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
Friday, May 10, 2019
Thursday, May 9, 2019
A Mother's Day Idea
Well, I just heard the weather forecast for Mother's Day and it doesn't sound good. Showers all day and 55 degrees cold!
I had been looking for something to do with a friend, another mom who will be on her own this weekend. My daughter is going away and won't be home - the first time since she was born that we didn't have Mother's Day together, but that, too, is part of Mother's Day, letting go.
So looking around I found a couple of things I would like but the weather cancels them, including the Arts and Crafts day in Mullica Hill, BUT in the rain? I don't think so. Then I saw this -
Located in the Down Jersey Folklife Center at WheatonArts, the “Old Masters: Buddhist Art and Pottery” exhibition features a variety of Buddhist artworks from the private collections of Frederick Kramer and Losang Samten.
View pottery showcasing distinct ceramic styles of several Chinese periods, including Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties; Balinese pen and ink paintings; Chinese Brush paintings; sculptures of the many Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and other deities; as well as Tibetan thangkas РBuddhist paintings on cotton with silk appliqu̩.
Open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., April 2 through June 30, 2019.
I don't know if my other mom friend will be up for that long of a drive, but we can see.
Happy Mother's Day!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
I had been looking for something to do with a friend, another mom who will be on her own this weekend. My daughter is going away and won't be home - the first time since she was born that we didn't have Mother's Day together, but that, too, is part of Mother's Day, letting go.
So looking around I found a couple of things I would like but the weather cancels them, including the Arts and Crafts day in Mullica Hill, BUT in the rain? I don't think so. Then I saw this -
Located in the Down Jersey Folklife Center at WheatonArts, the “Old Masters: Buddhist Art and Pottery” exhibition features a variety of Buddhist artworks from the private collections of Frederick Kramer and Losang Samten.
View pottery showcasing distinct ceramic styles of several Chinese periods, including Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties; Balinese pen and ink paintings; Chinese Brush paintings; sculptures of the many Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and other deities; as well as Tibetan thangkas РBuddhist paintings on cotton with silk appliqu̩.
Open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., April 2 through June 30, 2019.
I don't know if my other mom friend will be up for that long of a drive, but we can see.
Happy Mother's Day!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Vegan Lunch and Wonderful History adventure
Today, Barb Solem, author of Ghosttowns and Other Quirky Places in the Pine Barrens, as well as Batsto, Jewel of the Pines, and I enjoyed delicious vegan lunches at the Colonial Diner in Woodbury, which I mentioned in an earlier post has the most wide menu of vegan and vegetarian offerings I have ever seen! This time I had the black bean chili tacos, a marvelous soup (so tasty) and even though we were full, vegan muffins with raspberry sauce came with the lunch. I took mine home.
After being notified by our scrumptious lunches, we headed off to Camden and found the Benjamin Cooper Ferry House which was recently in the newspaper (the Inquirer) because the property developers are working with Camden County Historical Society, to create a South Jersey Revolutionary War Museum in the house. We found it at 60 Erie Point, parked and had a walk around and took photos.
Next we headed over to the Camden County Historical Society Library and had a wonderful tour with Josh. I especially enjoyed the new African American History room and the colorful collage right outside of it of the Obamas. I am reading Michelle Obama's memoir Becoming which is beautifully written and inspiring. It is good to read about good people with high hopes in this time of political rot.
I picked up several copies of the newest issue of the Heritage magazine, (for my Mount Ephraim Seniors Get-Together) as well as a copy of the new History Alliance Heritage Trail Map (an award winning publication) and the brochures for the houses on the trail that I am interested in visiting.
This is such a rich area for history and the more you look, the more you find!
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
After being notified by our scrumptious lunches, we headed off to Camden and found the Benjamin Cooper Ferry House which was recently in the newspaper (the Inquirer) because the property developers are working with Camden County Historical Society, to create a South Jersey Revolutionary War Museum in the house. We found it at 60 Erie Point, parked and had a walk around and took photos.
Next we headed over to the Camden County Historical Society Library and had a wonderful tour with Josh. I especially enjoyed the new African American History room and the colorful collage right outside of it of the Obamas. I am reading Michelle Obama's memoir Becoming which is beautifully written and inspiring. It is good to read about good people with high hopes in this time of political rot.
I picked up several copies of the newest issue of the Heritage magazine, (for my Mount Ephraim Seniors Get-Together) as well as a copy of the new History Alliance Heritage Trail Map (an award winning publication) and the brochures for the houses on the trail that I am interested in visiting.
This is such a rich area for history and the more you look, the more you find!
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Sunday, May 5, 2019
Pete Seeger - 100 years since his birth
Pete Seeger was born on MAY 3, 1919. He would have been 100 this yer but he died six years ago, aged 94.
For those too young to know who Pete Seeger was, he was the balladeer of the Labor struggle and then of the Anti-war movement.
Both of those peoples' movements were of great interest and importance to me. My father was an ardent union man. We was a treasurer for his union for many years, a dangerous job in those days. The treasurer before him had been disabled when a thug threw acid in his face. My father wasn't a religious man but I always said the Labor Movement was his religion.
Anyhow, folk singers like Pete Singer helped push my latent interest into actual research. I read the biographies of great union heroes like Joe Hill, after hearing "I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, alive as you and me. But Joe, your ten years dead said I; I never died said he. I never died said he?" Their efforts on behalf of there fellow men always moved me. They were brave and stalwart and they changed the lives of the millions who came after them. Like Joe Hill, many were beaten, murdered, and jailed, but they never gave up.
Another old union song that used to move my heart was "Brother can you spare a dime."
And as for the peace movement, it was boys my age who were drafted and sent to Vietnam regardless of their conscience or their emotional or mental readiness. To be forced into the military against your will and shipped out to a country to kill or die when you didn't believe in any of it, was to me, the soul of injustice. It reminded me of one of the things we fought for in the Revolution, to stop England from raiding our ships and ports and conscripting American men to their navy. Conscription is the opposite of the right to Life and Liberty. If you don't own your own life, what do you own?
Some of the injustices perpetrated against our own citizens are heartbreaking and fill you with despair. I am thinking of the protest of the veterans of World War I when they were denied their benefits after the war, and they camped outside the White House and the cavalry was called out against them, and our own soldiers beat and shot and trampled our own veterans.
Pete Seeger sang about these things and educated us about those parts of our history often eft out of the history books. He followed in the hallowed foot steps of Woodie Guthried and other balladeers of justice and courage. He may be dead but he will never be forgotten.
A personal note: the first album I ever bought with my own money, to play on the stereo turntable my father and mother had bought me for Christmas that year was a Pete Seeger album, the one with "Little houses, made of tricky tacky, and they all look just the same" I got it, even as young as I was that it was a metaphor for conventional thinking and conventional behavior.
His most famous anthem was probably, "We Shall Overcome" which he learned from a woman who taught at the Labor School for the tobacco workers of Charleston, South Carolina. I wish I still had my Pete Seeger album, but we can't hold on to everything or we would need a warehouse to live in.
For those too young to know who Pete Seeger was, he was the balladeer of the Labor struggle and then of the Anti-war movement.
Both of those peoples' movements were of great interest and importance to me. My father was an ardent union man. We was a treasurer for his union for many years, a dangerous job in those days. The treasurer before him had been disabled when a thug threw acid in his face. My father wasn't a religious man but I always said the Labor Movement was his religion.
Anyhow, folk singers like Pete Singer helped push my latent interest into actual research. I read the biographies of great union heroes like Joe Hill, after hearing "I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, alive as you and me. But Joe, your ten years dead said I; I never died said he. I never died said he?" Their efforts on behalf of there fellow men always moved me. They were brave and stalwart and they changed the lives of the millions who came after them. Like Joe Hill, many were beaten, murdered, and jailed, but they never gave up.
Another old union song that used to move my heart was "Brother can you spare a dime."
They used to tell me I was building a dream
And so I followed the mob
When there was earth to plow or guns to bear
I was always there right on the job
And so I followed the mob
When there was earth to plow or guns to bear
I was always there right on the job
They used to tell me I was building a dream
With peace and glory ahead
Why should I be standing in line
Just waiting for bread?
With peace and glory ahead
Why should I be standing in line
Just waiting for bread?
Once I built a railroad, I made it run
Made it race against time
Once I built a railroad, now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Made it race against time
Once I built a railroad, now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower up to the sun
Brick and rivet and lime
Once I built a tower, now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Brick and rivet and lime
Once I built a tower, now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once in khaki suits, gee we looked swell
Full of that yankee doodly dum
Half a million boots went sloggin' through hell
And I was the kid with the drum
Full of that yankee doodly dum
Half a million boots went sloggin' through hell
And I was the kid with the drum
Say, don't you remember, they called me Al
It was Al all the time
Why don't…
It was Al all the time
Why don't…
And as for the peace movement, it was boys my age who were drafted and sent to Vietnam regardless of their conscience or their emotional or mental readiness. To be forced into the military against your will and shipped out to a country to kill or die when you didn't believe in any of it, was to me, the soul of injustice. It reminded me of one of the things we fought for in the Revolution, to stop England from raiding our ships and ports and conscripting American men to their navy. Conscription is the opposite of the right to Life and Liberty. If you don't own your own life, what do you own?
Some of the injustices perpetrated against our own citizens are heartbreaking and fill you with despair. I am thinking of the protest of the veterans of World War I when they were denied their benefits after the war, and they camped outside the White House and the cavalry was called out against them, and our own soldiers beat and shot and trampled our own veterans.
Pete Seeger sang about these things and educated us about those parts of our history often eft out of the history books. He followed in the hallowed foot steps of Woodie Guthried and other balladeers of justice and courage. He may be dead but he will never be forgotten.
A personal note: the first album I ever bought with my own money, to play on the stereo turntable my father and mother had bought me for Christmas that year was a Pete Seeger album, the one with "Little houses, made of tricky tacky, and they all look just the same" I got it, even as young as I was that it was a metaphor for conventional thinking and conventional behavior.
His most famous anthem was probably, "We Shall Overcome" which he learned from a woman who taught at the Labor School for the tobacco workers of Charleston, South Carolina. I wish I still had my Pete Seeger album, but we can't hold on to everything or we would need a warehouse to live in.
Thursday, May 2, 2019
Visit South Jersey
In my e-mail was the usual Visit South Jersey posting with a dozen fun and intersting things to do and places to go. Most of them are not of interest to me as I don't drink either beer or wine and they lean heavily on promoting wineries and breweries, also evening events, like concerts and I don't drive at night. That said, this one looked interesting, so I am passing it on. I live Millville, the Vegan restaurant Wildflowers, the Bluffs hiking area, the river walk area, and the book store - Bogart's. Also the Art Gallery across the street from Wildflowers, so if you ar down that way for this event, you may wish to stop and visit those others places. Oh, ad soon, Captain Dave will be offering his boat rides on the Maurice River! I think he starts this month, May.
ECO Fair: Artful Living,
Handmade & Homegrown
Saturday, May 4 | 10 AM - 5 PM
WheatonArts, Millville
In partnership with the Cumberland County Improvement Authority, WheatonArts presents the 13th annual ECO Fair, a free family day inspired by natural living! The event showcases the handmade works of New Jersey artists, as well as environmentally minded organizations, family art activities, live music, and more. Local gardening clubs, including Rutgers Master Gardeners, will have a variety of plants and herbs for sale throughout the day. Keynote speaker Pat Sutton will present "It's a Jungle Out There: Life and Death in the Wildlife Garden" at 1:30pm followed by a book signing.
Vegan Menu at the Colonial Diner
Yesterday, Wednesday, May 1st, a friend and I went to lunch at the Colonial Diner. My friend, Barb, is a vegan, I have a few vegan friends. I am vegetarian. I tried vegan for almost a year, but I really don't want to give up cheese or coffee cream, so I compromise and buy ONLY certified cruelty free eggs, and eat vegetarian the rest of the time.
If you are wondering what the difference is between vegan and vegetarian, vegans eat NO animal products - that means no honey, no eggs, no dairy. Vegetarians just don't eat animals.
All over the world people have different levels of acceptance of what kinds of animals to eat and how much. For example in many parts of the world, the diet is predominantly vegetarian, such as India. In India, cows are sacred. In China, they eat dogs!
I began to eat vegetarian in the 1970's after reading Frances Moore Lappe's DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET. I feel compassion for other animals, abhor cruelty, and I respect and love the planet earth.
So, I try to eat responsibly for the health of my planet, my fellow creatures, and my own health.
It was with surprise and delight that my friend and I found an enormous menu of vegan and vegetarian food choices at the Colonial Diner. She had heard about this, and we went to try it out.
The Colonial has been in business for 40 years. I knew it from the old days but had not been there since it was renovated and the menu changed. I ordered the Green Goddess salad, romain, avocado, tomatoes, olives, roasted tofu, and warm pita slices. Barb had the chili tortillas with sides of brown rice and black beans. Both were delicious! Both lunches came with vegan muffins for desert and cost around $15.
The Colonial is located on the northern entrance to Woodbury, 924 North Broad, Woodbury, phone - 856-848-1935
People usually ask, how can you be sure you are getting enough protein if you eat vegetarian or vegan. Many foods aside from meat have protein including many kinds of vegetables and beans rice and grains, and if you are vegetarian, so does dairy. Also, the average woman needs 45 grams of protein per day and the average man needs 55 according to Fed. Gov. guidelines. If you have doubts, you can always supplement with a protein drink. Mine has 30 grams in it and there are vegan protein drinks as well. Mine is Pure Protein, caramel flavor from Walmart and costs about $6 for a four pack.
If you'd like to give it a try, experiment with one day a week, and try vegetarian first then move on to vegan. Vegan is, admittedly a bit more difficult. I have found that most places have vegetarian choices, such as veggie burgers, even some fast food places although you may have to ask and it may not be on the menu. You can always take a pack of veggie burgers from Shop Rite to a picnic and ask the host to put them on the grill, but you might find everyone else eating your veggie burgers because they are curious and veggie burgers are GOOD.
As more and more people become concerned with their health, their weight, and environmental issues, you will see vegan and vegetarian becoming more common. Check out the menu at the Colonial for good food ideas!
In the summer when the weather is hot and I don't feel like eating hot foods, I lean heavily on smoothies made in my Bullet. A banana, an apple, some blueberries or strawberries, a yoghurt and some almond milk makes a filling and healthful summer lunch or dinner!
At the check-out at the ShopRite today, I picked up a booklet put out by Prevention called EAT CLEAN. I will let you know what I learn from it after I read it.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
If you are wondering what the difference is between vegan and vegetarian, vegans eat NO animal products - that means no honey, no eggs, no dairy. Vegetarians just don't eat animals.
All over the world people have different levels of acceptance of what kinds of animals to eat and how much. For example in many parts of the world, the diet is predominantly vegetarian, such as India. In India, cows are sacred. In China, they eat dogs!
I began to eat vegetarian in the 1970's after reading Frances Moore Lappe's DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET. I feel compassion for other animals, abhor cruelty, and I respect and love the planet earth.
So, I try to eat responsibly for the health of my planet, my fellow creatures, and my own health.
It was with surprise and delight that my friend and I found an enormous menu of vegan and vegetarian food choices at the Colonial Diner. She had heard about this, and we went to try it out.
The Colonial has been in business for 40 years. I knew it from the old days but had not been there since it was renovated and the menu changed. I ordered the Green Goddess salad, romain, avocado, tomatoes, olives, roasted tofu, and warm pita slices. Barb had the chili tortillas with sides of brown rice and black beans. Both were delicious! Both lunches came with vegan muffins for desert and cost around $15.
The Colonial is located on the northern entrance to Woodbury, 924 North Broad, Woodbury, phone - 856-848-1935
People usually ask, how can you be sure you are getting enough protein if you eat vegetarian or vegan. Many foods aside from meat have protein including many kinds of vegetables and beans rice and grains, and if you are vegetarian, so does dairy. Also, the average woman needs 45 grams of protein per day and the average man needs 55 according to Fed. Gov. guidelines. If you have doubts, you can always supplement with a protein drink. Mine has 30 grams in it and there are vegan protein drinks as well. Mine is Pure Protein, caramel flavor from Walmart and costs about $6 for a four pack.
If you'd like to give it a try, experiment with one day a week, and try vegetarian first then move on to vegan. Vegan is, admittedly a bit more difficult. I have found that most places have vegetarian choices, such as veggie burgers, even some fast food places although you may have to ask and it may not be on the menu. You can always take a pack of veggie burgers from Shop Rite to a picnic and ask the host to put them on the grill, but you might find everyone else eating your veggie burgers because they are curious and veggie burgers are GOOD.
As more and more people become concerned with their health, their weight, and environmental issues, you will see vegan and vegetarian becoming more common. Check out the menu at the Colonial for good food ideas!
In the summer when the weather is hot and I don't feel like eating hot foods, I lean heavily on smoothies made in my Bullet. A banana, an apple, some blueberries or strawberries, a yoghurt and some almond milk makes a filling and healthful summer lunch or dinner!
At the check-out at the ShopRite today, I picked up a booklet put out by Prevention called EAT CLEAN. I will let you know what I learn from it after I read it.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Monday, April 29, 2019
Merchantvile Art Walk May 3rd, 2019
Eiland Arts Center is hosting the Merchantville Arts Walkon May 3rd, 2019 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. At least six bands and musical performers will be present and numerous artists will have their work on display at various locations and store fronts in the Centre Street area.
This seems to me to be a very creative and enjoyable event, I hope you will attend, and if you are sleepy, stop by Eiland Arts at the Station (the old railroad depot) for a coffee and a sweet treat! What could be a more fun evening?!
Some of the stores participating will be McFarlans Market, Ryans Retail, Sunflower Yoga, Merchantville Antiques, Gaskill/Brown Funeral, Spirit to Sole Herbal Remedies, Charlie's Creperie, Thera Sport Therapy, to hame just a few.
Take a nice walk on the Rails to Trails path while you are there, what is more lovely than an early spring evening. I am afraid you have missed most of the daffodils on this rails to trails, but you can enjoy the unique Victorian architecture along the way.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
This seems to me to be a very creative and enjoyable event, I hope you will attend, and if you are sleepy, stop by Eiland Arts at the Station (the old railroad depot) for a coffee and a sweet treat! What could be a more fun evening?!
Some of the stores participating will be McFarlans Market, Ryans Retail, Sunflower Yoga, Merchantville Antiques, Gaskill/Brown Funeral, Spirit to Sole Herbal Remedies, Charlie's Creperie, Thera Sport Therapy, to hame just a few.
Take a nice walk on the Rails to Trails path while you are there, what is more lovely than an early spring evening. I am afraid you have missed most of the daffodils on this rails to trails, but you can enjoy the unique Victorian architecture along the way.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
★★★★★★★FIRST ANNUAL SOUTH JERSEY HISTORY FAIR!!!★★★★★★★
I AM REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THE FIRST ANNUAL SOUTH JERSEY HISTORY FAIR!
Today, I was reading the Camden County Historical Society Communicator, a newsletter I truly enjoy as a benefit of my membership in the CCHS. Among the many interesting columns about interesting historical figures and places in Camden County, such as Snow Hill, there was the announcement of the first annual South Jersey History Fair to be held at the Gabreil Daveis Tavern, 500 Third Avenue, Glendora on Saturday, June 8th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
I absolutely love the Gabreil Daveis (Gabreil's own preferred spelling of his name) Tavern and I am delighted to see South Jersey's fascinating history on display somewhere so close to me!
Anyone in South Jersey history will admit to a bit of feeling left out in New Jersey's historical presentation of itself, despite our very large presence in everything from the Revolutionary War to every kind of trade and movement, we are always Cinderella to the, for some reason, favored Sisters of North and Central Jersey. Only recently through the efforts of various historians, has South Jersey's importance begun to be celebrated.
And Even more LOCAL: HERITAGE TRAIL MAY 11, all day!
Built in Camden County Day features twelve historic sites open for touring all day from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information visit www.HistoryAlliance.com
And if you want to receive the Communicator in the mail as well as the Camden County Heritage magazine now in Number 2, Volume 3, Spring 2019 edition, join up! I have been a member for some years beginning with my genealogy research in their library. I think if you are a senior, you can join for $10 - a bargain! Find out what's going on in the Camden County History world and support a worthy endeavor, join up! Hope to see you at one of these events!
Happy Trails,
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Off the topic - Happy Birthday to Willy Nelson today!
Saturday, April 27, 2019
Good Ideas for Holiday treats for kids
If you are like me, I was a mother who was always concerned with my daughter not having things that were bad for her teeth, for example gummy bears, and also, I didn't want to set bad habits for the future. When she was toilet training, I bought bags of small animal models at the AAA Hobby Shop on the White Horse Pike in Lawnside (?) Magnolia (?) and I built her a simple Ark with a lid that opened. Every time she had a successful potty experience, she got a pair of animals to put in her ark.
For Halloween, and for teaching when I worked, I bought about $50 worth of treats from Oriental Trading Company, the catalog for which came in the mail. For Halloween I bought skull rings and spider rings, glow in the dark bouncy balls, little maze puzzles, orange and black pencils and op art pads, often I would get 50 items in a unit for $5 and generally, I would have enough left over for the following year - these things don't spoil. Additionally, I didn't have the problem of eating a lot of candy myself because it was hanging around the house. At school, I made a treasure box out of a xerox paper box, and used these items for rewards for helpful, courteous behavior, and for odd jobs done by students for the class.
So, this year, I was thinking about what you could put in Easter eggs for kids. I decided if I were to hold an Easter Egg hunt today, I would have three containers ready, a burlap draw string bag, an box made into an ark, and a piggy bank. I wold put marbles in some eggs, pennies and nickles in some, and little animals in others, also fun rings (another object obtainable from Oriental Trading Company in large quantities for little money). For little crafters, beads could go into the eggs and be made into bracelets, and for budding geologists, precious stones for a rock and gem collection.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
For Halloween, and for teaching when I worked, I bought about $50 worth of treats from Oriental Trading Company, the catalog for which came in the mail. For Halloween I bought skull rings and spider rings, glow in the dark bouncy balls, little maze puzzles, orange and black pencils and op art pads, often I would get 50 items in a unit for $5 and generally, I would have enough left over for the following year - these things don't spoil. Additionally, I didn't have the problem of eating a lot of candy myself because it was hanging around the house. At school, I made a treasure box out of a xerox paper box, and used these items for rewards for helpful, courteous behavior, and for odd jobs done by students for the class.
So, this year, I was thinking about what you could put in Easter eggs for kids. I decided if I were to hold an Easter Egg hunt today, I would have three containers ready, a burlap draw string bag, an box made into an ark, and a piggy bank. I wold put marbles in some eggs, pennies and nickles in some, and little animals in others, also fun rings (another object obtainable from Oriental Trading Company in large quantities for little money). For little crafters, beads could go into the eggs and be made into bracelets, and for budding geologists, precious stones for a rock and gem collection.
Happy Trails!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
South Jersey Apple Festival September 7, 2019
While searching for information on Ales on the Rails, I came across SOUTH JERSEY APPLE FESTIVAL, to be held Sept 7th, 2019 at:
Cumberland County Fairgrounds, 3001 Carmel Rd,, Millville, United States
I know this is kind of far in advance, but I may not remember to post when it is closer to September and perhaps, having posted, I will remember the event and remind you when September rolls around. I have never been to the Apple Festival an am not sure I ever knew it existed!
Happy Trails,
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Cumberland County Fairgrounds, 3001 Carmel Rd,, Millville, United States
I know this is kind of far in advance, but I may not remember to post when it is closer to September and perhaps, having posted, I will remember the event and remind you when September rolls around. I have never been to the Apple Festival an am not sure I ever knew it existed!
Happy Trails,
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Ales on the Rails Today, Mt. Ephraim and station AVe. in Haddon Heights
Well, I was walking my dog this morning and I noticed that Lambert Ave. was barricaded off. A van pulled up and a person got out and I asked if she knew why Lambert was blocked off. She said, "It's Ales on the Rails day." I was on my way home and had a lunch appointment with a friend so I didn't stop for a chat to get more information. I figured I would google it when I got home after lunch.
So, here it is after lunch and google has no more to offer in the way of information that my reticent informant earlier. Something called "Ales on the Rails" is going on right now, apparently in the parking lot of the Spread Eagle Bar and Grill on Kings Highway and also, apparently, going to take place along the railroad in Haddon Heights, although that still doesn't explain why Lambert Ave. was blockaded. And nowhere that I can find is there any other information what is happening except, I am inferring from the title, breweries are selling or offering tastes of their beers and ales from 2 pm. today to 7 p.m. Perhaps there will also be music as the person I asked (with the van) said she was there to sent up the "sound."
At some point I will have to walk my dog again, and when I do, I will see what is going on along the rails and if it is anything interesting I will let you know! As I don't drink, I wouldn't therefore, be interested in the ales.
Happy trails, maybe at the ales on the rails!
Jo Ann
So, here it is after lunch and google has no more to offer in the way of information that my reticent informant earlier. Something called "Ales on the Rails" is going on right now, apparently in the parking lot of the Spread Eagle Bar and Grill on Kings Highway and also, apparently, going to take place along the railroad in Haddon Heights, although that still doesn't explain why Lambert Ave. was blockaded. And nowhere that I can find is there any other information what is happening except, I am inferring from the title, breweries are selling or offering tastes of their beers and ales from 2 pm. today to 7 p.m. Perhaps there will also be music as the person I asked (with the van) said she was there to sent up the "sound."
At some point I will have to walk my dog again, and when I do, I will see what is going on along the rails and if it is anything interesting I will let you know! As I don't drink, I wouldn't therefore, be interested in the ales.
Happy trails, maybe at the ales on the rails!
Jo Ann
Thursday, April 25, 2019
Pinelands Preservation Alliance Plant Sale and more!
The Pinelands Preservation Alliance annual native plant sale takes place this Saturday (4/27) from 11am to 2pm. If you are a member of the Pinelands Preservation Alliance you are invited to the pre-sale tomorrow (Friday) 4/26 from 3pm to 6pm. The plant sale is rain or shine. PPA is located on Pemberton Rd., Southampton, NJ
Have you heard of "Permaculture"? I catch a garden show on nor every once in awhile. I think it is called "You bet your garden." I have learned a great deal from that show even though I don't 'garden' in the usual sense of the word. When I first moved into my house 35 years ago, I planted over the next decades about 200 shrubs and trees It was a haphazard, season thing - I bought root ball Christmas trees and planted them, and azaleas at Easter, always tulips and hyacinths, and from time to time, someone would give me a plant.
I have a LOT of hollies, mainly because they love my sandy soil and propagate themselves, as has my Rose of Sharon succeeded in doing, and my day lilies. Most recently I planted Lily of the Valley and they have thrived to my delight as the fragrance from them is intoxicating. When I worked as a volunteer at the Gloucester County Historical Society, I used to catch a whiff of the fragrance when I parked in the lot outside the library where a bordering yard was three feet wide with lily of the valley. A master gardener from the James and Ann Whitall House at Red Bank Battlefield gave me some plots of lily of the valley to plan in my yard and that is where my thriving village of them came from.
Although I don't plant, I do have a lot of plants to look after in one way or another so from the npr show, I learned to prune in winter when the holly are dormant and same with the forsythia. Speaking of forsythia, my best forsythia tale is that the first summer when I had just moved in, a friend who had a landscaping business brought a clump of earth in his pick-up that was studded with chopped off stalks. It was a very unlikely and unlovely object that we planted out front, but for the next 34 years, it has flourished like stationery yellow fireworks. We saved it from the dump. It ha said thank you every spring since.
So, here are some things I have learned and believe: It is wrong to poison wildflowers in your yard. First off we have a worldwide catastrophe called "collapsing bee colonies" and poisoning the wildflowers also poisons the bees and deprives the migrating butterflies of needed nutrition. It also seeps into the aquifer and poisons our drinking water.
#2. Black licorice mulch ismostly dyed black and also poisons the earth and the water supply. It is a current fashion but an unhealthy one for the earth.
Personally I find the golf green year style of today boring, conventional, and uninspired as well as uninformed. GO GREEN! Keep the trees, let a little yellow into the lawn, enjoy the wildflowers and the butterflies and preserve the drinking water.
You might want to check out the native plant sale at the Pinelands Preservation Alliance if you want to add to your garden. How cool is it to plant native species!!!! And Ivy, by the way is invasive and deadly to your trees and shrubs. It is the equivalent of a boa constrictor when it gets its greedy grip on your tree trunk.
ALSO this weekend - The Artisans' Fair at Rancocas Woods all day! and Benjamin Franklin appearing at Indian King Tavern in Haddonfield on Kings Hwy from 1 to 4.
Happy Trails,
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Have you heard of "Permaculture"? I catch a garden show on nor every once in awhile. I think it is called "You bet your garden." I have learned a great deal from that show even though I don't 'garden' in the usual sense of the word. When I first moved into my house 35 years ago, I planted over the next decades about 200 shrubs and trees It was a haphazard, season thing - I bought root ball Christmas trees and planted them, and azaleas at Easter, always tulips and hyacinths, and from time to time, someone would give me a plant.
I have a LOT of hollies, mainly because they love my sandy soil and propagate themselves, as has my Rose of Sharon succeeded in doing, and my day lilies. Most recently I planted Lily of the Valley and they have thrived to my delight as the fragrance from them is intoxicating. When I worked as a volunteer at the Gloucester County Historical Society, I used to catch a whiff of the fragrance when I parked in the lot outside the library where a bordering yard was three feet wide with lily of the valley. A master gardener from the James and Ann Whitall House at Red Bank Battlefield gave me some plots of lily of the valley to plan in my yard and that is where my thriving village of them came from.
Although I don't plant, I do have a lot of plants to look after in one way or another so from the npr show, I learned to prune in winter when the holly are dormant and same with the forsythia. Speaking of forsythia, my best forsythia tale is that the first summer when I had just moved in, a friend who had a landscaping business brought a clump of earth in his pick-up that was studded with chopped off stalks. It was a very unlikely and unlovely object that we planted out front, but for the next 34 years, it has flourished like stationery yellow fireworks. We saved it from the dump. It ha said thank you every spring since.
So, here are some things I have learned and believe: It is wrong to poison wildflowers in your yard. First off we have a worldwide catastrophe called "collapsing bee colonies" and poisoning the wildflowers also poisons the bees and deprives the migrating butterflies of needed nutrition. It also seeps into the aquifer and poisons our drinking water.
#2. Black licorice mulch ismostly dyed black and also poisons the earth and the water supply. It is a current fashion but an unhealthy one for the earth.
Personally I find the golf green year style of today boring, conventional, and uninspired as well as uninformed. GO GREEN! Keep the trees, let a little yellow into the lawn, enjoy the wildflowers and the butterflies and preserve the drinking water.
You might want to check out the native plant sale at the Pinelands Preservation Alliance if you want to add to your garden. How cool is it to plant native species!!!! And Ivy, by the way is invasive and deadly to your trees and shrubs. It is the equivalent of a boa constrictor when it gets its greedy grip on your tree trunk.
ALSO this weekend - The Artisans' Fair at Rancocas Woods all day! and Benjamin Franklin appearing at Indian King Tavern in Haddonfield on Kings Hwy from 1 to 4.
Happy Trails,
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Laurel Springs Walt Fest!
In honor of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Walt Whitman, a poetry fest and tour will be held at the Whitman Stafford house in Laurel Springs, NJ on June 2nd, (rain date June 9th).
Once some years ago, I took a trolley tour from Camden County Historical Society location at Pomona Hall and one of the stops was the Stafford Farm House. There was (possibly still is) a natural spring that was said to promote health.
It is interesting to think back to the 1800's when people believed in 'healing waters' and it reminds me of the serpentine walking water canal at Egg Harbor where people would walk up to their necks in water for the 'cure.' Natural springs were very popular in that time, and water cures continued to be popular in Europe into the 0th century.
My first experience with Walt Whitman in New Jersey was in visiting his house in Camden and listening to the tour guide. I went there a few times with library groups as part of a job I had in the 80's. Then I did some research on his poetry in the many early editions of his works, including Leaves of Grass, held in the collection in the Library of Camden County Historical Society. Walt Whitman was always one of my most beloved poets beginning with high school English classes, because of his warmth and accessibility and his love of humanity. He was so expansive and so modern.
Thinking about all this makes me want to read his work again!
The historical sign marks the summer home of poet Walt Whitman (from 1876 to 1882), at 315 E. Maple Avenue. At that time, the home was called the Stafford Farm House. The name has since been changed to the Whitman-Stafford House.
Once some years ago, I took a trolley tour from Camden County Historical Society location at Pomona Hall and one of the stops was the Stafford Farm House. There was (possibly still is) a natural spring that was said to promote health.
It is interesting to think back to the 1800's when people believed in 'healing waters' and it reminds me of the serpentine walking water canal at Egg Harbor where people would walk up to their necks in water for the 'cure.' Natural springs were very popular in that time, and water cures continued to be popular in Europe into the 0th century.
My first experience with Walt Whitman in New Jersey was in visiting his house in Camden and listening to the tour guide. I went there a few times with library groups as part of a job I had in the 80's. Then I did some research on his poetry in the many early editions of his works, including Leaves of Grass, held in the collection in the Library of Camden County Historical Society. Walt Whitman was always one of my most beloved poets beginning with high school English classes, because of his warmth and accessibility and his love of humanity. He was so expansive and so modern.
Thinking about all this makes me want to read his work again!
The historical sign marks the summer home of poet Walt Whitman (from 1876 to 1882), at 315 E. Maple Avenue. At that time, the home was called the Stafford Farm House. The name has since been changed to the Whitman-Stafford House.
Historical place in Laurel Springs, New Jersey
Monday, April 22, 2019
Easter in Ocean City 4/20/19
This Sunday, my daughter and her boyfriend, came home from New York and picked me up to take me to Ocean City for Easter.
It was a picture perfect Spring day, cool and breezy but not chill, lots of warm inviting sunshine.
We took my favorite route which is Black Horse Pike to 559 (2nd light after the hubcap pyramid - my favorite landmark) and the long quiet road through Mays Landing and along the Winding River. We stopped briefly at Lake Lenape to admire the blue lake under the blue sky just lightly ruffled by the frisky breeze, then stopped for lunch at the Somers Point Diner. I had a breakfast burrito and my daughter and her boyfriend had Greek salads. All of us were pleased with our lunches.
We weren't sure what would be open on the boardwalk where we usually have lunch at the Ocean Cafe. Traditionally, Ocean City is manly closed until after Memorial Day in May, but most Ocean City traditions have been replaced for better or for worse, generally it is best just to move along with the times and not whine about the "good old days."
We had all our favorite Easter treats - macaroons from Shrivers, fudge, Kohr's custard cones, and walked a mile or so on the boardwalk. As always, I forgot my hat and had to buy one, usually we have to buy jackets and sweatshirts with Ocean City anchors emblazoned on them, but this time we did remember to wear warm jackets.
What draws me to Ocean City every Easter is family history. My grandmother moved to Ocean City in the lat 1930's to take care of her mother who had suffered a catastrophic stroke. The lived in a small second floor apartment at 6th and Asbury, in a building owned by my grandmother's sister. It was across the street from a tiny old forestation where, as children, my brother and I could watch the red engine come roaring out when there was a fire in town.
Ocean City was a quiet, sleepy, little town in those days, thanks to the Blue laws which limited alcoholic use, and its history as a resort for people seeking health and religious uplift. Also near 6th and Asbury was the Tabernacle where some chautauqua type religious gatherings took place.
The people in Ocean City in those days were religious, family people, modest, and respectful, in small humble bungalows. People dressed to walk the "boards" and enjoyed the innocent entertainment of movie theaters like the Village and the Strand (now gone) and the many miniature golf courses (still there). Also, of course, the fun ride arcades which were mainly rides for children, and the most daring ride was the Ferris Wheel. My grandmother sold tickets to the Merry-go-round in summer and worked at Stainton's Dept. store in the winder. She walked from her apartments to the boardwalk and the department store for her work.
We visited often and I can remember so clearly the pain of walking home after a family day on the beach, with sand in our bathing suits chafing our little chubby legs, hauling our beach chairs, buckets and shovels and our picnic lunches back to Grandmom's house. My father always stayed on the boardwalk. He never put on a suit or came down on the beach.
One year, when my brother and I were grown, my brother hd just come home from vietnam and I had been divorced from my husband, and we went together to the boardwalk, and kicked around in a sandy lot where the old Merry-Go-Round, had burned down in a boardwalk fire. I kicked up a brass ring, the prize we coveted but were always too small to reach as the Merry-go-round, revolved and we leaned out as far as we could to grab it from the Clown.
Places that hold some many generations of memory are intrinsically sad. My grandmother's apartment is gone, the house was demolished a few years back, and indeed, the whole town has changed so much it is almost unrecognizable. People walk around on the boardwalk in bikinis and bare feet, the town is overflowing with showy look-alike summer rental houses, epic adventure movie music blares out from the arcades. My grandmother is gone, her mother is long gone, my parents are gone and so are the parents of my cousins who would also go to my grandmother's house for Sunday dinners in the summer.
But the ocean remains its rhythmic, powerful, liquid evocation of time itself. Instead of my old grandmother in the back seat of our station wagon and my young parents in the front, it is my daughter and her boyfriend driving, and I am the old lady in the back seat.
Still, just like the ocean is old and endless new, Spring and Easter is old and endlessly new and as the ear is reborn, so are we, though we may be old and stiff and slow, our hearts are quick.
Easter is the best time to visit Ocean City, before it gets too hot, too crowded and too much traffic on the roads although if you take the Black Horse Pike to 559, it is almost always a peaceful ride and you canst stop at the Sugar Hill Restaurant for a delicious lunch and a lovely view, and maybe pick up something interesting at the Lake Lenape Antique Store opposite the now closed and boarded up paper mill on Lake Lenape.
Happy Trails, and Happy Memories!
Jo Ann
It was a picture perfect Spring day, cool and breezy but not chill, lots of warm inviting sunshine.
We took my favorite route which is Black Horse Pike to 559 (2nd light after the hubcap pyramid - my favorite landmark) and the long quiet road through Mays Landing and along the Winding River. We stopped briefly at Lake Lenape to admire the blue lake under the blue sky just lightly ruffled by the frisky breeze, then stopped for lunch at the Somers Point Diner. I had a breakfast burrito and my daughter and her boyfriend had Greek salads. All of us were pleased with our lunches.
We weren't sure what would be open on the boardwalk where we usually have lunch at the Ocean Cafe. Traditionally, Ocean City is manly closed until after Memorial Day in May, but most Ocean City traditions have been replaced for better or for worse, generally it is best just to move along with the times and not whine about the "good old days."
We had all our favorite Easter treats - macaroons from Shrivers, fudge, Kohr's custard cones, and walked a mile or so on the boardwalk. As always, I forgot my hat and had to buy one, usually we have to buy jackets and sweatshirts with Ocean City anchors emblazoned on them, but this time we did remember to wear warm jackets.
What draws me to Ocean City every Easter is family history. My grandmother moved to Ocean City in the lat 1930's to take care of her mother who had suffered a catastrophic stroke. The lived in a small second floor apartment at 6th and Asbury, in a building owned by my grandmother's sister. It was across the street from a tiny old forestation where, as children, my brother and I could watch the red engine come roaring out when there was a fire in town.
Ocean City was a quiet, sleepy, little town in those days, thanks to the Blue laws which limited alcoholic use, and its history as a resort for people seeking health and religious uplift. Also near 6th and Asbury was the Tabernacle where some chautauqua type religious gatherings took place.
The people in Ocean City in those days were religious, family people, modest, and respectful, in small humble bungalows. People dressed to walk the "boards" and enjoyed the innocent entertainment of movie theaters like the Village and the Strand (now gone) and the many miniature golf courses (still there). Also, of course, the fun ride arcades which were mainly rides for children, and the most daring ride was the Ferris Wheel. My grandmother sold tickets to the Merry-go-round in summer and worked at Stainton's Dept. store in the winder. She walked from her apartments to the boardwalk and the department store for her work.
We visited often and I can remember so clearly the pain of walking home after a family day on the beach, with sand in our bathing suits chafing our little chubby legs, hauling our beach chairs, buckets and shovels and our picnic lunches back to Grandmom's house. My father always stayed on the boardwalk. He never put on a suit or came down on the beach.
One year, when my brother and I were grown, my brother hd just come home from vietnam and I had been divorced from my husband, and we went together to the boardwalk, and kicked around in a sandy lot where the old Merry-Go-Round, had burned down in a boardwalk fire. I kicked up a brass ring, the prize we coveted but were always too small to reach as the Merry-go-round, revolved and we leaned out as far as we could to grab it from the Clown.
Places that hold some many generations of memory are intrinsically sad. My grandmother's apartment is gone, the house was demolished a few years back, and indeed, the whole town has changed so much it is almost unrecognizable. People walk around on the boardwalk in bikinis and bare feet, the town is overflowing with showy look-alike summer rental houses, epic adventure movie music blares out from the arcades. My grandmother is gone, her mother is long gone, my parents are gone and so are the parents of my cousins who would also go to my grandmother's house for Sunday dinners in the summer.
But the ocean remains its rhythmic, powerful, liquid evocation of time itself. Instead of my old grandmother in the back seat of our station wagon and my young parents in the front, it is my daughter and her boyfriend driving, and I am the old lady in the back seat.
Still, just like the ocean is old and endless new, Spring and Easter is old and endlessly new and as the ear is reborn, so are we, though we may be old and stiff and slow, our hearts are quick.
Easter is the best time to visit Ocean City, before it gets too hot, too crowded and too much traffic on the roads although if you take the Black Horse Pike to 559, it is almost always a peaceful ride and you canst stop at the Sugar Hill Restaurant for a delicious lunch and a lovely view, and maybe pick up something interesting at the Lake Lenape Antique Store opposite the now closed and boarded up paper mill on Lake Lenape.
Happy Trails, and Happy Memories!
Jo Ann
Friday, April 19, 2019
Self Teaching and Mapping the World
This month's issue of Archaeology Today (May Jun 2019) features a story on mapping the world and in the editor's opening comments, Pausanius is mentioned. He traveled the length and breadth of Greece describing the most impirtant sites, but as the editor mentions, he also described such seemingly minor details as the wild strawberries growing on Mount Helicon and the pine trees on Elis' beach.
That immediately brought to mind several things such as Herodotus who mapped and even larger part of the world by traveling and describing, and the way I got to read Herodotus, whose work is still available for purchase in bookstores and online though he wrote it in 484 BC or thereabouts.
I read Herodotus because I was teaching Art History to my middle School students and I realized that I had no idea where Scythia was or Anatolia or Assyria! I had just as good an education as any 20th Century person, and possibly much better than most in that I went to college for 12 years more or less. I had a degree in English from Glamssboro State, a degree in Art from Rutgers the State University, a Masters from University of the Arts in Phila, and I took courses in many art schools such as Fletcher Free School, and
Academy of Fine Arts. Still, the world is a big place and education is a big endeavor and school cannot do it all. The best it can do is give you a basic introduction to things and tools to help you educate yourself, which never stops.
In case you are wondering, Scythia is somewhere around the Baltic,
and Anatolia is Turkey, and Assyria is Iraq. The names of countries change, even in our own times (look at African nations or the former Yugoslavia now Croatia, Herzegovina and Serbia) and the borders of places change. And what was once a Danish peninsula becomes a German peninsula called Jutland, and back to the Danes again, and the origin of Holstein cattle (Holstein Schleswig).
On of my most popular posts on this site was the Old Salem Road from Burlington to Salem on a winter day. But in a way, all the posts here, or the majority of them, are a mapping of South Jersey as I found my way from place to place during my wandering years from 2006 to about 2016. My wandering stopped when my car got too old to make this long trips, and my eyesight too poor to make finding my way around too difficult as I can't read street signs, so even the gps isn't enough help if it tells you to turn at a particular street and you can't read the street name.
I don't mind. I have done a lot of traveling in my time - 38 countries of Europe and a colorful passport to prove it, and back and for from East to West and North to South and back again the United States, even once, across Canada. As you can see, the mapping of my life has gone from large to medium to small, and these days, even smaller. However, what I have always believed is that your imagination makes your mind the biggest place to travel of all, and magazines and books and film bring the world right into your own living room.
This reminds me of something I was thinking yesterday when I was walking my dog our twice a day mile. We walk a rectangle from street down to a long street that goes to the railroad, along the railroad and back through a side street = one mile. Along the way, I was take photos with my phone of the wide variety of wild flowers growing in the yards - wild violets, tiny wild pansies, my favorites the dandelions! and buttercups and many whose names I don't know. It reminded me of my city childhood when I used to wander up our street of brick row homes, in South Philadelphia, to an alley beside a row of parking garages fronted by both paved and graveled drives. I sad there with a popsickle stick and dug in the black gravel, marveling at how the sun shone on the crystals and made the gravel into jewels. I watched the energetic ants everpresent in even so uninviting a landscape, as they hurried from one spot to another building their hidden empires, and in all of this, kept company but the occasional friendly roaming cat or dog. In those days in the city, cats and dogs went out the doors and walked around on their own and came home when they were ready, if they weren't killed that day by a car or a poisoner.
In a much earlier blog, I mentioned taking my map out of my closed and emptied old school which had been replaced by a new state of the art school. That map had traveled with me from my English classroom in a high school to my middle school art room and it had gone from retirement in a storage closet in the high school to my classroom, when for mysterious reasons, teachers stopped having the maps hanging in the front of the classrooms. Even teaching English is helped by maps of the world and of the United States. Taking away those maps has increased the ignorance of our population about the geographical relationships of places and their locations. Most people, I would bet, cannot find on a map, the countries our own soldiers are fighting in around the world, or the location of the countries spewing their abused populations into the borders of other lands right now. I bet most Americans don't even know where Central America is let alone Guatemala.
In the book I read last winter on Marie Colvin, intrepid international journalist, I had to draw a copy of the map in my old encyclopedia of the Middle East, to understand the places she was covering in her reporting. I had a hard time understanding the geographical relationship of Lebanon and Israel and Syria, for example.
Someday, I would like to get out my New Jersey map and do a road by road, town by town blog of my favorite places, much like the WPA Guide to New Jersey - also still able to be purchased from amazon.com.
Happy Trails!
Oh I almost forgot, once on a trip to New England, I actually got to visit the DeLorme Map headquarters, sadly now closed, where you could see a two story tall globe of the earth!
You could still visit Ran McNally in Illinois, though.
Jo Ann
That immediately brought to mind several things such as Herodotus who mapped and even larger part of the world by traveling and describing, and the way I got to read Herodotus, whose work is still available for purchase in bookstores and online though he wrote it in 484 BC or thereabouts.
I read Herodotus because I was teaching Art History to my middle School students and I realized that I had no idea where Scythia was or Anatolia or Assyria! I had just as good an education as any 20th Century person, and possibly much better than most in that I went to college for 12 years more or less. I had a degree in English from Glamssboro State, a degree in Art from Rutgers the State University, a Masters from University of the Arts in Phila, and I took courses in many art schools such as Fletcher Free School, and
Academy of Fine Arts. Still, the world is a big place and education is a big endeavor and school cannot do it all. The best it can do is give you a basic introduction to things and tools to help you educate yourself, which never stops.
In case you are wondering, Scythia is somewhere around the Baltic,
and Anatolia is Turkey, and Assyria is Iraq. The names of countries change, even in our own times (look at African nations or the former Yugoslavia now Croatia, Herzegovina and Serbia) and the borders of places change. And what was once a Danish peninsula becomes a German peninsula called Jutland, and back to the Danes again, and the origin of Holstein cattle (Holstein Schleswig).
On of my most popular posts on this site was the Old Salem Road from Burlington to Salem on a winter day. But in a way, all the posts here, or the majority of them, are a mapping of South Jersey as I found my way from place to place during my wandering years from 2006 to about 2016. My wandering stopped when my car got too old to make this long trips, and my eyesight too poor to make finding my way around too difficult as I can't read street signs, so even the gps isn't enough help if it tells you to turn at a particular street and you can't read the street name.
I don't mind. I have done a lot of traveling in my time - 38 countries of Europe and a colorful passport to prove it, and back and for from East to West and North to South and back again the United States, even once, across Canada. As you can see, the mapping of my life has gone from large to medium to small, and these days, even smaller. However, what I have always believed is that your imagination makes your mind the biggest place to travel of all, and magazines and books and film bring the world right into your own living room.
This reminds me of something I was thinking yesterday when I was walking my dog our twice a day mile. We walk a rectangle from street down to a long street that goes to the railroad, along the railroad and back through a side street = one mile. Along the way, I was take photos with my phone of the wide variety of wild flowers growing in the yards - wild violets, tiny wild pansies, my favorites the dandelions! and buttercups and many whose names I don't know. It reminded me of my city childhood when I used to wander up our street of brick row homes, in South Philadelphia, to an alley beside a row of parking garages fronted by both paved and graveled drives. I sad there with a popsickle stick and dug in the black gravel, marveling at how the sun shone on the crystals and made the gravel into jewels. I watched the energetic ants everpresent in even so uninviting a landscape, as they hurried from one spot to another building their hidden empires, and in all of this, kept company but the occasional friendly roaming cat or dog. In those days in the city, cats and dogs went out the doors and walked around on their own and came home when they were ready, if they weren't killed that day by a car or a poisoner.
In a much earlier blog, I mentioned taking my map out of my closed and emptied old school which had been replaced by a new state of the art school. That map had traveled with me from my English classroom in a high school to my middle school art room and it had gone from retirement in a storage closet in the high school to my classroom, when for mysterious reasons, teachers stopped having the maps hanging in the front of the classrooms. Even teaching English is helped by maps of the world and of the United States. Taking away those maps has increased the ignorance of our population about the geographical relationships of places and their locations. Most people, I would bet, cannot find on a map, the countries our own soldiers are fighting in around the world, or the location of the countries spewing their abused populations into the borders of other lands right now. I bet most Americans don't even know where Central America is let alone Guatemala.
In the book I read last winter on Marie Colvin, intrepid international journalist, I had to draw a copy of the map in my old encyclopedia of the Middle East, to understand the places she was covering in her reporting. I had a hard time understanding the geographical relationship of Lebanon and Israel and Syria, for example.
Someday, I would like to get out my New Jersey map and do a road by road, town by town blog of my favorite places, much like the WPA Guide to New Jersey - also still able to be purchased from amazon.com.
Happy Trails!
Oh I almost forgot, once on a trip to New England, I actually got to visit the DeLorme Map headquarters, sadly now closed, where you could see a two story tall globe of the earth!
You could still visit Ran McNally in Illinois, though.
Jo Ann
Thursday, April 11, 2019
Fun for Saturday and Sunday April 13 and 14, 2019
Annual Collingswood Green Festival
Saturday, April 13 | 9 AM - 2 PM
Downtown Collingswood
Celebrate spring and all things green by joining your friends and neighbors at Collingswood's 11th Annual Green Festival! At the festival you can explore local sustainable food, organic gardening, water conservation, renewable energy, environmentally-friendly construction, and more! Learn more about smart green living from local activists and experts, and enjoy al fresco dining from local restaurants. There will also be local artisans selling recycled and upcycled goods.
Spring Festival
Sunday, April 14 | 12 PM - 4 PM
Red Bank Battlefield Park, National Park
Take a step back in time and join Red Bank Battlefield for their Spring Festival! Enjoy family fun activities such as crafts and games, visiting with farm animals, hearth cooking, candle making and more! There will be crafters and vendors, as well as colonial demonstrations and sheep shearing demonstrations. For more information, call (856) 307-6456.
Tuesday, April 9, 2019
An interesting Library event -cutting the cord on cable tv
I don't think I can make this event but I may try because I am ready to dispense with cable tv. All I need now is internet because it has been two or three years since I have watched television via cable on my flat screen. I watch Netflix and amazon on my laptop because:
1. No incessant and annoying commercial interruptions
2. I have diminished vision and hearing and a laptop on my lap table makes all that irrelevent
3. I can watch what I want when I want
So here is the info I have on the event:
1. No incessant and annoying commercial interruptions
2. I have diminished vision and hearing and a laptop on my lap table makes all that irrelevent
3. I can watch what I want when I want
So here is the info I have on the event:
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Sunday, April 7, 2019
If you are interested in starting your family history this may help!
Find your ancestors online with popular websites like Ancestry and FamilySearch using the quick start method to locate the best records for getting started. Presented by Shamele Jordan, Producer/Host of the television show Genealogy Quick Start.
M. Allan Vogelson Regional Branch Library - Voorhees
Tuesday, April 9, 7 p.m.
Yard Sales, Flea Markets, Trash Pickers
Sunday, April 6, 2019
As a long time fan of 2nd hand stores, and let me stop right there to tell you my favorite:
URBAN PROMISE, in Maple Shade, right on the corner of the Main Street intersection - it is large, well organized and has some wonderful things. To continue my first thought, I am happy when things can get a new home and a new life, a 2nd chance. Why should a perfectly useful item that you can no long use, be discarded when it can go to someone who may have needed just that thing. For example, last week, I saw two perfectly good walkers on the sidewalk at recycle day. I think the people who put it there thought it was metal and could go in recycle. It stayed there till the next day and if the weekend pick-up truck scavengers didn't get it, it went into the trash Too bad, someone who needed a walker and couldn't afford one could have used that.
Many people know that you can call The Red White and Blue to come and get usable items or you can take them to Goodwill, but people who are burdened with the double trouble of putting their elderly parents into long term care, or even their deaths, and clearing out the house, are sometimes too distraught to go the extra mile and make the call or make the trip to Goodwill. So in the last drugs of saddened energy, they put it on the curb where the next recycle may take pace. I have seen the trucks come by and pick up the good chair, the bureau, the storage chest, the child's bike. Perhaps it is headed for Columbus Flea Market, out Rt. 206 in Burlington County, or perhaps for another flea market such as my all time favorite NEW EGYPT FLEA MARKET. You'll have to look up the address for that one on google as I haven't been there in years.
Last week the good weather brought out a lot of yard sales and I had an idea: SUPPOSE A TRASH ENTREPRENEUR WENT AROUND AFTER YARD SALES AND MADE A BID ON THE LEFT-OVERS, say $25 for the lot The homeowners wouldn't have to re-clutter their already overflowing garage, and the trash entrepreneur would have a whole new load for the flea market!
"USE IT UP
WEAR IT OUT
MAKE IT DUE
DO WITHOU"
That's an old folk saying that I think is good to memorize and help you resist buying what you don't need. It doesn't always help me to stay off amazon.com but it gives me pause and it has from time to time gotten me to go through the closet or the attic one more time to see if I don't actually have that thing I NEED already.
That said, I just bought a folding yard sale table at ShopRite for $40 because I need it for an Art Show at Atsion Mansion that I will be in this June, and because I am going to start trying to summon the energy to go through things and get ready for a town-wide yard sale this summer. Now I have the table.
It is hard to find people who really want your stuff. I have an expensive adults bike I doubt I would ever ride again, and I have several collections of books on subjects that interested me that I don't use any more like my Civil War collection.
Now I have to be honest. Yard sales don't always work and I already took part in one that I regret. In a house clean out one summer, I took part in a yard sale with my sister in her side yard in Mickleton. It was emotionally draining and kind of boring. I don't really enjoy talking to random strangers and I HATE haggling. You put a tag on something for $1 and they want to know if you'll sell it for 50cents! I suppose that is part of the fun for some people, but not for me. AND I sadly got rid of a few things I wish I had now - vinyl records. We were so tired by the end of the sorting, hauling, laying out and selling all day, that what ever was left over, we left for the trash pickers, then for the trash. I watched some of my things sit outside for a couple of days unwanted and abandoned before the trash collectors came. We are all so glutted with stuff, no one even wants FREE stuff.
I haven't ever used it but I do hear FREECYLE is a good option.
That said, I may add, I am not a proponent of the recent craze for "Swedish Death Cleaning" whereby you clear out all your stuff before you die so you kids don't have to. I am not erasing my life before I die. There is a kind of mourning process and letting go that helps people when they take care of their parents leftover stuff and clear out the old family home. It is a good distraction from the grief.
I avoid yard sales myself, however, and don't often go into the 2nd hand stores either because it tempts me to buy things I don't really need and my attic and shed get all cluttered up again - baskets being a good example of that!
Good will has moved from the Black Horse Pike to the Audubon Shopping Center. I am sorry I don't have the number for the Red White and Blue but I am sure you can find that on google too.
Happy trails to you!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
As a long time fan of 2nd hand stores, and let me stop right there to tell you my favorite:
URBAN PROMISE, in Maple Shade, right on the corner of the Main Street intersection - it is large, well organized and has some wonderful things. To continue my first thought, I am happy when things can get a new home and a new life, a 2nd chance. Why should a perfectly useful item that you can no long use, be discarded when it can go to someone who may have needed just that thing. For example, last week, I saw two perfectly good walkers on the sidewalk at recycle day. I think the people who put it there thought it was metal and could go in recycle. It stayed there till the next day and if the weekend pick-up truck scavengers didn't get it, it went into the trash Too bad, someone who needed a walker and couldn't afford one could have used that.
Many people know that you can call The Red White and Blue to come and get usable items or you can take them to Goodwill, but people who are burdened with the double trouble of putting their elderly parents into long term care, or even their deaths, and clearing out the house, are sometimes too distraught to go the extra mile and make the call or make the trip to Goodwill. So in the last drugs of saddened energy, they put it on the curb where the next recycle may take pace. I have seen the trucks come by and pick up the good chair, the bureau, the storage chest, the child's bike. Perhaps it is headed for Columbus Flea Market, out Rt. 206 in Burlington County, or perhaps for another flea market such as my all time favorite NEW EGYPT FLEA MARKET. You'll have to look up the address for that one on google as I haven't been there in years.
Last week the good weather brought out a lot of yard sales and I had an idea: SUPPOSE A TRASH ENTREPRENEUR WENT AROUND AFTER YARD SALES AND MADE A BID ON THE LEFT-OVERS, say $25 for the lot The homeowners wouldn't have to re-clutter their already overflowing garage, and the trash entrepreneur would have a whole new load for the flea market!
"USE IT UP
WEAR IT OUT
MAKE IT DUE
DO WITHOU"
That's an old folk saying that I think is good to memorize and help you resist buying what you don't need. It doesn't always help me to stay off amazon.com but it gives me pause and it has from time to time gotten me to go through the closet or the attic one more time to see if I don't actually have that thing I NEED already.
That said, I just bought a folding yard sale table at ShopRite for $40 because I need it for an Art Show at Atsion Mansion that I will be in this June, and because I am going to start trying to summon the energy to go through things and get ready for a town-wide yard sale this summer. Now I have the table.
It is hard to find people who really want your stuff. I have an expensive adults bike I doubt I would ever ride again, and I have several collections of books on subjects that interested me that I don't use any more like my Civil War collection.
Now I have to be honest. Yard sales don't always work and I already took part in one that I regret. In a house clean out one summer, I took part in a yard sale with my sister in her side yard in Mickleton. It was emotionally draining and kind of boring. I don't really enjoy talking to random strangers and I HATE haggling. You put a tag on something for $1 and they want to know if you'll sell it for 50cents! I suppose that is part of the fun for some people, but not for me. AND I sadly got rid of a few things I wish I had now - vinyl records. We were so tired by the end of the sorting, hauling, laying out and selling all day, that what ever was left over, we left for the trash pickers, then for the trash. I watched some of my things sit outside for a couple of days unwanted and abandoned before the trash collectors came. We are all so glutted with stuff, no one even wants FREE stuff.
I haven't ever used it but I do hear FREECYLE is a good option.
That said, I may add, I am not a proponent of the recent craze for "Swedish Death Cleaning" whereby you clear out all your stuff before you die so you kids don't have to. I am not erasing my life before I die. There is a kind of mourning process and letting go that helps people when they take care of their parents leftover stuff and clear out the old family home. It is a good distraction from the grief.
I avoid yard sales myself, however, and don't often go into the 2nd hand stores either because it tempts me to buy things I don't really need and my attic and shed get all cluttered up again - baskets being a good example of that!
Good will has moved from the Black Horse Pike to the Audubon Shopping Center. I am sorry I don't have the number for the Red White and Blue but I am sure you can find that on google too.
Happy trails to you!
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
Thursday, April 4, 2019
Art Show Application for Atsion Mansion in June
Increasingly I would like to incorporate ART into this blog, not narrow it down to only Historic Places, however, this particular art notice is BOTH!!
Batsto citizens committee presents -
FIRST ART SHOW AT ATSION MANSION
CONTACT: Harry - hcrheam@gmail or call 856-7681532
I will be bringing contracts for the show to EILAND ARTS at the Merchantville Railroad Station (upstairs) for their opening of LOVE 4 Corners tomorrow night, Friday April 5th at 7 p.m. if you want a copy.
The cost for the Atsion show registration is $25
The Show is Sunday, June 23, 2019 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Indoor spaces reserved for Art and Photography
The art show is for paintings, photography, crafts of South Jersey area crafters. Dealers are admitted at 8:00 a.m. to set up.
The mansion has no heating or air conditioning, or electricity, being a 19th century building not renovated for these amenities. Artisans will be assigned table space by the show chairman. The space is large enough of a 6 foot table. All objects must be displayed on free standing mounts as nothing can be mounted on the walls. Dealers are responsible for providing their own tables, stands, chairs, etc. BCCI is not responsible for any damage to items. Contract must be received no later than May 24th (the sooner the better so the organizers know how many artisans to expect! - thank you)
Hope this helps any other artists or photographers out there who want to show their work. I think it will be a nice day in the woods amongst other artists, and a nice day to see their work! I will be there, sending my application and check TODAY!!
Happy trails,
Jo Ann
Batsto citizens committee presents -
FIRST ART SHOW AT ATSION MANSION
CONTACT: Harry - hcrheam@gmail or call 856-7681532
I will be bringing contracts for the show to EILAND ARTS at the Merchantville Railroad Station (upstairs) for their opening of LOVE 4 Corners tomorrow night, Friday April 5th at 7 p.m. if you want a copy.
The cost for the Atsion show registration is $25
The Show is Sunday, June 23, 2019 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Indoor spaces reserved for Art and Photography
The art show is for paintings, photography, crafts of South Jersey area crafters. Dealers are admitted at 8:00 a.m. to set up.
The mansion has no heating or air conditioning, or electricity, being a 19th century building not renovated for these amenities. Artisans will be assigned table space by the show chairman. The space is large enough of a 6 foot table. All objects must be displayed on free standing mounts as nothing can be mounted on the walls. Dealers are responsible for providing their own tables, stands, chairs, etc. BCCI is not responsible for any damage to items. Contract must be received no later than May 24th (the sooner the better so the organizers know how many artisans to expect! - thank you)
Hope this helps any other artists or photographers out there who want to show their work. I think it will be a nice day in the woods amongst other artists, and a nice day to see their work! I will be there, sending my application and check TODAY!!
Happy trails,
Jo Ann
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
James and Ann Whitall House, Red Bank Battlefield, National Park, NJ
The Whitall house will be opening for tours on Saturday, April 13th. On Sunday, April 14th we will be having our Spring Festival to start out the season. It should be a great day with a lot of interesting demonstrations, including a program on tea, colonial inventions.
Volunteers Needed! If you are a history buff, you couldn't find a better place to learn our fascination Revolutionary War history and meet other people interested in our history. You will learn so much, I guarantee! I was a volunteer for about five years, until my back and knees bothered my too much to stand for that many hours. They were wonderful years with wonderful people.
Information for anyone interested in becoming a volunteer:
We would also like to offer Battlefield Tours. Please get in touch with the Whitall House and let me know if you can help out. If you are a new volunteer please let the staff know and they will pair you up with an experienced docent to shadow. Just a reminder the house is open for tours Thursday-Sunday from 1-4, except for special events. I look forward to a great year.
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