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