A Great Shop

On Saturday, I arrived half an hour too early for a lunch date at the Station Avenue Cafe' where I was meeting two friends.  I was coming straight from a visit to my local veterinary center, also worth a mention, Sheehen Veterinary Center in Camden, on Collings Ave. a few door down from the Black Horse Pike, where the former Shorty's Terminal was located.  

Anyhow, since I was half an hour early, there was no point in going home and coming back so I parked along the railroad and strolled over to "My Fir Trade Lady" shop.  If you are looking for an unusual and beautiful clothing item, or a special gift, you can't find a better shop.  There is everything there from home goods to fair trade coffee, jewelry, art, textiles, and the owner, Donna Gottardi, couldn't be more helpful and welcoming.  I always make it a point to stop in before birthdays and before Christmas for that unusual and beautiful gift or decoration.  For example, someone once gave me a Retablos, many years ago, which somehow disappeared in time and I always missed it.  Last year, I found one just like it at My Fair Trade Lady!

If you don't know what a retablos is, it is a small handprinted, wooden shrine, line a creche, with different scenes inside, often, Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus, but available with other scenes as well, in three dimensional figures, perhaps clay.  Mine is a Christmas creche.  I have always had a fascination for little scenes in unusual containers, like the Easter eggs made of spun sugar with little rabbit scenes inside the window cut in the side, or a little wooden village in a tray that I bought last year in Collingswood.

Anyhow if you are looingk for something for your home, your wardrobe or a gift, or just looking for a fun to shop to visit and browse, stop by at 531 Station Ave., Haddon Heights, NJ.  And you may like to rest in the shade beside the fountain at the super charming railroad station, home of the permanent installation of train platform operated by the Susquehanna and Delaware Model Railroad group.  It is only open for a visit on special events days, but the shady mountain area with the benches is a delightful place to stop and rest and watch the world go by.  Then have lunch or breakfast at the Station Ave. Cafe' and if you are looking for some produce or a one dollar book, stop by John's Market at the end of the street.  He has a bookshelf where they take donated books and re-sell them for money donated to animal shelters!

Enjoy your day in Haddon Heights!
Happy Trails,
Jo Ann

Upcoming Art Events

Pitman Gallery and Art Center, 59 S. Broadway Avenue Pitman, New Jersey
Join us Friday, July 6th from 7-10 pm for the Artist Reception of "The SNJA Notables - Society of New Jersey Artists Group Show." This event is free and open to the public.
note:  If like me, you don't drive in the dark, you could skip the opening and simply visit the gallery and see the exhibit!

And - one of my favorite places to visit in the summer and before Christmas for gifts - 

Rancocas Woods Craft Co-Op

and Antique Attic

Sunday June 24th

10-4

The  Craft Co-Op is always open 

Tues - Sun 10-5

Craft Show days we open 9-5

Stop by and do a little summer shopping.  

As always, on craft show days,

refreshments will be served

We have some wonderful news!

The Rancocas Woods Antique Shows

are coming back!

The shows will be held the 

2nd Sunday in Sept, Oct & Nov

More details to come...

but, if you're interested in becoming a vendor,

please feel free to contact 

Pat Mangano at

pmangano@comcast.net 

or

856-979-5309

She'll be more than happy to help you!!

Whitesbog Blueberry Fest this weekend

Saturday the 23rd and Sunday the 24th the 35th annual Blueberry Festival will be held and the historic village of Whitesbog in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.

Many activities will be offered including blueberry picking, and many things for sale, including a variety of food items made from blueberries.  

In times past, my friends, my dog and I have loved hiking along the white sandy roads that border the cranberry bogs at Whitesbog, so if you are looking for something fun to do, put the address in your gps and head out to Whitesbog (I believe it is Whitesbog Rd. and the town it is found in the gps is Browns Mills).

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann

A Buck a Bag Book Sale Haddon Twp. Library

Right off Cuthbert/Nicholson Rd. in Haddon Twp, across from Newton Creek Park and Saddler's Woods is my new library.  I found it when I discovered free Chair Yoga classes a few months back and I was able to join for free as my town, Mt. Ephraim, has no library.  

It is a lovely library, bright and well equipped with a good deal of interesting programming.  Yesterday I went over and since my shopping bag was larger than a plastic bag, I paid two dollars but I got 6 good hard back books and 8 magazines.  Have you noticed how much magazines cost off the rack these days?  All the magazines I bought:  New York, National Geographic, Philadelphia, and Country Living, were only a month old - March to May 2018, and in perfect condition.  I bought a bunch of books by authors I recognized such as Jeff Schaara (mainly epic historic fiction) and I know him from my Civil War collection, and Amy Tan (who wrote a best seller once called The Joy Luck Club).  And a few authors I did not know but the books looked good.  Anyhow how could you go wrong on nickels and dimes on the dollar? 

Meanwhile they also said I could bring books to them to donate also, but only one box at a time, a small box!  So any of the contemporary fiction I have finished that none of my friends want, I will bring to them to add to their sale!

For rainy days when you can't be out on adventures, stock up for indoor adventures!  

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann

Dog Training

Since I advised you on a good shelter to adopt a dog, I thought it only fair to give you some tips on a good dog trainer.

My last dog, Trixie, came perfectly behaved and didn't need any kind of training.  To be honest, I spoke to her as though she were a person and I felt certain during all the time we shared that she understood what I was saying.  As the old saying goes, however, "The Good die Young."  And my good Trixie died after only five years together.  It broke my heart.  I loved her so much.

Any person who lives as long as I have endures a good deal of disappointment, and heartbreak, and loss.  It is a part of living.  Fortunately for me, a much bigger part of living has been joy, surprise, anticipation, enthusiasm and a daily appreciation of simple wonders.  I am a happy person, but my dog helped me stay happy.  I never felt lonely when I had my pal to keep me company and I always felt safe.  I used to joke to my friends that with Trixie in the house I could sleep at night with the windows open and I do enjoy fresh air.  Always, I would prefer to have the windows open and a nice outdoor breeze, to air conditioning, which has a tomb like clamminess and doesn't bring in the fragrance of honeysuckle or new mown grass.

Well, anyway, I got the ashes of my old life delivered last week and engaged in the challenges of my new life.  My new animal pal, Uma is truly beautiful, but she did not come fully equipped with good manners like my old pal.  Soon, I discovered that she didn't walk well on the leash, and she chased my cats.  I feel certain that in her old home no effort was made to interact with her and she doesn't respond well to language, but she is smart, so I put out feelers for a good trainer.

First I called my vet, Dr. Ed Sheehen, Sheehen Veterinary Center, also a recommendation of mine for companionate and experienced care.  They gave me a number of a trainer they recommended who had trained the receptionists dog.  I left a message, next day I left another message.  Things were getting dire at my house.  I wasn't used to dealing with the continuing warfare between the cats and the dog and trying to walk her was killing my knee.  She definitely couldn't walk in the park - too stimulating and she was too strong for me to control.

Next I went to Pet Smart in Barrington but they couldn't see me until mid July.  Their training was at P.S. and in small groups for $120.  Then I went to Pet Co in Brooklawn and met a very nice and helpful young woman I liked.  Also on site training only, $290 for one to one dog training, and $120 for group an we would have to wait for a group to form.  But she could take me in a week for one to one.

But I really felt like I wanted training in my own home.  A friend who does a lot of volunteer work for shelters told me a friend of hers had highly recommended the trainer who helped her with her shelter dog who had a lot of problems.  She got her number.  I called and Janice Barlow actually answered the phone.  She said she would be able to come out the next day!  Janice was formerly the trainer who trained the people who worked at Pet Smart!  She works with a partner, Shirley Mauritania, who is also a certified AKC Evaluator.  

"Training Wheels" was the most expensive of the options at $400 for 6 weeks and a guarantee to return for free if needed.  Since it offered ALL that I had wanted, I asked if they could take the fee in two payments so I could pay on paydays and not on credit card, and they were willing to do that.  

Janice was calm and friendly and put both me and Uma at our ease.  She worked on leash training, "Leave it" and not jumping.  Something she said stuck in my mind, "The first week is the honeymoon period so don't be surprised if new thins come up in week two."  She also said I could call her at any time.  I practiced the techniques she showed me with good success on the jumping, some success on the leash walking, but no success as yet on "Leave it."  Uma, like a kid, was on her best behavior for the company and reverted to her willful yet lovable self after Janice left.

And the new came up this morning.  though she had a walk last night and half an hour in the yard with me, I found a reeking pile on the floor this morning in the living room.  Also, I discovered when I went to the post office around the corner, that Uma can either jump the fence in the yard or has found a secret escape route, as a neighbor phoned me to say she was wandering the neighborhood and he had brought her home.

I'll let you know how it progresses.  Would I still adopt Uma - you bet!  Do I have faith that things will improve?  Yes, I do!  They always have.  And, I made a list of all the bad things dogs I have known in the past did, that Uma does not do - 1. She does not knock over the trash, 2. Go in the kitty litter, 3. Chew furniture and one of my worst past pet experiences 4. She doesn't dig out the center of the furniture cushions!  That was just a sample of a list of about15 things she does NOT do.  And as for the ones she does, well, we will work on it and time is on my side as is Janice Barlow of Training Wheels!

Happy Trails alongside your Happy Tails!
Jo Ann

Rev. War - this week, June 20 & 21, 2018

Reminder: “June 1778-British Evacuation of Philadelphia” will take place on Thursday, June 21 at 7:00pm in the Billiard Room of Smithville Mansion. Please see the attached document for more information regarding this program. 

Registration is requested but not required. To register reply directly via email or visitwww.co.burlington.nj.us and register using our new on-line platform.

Rev. Roundtable:
We are meeting tomorrow, June 20, at 7:15 at the Voorhees library (203 Laurel Rd., Voorhees, NJ, next to the Echelon Mall), where all of our previous events have been held. Tim Hart will present on "War at the Shore: Patriots andLoyalists at Cedar Bridge Tavern."

Any book donations for our drawings would be appreciated. 

Animal Adoption

This past week, all my time has been taken up by getting acclimated to my new dog companion, Uma.  She came to me via an e-mail photo from an animal volunteer friend, Barb Spector.  

Uma was at Camden County Animal Shelter on County House Rd. in Sewell, and I want to note both the friendly assistance to me and the visible  compassion and kindness towards animals displayed by the staff there.  

My longtime and totally perfect animal companion, Trixie, a gorgeous Lab and Weimaraner Mix, had been adopted from the Animal Orphanage in Voorhies several years ago.  She came with everything you could wish for in a dog, good manners, great leash walking skills, complete trustworthiness and friendliness towards my cats.

Sadly, so far, Uma and I are working on the cat situation.  She also was a bit of a struggle on the leash, lots of pulling, lunging and veering off, but I found a great aid - the "No Pull Harness."  It was like a miracle!  The first time I put it on her, her walking was radically improved.  We still struggle in the park, just too many distractions and she gets overwhelmed wit excitement, but we walk a mile every morning and a mile each evening in the neighborhood and she walks perfectly!  So if you have a dog that pulls on the leash, measure the chest circumference and get one of those harnesses.  You can buy them at PetSmart (I did) and also through amazon.com where there is a larger selection and they cost a bit less especially if you have prime and don't pay shipping.  I had to buy two because the first one was too large and I couldn't adjust it to fit properly.  The second is perfect and was $10 less.

I am sorry I don't remember the details of the hour for the Camden County Animals Shelter but another benefit is "same day" adoption.  I was there when they opened at 11:00 a.m. last Tuesday and left with my new pal by 1:30 p.m.  

The week before, my beloved friend, Trixie, died of a stroke.  If you have lost your doggie companion, honor the memory of that love by sharing the love with a dog who needs a home AND Please! adopt from a shelter and don't support puppy mills or breeders.  We are euthanizing a million homeless dogs who need your love and shelter.  Also, consider donating to Animal Charities at the holidays.  I give to Allie Cat Allies (you'll need to look up their info) and to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and Best Friends, 5001 Angel Canyon Rd., Kanab, Ut 84741, to name just a few.  I donate on my father's and mother's birthdays in the summer and at Christmas.

Happy Trails and Happy Tails!
Jo Ann

War at the Shore! Am. Rev. Roundtable at Voorhies Library June 20

Few know very much about the Revolutionary war in New Jersey, the Crossroads of the Revolution.
And most of what they know is central or north and not in the south.  But a great many very interesting and momentous events took place in South Jersey.

When I was a volunteer at Red Bank Battlefield, a National Monument, I learned so much about it.  So first and foremost is National Park and the James and Ann Whitall House.  A beautiful park with picnic shelters, a playground and lovely walk along the mighty Delaware.

When the British had conquered Philadelphia, they needed to re-supply their troops by bringing goods up the Delaware; two forts kept them from being able to do that, Fort Mercer on the New Jersey side was manned by (numbers vary) about 200 Continentals who held the fort against roughly 2000 Hessians, battle hardened from European wars and well armed.  They were under the command of Count Von Donop.  Colonial Greene commanded the troops at Mercer.

At the same time as the land battle was taking place the greatest warship of the era, the British Augusta was being blocked by iron tipped logs sunk in the river and small craft manned by extraordinarily brave American seamen who pulled fire rafts hoping the tide would take them into the August.  Perhaps they did, no one is quite sure, but the Augusta loaded with ammo, exploded and burned.

On land, the Hessians were caught up trying to climb over a bulwark of uprooted Fruit trees from the Whitall's grove; they stormed the fort, but found themselves in the unmanned part of the fort and there they were cut down by the American forces holed up in the other end of it.  Soon 400 Hessians lay dead or wounded and the rest retreated after Count Von Donop lay dying of his 9 wounds.

The wounded were carried into the Whitall's house.  The family had fled to Woodbury.  It is said that Mrs. Whitall returned (a Quaker) and helped to nurse the wounded with her locally famed herbal skills.

War at the Shore:
Less well known was the fighting going on in the Pine Barrens.  A shipyard and hiding place for Privateers working for the Continental forces, the Forks, was attacked in a surprise raid.  The forewarned Americans fled into the woods but their ships and buildings were burned.  A further battle took place at Chestnut Neck.  I have visited both places.

I hope to learn more at the meeting of the Roundtable at the Voorhies Branch of the Camden County Library, Vogelson branch on June 20 at 7:15 when a lecture on the War at the Shore will be provided.
The British had to stop the predation of their ships by American Privateers who attacked then fled up the many Pine Barrens Rivers off the Atlantic Coast.

I have books on all these subjects and was astonished at how much happened here.

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann

Burlington County Historical Society Event

Don't forget, this Sunday! 

Burlington Co Hist Soc 

wrightj45@yahoo.com

Hope to see you this Sunday, June 10th at 2 pm!

Independent historian Sue Huesken will present the life and times of Quaker pioneer - Amelia Mott Gummere!  Please join us for the talk and some light refreshments! 

RSVP to 609-386-4773 ext 1 

Free Concert Tonight in Moorestown

TONIGHT from 6:30-7:30pm at our Moorestown location !

Bring your lawn chair to Perkins Center for the Arts and enjoy free concerts featuring Perkins Center Conservatory of Music Faculty and their professional musician friends.

Perkins Center for Arts house band, Vinyl Comes Alive, will perform a concert featuring many of the greatest songs from the Motown era, as well as artists and bands that popularized the Stax and Atlantic Records sound. Songs by artists such as Wilson Picket, Sam and Dave, Otis Redding, Charles Bradley and many others will be presented for your listening pleasure.

Writing and books at The Station - Merchantville

As many of you know by now, I have independently published three books of my own:  White Horse Black Horse, a historical novel set in 1937 New Jersey, 181 Days - a relationship novel, and most recently, 1969 A Road Trip - a memoir of a year spent living in Europe in a VW camper van.  I love to write.  If you are interesting a good beginning, you may be helped here:
Writing Classes at AQHQ @ The Station
(I believe AQHQ stands for Alexandra Quarterly Headquarters)'
AQHQ is a book store, vintage shop, and center for writing. From June through August, we'll be offering classes for adults on all things poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. 

Contemporary Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction (Readings and Discussions)
Thursdays 2pm - 3:30pm
July 5th - 26th OR August 9th - 30th

Getting Published
Fridays 2pm - 3:30pm
July 6th - 27th OR August 10th - 31st

Writing Workshop
Saturdays 2pm - 3:30pm
July 7th - 28th OR August 4th - 25th

$25 per single class or $80 for four classes
To register, email Tamra at aqeditors@gmail.com

Revolutionary War Re-enactment at Monmouth, June 16

June 16-17 Battle of Monmouth reenactment marks 240th anniversary  

Experience the excitement of the largest artillery battle of the American Revolution when reenactors take to the fields on June 16 and 17 to mark the 240th anniversary of the Battle of Monmouth at Monmouth Battlefield State Park in Manalapan. Bring the family and return to 1778 as historical interpreters represent Continental Army soldiers fresh off training at Valley Forge... and the British-German-Loyalist Army that hopes to crush the Patriots in the farm fields once known as Monmouth Courthouse.

 

There's plenty to see throughout the day as reenactors portray everyday Revolutionary-era soldier life. You may see recruits relaxing with a game of cards, mending a torn shirt or cleaning a musket. The women in camp will be busy cooking, and Molly Pitcher will share stories about her role in the battle. Don't miss this chance to get an up-close view of Revolutionary-era army life - on both sides! 

Also - Note

Burroughs Dover House, Pennsauken, NJ

If you will miss the fiber arts show (as I will) this weekend, you can catch it when they open again on June 21st!  I will be there.  I am enthusiastic about spinning and weaving and if I had another lifetime, I would def. take it up, esp with the tutoring of Barbara Johns out of Woolbearers in Mount Holly. I have seen her work at Hancock's Tavern.

When Women were Girls

On May 30, 75 years ago, the All American Girls Professional Baseball League was formed to fill the stadiums Emptied by World War II.  Chicago Cubs owner Phillip Wrigley gave women a chance to enter the professional world of sports for eleven years.  

It seems quaint to us now, as we live in the age of Venus and Serena Williams, and the All American Women's Basketball League, and big money drawing women golf stars, to think of a day when many if not most American citizens didn't think women could or should play professional sports.

In the world of "Where were you when___________happened,"  I can tell you I was in a bar in Philadelphia when Billy Jean King played Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes tennis match.  I was frightened to death.  I didn't want to see Billy Jean King somehow defeated and humiliated and I didn't want to be humiliated by the loud and belligerent bar patrons that night.  

Having grown up in the gritty world of blue-collar, brick row house  culture in Philadelphia in the 1940s and 50's I was already effectively and profoundly intimidated and did not challenge male power.  Men were bigger, stronger, they made the money and called the shots.  It was exilherating and unnerving to see Billy Jean King succumb to the publicity stunt challenge of Bobby Riggs, and though I knew she was young and strong and talented, it had never been my idea that we were physically stronger than men, only that we should have a fair opportunity to do what we could and equal pay for equal work.  I didn't want to be my Dad, or be an Ironworker, or a sailor, which he had been.  But I also didn't want to be my mother, though she was blissfully happy in her role as mother and housewife.  I wanted to be an artist, a writer, a teacher.  I wanted to go to college, and in the time that I reached college age, college acceptance for women was neither fair nor equal, nor was the distribution of tax money to support college athletics.

So, a lot has changed and it is good to look back and see how far we have come.  

Talking about remembrance, June 5th is the 60th anniversary of the assassination of  Robert F. Kennedy (1968). Some people wish they could go back into the past and be young again.  I am not one of them.  We lived in interesting times, but I am quite content in the comfort and the progress of the present!

Since sports seems to be the subject of this post, it is worth mentioning that we saw the ghostly empty stadium of Patterson, New Jersey on Mother's Day when my daughter kindly drove me there to see the water fall.  Factory towns are another item lost in time.  We visited the Patterson Museum, also, and I couldn't help but wish I could see/hear/learn more about the individuals who worked in the factories.  Factory work was another entry point into the world of independence and equality for women, some of the first labor strikes were women workers such as the silk girls strike and the shirt waist factory strike and the strikes of the mills in New England.  I could almost hear the voices of the men in the stadium beside the water fall, shouting out encouragement to their fellow workers on their baseball teams, on their rare days off from the dark factories.

I worked in a mill myself, once, Alchester Mills in Camden, NJ.  I was a college student earning money for tuition through summer work.  It was tedious, exhausting, and the air was filled with what I am sure must have been dangerous fibers.  But, I only had to work there for one summer.  Other women had been there for decades.

Happy Trails,
Jo Ann

Alexandria Quarterly Press @ The Station

On Jun1 1, 2018, Nicole Eiland and Jeremy Guay feature the Grand Opening of AQP Headquarters (Alexandria Quarterly Press) a pop-up bookstore, vintage shop and center for writing.

As a hand-made book artist, a painter, and a writer, I am very much anticipating this event!  

Just today I took another friend (the 8th so far) to see the paintings in the gallery upstairs before the show changes.  Two of my friends have works in the show, painters Diane Paul, of Main Street Art, and Colleen Hammond.  

When I visit, I like to have another look at Nicole Eiland's magnificent hand-made book sculpture in the western corner of the gallery.  It is monumental!

I am not sure what is going to happen at the event, but I am looking forward to finding out and always delighted to see more Art events happening in our area!

Happy Trails,
Jo Ann

Oh yes, AQP @ the Station is at 10 E. Chestnut Street in Merchantville, NY

Memorial Day Picnic 2018

For today, I should probably be posting Memorial Day evens but I haven't finished the Sunday papers yet and I don' know what' going on.  I do know that Saturday was May Fest in Collingswood and the Classic Car Show, but I only know because I was walking my dog in Knight's Park, as we do every day, my brown Lab Trixie and me, and I saw all the cars parked and the people walking towards Haddon Ave.  I am not one for crowds in general and although from time to time on a holiday, I will brave the throng, yesterday was so peaceful and green in the park, I wouldn't have traded it for the hustle and bustle of Haddon Ave.

What I wanted to mention today was your Memorial Day Picnic menu!  I am not a cook and rarely do cook HOWEVER as you may recall I began this blog when my fellow teachers, all retiring at roughly the same time, were talking about wondering what they would do when they didn't work any more.  Since I had gone first and had more things to do than days in the week to do them, I promised I would post them so they could refer to this blog for ideas. 

Well, here is something new to the blog that I think is worth adding, healthful eating.  Lately I have watched at least three documentaries on Netflix about our obesity epidemic in America and the resulting health crisis older Americans are facing with diabetes and heart disease, not to mention less disastrous be related issues such as knees going bad from the strain of carrying 50 or more extra pounds around every day.

The three latest docs I have watched are:  Take Your Pill, Hungry for Change, and Fat to Finish.  I have been interested in nutrition and ecology since the 1970's when I became a vegetarian (which I still am- though I lean toward vegan eating now.)  

Most of my friends are vegetarians, the healthy ones.  Anyhow some of the things they talk about in these new docs on health and food as medicine, are the addictive nature of sugar and the disease producing inevitability of processed foods.

On my coffee table right now is an article from last week's Sunday Courier Post about Ironman Triathletes who have switched to vegan diets to improve their conditioning.  

I will talk more about this at other times, but for now I thought I would share my menu for today - an old artist friend from college is coming over to do some yard work and we are having a Memorial Day picnic after the lawn is mowed.  

Veggie burgers - with smoked gouda cheese (almond milk based)
Salad - (baby kale leaves, mushrooms, black olives and a cranberry vinaigrette)
for dessert - strawberry, banana smoothies with apple

No triglicerides, no cancer causing additives, no sugar - just healthful and delicious!

For Memorial Day itself I alway like to remember and thank my grandfather Joseph Lyons who served in World War I, my father, Joseph Wright who served in World War II in the navy, and my brother, Joe, who was a marine and served in Vietnam.  I, myself, have been a peace activist, but I thank everyone who served our country for keeping it free so we could all live our own individual conscience!

Happy Trails, happy meals!
Jo Ann

American Revolution Round Table of South Jersey

Putting the pieces together.

A few years back,  I volunteered at several historic sites that had some significance in American history.  At each of the sites, I learned a great deal that I hadn't known before.  I spent varying amounts of time as a volunteer in these places and engaged in a variety of jobs.  The one where I spent the longest amount of time was the James and Ann Whitall House at Red Bank Battlefield.

You really could spend an entire lifetime learning the American Revolution, and half of that lifetime you could spend doing research to fill in the missing pieces.  My knowledge of the American Revolution prior to my volunteer work at Red Bank Battlefield, was meager to say the least.  Although I had grown up in Philadelphia and had been fortunate enough to work at a library during the bicentennial, I still had a spotty and disconnected idea of what had gone on.

One experience that really helped me begin to put the pieces together was a program performance enterprise into which I had invested with a friend, after we had both retired.  We called it Moments in Time and we had, to begin with, three programs that we offered, one called Red, White and Blueberries, about Clara Barton and the Red Cross, and Elizabeth White and the cultivation of the Blueberry.  Another was about the Underground Railroad in New Jersey, and the third was about the American Revolution in South Jersey.  

To understand the Revolution, my colleague and I made a large map and using a chronological approach as well as a geographical one, we figured out, more or less, what had happened.  It turned out to be surprisingly and dauntingly complicated.  In the process, I came to understand that the most famous actions, such as Bunker Hill, in New England, were really less significant than what happened in New Jersey.  I became acquainted with The Crossroads of the Revolution and astonished by the number of battles, skirmishes and significant events that had taken place in our own state.  Who knew?

During the learning period, a really fun time for me, whatever the subject, I did a lot of roaming around in South Jersey, a place neglected in a neglected state.  So many interesting and significant events took place in New Jersey, not least of which was the Battle for the Delaware River!  We had our own tea burning in Greenwich, New Jersey!

Greenwich, by the way, has a main street that is studded with historic houses and looks much the way it may have in the 18th century, sans horses and wagons and the tall masts of ships on the Cohansey River.  The Marquis de Lafayette took his first military action in Gloucester Towne, which by he way, celebrated its tricentennial when the rest of America celebrated the bicentennial.  

Anyhow, tonight, a few more pieces found their way into the giant and colorful puzzle that has been my learning about the American Revolution in South Jersey.  At the Voorhees Branch of the Camden County Library, I heard a very informative lecture on the battle at Hancock's Bridge.

Hancock's Tavern historic site is a favorite visit of mine.  I love the little village, the beautiful 18th century Friend's Meeting House, and I have often driven down to Alloways Creek to spend some time at this favorite site.  There is a re-enactment at Hancock's Tavern that is well worth the trip, and a fantastic textile expert who gives talks and demonstrations in the adjacent building.  She teaches spinning and weaving in Mount Holly at Woolbearers.  

At Hancock's, one summer, I heard a totally engaging woman present on midwifery in the 18th century.  She had a vast collection of medicinal artifacts, some harrowing, others mystifying, and knew a great deal about herbal medicine.  Another speaker there gave a talk on her upcoming doctoral thesis on a farm wife in Salem during the Revolution.  I wish I could remember her name or find whatever I wrote it on at the time.  

These memories came flooding back to me as I listened to the lecturer, at my first visit to the American Revolution Round Table, which meets monthly.  They will meet again in June at the Haddon Township Library.  I will be sure to be there and I hope you will too.  For more information, visit their new and excellent Facebook page:  American Revolution  Round Table of South Jersey.

The lecturer, very well informed and interesting was Pete Michel.  It was encouraging to see so many young people there and so many young women!  Well Done!


Things I wish we knew more about:
1.The Battle of Gloucester Towne
2.The effect of the Revolutionary War on ordinary citizens in South Jersey
3.The Hessians in South Jersey
4.The Quakers in South Jersey
5.South Jersey Women in the Revolution

Happy Trails and Good Night!
Jo Ann

Merchantville Train Station - New Event Opening!

JUNE 1st, 2018 from 7 to 9 pm, Join us for the grand opening of AQP (Alexandria Quarterly Press) Headquarters, a pop-up bookstore, vintage shop, and center for writing! AQP Headquarters will be open throughout the summer until the end of August. Keep an eye out for writing workshops and be sure to stop by regularly to shop the ever changing vintage selection. 

A fun way to spend a rainy May day!

Today, May 19, I had planned to go to either Pitman or Bordertown for their Craft Festivals, BUT, the weather forecast was so forbidding that rather than take a chance on getting caught behind some flooding barrier - Brooklawn Circle, going South, and I don't know what going North, I decided to stay local.

My most frequent rambling' pal is Gail K. and we decided to get lunch at our favorite place, Maritsa's in Maple Shade, on Main Street.  The things I like best about Maritsa's are that the quality of the ingredients in their standard luncheonette fare are superior and delicious, and the prices are more than reasonable.  You can get lunch including sandwich, cup of soup and side for $9.00!  However my most usual favorites are the eggplant parmesan sandwich - which I will only get at Maritsa's, and what I had today, the spinache, feta cheese omelette!  Delicious!

After lunch, it wasn't raining anymore and it looked so nice we decided to follow Main Street out of town towards Moorestown, the out into the countryside to Rancocas Shops on Creek Road.  We visited all the shop up as far as the book store.  I bought one thing - I am always on the lookout for the interesting, unusual thing for my daughter for Christmas and I pick things up all year so I have plenty of fun stuff.  Today I bought a vintage Hershey Park souvenir pennant.  When my daughter was little, her scout trip took summer trips to Hershey Park, and I was a parent/volunteer on the trips.  It was a marvelous and magical time, especially as I look back on it.  

Well after three or four shops, we were  cheered up and inspired and we headed home.  Our rambles usually begin around 11:30 and end around 3:30.  Often my friend, Gail, and old pal from our childhood days in Philadelphia, has places to go in the evening, unlike me, the nighttime stay-at-home.  

Unfortunately, I decided to go to Barnes & Noble after I walked the dog, to pick up a couple of Art magazines I can only get there.  I had forgotten it was Saturday.  In the peace of uncrowded shops at Rancocas and the uncrowded roads of the countryside I had forgotten how hectic it is at the Garden State Mall.  People were vying for the few parking spots that opened up in the filled parking lot, and I had to circle half a dozen times until one opened up for me.  That one hour at Barnes and Noble was exhausting and tiresome especially in contrast with the peace and cosy warmth of browsing the charming shops at Rancocas.

Here's to you my rambling' boy!  Do you remember that folk song? It has been going through my mind all day!

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann

Lots of goings on in South Jersey this weekend

An e-mail called Visit South Jersey was received tonight and it listed dozens of wine, food truck, and music festivals.  As you know Art and History are my favorites so here are two I though looked good for this Saturday: Pitman Spring Craft Show Saturday, May 19 | 9 AM - 4 PM Uptown Pitman   The Pitman Craft Show has been a town tradition for over 30 years. The festival brings more than 200 crafters displaying their handmade wares and attracts upwards of 10,000 shoppers. Vendors sell a variety of crafts ranging from jewelry and florals to wood crafts, hand sewn items, and even fresh foods. Many of the local nonprofits also participate in the festival, truly making this a community affair.  41st Annual Bordentown Street Fair Saturday, May 19 | 10 AM - 4 PM Downtown Bordentown Don't miss the 41st Annual Bordentown Street Fair! Farnsworth Avenue will be filled with handmade crafters, local restaurants, free entertainment, a kids area, live music, local nonprofits, and so much more. This shopping extravaganza attracts over 15,000 people throughout the weekend!  Happy Trails! Jo Ann

Paterson Great Falls

For Mother's Day this year, my daughter came home to New Jersey and drove me to the Great Water Fall in Paterson, New Jersey.  I had wanted to go there for many years, but it is a long drive and especially now that my eyesight is beginning to fail me, I couldn't go there on my own and none of my friends was willing to take such a long drive.

It was about 80 miles and it took an hour and 45 minutes to get there.  We drove the Mill Mile and visited the Paterson Museum which featured artifacts from many of Paterson's most famous former industrial products, the silk mills Paterson was once called Silk City) and locomotives, patent medicines, aircraft engines (the one in Lindbergh's famous trans-Atlantic flight airplane), and a facsimile of the house where Lou  Costello of Abbott and Costello lived.  There were many other treasures in the museum, too, gems and minerals from the mines and some historical artifacts from the nursing and medical history of Paterson.

The Falls were magnificent and there was good parking beside the now closed stadium alongside the Falls.  

Alexander Hamilton had engineered the rise in industrial manufacture in Paterson as an antidote to dependence on British manufactured goods at the time of the Revolution.  He utilized the formidable power of the falls to power the mills.

Paterson is still a city of great ethnic diversity, featuring a section inhabited by Peruvians, for example and showcasing a lively array of eateries catering to various ethnic cuisines.  

It was an easy day's trip to the second greatest waterfall East of the Mississippi River (needless to say the Niagara Falls are the other one.)]

The Jim Jarmusch film Paterson, is a charming homage to the poetic spirit of the city.  The star of the movie is Adam Driver who plays a poet bus-driver and there is a lovely scene at the Great Falls. 

While there, we stopped in the National parks visitor's Center and met a delightful and informative  Park Guard who had a been a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  President Obama signed the National Park designation for the Great Falls in 2013.  It is wonderful to know that this magnificent natural wonder will be protected.

If you go, be sure to walk on the bridge over the falls for the best viewing angle!

There was hardly any traffic on the turnpike going up to Paterson or back, and the day was delightful from start to finish despite the overcast cloudy skies.  We only had a slight drizzle from time to time.

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann

Archaeologist speaks about Native American artifacts found in digs at former shipyard site on Delaware and Newton Creeks.

Today at Camden County Historical Society, an archaeologist spoke of the hundreds of artifacts found in digs near the former shipyard site on Broadway between Camden City and Gloucester City.

What was most interesting to me, however was some remarks by Chief Sam Beeler of the Sand Hill tribe of the Lenape.  He briefly and generally discussed how the current day existence of the tribe is being erased by the New Jersey Government, and when I looked it up later, I saw that it was true.

Perhaps you, like me, had gone to the Pow Wow at the Rancocas Indian Reservation in October of each year.  I wondered what happened to it when I tried to go one year and found it was gone.  What happened was that in retaliation for a law suit filed by the Sand Hill tribe attempting to get the government to recognize their continued existence here, funding was cut for the reservation museum and office and it was demolished!  Documents were supplied proving the existence of the tribe, of which Dr. Sam Beeler is current Chief, to no avail and to further retaliate the government cut the retirement benefits of the men, who were veterans!

As Buffy St. Marie said so eloquently in one of her songs Now That the Buffalo is Gone, "And it's still going on today."  From the North Dakota protest where the pipe line is cutting through Native American protected treaty land, under their river, which is their water source, to the ongoing struggle for our native New Jersey tribe the Sand Hill to even get the government to acknowledge that they exist.  Unjust  and depressing.

My friend, Barb Solem and I tried to find Benjamin Cooper's Ferry house at Erie Street but we got lost and gave up for today.  We'll try again another time.

Happy Trail, Sad Trails, but always on the trail!
Jo Ann

Some things that look like fun in May

Whenever I am out for lunch for for events, I pick up the flyers and booklets about places to go and things to do.  One of the best for Camden County small towns is called Out and About.  I clipped four events that looked appealing to me:

May 12 - Down by the Station Day from 10 to 3 - FREE with a number of events for families, children, and model train aficionados.  I love model trains and I really like the men who have the Delaware and Susquehanna Model Railroad Club, which will have their platform up and running in the train station in Haddon Heights, there will also be train film in the Borough Hall auditorium.  

May 17th Thursday night will feature Cruise Night again in Collingswood.  Although I am no car expert I do enjoy the classic cars and the memories they inspire.  For example one Cruise Night a few years back, there were a number of VW camper vans from the 1960's and 1970's and as I had lived and traveled in one in 2969 for a year, it brought back a lot of memories.  

May 6, Clover Market just off Haddon Ave. on Irvin Street.  I am sorry I will have to miss this event as I am meeting a friend for lunch and heading over to Camden County Historical Society for a lecture on archaeological discoveries about the Native Americans who lived where Camden and Gloucester City are now.  The CCHS is right behind Lady of Lourdes Hospital and the talk is a 2:00 if you are looking for something interesting tomorrow afternoon.  You could probably grab lunch at the Clover Market from a food truck and then head on over for the lecture - what a fun day that would be!

In Cherry Hill on June 12 at 7:00 pm. there will be a flower show at the Tilelli Community Center, 820 Mercer Street, Cherry Hill, FREE.  I have never been to this flower show and I would like to go and I probably will be able to a now that it stays light longer I can attend some evening events

Last night I went to the Train Station in Merchantville for the Eilandarts 4 Corners, Nature in Art show (which will be up all month of May) and it was delightful.  I ran into 2 artist friends of mine with work in the show, Colleen Hammond and Diane Paul, and we had a fine time visiting and viewing the art which was varied and beautiful and inspiring.
There is a coffee shop there and I think they serve various kinds of food along with a good many kinds of pastries to go with your coffee and many people were enjoying coffee and treats at the outside patio tables because it was such a stunningly beautiful evening altogether.

Spring is finally here in all its glory, so get out and ENJOY!
Today I am off to Pratt's Garden, 158-B County Home Rd., Pilesgrove, to see the azaleas which are in full flourish at present.  Now, pay attention - that s PRATT's not Platt's.  I was at Platt's Garden center three times already for plants this spring.  Pratt's is a private garden opened to the public for walking and enjoying the flowers and for bridal photographs.  I have never been there before and today is so gloriously perfect a spring day that I am very much looking forward to going there.

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann

Art Show at Eland Art in Merchantville, NJ

4 Corners Nature
Group Show
May 1 to 31
Eilndarts Center, 10 E. Chestnut Ave., Merchantville, NJ 08109
www.eilandarts.com
Gallery hours:  Monday to Sat. 7:30 a.m.  to 9:00 p.m.

The sad news is that Main Street Art, the front gallery and shop, are closed.  The Sip and Paint parties continue through June in the rear activity room, with parking back there too.  The shop was a partnership with one partner supplying the building and the other supplying the artists and the sip and paint parties and kids classes.  The Real Estate partner, the landlord, didn't make enough profit and so the Main Street Art enterprise was forced to close down.  I will really miss all the art and the artists and the great effort to keep culture alive in Maple Shade.

Nonetheless, the beat goes on at the old train station in Merchantville called ElandArts.  And the artist in residence at Main Street Art has work in this show.  I hope you go too!

Last night at Cherry Hill Library there was a brilliant lecture on the Revolutionary War in South Jersey, in my humble opinion a very neglected topic.  The speaker, Mr. Colden, I believe is his name, i currently director of Pitman Libr. formerly head of Salem County Historical Society.  I took his tour of the Salem County Historical Society and that was also brilliant.  He is a very good speaker and the extremely large audience was entirely engaged such that the debates and comments went on well after the lecture was over.  A good sign in the history world.

Happy Trails,
Jo Ann

Revolutionary War in South Jersey

Tuesday, May 1st, at the Cherry Hill Library, Andrew Coldren (former director of the Salem Co. Hist. Society) will be presenting on the Revolutionary War in South Jersey. 1100 Kings Hwy., North.

For those of us who have spent any time in the history world of South Jersey, it is nothing short of ASTONISHING how much Revolutionary War history took place in our patch.

You may have read my piece about driving the Old Salem Rd (Kings Highway) on Saturday down to Salem and then to Hancock's Bridge, the site of a Revolutionary War era tavern where American militia men met, and were slaughtered one night by a Royalist force under Col. Simcoe.  The British offered freedom to enslaved people in the colonies if they would spy for them or guide for them.  Two enslaved men led the British force through the wetlands of the Always Creek, to sneak up on the sleeping militia men and slaughter them all, including the tavern keeper.

Salem County was also the site of a famous raid by "Mad Anthony" Wayne, to round up all the livestock left on the already ravaged farms in that area, to march them to feed the starving men of our Continental army in Pennsylvania winter quarters.

For a time, one of the many places I volunteered as a docent was Indian King Tavern in Haddonfield, where the New Jersey State Constitutional seal was adopted.  And lest we forget, there was a TEA PARTY in Greenwich, on the Cohansey River at the southern most border of South Jersey, when a black marketeer attempted to hide contraband tea until he could sneak it into Philadelphia, but local patriots discovered it and burned it in the town square!

I hope to learn even more, much more of our fabulous an often forgotten Revolutionary War history at the lecture.  Hope to see you there.

Oh, also, I just bought a book for a birthday gift for a friend called 266 Days, which uses primary sources such as diaries and other documents to describe the period when the British forces had invaded and held our once capitol city of Philadelphia.  I may have to buy a copy for myself!

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann

Vegetarian Events

As any of you who have been reading this blog for awhile know, I am a vegetarian.  Often, over the years, I have posted on places to go for good vegetarian and vegan food such as Wildflowers in Millville.  Fortunately, most places now offer some vegetarian selections, though, sadly, they are often limited to "veggie burgers."
Still, I am to complaining, one is better than none.  Some places don't have it on the menu but if you ask they serve it, such as Applebees, which mysteries does not put their veggie burger on their menu but my friends and I often get veggie burgers there.

Well, also, at some point in the past, I blogged about visiting he South Jersey Vegetarian Society, which has a bookstore!  Two of my friends are activists for this group and do "tabling" which means they hand out literature from tables at events. 

Since I am on their mailing list, I thought I would share with you their latest e-mail of upcoming events:

Mark Your Calendar
Potluck May 12 Medford Friends Meeting House
Free Lecture Series Monday June 25, 6:30pm Margaret E Heggan Library, Sewell, NJ
Details coming
Picnic Potlucks June 30 Longbridge Park and Sept 1st Smithville Park
Thanksgiving Annual Potluck Nov 11 Moorestown

Not being much of a 'grouper' myself, I don't attend many of their events, and I am not very interested in food, though I am a devoted vegetarian since the 1970's with some minor detours over the years while I was raising my daughter.

I was first converted by Frances Moore Lappe's book Diet for a Small Planet, a book as timely now as it was back when it was first published and popular among alternative lifestyle hippies.  We were becoming more health minded and we were not averse to change.  Back in those days, I did a lot of cooking with a pressure cooker, a lot of beans and rice dishes and stir fry dishes.  Today, I live a lot on my Nutribullet, and I make smoothies and soups.  Yesterday I made a broccoli/cauliflower soup using the NutriBullet that ws heavenly on a rainy at-home-reading day.  

So, if you want to learn more about this 'easier and easier all the time' way to improve your healthy and save our planet, get a book from the library, or visit the Vegetarian Society or go to an event!  Your heart and arteries will be glad you did, so will Planet Earth.

Happy Trails,
Jo Ann

World War II comes back in a box

Today, I got a book from amazon.com called War in the Ruins by Edward G. Longacre.  This post is going to be filled with coincidences and a bit of resolved mystery from personal history with World War II.

When I was a child growing up, our house was saturated with World War II history as my father had been in the U.S. Navy as had his uncle and his brother.  His father had been in the Merchant Marines but had died before the war.  My father had served in troop transports in the Atlantic and the Pacific, and we watched Victory at Sea the way some folks go to church.

Dad was a big reader too, and a heavy collector of vcd's devoted to the war.  We watched them all, so I knew quite a bit, but, as it turned out, not much about the end battles in Germany.  

None of the movies we watched seemed to cover that either, now that I think of it.

In 1967, I married my teenaged sweetheart, after he was drafted into the U.S. Army.  We were thrilled when he got his orders for Germany and not for Vietnam.  My brother, in the U.S Marines was already in Vietnam.

So, we got married and I went to live in a small town called Heilbronn.  I was only 21, and it wouldn't be too much a stretch to say I was like Alice in Wonderland, naive, innocent, inexperienced and full of wonder.  We lived in the village not the army base because the swollen forces due to Vietnam had filled the army housing.  We found this a great benefit, however as it provided a close hand experience with the culture and the people.  Needless to say, though, it was somewhat isolating for me as my young husband spent a lot of time "in the field" and I was learning to speak German but it was a long process, and my language skills didn't progress too far from einkauffen (shopping).  

Heilbronn was, to me, born and bred in Philadelphia, an impressively clean and tidy place.  Also, the concrete atrium style housing was so new.  People had courtyard gardens and window boxes filled with bright red geraniums.  I didn't know anything and I couldn't really ask anything, and no one that I encountered knew anything about the past, or if they did, they kept it to themselves.

Just a few years ago, on a hunt for a vintage postcard from Heilbronn, I discovered the the old Medieval city of about a hundred thousand had been bombed into acres of rubble during the war.  And then, the acres of rubble, underneath of which were market tunnels, had been turned into an end of the war battle zone between conquering American forces and a retreating "last stand" German rag tag army of boys, old men, and left overs from the Luftwaffe, the navy, the SS, and released prisoners, about a thousand strong.  

Their last stand necessitated house by house and street by street combat on the part of the Centurymen American forces.  

I can't believe that, not knowing anything about this event, only 22 years before,  I walked those streets, and shopped in those little corner markets every day with people, many of whom must have been survivors of that battle, including our landlady, Frau Froeschle.  She would have been around 50 then, and so she would have been in her early 20's during the bombing and the battle.  Perhaps she had been married and her husband had been a soldier killed in the war.  Perhaps she had lost her family in the bombing.  
And my neighbor and friend, Trudy, who made her living off GI's as a kind of temporary full time wife, had parents who must have lived through all of that as well. I met her mother often, a woman in her 60's.  

Two years I lived in Heilbronn, with never a guess about what devastation had occurred there so recently, even though a desolate spire of rubble stood in the center of the town left from the destruction of the Kilianskirche, a cathedral destroyed in the bombing.  Truly, however, I think it is a mercy and a lucky break that I didn't know more, because I could go to this new and foreign place without preconceptions about the people and without awareness of the ghosts to taint my experience.  Having been a child of the war, I couldn't have looked at those people with unbudging and friendly eyes if I had known it was a Nazi stronghold.  

Great lecture on New Jersey's historic women painters

Sunday at the Burlington County Historical Society was very interesting.  They actually have on display one of the paintings described by the speaker, so you could go up close and see the details.

The lecture was called Sunsets to Sheep and described the lives and works of half a dozen  notable artists from New Jersey including wax sculptor Patience Wright, and Lily Martin Spencer to name just two.

The detail above is from the painting on display at the Burlington County Historical Museum.

Sunsets and Sheep Today, April 22, 2018

Later today I will be going to the Burlington County Historical Society, 457 High St., Burlington for program on Burlington's historic and famous women artists, Patience Lovell Wright, among them.  She was a wax sculptor, but the other featured artists include a painter specializing in domestic animals, and a landscape painter. Since I have painted both animals and landscapes, I will especially enjoy this! And I have seen Patience Lovell Wright's house in Burlington and read her life story - she was a spy for the Continental army in London during the Revolution.  

The lecture is at 2:00.  Hope to see you there!
Jo Ann

Exciting and fun events in May and June 2018

May 6, Spring Fling Artisan Craft Fair noon to 6 p.m.
Flying Fish Brewing Company, Somerdale
Talented Crafters will be selling their wares both inside the tasting room and outside on the brewery patio and lawn, rain or shine!

May 19, Pitman Spring Craft Show
Downtown Pitman
uptownpitman.com
from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For more than 30 years this festival has brought more than 200 crafters displaying handcrafted wares from jewelry to florals, wood, sewn items, foods and more!

May 19 & 20 from 10 am to 5 p.m.Arts in Bloom Free Artist Studio Tour, Salem County
artsinbloomnj.com
self-driving tour of 30 artists studios
painting, pottery, sculpture, glass, wood and more!

May 19 & 20, from 10 to 4, 41st Annual Bordertown Street Fair
Farnsworth Avenue, Bordertown
An eclectic array of shops and restaurants

May 26, 10-5, May Fair, Downtown Collingswood 
More tha a mile of arts, crafts, MUSIC, and food on Haddon Avenue, plus classic auto show

June 3, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Gloucester County Water Fest
Scotland Run Park, Clayton
gloucestercountynj.gov
canoeing and kayaking on the lake and music on the beach, free and rain or shine

June 2 & 3 from 1 to 6, South Jersey Arts Fest
Appel Farm, Elmer
appelfarm.org/south-jerey-arts-fest

June 23rd and 24th, 10a.m. to 4p.m. 15th Annual Blueberry Fest
Whitesbog Village, Browns Mills, NJ
whitesbog.org

June 24 from 10-4, Red, White and Blueberry Fest
Old Forks Road, Hammonton
hammontonnjus/red-white-blueberry-festival
Visit the blueberry capital of the WORLD for live music, jugglers, classic car show, and all kinds of blueberry treats from pie to muffins

All this info came from 
VisitSouthJersey.com/Here

Excellent article in the latest edition of this free delivered magazine on The Hancock House in Lower Alloways Creek, NJ, also the site of many great re-enactments and events, my favorite being the spinner and weaver who brings hand spun yarns dyed with natural ingredients and shares her noted expertise in the processes of textiles in the Colonial period.  She also teaches classes in these processes, including spinning at Wool Bearers in Mount Holly.
I always wanted to learn this but I find my life, time, and money cannot stretch any further than I have already stretched them!

Hancock House, built in 1734,  is on the State Register of Historic Places and is open for tours.  It is a beautiful building, but, more importantly, it was the site of a historic massacre during the Revolutionary War.
www.revolutionarywarnewjersey.com
www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/historic/

Happy Trails!
I hope with my help, you need never have a day where you say, "I don't know what to do today."  All you have to do is look on this blog and resolve the issue.  Keep scrolling till you find something that strikes your fancy.
Jo Ann

Burlington County Historical Society Program Sunday Apr. 22

At 2:00 a Stockton Professor will present on several wonderful New Jersey women artists including Patience Lovell Wright (who has wax sculptures on permanent display in the London Wax Museum) and an artist who specialized in domestic animals as well as a NJ Pinelands landscape painter.

It will be a great day to get out and about now that the weather is friendly and perhaps you will be inspired to some Art experience, visiting a museum, painting, photography, visiting some farms like The Funny Farm, or taking a walk around historic Burlington or Bordertown.

Oh yes, one of the artists was the niece of Joseph Boneparte who, as you probably know, had his residence in Bordertown during difficult times in France when he was safer in New Jersey.

Hope to see you there,

Happy Trails!
Jo Ann

Whoops, forgot to tell you the presentation is at the Burlington Historical Society at 2:00 in the afternoon and $5 donation is requested.

Apple Cider Donuts chase the blues on a gloomy Day!

Second day of local joy!  Yesterday it was Maritza's followed by Rails to Trails in Merchantville with banks of daffodils in bloom, and a trip to Platt's Farm for pots of winter pansies.

Today my best buddy and I had lunch at Station Ave. Cafe' followed by a trip to Duffields, off Ganttown Rd/Chapel Heights Rd., Sewell, Nj for Apple Cider Donuts coated with cinnamon sugar!  They have hundreds of other delicious things from the farm there too, though, and a bakery, AND you can get a coffee to go with your donuts.  They have a brochure filled with delicious seasonal baked goods, pumpkin things in fall, blueberry baked goods in summer.

Last, we went to Antiques Only, on Ganttown Rd - a treasure trove of every imaginable thing from the old days.  My favorite things were a light up globe and a painted lunch box.  Gail liked an iridescent-salmon colored, fluted candy dish.  I resisted buying the lunch box though I REALLY wanted it because just this morning I paid a giant dental bill with more to come and it made me a little more budget conscious than I might have been otherwise.

It may have been cold and damp and gloomy outside but it was cheery everywhere we went and the fun we had brightened the day considerably AND tomorrow morning when the Sunday New York Times comes, I will have Apple Cider Donuts to have with my coffee and paper!

Happy Trails,
Jo Ann

Daffodil Festival April 14th 12 to 3 pm in Merchantville, NJ

Daffodil bulb sale
Horticultural Hand-on Workshop
Peter Rabbit's Mother -  Celebration of the work of  Beatrix Potter

Spring Market, off Centre Street.

My intrepid road trip pal, Gail and I had lunch at Maritza's in Maple Shade then walked the Rails to Trails in Merchantville and admired the beds of bright butter yellow daffodils!  We ran into the daffodil lady working there and she told us about the Fair coming on Saturday April 14th.  I photographed the flyer from the front of a building and will post it here when it gets to the cloud, meanwhile, here is the information!  

The Festival is sponsored by the Merchantville Garden Club and the raindate is Sunday the 15th should the weather go bad on the 14th.  Don't forget the lovely little coffee shop in the old train station!  You can get something to eat and drink while at the Festival.  Hope to see you there!  Gail and I are all set to go back, I wouldn't miss a celebration of Beatrix Potter for anything!

This is a painting I did of a bunny who lives in my yard  His family has been here as long as I have, which is 30 years!  Happy Trails and Bunny Tails!
Jo Ann