Posted in Fab Fotos, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged Jersey Shore, Murray Head, Ocean Grove on August 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Ooooh the bad press, the distortions, the drama, the caricatures, the drinking, the Governor even!!!! So to set the record straight at least in this blog’s point of view, here are some real Jersey Shore photos!
Gone Fishing
photo by Murray Head
Soaring Over the Water
photo by Murray Head
Here I go!
photo by Murray Head
Gone for a Swim
photo by Lori
Low Tide
photo by Lori
Posted in BY THE WAY, Fab Fotos, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged Fourth of July parade, Ocean Grove, Stars and Stripes on July 4, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Fourth of July in Ocean Grove
Fluttering in the breeze
The Flag Float in Ocean Grove 4th of July parade
Uncle Sam
So Proudly We Hail
Posted in Fab Fotos, Friends, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged Murray Head, Ocean Grove on July 1, 2010| 1 Comment »
I love great photography and am fascinated by what the eye of the camera sees when in the hands of a talented photographer and artist. Today’s photos represent just that – the camera zoomed in on one little aspect and WOW!!! …and as I say, “Art is where you find it”.
Compostiion on Burlap
photo by Murray Head
Jet Streams
photo by Murray Head
Koi in a Pond
photo by Murray Head
She Stores Her Food
photo courtesy of Murray Head
Leading Somewhere
photo courtesy of Murray Head
Celebrate America
photo by Murray Head
Posted in Everyday Food, Friends, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged Ocean Grove, summer fruit tart, Trish on June 15, 2010| 2 Comments »
Fabulous Fruit Tar
NO NO not that kind of benefits!!!! Really this is a G-rated blog! When you are friends with Trish, you not only get sun block and lunch – you also may get a taste of something she has baked. WOWIE you have NO idea just how good her apple pies are, I mean REALLY and this is coming from me, someone who is a fair cook in her own right. Trish made this fabulous fruit tart for a cook-out we had a few weeks ago. Our mutual friend, Susan, reminded me that Trish’s baking prowess is certainly worth noting. So here it is…. try not to drool on your keyboard.
Posted in Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged Flea Market, Jim and Susan, Ocean Grove on June 6, 2010| 1 Comment »
Yesterday was the much anticipated Flea Market in Ocean Grove. We contracted for a booth at the end of the winter and were anxiously awaiting the big day with HIGH hopes of selling a LOT of our stuff that has been stored in bins in our garage. Stuff from way back when, stuff from the Point Pleasant Antique Emporium and of course more stuff. Those of you who really know us, know what I’m talking about.
Last week I spent all day Tuesday pricing and repacking items in the several bins that now inhabited the living room of our tiny cottage. The forecast was not promising, showers were predicted – so we packed plastic sheets to cover the merchandise in case of a shower, brought along ponchos and counted on being able to duck into Jim and Susan’s tent if the rains came. We were fortunate enough to have Jim and Susan next to us – it’s good to have a friendly neighbor at an all day Flea Market.
We got up at the ungodly (for us) hour of 5:45am and took quick showers and began the tedious process of getting the “stuff” over to the Flea Market. First trip for Peter is to schlep 3 large very heavy tables and a bookcase to the spot. Then back again to the house to make a trip with the bins. Miraculously we got all the bins in the car and I went along on this trip to start to set up. Sounds like things are going according to Hoyle (so how many of you know what that phrase means?). We unloaded the bins and believe me it took both of us to carry some of them. Peter went back for a third trip and by the way it is now 7am and the official end of set up time. When I arrived at the site, I was both horrified and amazed because MOST of the vendors were already set up, tents up, merchandise out!!! Not an auspicious beginning for me. While Peter went back to get the two small tables we were going to sell and the wind-up Victrola which was meant to attract the crowds, I started to set up. What a freaking, yes a freaking nightmare. When I repacked on Tuesday I was sure I had put the items going in the bookcase in one bin, stuff for the tables in another and so on and so forth to make it easy to unpack. WHAT I didn’t do was remember where the tablecloths were so I could place the items out. So off to a very bad start and it only got worse as more and more people kept coming into the booth and of course they couldn’t move, there were bins open everywhere, newspaper all over and things just jumbled on the tables. You gotta get up MUCH earlier if you are going to attempt to do a flea market properly. So ALL of my OCD impulses were in full force – nothing was right, the items weren’t placed correctly (what is correctly in a flea market??) and many of the things Peter brought in at the last moment were not priced. This is living hell for someone like me!!
When I tell you that it was almost 10am before the booth really looked like a booth, I don’t think I’m exaggerating!! Meantime, while I’m scowling and cursing to myself, next door Susan is being the perfect salesperson; “Oh and that color is you” and she was selling sweaters like HOT CAKES (no pun intended) in the early morning heat. Little did we know that by noon we would be literally baking.
The sun shone brightly all day and the temperature rose into the 90’s! We had no shade, so we kept drinking water to stay hydrated. By noon, I had to walk home and get out of the clothes I was in because they were too tight, too dark and I was drenched. I left Peter in charge, walked slowly home due to the intense heat and the fact that both hips and my right knee were killing me. A quick cold shower and a change of clothes and I headed back. In order to be able to tolerate the heat, I had put on a halter top and Bermuda shorts which only succeeded in providing the scorching sun more flesh to cook.
It turned out to be a very LONG day and quite frankly, not all that profitable. The crowds seemed to be bottom fishing! It was so hot, nobody had any energy except the Italian Ice vendors and the fresh-squeezed lemonade vendors did a bang up business. By 4pm we were so wrung out from standing in the heat, that I could hardly pack up the “stuff” which I so dearly wanted to leave on the field and walk away. If it weren’t for Jim and Susan’s help we would have never gotten out of there. If it took 3 trips to bring it, it took 3 trips to get it back! We arrived home tired, dirty and not hungry and not richer enough to probably justify the effort BUT thankful to be home to take a shower – as Susan said, “There’s not enough soap to get me clean”.
Now that’s my rather pessimistic report of the day, but I know Susan and Jim had a good day – despite the heat, between her salesmanship and extremely low pricing, she managed to move a lot of “merch” as they say in the biz.
I took my camera along but had zero interest in taking any pictures not even of our booth. BUT…. my fellow blogger and experienced photographer and reporter, Paul has some super photos so please check out the link posted above this to see some colorful shots of an Ocean Grove Day. Please note that as I write this it is still HOT here – hence the scorching orange sun color ink lol.
Posted in BY THE WAY, Friends, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged barbeque, cook-out, Costco, garden gnome, Heide, Home Depot, lilligaard Hotel, Ocean Grove, pizelles, red peppers, Susan and Jim on May 4, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Most weekends in Ocean Grove follow a sort of pattern; there’s the opening of the house and putting away whatever we brought down. There’s the grocery shopping for two households, the Home Depot and Costco runs, the lawn care and blah blah blah you’ve heard it all before!
This weekend went a bit awry in both directions – the high road and the low road. It was a BUSY weekend for sure and prior blogs Raise a Glass in Remembrance, Oh Dear, There’s a Deer Here reveal some of the adventures we had over the course of the three and a half days we were there.
We went to the first cook-out of the season on Saturday night. The day was glorious and our friend Joe, celebrated his new terrace by purchasing a gas grill which Jim put together during the course of the afternoon. Susan did the shopping, I made a salad, Joe had weekend guests and as the preparations were underway and as other friends were casually encountered, each was invited and WOW it really was GREAT. The Gaybors next door came laden with side dishes and grillers (sausages from the Amish market). Monica who also lives next door arrived with wine and more food. And the dogs…. Madison, the resident Yorkie was an accommodating host to Timmy who was a weekend guest and Monica’s Yorkie, Mickey who lives next door.
Oh yes, the Gnome came too.
One of the best ways to wind up a long weekend is to sit on a porch overlooking Wesley Lake. Of course it’s best to be friends with Heide in order to do that. Heide (pronounced Hi-deh) invited us to a Sunday night supper on her porch – yeah, we’re down for that! Although it was getting humid and sticky, the porch was cool as a breeze wafted off the lake and we were in the shade.
Susan and Jim were invited as well. As dusk descended, we all went inside and had a DELICIOUS salad with chicken. AND fresh strawberries and cream and pizelles
NOW that was ALL FUN, indeed it was BUT, BUT – on Saturday night before the cookout, after killing all the weeds with a FULL container of Weed Be Gone and as I was putting it up on the shelf in the shed, the container hit a lantern hanging from the shed ceiling which fell and hit me on the bridge of my nose -” Peter, help, I think I broke my nose, omg, omg!” As I am yelling and trying desperately to reach over a wagon, a bike, a bird seed container while bleeding, I CANNOT reach the container of weed killer which is now pumping all over the shed floor! Oh what a mess!!! Needless to say everything had to come out of the shed. How do you mop up a gallon of weed poison that has mixed with dirt and dust from the floor? NOT easily! It was a disgusting job and since the weed killer got on so many things that I rinsed off the hose, it will be interesting to see how much grass I killed in the process 😦
Back track to last Sunday when Peter got a flat tire and by the time he could drive to a place where someone could change it, he had driven through the sidewall. The Strauss Auto Store put the spare on and gave us a quote for 4 new tires and we drove back to NYC. THIS Saturday I noticed that the left rear tire was really soft so I drove to the first place that had an air pump and asked them to help me – the guy put air in the tire and told me I needed new tires. I got a quote from them too. Yesterday, we looked at the tire and again it was soft!!! Of course it’s Sunday! So we went back to the first place and asked them to repair the tire BUT they said it was against company policy to repair a tire with so little tread – Geezzzzzz We begged and wheedled and fibbed and said we had to get back to NYC tonight and we would back next week to possibly put 4 new tires on the car – BUT their quote was $140 more than the second place. Oy Vey
So that wraps up the weekend except for the part where I bought so much stuff at Costco that I had to put half of the frozen items in the Lilligaard’s freezer. Amen.
Posted in Ha-P 2 B in OG, Nick & Nora and Flora & Fauna, tagged deer on Main Avenue, Ocean Grove on May 1, 2010| 1 Comment »
Just A Scared Little Deer
There she was, frightened into immobility, surrounded by alien creatures – those of us who came to see, gawk and wonder what was a deer doing on Main Avenue in Ocean Grove??? The little creature somehow wandered into our midst in the early dawn hours and was wandering around Main Avenue (didn’t she know the shops don’t open till around 8:30 or 9am?) Eventually she strolled over to a vacant lot which straddles both Main Ave and Heck St. So there she was…trapped! Because now the onlookers were quickly gathering on both streets and she was in the middle. If you know anything about deer, you know that they are ever on the alert for movement around them as they are the favorite prey of hunters and a couple of natural enemies too. God or if you would prefer Mother Nature dressed the deer in a camouflage tan so they would disappear amongst tree branches and instinct has taught them to be motionless until they sense the danger has passed. This deer looked like a lawn statue only occasionally moving her head from side to side as some slight movement sent more adrenalin pumping through her body and tensing every muscle to be ready to bolt if necessary. I took a couple more photos with my little point and shoot and without a really good lens, it was hard to get a clear and close -up shot of the deer.
And then I left…tears were rolling down my cheeks. I could NOT watch this poor animal anymore, so confused, so trapped – and there was talk that maybe they were going to try to tranquilize it and I sure didn’t want to see that. I left Peter behind to see the outcome and walked home, hoping that the deer would somehow be able to escape.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Bernese Mountain dog, boardwalk, Irish wake, Jim, Ocean Grove, Sophie Taylor, Susan, the Dawg Joint on April 30, 2010| 1 Comment »
This evening we participated in a very special event! You might say we held an Irish wake, sort of…several of Susan and Jim’s friends gathered at beach tonight to honor the memory of Isabelle, their beloved Weimaraner who passed away last week. Susan thought it would be a fitting tribute to Isabelle if we met at the beach and toasted Izzy as she was known to me and Belle as Jim affectionately called his girl. It was a great idea!
She Was My Girl For Sure
People came with their dogs and with memories of furry loved ones gone. And fitting it was to have the dogs racing around through the sand, tails wagging wildly, barking, yapping and loving every minute of this last minute freedom to do so. Tomorrow is the beginning of Ocean Grove’s NO DOGS on the BEACH or the BOARDWALK policy which is in effect from May1st to October 1st. Actually there were quite a few last fling before the season begins dogs and owners on the shore tonight. Big dogs, little dogs, black dogs, tiny dogs, dogs wearing neckerchiefs, dogs splashing along the shore nipping at each others’ heels – All in Fun!
Getting to Know You!
Cindy who owns The Dawg Joint in Asbury Park showed up with all the dogs that had not been picked up when she left to join us. She brought Bubbles, a big fluffy two year old Bernese Mountain dog. Chakra, a lovely white Boxer mix as well as Remi, her own Lab Rhodesian Ridgeback mx. Maggie Mae, Flo, Sammy and Harry were all in attendance and even a couple more.
Sophie Taylor Looks On
Susan spoke from the heart, about the life of Izzy while she was with them, the joy she brought to both of them, but especially her affinity for shadowing Jim, to whom she was very attached and vice versa I might add. I didn’t know Izzy very well but I certainly will not forget the picture in my mind of her sprawled out on the end of the couch, snoring, while Susan would straighten out my latest disaster in knitting. We all had the opportunity to say a few words about those pets of ours that have died. Peter thoughtfully suggested we bring a picture of Murphy Brown and so we did and took our moment to remember the joy that big orange ball of a cat brought into our lives.
As the last rays of the rapidly retreating sunshine disappeared, we gathered up our stuff, wine bottles, glasses and blankets and with lots of hugs and kisses bid each other all a good evening and then we were gone!
Posted in BY THE WAY, Friends, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged boardwalk, Flower moon, full moon, Ocean Grove, orange moon, Peony Moon, Planter's moon on April 29, 2010| 1 Comment »
The Moon Masquerades as a Sunset
Ding! I heard my cell phone alert that a text had arrived – I looked at the clock and said to myself, “who is texting me at this hour?” It was Susan, inviting me to meet up at the Fishing Pier in Ocean Grove with a few other “moonies” to see the day old full moon rising. In all my years of moon watching and moon loving, I don’t ever remember watching the moon rise from the horizon of the Atlantic ocean. It was a sight to behold. I arrived just in time to see a small slice of orange peeking above the distant black horizon. Slowly, oh so very slowly, the orange slice grew larger until you could see the top quarter of the orange globe. Well first of all, I never expected it to be orange! The only other orange/red moon I ever saw was in South Africa was glorious and high up in the night sky. So here we are; an assortment of Ocean Grove residents gathered on the boardwalk oohing and ahhing over this ball of fire, this moon which was the color of a sunset was emerging before our eyes. The well prepared people had cameras, tripods and lens – I FORGOT TO BRING MY CAMERA!!! I must remember to have camera and Flip with me at all times. I know I’ve said that before, I’m a slow learner. I tried to take some feeble shots with my cell phone see below:
and by this point the moon had clearly rose and as it inched up in the sky, its brilliant hue began to fade and eventually was all white. So I borrowed the shot of the rising orange moon because I wanted you to get an idea of the magnificence of this natural phenomena.
This moon known to the early American colonists as the Planter’s Moon is aptly named since most New Englanders and Middle Atlantic residents know it’s not a good idea to plant anything much before the end of this month because Mother Nature every now and then throws us a couple of freezing days and we are once again wondering if Spring will ever really be here.
In Chinese astrology, this moon is known as the Peony Moon and from that I gather they are living in a more temperate zone because my peonies just have buds now and probably won’t bloom until mid May or later.
I’m partial to the lore of Native Americans and in their culture this moon was known as the Flower Moon. Could this be because they lived where the Dogwood trees bloomed, the Sweet Cherry trees bloomed and if you look in my lawn you can see that April is the month the dandelions begin to bloom too. I know that Daffodils, Tulips, Iris and a few other perennials bloom so sweetly, reminding us that summer is just around the corner BUT do I think the Indians were planting bulbs from Holland the previous Fall? NO I don’t!ll
We were a fairly well-behaved group, moon admirers and thank goodnes, no Lunatics were in evidence. You really have to look over your shoulder to make sure there aren’t any lunatics near by.
Posted in Everyday Food, Friends, tagged beach, Gemini, Grande Americano, Harmon Discount, lilligaard Hotel, martini, Ocean Grove, Oil of Olay, sea glass, Starbucks, Susan, yard sale on April 13, 2010| 2 Comments »
Some people who have a cottage at the shore actually go to the beach. Why, when we didn’t have a cottage and we spent weekends at the Lilligaard Hotel, we used to go the beach, soak up the sunshine, read a book, totally relax and end the day on the big porch with a martini!!
That was then and this is now – There was no buffet for breakfast this morning with a bottomless cup of coffee. Instead, Peter made his own eggs while I toodled around with the computer and watched Sunday Morning. That was just my way of procrastinating, there were so many things on my To Do List and a good many I had put on Peter’s list.
I showered and ate and set out for my first stop which was to Susan’s BECAUSE once again, those damn knitting needles screwed up the sleeve of Finley’s sweater. And on my way over, I spotted balloons down the street, a sure sign of Spring in the Grove – YARD SALE! Not a lot to choose from BUT of course I found a few treasures; 2 DVDs, 2 books for the Grandbabies (I think the books are part of a fantasy of having the grandkids here and reading to them) and a very strange looking tool for Peter which I thought maybe he would clean up and sell at the Flea Market (that may be yet another fantasy). Susan fixed the sleeve in no time and I was off to Starbucks for my morning FIX of a Grande Americano with a lite splash of steamed brevi. Whenever I place that order I feel like I’m a DP from LA. A while ago I bought a travel mug at Starbucks for the car and so if you give it to the staff to fill instead of taking a paper cup and transferring in a moving car which is always a treat, lol, you actually receive a 10 cent discount. So I hand over my mug with my order and the barista hands it to me with the top not on. As I screwed on the top, very hot steamed espresso and half and half streamed out through the top making puddles on the counter and a mess all down the sides of the mug. FIRST I had to bring to her attention that I needed something to clean it up. She said “Oh I’ll clean it up, it happens all the time”. She wiped up the counter BUT I’m holding a mug that literally has foamy milk running down all of the sides and on my hand. NO OFFER to give me something to wipe it or me ,clean. I literally must have used 25 napkins to get all of the foam off the mug. It sounds silly, easy and stupid right? WELL, the mugs are covered in various spots with a rubberized and textured coating – all the better for the hot cream to adhere to! Wipe, wipe, wipe and wipe again. I tried sipping some of the brew so it would be below the screw top and still it came out. THIS IS RIDICULOUS! Wouldn’t you think the people who work for the company that sells the mug would know how high you can fill it? Why I felt funny about taking a photograph of it right then and there I don’t know – I had my camera with me and I should have snapped a shot of the total oozing mess. I wanted a picture for the blog BUT was embarrassed about taking a photo lest they think I was planning on sending it to corporate.
You can still see specks of foam on the mug
Finally I snapped a quick photo surreptitiously at the very end of the clean up. BUT I am going to write to Starbucks because a few weeks ago this very same girl was on the counter and when I asked her for the discount that she didn’t give me, she shrugged her shoulders and took a dime out of the tip container. I guess that was to make me feel foolish and petty when in fact she made the error. This same staff person on that same day looked at me blankly when I ordered a Tall black Pike’s and proceeded to give the robust coffee of the day.
Listen I know anyone can make a mistake, it’s not about that, it’s the attitude! Wouldn’t you think she would be concerned and apologetic that hot coffee was all over a Guest? Wouldn’t you think she would have glanced over and saw me ripping napkins out of the holders to wipe up the continuous puddling on the counter where the sugar and milks are? Wouldn’t you think she might have said something while I was frantically trying to clean up the mug – this while other guests were trying to add milk or sugar to their own drinks and I am standing there looking like the slob who spilled her coffee everywhere?
Once out the door I headed to Harmon Discount because all week long I had been waiting to buy two new eyebrow pencils and two blue eyeliners. THAT’S ALL I was going to get. Part of the spring cleaning of my make-up kit times two because as you know any lady worth her Oil of Olay has cosmetics and stuff at both of her dwellings. At least 3o minutes later I emerged from Harmon with just a few other items. You know when you go to the grocery store and you’re hungry, you come home with all kinds of snacks and goodies, well somehow the same phenomena struck me when I was in Harmon’s. For those of you who are not familiar with this store (it is a chain)-it sells discount cosmetics and toiletries, hair dryers, hair care products as well as brushes, clips etc. In other words it’s a fun place to browse through especially if you’re a girl even a girl of a certain age. So, 2 blue eyeliners – two different brands and two different colors, a water spray bottle to keep my forced curls curly, an eye shadow palette for hazel eyes because I am sure my brown eyes are fading, another eye shadow combo with some greens in it to replace the one I dropped on the bathroom tile floor, you know what that mess was like. Of course I needed two eyebrow pencils too and again two different shades, two different brands – I mention this only because you can imagine how much time was spent while I desperately tried to determine which product and shade was right. I think my Gemini side was in full force yesterday morning. – maybe my moon was rising. Then there was the replacement of a lip stain by Cover Girl that I really like and am almost out of, so I got one of those too. Just as I thought I was done (really) I spotted this eye brightener – now that is a ridiculous come on if I ever heard one because other than putting some magic drops in your eyes, what could this mere pencil do? Well we’ll find out!!! Leaving the store at the checkout counter, I thought to myself, I should never come in this store again when I’m hungry!!
Guiltily and quickly I headed home, picked up Peter and off we went to the storage area where we needed to drop off some New York street furniture find of his, return the Easter hats to their year long home and find a bank that we sold on Ebay which was supposed to be in a bin and was NOT. We are hoping it is somewhere in New York because it has been paid for and the buyer is awaiting shipment.
“What a great day to paint, don’t you think, Peter?” He promised to paint the trim around the windows in the bow window to match the front of the house. Last year we had picked out a beautiful shade of a green that is somewhere between sea glass and aquamarine and at the time we only painted the two front windows and the front door frame…I really wanted the windows on the ocean side of the house painted too.
Bay Window on La Vie en Rose
So after he painted the bow window frames, I drove past the house and sure enough the remaining two side windows stood out like the proverbial sore thumb! Thankfully it didn’t take much convincing to have him paint those also. So now our little cottage, La Vie en Rose has some color on the side. It’s hard to convince anyone it’s a little Victorian when it has white vinyl siding on it. Very bland, but I am adding color wherever I can and making it into a Confection of a Cottage inside and out!
Lest you think I was reading, knitting or writing this blog while he was working I was not! We had bought a huge bag of mulch two weeks ago and so I spread it among our bushes in the back, the daffodils on the side and cleaned up the front landscaping and put some there too. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot of work, but I had to fill a pail with the mulch, spread it, fill the pail again and again and again. Still, that was a lot easier than washing the mildew and moss off of the porch spindles and the edge of the porch floor. I scrubbed and scrubbed and it still doesn’t look great and I am trying to convince my painter that mildew will just eat its way through new paint and also some of the spindles and the lower balustrade need to be replaced, AND the porch floor could use some minor repair and a repainting and thank God our other home is an apartment with a Superintendent, handymen who clean the hallway carpeting and wash the floors, a trash room, a laundry room, a doorman and a garage.
All work, no play? NO WAY – as Sunday afternoon faded away, look how much fun we had doing our favorite Shore thing: Drinks and appetizers on the porch with friends! Doncha just love it?
Chilling on the porch
Savoring the evening's martini
Hors D'ouevres on the Front Porch
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