Revolutionary Crossroads upcoming Events for 4th of July!

Celebrate Independence in Revolutionary New Jersey

There's no better place to celebrate a historic Independence Day than New Jersey! Beyond the amazing fireworks, several sites around the state will host events with a distinctly Revolutionary flair.

Head to New Brunswick for a reenactment of the first celebration of Independence Day, the reopening of Buccleuch Mansion and more, all part of Middlesex County's eight-day long Revolutionary Celebration.

Cheer along as the Declaration of Independence is read at a historic site, whether an old favorite or a site you've been meaning to explore. Readings are being done at many public sites including the Morristown Green, the Indian King Tavern in Haddonfield, Fort Lee Historic Park, Washington Crossing State Park in Titusville, Ringwood Manor, and Washington Campground at Bound Brook.

Celebrate the Fourth of July and freedom of the press at Potter's Tavern in Bridgeton, and discover how patriots risked charges of treason while publishing a pro-independence newspaper!

Potter's Tavern
49-51 West Broad StreetBridgeton, NJ 08302

Open on Sundays in July 1 PM - 4 PM
For more information call 856-455-8580

Potter's Tavern was a popular meeting place just before the Revolution due to its proximity to the Cumberland County Courthouse. As revolutionary sentiment spread through the colonies, the humble tavern, then the principal hostelry in this County Seat, became "Bridgeton's Independence Hall. "

In 1775 at Christmas time, patriots published a manuscript newspaper called The Plain Dealer at Potter's Tavern in Cohansey Bridge. Dedicated to the cause of liberty, it in the strongest terms for separation from the Crown rule. Matthew Potter, tavern keeper, risking a charge of treason, thus became one of the unsung heroes of the Revolution. Some of the leading citizens who wrote articles included Dr. Jonathan Elmer, Dr. Lewis Howell, Richard Howell and Joseph Bloomfield. The latter two became governors of New Jersey.

Architecturally, the Tavern is an excellent example of the type of frame house built in New Jersey during the 17th and 18th century.

Sorry, the links don't work - I copied this notice from an e-mail, but you can google any of these sites for more info!

Happy Trails!

Jo Ann

wrightj45@yahoo.com

New Luddite

Hope you don't mind but I have to blow off some steam here in the heart of electronic land.   I don't usually use the blog for a personal rant, but today, I feel it belongs here.

As I am typing, the cloud dialogue box keeps popping up and demanding my log in.  I type it in (it is written on my computer from the last time I had to re-set it because it wouldn't accept the former log in.  Nonetheless, it will not accept this one either and continues to interrupt me as I work.

What made me decide to write this here today is the view I have right now of a World War II portable typewriter on a chair in the living room.  I bought it for $25 in a thrift shop and when I looked up the make and model, it turned out to be 1947, East German made.  How about that!  In the midst of the monument destruction and the death of millions, this little portable typewrite survived.  How?  I would love to know its story, wouldn't you?  Who typed on it and what did they have to say?

I bought the typewriter because I used to do a presentation on female WWII journalists and photographers, so I had a 1930's camera and this engagingly compact and in perfect shape typewriter.  People loved the typewriter and the kids marveled.

Earlier today, I tried to print off the new HP ink jet printer I bought when my HPlaser printer cut out on me after a couple of years of fruitless persistent struggles with online help and phone help.  Finally, defeated I just bought another one, and a cheap one.  No booklets, no instructions, just a basic black plastic printer that I finally had to take to a shop to get hooked up and started.  

Now, just so you know, I bought my first computer in the mid 80's and I used to supplement my teacher income with after school and night classes teaching people computer basics for a tech school, so I used to know my stuff on both platforms, but here's the rub.  In those days there were instruction booklets.  The guy who installed my printer for me this time did it all online and when I got it home it didn't work and he had to come over and do it all again.

Today, it worked for about 10 copies then I had to replace the ink cartridge which demanded I then run an alignment page, which I did and then demanded I scan it, but I couldn't because there is no panel anywhere with any buttons.  So I looked it up and, of course, you have to go online and download software to scan.  I tried, then I gave up and took the dog for a walk.

My point is, things shouldn't get more complicated, they should get simpler.  I have an old working HP black printer that has a control panel so I can push a button to scan, copy 2 sides, and so on.  This Darth Vader of a printer has nothing but an on switch.  

Everybody wants you to go ONLINE for everything.  Even after I switched to on-line banking, I was tormented by a GO PAPERLESS box hat totally obscured my account information
and had no red close dot or corner close x.  I had to keep shutting down and re-opening to get faster than the dialogue box.  I don't want to go paperless and I don't want to go online for everything.

A grand new business idea:  Retrofit - PLUG AND PLAY!!!  I had a tv once that played vhs cassettes and dvds and worked perfectly for over a decade.  I didn't abandon my tv, a relative who was staying did me a 'favor' and bought me a flat screen.  My old tv was GREAT!  Now I have a shed full of tubs of vas I can't play as my new tv has no vhs or dvd and my daughter bought extras so I could play it but they never work.  And my laptop has no entry for disks of any kind, so all my stored files are defunct.  The cloud is working to get everything on me and then hold it for ransome.

At the start of the Industrial Revolution, the Luddites warned us of this, but it is too late, and I am sorry to say I have no answers, only complaints.  My brother, however, lives perfectly content in West Virginia with NO Computer, No Smart Phone, no expensive monthly cable bills.  He does have a dish and watches tv, so he isn't totally off the grid, but he is a happy man.  It is tempting!

dusty trails
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
ps.  I dream of finding anew ribbon for that old typewriter and having the typed copy just come right out, no printer intermediary, no online interference.  Those were the days!

Movie Review and World War II

As I have mentioned in a previous post, I have been studying World War II again.  I have actually been studying it all my life as I was born in 1945 and my father being both an intellectual curious man and a former sailor, veteran of the North Atlantic and the South Pacific, we were all raised on Victory at Sea and EVERY war movie on vhs and then dvd.  My father had sets upon sets of these and when we visited him in West Va. after he and our mother retired and built a house there, we all watched them again, together in the darkened living room, held by a magnetic to the horror.

Needless to say the war was the central historic event to my father's life just as the Vietnam War was to my brother's life and the Women's Revolution was to mine.  But I shared theirs totally and they shared mine inadvertently and by the pull of time and events rather than by choice or study or film.

So, at one point, my passion for history moved from the big and epic to the personal and I began to collect and read personal diaries of people caught up in these events.  I became obsessed with the stories of the little people, the artisans, the farmers, the widows, the storekeepers, the school teachers, those who were swept over by war the way all of us are swept over by hurricanes.  First I began with the survivors, such as the survivors of the Russian Revolution, Osip Mandelstam and Nadezhda Mandelstam, who were sent into "eternal exile" by Stalin.  What I always wanted to know was How did they survive?  As it happens there are a great many diaries of survivors of the Revolution in Russia as a great many poets and writers were sent into exile, not the least of which was, of course, Solzhenitsyn, the Gulag Archipelago.  

I was drawn to the Russians because of both my interest in the novelists, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, and by the wonderful film Dr. Zhivago.  But after the Revolution and in reaction to a literature class insult, I began to focus my search more on the forgotten people, the WOMEN of history.  

My World War II research began with a new release of THE WOMEN WHO WROTE THE WAR by Sorel.  Fortunately as a result of women forcing the doors of colleges open a great number of women's history researchers were created and more and more books available on the hidden history of women in the world.

The book on women war correspondents led to Martha Gellhorn and two new movies:  Gellhorn - brilliantly done!  and Hemingway and Gellhorn, a pandering and trashy version fully of steamy sex and rear end ogling from Clive Owens to Nicole Kidman.  I know, I know the studios have to make money the best they can.  Anyhow, Hemingway and Gellhorn were only married for 5 years until she defied his orders and took off for the Normandy Invasion, but she continued to write for an additional 40 years after their divorce,  from the front lines of battlefields in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and anywhere there were "voiceless people" who needed someone to speak out for them.   Hemingway wasn't that big a portion of her life but patriarchal history has still tried to make her a footnote to his career.  

To be perfectly honest, in my youth, I read everything Hemingway wrote and everything written about him, but when I re-visited later in life with a feminist perspective, as well as an educated one (two bachelor degrees under my belt and a post grad degree on the way) I took a more dim view of his talent and value and his preeminent place in American letters.  I have only just discovered Martha Gellhorn but I have enjoyed her biography which I will review in another blog post.  I ordered what many call her most significant book especially to speak to our current political situation, A Stricken Field.  I also bought her Depression era book The Trouble I've Seen.  I will let you know what I think.  And as always, I would love to hear what you think wrightj45@yahoo.com

Happy Trails

Jo Ann

1969

As anyone who lived through it would remember, 1969 was a very important year.  Every day, now that it is 70 years since then, there have been articles or reminders of the many noteworthy events of that year:  The moon landing, of course, the BIGGEST event of the 20th Century, the summer of LOVE, Woodstock (50th anniversary), the British invasion through music and my topic of today, the fire of the Cuyahoga River in Ohio!

Up until the 1960's and 70's no one paid much attention to the devastation of our unchecked industrial ravages of the natural world, then the 13th fire of the Cuyahoga River made front page news.  It wasn't, obviously the first time the river had caught fire, but it was the time the country took notice and it was a cover story in TIME magazines.  The Clean Water and Clean Air Act was passed and the clean-up of the heavily polluted river began.  Today, through tough regulation and conservation, the river is usable by both industry and recreation and is cleaned up enough not to be a danger to anyone.

The final fire of 1969 took place when sparks from a freight train ignited the river and Randy Neumann made a song about it Burn River Burn.  It was a US disgrace that caught people's attention at last.  

If only people cared now the way they cared then, maybe we could stop the destruction of our planet n time to save our only home.  It made me think about something I had heard about early plans for using the moon as a place to detonate nuclear bombs for testing.  Thank heavens some common sense prevailed and that plan was ditched.  I don't know about you but I don't want to live on Mars or the moon.  I like it here on earth, though, it almost makes me cry to see more and more of the agricultural treasure that is New Jersey turned into the cancer of development.  

I just came home from my doctor's appt., my annual wellness visit. My doctor's practice was bought out by Kennedy Health Systems and moved to Sewell, and then Jefferson bought out Kennedy and the practice was moved to West Berlin on Rt. 73.  Amidst the clutter of shopping malls, fast food places, and all the other detritus that clogs the highways and byways of New Jersey, it was hard to find the new Jefferson building.  In just my lifetime, New Jersey has been nearly paved over and I am sad to see the Real Estate signs on the small patches of woodland that have survived the developers.  I especially mourn the creatures clinging to survival in these small patches that will soon be filled in paved over and turned into more outlets, fast food chains and housing developments.  

Anyhow, we can hold onto the hope offered by the clean-up of the Cuyahoga River.  The environmental movement appears to have lost its steam though my mailbox is often filled with conservation calendars and brochures begging for funds my my minimal pensioner income.  I fear for the future, mine and our planet's.  
My HMO was bought out, my doctor's practice was bought out and increasingly one entity is gobbled up by another in a constant flow of change and demands for adaptation that as I get older and my vision grows poorer, I am afraid I may not be able to manuever around.  I hope Uber lasts long enough for me to be able to rely on it for transport to places I can no longer find.

Sorry about this negative post.  Even though my visit was positive and I have no new problems to cope with, the ordeal of finding a address too new for my gps left me depleted.

Happy Trails,
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

Second World War studies this summer

Just now, June 2019, I am reading Giles McDonagh's book AFTER THE REICH: the brutal history of the allied occupation.  

Possibly the fact that it is roughly 70 years since the war began has inspired this study, or perhaps because it is the month of my father's birthday and father's day and the second world war was my father's great study since he was a participant as a sailor in the US NAVY serving in both the North Atlantic and South Pacific on troop transport convoys.

Along with the book AFTER THE REICH, I am reading the biography of Martha Gellhorn, woman WWII front lines journalist.
Because alongside my LOVE OF HISTORY has always been a passion to discover the hidden history of my own gender in world affairs.

The opening of the war actually began with the invasion of Austria.  I had thought it was Poland but Austria was 1938 and Poland was 1939.  What a confusing and muddled situation it was for Austria, because, just as with America today, a portion of the population was belligerent and aggressive and sided with Hitler, about 10%, and the rest was like the rest of Americans, wary, worried and in direct opposition to Hitler and all he represented.  

The first thing They did Hitler's underlings in the form of Himmler, for example, was round up the former government members whom they  beat to death, executed and put into concentration camps because they were too old for labor camps.  They they took over the army and put them in the front lines in the worst combat zones. Very soon, more Austrians began to see the true face of Hitler's Germany as they were treated not as fellow super humans but as the subjects of a victorious conquering force.  The Germans despised them and anyone who stood against their aggression got thrown in with the Jews whom they now began to round up an deport to concentration camps.

This odd state of with/against on the part of Austria made dealing with Austria at the end of the war, very complicated and what saved the Austrian nation was an exiled  intelligentsia that formed a government in exile to work throughout the war to convince the US that Austria was a victim not a co-perpetrator.

It made me think of how much I learned indirectly from movies about history and the wars that defined our world.  When I think of Sound of Music, I think of the exiled intelligentsia of Austria and the daughter's flirtation with Rolf, the Austrian Hitler youth (who kind of represents that belligerent portion of Austria that sided with Hitler.)

There are far far too many WWII movies to note here, although it might be a good task for the future.  My most remembered ones would be the tv series. Victory at Sea, and the movies, Bridge over the River Kwai, and South Pacific.  I have to say, however that I saw movies on theBattle of Stalingrad from 1. the Russian view, 2. The German view, and 3.Our American view.  And I could never eave out THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN, the Fassbinder epic that follows an ordinary German woman through to the post World War II period - one of a kind and a masterpiece of film.  I think of that movie very often.

For other wars, it goes without saying that GONE WITH THE WIND taught me so much about The Civil War, but the real teacher was Ken Burns epic.  

British tv series dealing with the aftermath of World War I are all I can think of at the moment, though I can think of books I read, such as All Quiet On the Western Front.  There was a magnificent movie about the Christmas ceasefire on the front, but I can't remember the title of the film.  An opera singer sang, and the French shared their food, and the Germans put little Christmas trees outside the trenches for that one night.  Makes me cry to think of it.

For all my life, I have been a BIG PICTURE kind of person.  I always want to know why!  And I have studied my whole life to find the causes for these disasters as well as the best ways to survive them.  For survival I have read numerous books about the Russian Revolution, the best movie of which is, of course, Dr. Zhivago.

So many great movies for the Middle East - Lawrence of Arabia, Torah Torah Torah.  And of course, for ALL the wars and political events in the 20th and 21st century, the massive library of documentaries.  My mother's ghost has just reminded me to mention White Cliffs of Dover for WWII.

I am making a timeline in my journal and it will be rolling into this blog a well.  So now we have 1938, the invasion of Austria.  Next up is 1939 the invasion of Poland.

Happy trails, whether through the woods or the mind!
Jo Ann
wrightj45Wyahoo.com

Review of book on the Revolution

All the magazines I read (The Week, The Atlantic, New Yorker) and the Sunday New York Times Bk. Review are talking about the new first volume of a trilogy on the Revolutionary War, just published.
The Title is THE BRITISH ARE COMING, The War for America Lexington to Princeton 1775 to 1777 by Rick Atkinson.

Having read all the reviews stopped me from doing a charitable thing.  I was trying to cut back on my book clutter by donating my Revolutionary War History books and period books to the Revolutionary Roundtable, and my Civil War History books and period books to Old Baldy, Civil War Roundtable, but then I read the review listed above and I couldn't let my books go.  I felt that I would get newly fascinated and miss my books after reading this new one.

Once before, when I moved from Philadelphia to New Jersey, I let all my previously acquired books from when I lived in New Jersey, go.  Then over the years, I ended up buying a lot of them back.  For instance, in 1970 I bought the WPA Guide to New Jersey and I have since bought it back three times!  Sometimes you are in love with a subject, then you move on, never expecting to fall back in love with that subject again and HISTORY is a subject I have been in love with for a long time.

Although my current History Passion is World War II and I have just bought the biography of Martha Gellhorn, the first woman to go shore at Normandy Beach in the DDay invasion (she sought transport aboard a Red Cross ship, I may very well be brought back into the Revolutionary fold when I read Atkinson's book.  What sold me on his book was its comparison with Tolstoy in The Week book review:  "...he brings a Tolstoyan view of War insisting that we see how people on the ground experienced the unfolding violence."  They had me at "Tolstoyan" as War and Peace has been one of my lifelong favorite Great EPICS! of war along with Gone With the Wind and Dr. Zhivago - all broad views that kept the individual man and woman on the street within he picture.  I am thrilled and can't wait to read this new book.

I may also be forced to buy his trilogy on World War II which won a Pulitzer Prize.  

Perhaps I have mentioned this before, but in a somewhat sporadically unhappy childhood and similarly often sad adolescence, books and cats were my salvation (not forgetting my dog friends).  I could escape unhappy situations or painful emotions by traveling into different lives and times and getting a whole new perspective on both danger and survival. Any wisdom I may have, I learned through books.

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

Summer Music Lessons

A couple of years ago, my daughter bought me a ukulele for Mother's Day because I had commented that one thing I had always wanted to do but never succeeded in doing was learning a musical instrument.  I have piano at home that I bought for her when she was a child and I took lessons but didn't stick with it.  Also I had taken ukulele lessons in Collingswood but at $25 a half hour once a week it was just too expensive and although I practiced because I was taking lessons and didn't want to show up for my lessons unprepared, when I stopped the lessons, I found I NEVER picked up the uke and just noodled around with it.  The only thing I do that casually and frequently, is write and paint.  So I figured I just wasn't cut out for music since I didn't do it on my own and every musician I have ever read about or known was drawn to play on their own from sheer joy of self expression through that media.  That said, nonetheless, I found this offer interesting because it is accelerated and I think I can hold out for 6 weeks and because the cost is reduced for this program to $25 for 2 lessons a week rather than on (unless my math is faulty.  By the way, learning something new has ALWAYS been scientifically proven to be good for your memory and the health of your brain!

Happy Trails!

Jo Ann 

Wright45@yahoo.com

SUMMER MUSIC LESSONS FOR ADULTS

Eiland Arts Center, Merchantville train station 

Interested in learning an instrument? We are offering a special acelerated set of private music lessons for adults who are interested in learning an instrument this summer. Students will take two 30 minute lessons per week over the course of four weeks in either July or August. This is a great opportunity for beginners to learn the basics, as well as for experienced musicians to hone their skills or to try out a new instrument.

We offer private lessons in guitar, ukulele, piano, bass, drums, and voice.

We will accommodate schedules as best as we can, however all lessons must be completed by August 31st.

Cost is $195 for a total of eight lessons

For scheduling, please email Mat at mat@eilandarts.com

I visited the FIRST ANNUAL SOUTH JERSEY HISTORY FAIR AT GABREIL DAVEIS TAVERN

Today, Saturday, June 8th, it my sincere joy to visit the first annual South Jersey History Fair held on the ground of the Gabreil Daveis Tavern Historical site in Glendora.  

Fortunately on this particular day, the hour I chose to venture east  on the Black Horse Pike turned out to NOT be mired in seashore traffic.  I left at 10:30 and it only took ten minutes to get to 3rd Avenue in Glendora, where I found a comfortable parking pasture and a paved drive to the grounds where about two dozen kiosks were set up to provide brochures, magazines, vintage books, period costumes, and a wide array of items for sale and for education.  A great number of historic sites had tables and representatives and I was happy to see a lot of old friends from my volunteer days.

First I ran into the always chivalrous and friendly Harry Schaeffer of the James and Ann Whittall House in National Park, NJ.  I volunteered there for about 6 years until my back problems and knee problems made it too difficult to either stand for four hours or go up and down steps.  I loved it there and made a lot of friends.  Sadly a good number of the people I had known there have also succumbed to the ravages of age or the demands of family in medical crisis and there are only a few of the original dozen or so regulars that I once knew.  Harry is retired now and still very active at the house.  

Then I met Bonny Beth Elwell of the Camden County Historical Society, whom I also knew from the Salem County Genealogical Society.  It was a great pleasure to attend the many interesting lectures held at Friends Village in Woodstown by the SCGS back when I could still drive at night, or could get a ride with one of my friends from the Whitall House.  I still see Bonny on my regular visits to the CCHS for their many fascinating programs which I have blogged about.  

Finally, I ran into Sue Hueskin and her husband.  Sue is involved in many historical programs.  We first met when I bought my costume kit for my volunteer work in the Colonial era programs where I worked for about ten years, such as the Indian King Tavern as well as the Whitall House.   Sue and I met again frequently when I attended events at the Griffith Morgan House along the Pennsauken Creek, and the Burrough Dover House, also in Pennsauken on Sorrel Horse Rd.  She always flatters me by recruiting me to volunteer for the Pennsauken sites and I would love too, but I am sadly too broken by unfortunately untimely age related problems to be able to do it.  I can't stand for many hours, and even sitting is a problem for my spine problems.

I talked briefly with a man who talked about a ship built at the New York Shipyard on Broadway between Gloucester City and Camden.  I drove by that site many times during the years when I took the bu from Philadelphia to Gloucester City to work at the Library for the Adult Education Program.  There is a museum there that I would love to visit as I am increasingly interested in World War II history in the New Jersey part of the Delaware River Valley.  

The weather could not have been prettier or more comfortable, a slight breeze, moderate temperature, lots of shade, and a happy crowd but not too much crowding.  I spoke with a vintage china and books seller who had previously tabled at the Country Living Fair at Batsto and we both admitted we had been driven away from attending by the enormous crowds  You have to park miles away and it is so thronged with people you can barely see anything.  So many of the Pinelands events have become like that - the blueberry festival is another one - too popular to be fun anymore.  Although Whitesbog's blueberry festival is still a pleasure and not overrun by throngs as yet.  

Some of the other groups represented were the Gloucester County Historical Society, the Sons of the American Revolution, The Revolutionary Roundtable, a Civil War Group, and a fabulous display of gas and manual farm equipment such as a corn shucker!  

Today's event was one of my favorites of recent years - it was truly PERFECT.  I didn't tour the tavern because I had been inside many many times previously.  I am so happy that I made the effort to go to this fair, and I only regret that my eyesight and physical impairment kept me from reading more brochures and enjoying more exhibits!  Well there's always next year!

Happy Trails,
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

World War II

Lately I have been thinking a lot about World War II

Doing a little research, I found that there is a 9th Division Soldiers Weekend at Fort Mott, along the Delaware River.  I know that September is a long way from now, but just in case I forget by then, here is the information:

September 28th and 29th from 10:00 a.m. on Saturday until 5 pm on Sunday 

VENUE 

Fort Mott State Park 

454 Fort Mott Road 
Pennsville, 08070 United States

Although Fort Mott was not an active fort after World War I it was put under historic preservation as a military site in 1944.  Lookout stations, however, were erected along the Delaware River in case of invasion and there was one at the Whittal Historic House in World War II, National Park.

It is probably true for most of us who were the children of World War II veterans, that the experience of living through the war, permeated our childhood.  As a family, we all watched Victory at Sea, every episode on television and gain on VCR with my Dad (I can still hear the theme music as I write this).  My father was in the navy and served in both the North Atlantic AND the South Pacific.  The last book he was reading before he died was THE BATTLE OF TASSAFERONGA.  I have the postcard he sent to my mother from New Guinea.  

Especially this week, after the anniversary of D-Day, the war, and my father and his heroic service are in my heart and on my mind.  The line from the Bing Crosby song "We'll follow the old man, wherever he wants to go," goes through my mind and brings tears to my eyes.  Every Christmas we watched this  movie White Christmas together.  

Before his service in the Navy, my father was also in the Merchant Marines as was his father before him, and before that when he was only 16, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and every summer we would visit the Blue Ridge Mountains and though he didn't say much about it, I bet he was remembering those teenaged years working in the forest, cutting out a highway and building a park;  the only thing he said was the barracks were not much better than the internment camps they put the Japanese Americans in out west.  He had been a city boy, born and raised in Philadelphia, as was my mother and one of my brothers and myself, and his experience in the CCC gave him a life long love of the Appalachian region, where he retired in his 60's, Thirty years ago.  

During the war, my mother served as a courier at the Philadelphia Navy yard and we had an old movie on video made from a film my grandfather (who had served in World War I on the Mexcan border) had shot of their neighborhood that showed the victory gardens in South Philadelphia, the sailors home on leave and the VJ Day Parade with my mother, pregnant with me, hoisting a big flag in a neighborhood parade.  

I never got tired of the movies, the books, the stories about the war and I only wish now that I had asked my father more, though he was not one to be loquacious in an interview.  He really never talked much about any of that part of his life, beyond making the statements "I saw the battle of Tassaferonga from our ship."  And the oft told tale of how his troop transport picked up sailors out of the sea after their guardian destroyer had been torpedoed and one of the sailors was his own uncle!

It seems the older I get, the more importance history has in my life.  And heaven knows there are many places of historic interest in South Jersey.  I will find out many more tomorrow when I go to the first annual South Jersey History Fair at the Gabreil Daveis Tavern in Glendora.  Hope to see you there!

Happy Trails (in the woods and in your memory)

Jo Ann

wrightj45@yahoo.com

Mount Ephraim Seniors Get-Together, First Monday of the month - June 2019

We had a wonderful get-together this month, again at the Mt. Ephraim Charles Doughtery Senior Center.  There were five of us and our main topic was Hobbies, our side topic is always Local History.  The largest number we have had to date is 12 and I have to admit the smaller group is a little more comfortable, each person gets more of a chance to talk and there is less side chat.  It gives a relaxed and unhurried feel to the get-together.  I think 5 or 6 is the ideal number.  I was sorry to not see some regulars, but delighted to agree two new members.

For Hobbies, Co-Chair of the group, Linda, brought her collection of collectable vintage costume jewelry, beautifully arrayed on a crocheted white pillow, and her books on how to collect, what to look for and how to identify periods and materials.

Dan talked to us about his gardening hobby, about propogation, the Lakeland Greenhouse, heirloom plants and tomatoes and composting.

Jane talked about bird-watching, the birds she has spotted including wax-wings, red-wings, cardinals and the goldfinch among others.  We all shared a lively discussion on our interactions with squirrels involving bird feeders, and in my case, a home invasion via roof!

Marie discussed her old hobbies, Macrame, Hooked Rugs and pottery.

I brought three paintings:  a landscape of the Cooper River, a cityscape of Millville abandoned factories, and a still life of summer vegetables.  I also brought some books and journals and we talked about he habit of writing and keeping Gratitude Journals.  Everyone got a journal and we all wrote our 5 gratitudes then shared one each.

We also talked about the traits that are linked to preventing dementia which include learning something new, solving puzzles and socializing - one of the goals of our group.

For Local History, we talked about the Audubon 250 year Old Tree on the White Horse Pike, the Walt Fest in Laurel Springs and the old healing waters cure, and re-purposed railroad depots.

Next month, we talk about World War II.  We started a little this month with Memorial Day, but next month when we have more time, we will get into World War Ii since the 50th anniversary of D-Day is coming up.

Finally we talked about the always popular subject of pets and next week we bring some pet photos and I will bring a dog portrait of my new dog, Uma.  Time permitting, and if I can gather enough materials for everyone,  we may have an introduction to drawing session.

It was a lovely day and a really stimulating and enjoyable afternoon.  Oh yes, I almost forgot, I gave everyone a copy of the latest Camden County Alliance magazine with the cover devoted to Walt Whitman, and the really spectacular map with all the historic locations on it!  Thanks Camden County Historical Society for your generous gift to our group.

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

Went to Walt Fest today!

Today, Saturday 1st of June, my friend Barbara Solem and I went for Walt Fest in Laurel Springs.  We toured the Whitman Stafford House, which surprising to me, dated back to the 1700's.  What I liked most about the furnishings was the homey style of it, as though people actually lived there, not like it was a museum, and, as our tour guide told us, all their furnishings were donated period appropriate pieces.  This goes into the category of "how can you ever afford to furnish a historic house at the price of real antiques" which is something I have often discussed with my friend Barbara.  

Barb is a docent at the unfurnished Atsion mansion, which she brought into being open for tours after a long long beaurocratic struggle.  The house had been saved, refurbished but not electrified or air conditioned or heated) and then the idiots in charge had neglected the roof and the whole house had to be refurbished AGAIN.  Finally, finished, it was just left to stand there in the park are, unused and empty until Barbara came along and gathered the help of a half dozen devoted volunteers and got it opened for Saturday tours where she and the other docents could talk about the history of the Pinebarrens Iron families like the Richards and the Whartons (of Batsto).  AS I mentioned before, Barbara has written three books on Pinelands history, The Forks, Ghosttowns and Other Quirky Places in the PineBarrens, and Batso, Jewel of the Pines.  Ghost towns has been reprinted more than three times and is extremely popular.  

There was an art show in the grounds with at least four sizable gallery structures and outside one of them, I ran into another friend, Sharon Harris, a photographer, internationally respected for her stunning pin-hole photography.  She has had article written about her, most recently in a prestigious German photography magazine, and she is working on a podcast with Princeton University.  She had one of her mysterious and lovely photographs on display.

It was an altogether delightful day, nicest water in a season of lovely weather, cool, breezy, everything blossoming and fresh.  The Whitman Stafford House, which was a vacation and health lodging for Walt Whitman, where he most famously edited his masterpiece, Leaves of Grass, is a large and attractive historic house with perilous steps for those of us, such as myself with tricky knees, but there was plenty to look at downstairs while I waited for my friend Barbara to tour the upper floors.

We had lunch at Local Links, my favorite location for breakfast burritos, but were sad to find out that another favorite place to eat, The Station Cafe' has closed and is up for sale.  I asked around and was told it was something to do with a rising rents dispute.  I will miss that cheery little cafe' where I had lunch and breakfast with some many relatives and friends over the years.

Happy Trails - And Don't forget - Next Saturday the 1st Annual South Jersey History Alliance Fair at the Gabreil Daveis Tavern!!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

Revolutionary War History fans - this Saturday!

The Skirmish

Saturday, June 1 | 10 AM -  4 PM

Indian King Tavern Museum, Haddonfield

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WaltFest Laurel Springs

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

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

World War II in South Jersey On My Mind

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DATES OF FUTURE WORLD WAR II WEEKENDS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Trails
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

Read it in the Sunday New York Times

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com

May events from Crossroads of the Revolution

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

May 18

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

May 19

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

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

ancestry, DNA and Genealogical Society of Salem County

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Greetings--

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

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

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

Happy Trails,

Jo Ann

wrightj45@yahoo.com

Books and Reading

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Trails,
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com