we have asked a proprietor to lower the music so we could hear one another, and often, they are courteous enough to cooperate, but a few places have had to be crossed off our list because the din made it impossible for us to relax or talk. I mention this with the hope that the message might find itself in the ear of food establishments. Thank you! Meanwhile, I cannot mention lunch without mentioning the go-to place of my Burlington County friends who are kind enough to come down my way since i have trouble with the highways (my eyesight has begun to fail)- MARITSA'S in Maple Shade! Always cozy, clean, and comfortable, this place is one of our regular haunts and I recommend the eggplant parmigian, my favorite! Everyone here is so warm and friendly, it is a regular!

Bon apetit my friends! Jo Ann

wrightj45@yahoo.com

Revolutionary War Fans - skirmish coming!

If you are a fan of the history of the Revolutionary War, you won't want to miss the Skirmish in Haddonfield on June 9th. Many people are unaware that New Jersey is known as the cockpit of the Revolution because more than 700 skirmishes and battles took place here as the armies stuggled back and forth over the East coast. South Jersey was the bread basket of the colonies, so many battles were fought here, the most famous of which was the battle for access to the Delaware River, THE BATTLE OF RED BANK. If you haven't visited it, you must go to beautiful Red Bank Battlefield in National Park, right off 295m or 139m and down Hessian Avenue from Woodbury, NJ. The historic Whitall House is often open for tours.

South of us in the Alloways Creek area is the historic Hancock House site of the infamous Hancock Massacre when British sympathizers sneaked up on sleeping Revolutionary miliatia men in the upstairs of Hancock Tavern and slaughtered them. There was nearby, the battle of Quinton's Bridge, and further south in Greenwich, the site of a historic tea burning! Yes that's right, New Jersey also had a tea party when smugglers tried to get tea into New Jersey after the ban on British tea, but their cargo was confiscated and burned in the town square. The ship had tried to sneak in on the Cohansey River.

SOON TO ARRIVE - In Camden, NJ, a new Museum of the Revolution will be here within the next couple of years, I believe the date is still 2025. You can find more information on that by visiting the Camden County Historcal Society Museum page, and by the way, the new issue of their fantastic magazine is available for FREE! It is filled with wonderful historic events and places and if you like history, you will love this magazine, so drop on over and pick up a few copies for yourself and your friends!

Happy Trails history friends! Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com

Camden County Heritage Magazine FREE!

The Spring 2023 edition of the Camden County Heritage magazine is now available, with the theme of Our Stories of Camden County! This is the twelfth edition of the History Alliance’s annual publication, filled with articles and historic photos of Camden County’s past. Thank you to all those who supported the magazine through ads and donations! For more information or to receive past editions of the magazine, please email admin@cchsnj.org or contact one of the Camden County History Alliance Partner Organizations.

The above notice was taken from an e-mail I received. I want to add to the note that I LOVE this magazine and I often visit the Camden County Historical Society to pick up extra copies to distribute to my municipal building, our Senior Group in Mt. Ephraim, and our Woodbury Friends Meeting. Check the hours but I know they open tomorrow, Thursday at 10:00 a.m. The CCHS is located on Park Blvd. just behind Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and west of Harleigh Cemetery. It is a fbulous history museum to visit and beautiful historic Pomona Hall is a must see. Exhibits at CCHS change periodically so if you have been there before, you can go back again and see something new. Their online site is also very informative. Call 856-964-3333 for more information and I suggest you sign up for their e-mail notifications of events in Camden County!

Happy Trails Friends - Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com

Just saw this in Friend's E-Bulletin and wanted to pass it on

The Quaker Bakers of Greenwich Friends Meeting will participate in the Wheaton Arts ECO Fair on Saturday, May 6, 2023 with an eye towards increasing our outreach and visibility. The Fair is open from 10-4pm and is free to the public. See glass blowing, buy native plants, learn about local environmental and arts programs, peruse exhibit spaces and gift shops and stroll the grounds, which include a newly interpreted nature trail. Bring the kids and grandkids - there will be hands-on activities for children. Be sure to say hello at our table!

For more information please visit the link below:

https://www.wheatonarts.org/calendar-eventon/events/eco-fair/