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Posts Tagged ‘Ocean Grove’

An Almost Full Moon Means We Are Only Half Crazy

Posted in BY THE WAY, Friends, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , , on March 29, 2010| 1 Comment »

The moon won’t full until tomorrow night BUT as the weekend wore on and the moon inched its way to fullness; “things” just sort of happened!  Some weekends are just high drama or maybe Mercury is in retrograde!

Fridays aren’t Fundays here in Ocean Grove; The first problem is that we never leave the house early enough and being a Starbucks Grande Americano junkie the longer I am without caffeine, the more apparent it becomes to me that Peter is doing everything wrong and wasting time and we aren’t out the door.

Starbucks Americano

Got to have that espresso caffeine fix

First stop is Main Avenue where we pop into Ocean Grove Hardware and say a big THANK YOU to Dave who graciously removed the two huge tree branches that landed in our yard weeks ago.  We had no idea how we were going to get the tree branches cut up small enough for the town to pick it up.  Peter firmly believes that Jews shouldn’t use chain saws and I agree with him especially when the moon is almost full.

Friday night I have plans to go to the Fashion show and dinner at Bia with Trish, Heide and Jim and Susan.  The idea was to be there about 6:45 so we could get a good table.  I don’t think we got home until after 5pm and I have 10 lbs. of chicken breasts to divide up between 2 houses.  I portion and bag all of them and realize I can’t get them all into the freezer. I call the Lilligaard Hotel to see if I can use their freezer and no answer so I left a message  and run around to get dressed and put on make-up and see if I can re-scrunch some curl into my hair.  I flip on the light in the bathroom and poof, first the overhead light goes out and then the fixture over the sink blows.  I think it’s a fuse so I yell to Peter who is outside on the phone that I blew a fuse – his comedic friend George who is on the other  end of the line says “Tell Lori to calm down”. ha ha ha, I’m not in a laughing mood as the time is ticking away.  In most houses when you blow a fuse you can go into the closet or hallway and open the box up and flip the circuits. NOT HERE.  The circuit breaker box is in the basement which I wouldn’t call  a basement because a basement is where you can store things; where you can put a washer and dryer, a Christmas tree stand, bikes in the winter and hundreds of other things.  We have what is known as a Yankee cellar. To access it I must move the litter box, the big plastic bottle of litter, the container for the litter, a dust mop, a sponge mop and a Swifter.  Then I have to move the stool and the recycle bin, the bag of newspapers and a BIG box (read Costco) of black garbage bags and oh yes the cat litter scoop and the rug under the litter box – ALL THIS so we can open the trap door and Peter can go down not really stairs but more like a ladder to check the circuit breakers. Once the trap door is open, there is always the possibility that a cat might decide to explore the nether regions of the cottage so I close them both in the bathroom with me which significantly reduces the amount of natural light I am using to put on a happy face.  Still no lights – I yell downstairs to ask if he tripped the breakers?  He says they’re  all on -I repeat the question unaware that I was speaking in tongues.  After he  does flip the breakers and still no lights,  I ask the obvious question-“Did you flip them all?”   “Yes” “Are you sure ?”  “Well there’s one not next to the others and it says ‘push to test” and I don’t need to tell you what I said next, you can fill in the blanks.  Alright, I give up –  still no lights and I’ve got to put my make-up on in the fast descending dusk.

The March lamb is nowhere to be found, it’s cold, my knee hurts, I’m late and I have a bottle of wine, canned goods for the food bank and my knitting  so I need a ride. You may be wondering why the knitting is going to dinner and a fashion show?  Just more manic multi-tasking? No I’m not actually going to knit during the show but I do need Susan to look over yet another error and see if she can fix it . I have to say that none of us were thrilled with our meal, the four of us that had ordered the fish sent it back because it was cold. New entrees arrived but the meal just wasn’t great except for the Bistro cake which was one of those molten chocolate in the middle, so decadent that there’s no point in eating it – just put it in your pocket because it’ll end up on your hips anyway.

Saturday morning we called Jim and Susan for electrical help and Jim went into the cellar with Peter and soon we had lights BECAUSE Peter had  never touched the one that was not quite next to the others!!! We ended up going to Home Depot to buy a new fixture for over the mirror and it will look better with the new wallpaper.

Sunday morning brought one of those domino effect events.  Peter was working on the wallpapering of the bathroom and installing the light fixture which required him to shut off the electricity in the bathroom which required him to go into the cellar and you know what that entailed.  When I came into the room I was disturbed by the mops leaning into the egg beaters – yes you heard me right, but it’s a long story.  So as I am muttering to myself (as I am wont to do) about how carelessly these mops were tossed aside and I decide to remove the one from the egg beaters, as I pull it away the mop head is behind the legs of the stool upon which a canister of cat kibble sits.  Uh huh, the canister topples over and kibble is everywhere.  !@%$#%@.

Vintage hand held egg beater mixer

Vintage Egg Beater

After I cleaned that up, I went to wash the dishes but in the dishpan was brown water and coffee grounds-more distress and in my anger about this disgusting mess, I try to empty out the pan and not lose all of the dishes and silverware in it.  I stabbed myself with a paring knife that was in the water. More !@%$#%@


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Dire Fire Pre-Dawn Disaster

Posted in Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , , , , on March 13, 2010| 1 Comment »

5:00 am – still snuggled under covers, we hear sirens wailing down Broadway.

6:15am – my cell phone rings downstairs and I don’t get to it in time.  Look at the missed call and it was Susan.  Call her back – she is yelling into her cell phone over the roar of the wind and called to tell me that the Manchester Inn burned down and several houses were burning too.  In two minutes I know I ‘m not going back to sleep and I tell Peter I’m going.  He really doesn’t want to get up but doesn’t want me to go alone.  So believe it or not (and those of you who know us, know….) we got up, threw on some clothes and drove over to Main Avenue.  Stepping out of the car we were hit by the smell of the smoke.  And looking farther west down Main we could see a wall of smoke that extended from the fire on Ocean Pathway to Main Avenue  We left the car in front of the Hardware Store and made our way down Pilgrim Pathway.  There were orange cones on Ocean Avenue at Main, at Central Avenue and Main, at Pilgrim Pathway and actually almost anywhere you looked north of Main Ave.

The wind was howling, it was raining and as we stood in front of the Auditorium we could only see about 50′ in front of us. The wall of dark gray smoke was more like a house, not a wall.  Everything was enveloped in this ominous gray cloud.  We encountered a man who was walking around the Great Auditorium with a coal shovel and he told us he was looking for embers that were landing close to this famous structure.

Next move was to the Auditorium Pavillion to change batteries and assess just how close we could get.  Walking past the tent structures up to Central Avenue it was difficult to see anything – so many fire engines, so much smoke.  Some people were moving left and we followed them to Bath Avenue, the street that runs parallel and to the north of Ocean Pathway.  There the horror and scope of what was happening was made real for us bystanders.

Bath Avenue is a narrow street and we were able to stand on the sidewalk opposite the houses on fire.  This had to be about 6:45am and 3 of the houses had already burned beyond salvage.  The firemen just kept pouring water on these houses and the fire would keep popping up along a roof line or somewhere in what was left of a house.  The firemen tried to stop it from spreading but this was fairly impossible.  I saw one house, a green house with siding and it was scorched so badly,  I wondered if it would just ignite some place too.

I stood there crying, this was such a tragic scene and one every Ocean Grove homeowner dreads and fears and knows “that there but for the grace of God goes…”.   Looking at these burnt out shells, emotions running in high gear, the house, yes – BUT the belongings, the treasures, the photos, the memories all gone up in smoke so to speak.  Dear God, my heart goes out to these residents.  Finally cold and wet through and through, Peter and I walked around to Ocean Pathway to see if we could now see anything of the ruins of the Inn. Not really, just the eerie sight of the Manchester Inn’s little car still parked out in front.  The labyrinth of hoses was mind-boggling – running east to west on the Pathway, south to north from Main Ave to the Pathway, hoses up and down Bath Avenue, hoses laying along Beach Avenue.  Then as I was walking back to our car, I noticed the firemen laying ladders alongside the big beautiful house on the northwest corner of Beach and Ocean Pathway.  I couldn’t bear to watch another historical Victorian go up in flames.

We thought we might have breakfast at Nagle’s but it hadn’t opened yet.  Then we got word that the water pressure on Main Avenue was greatly diminished and the water was running out brown.  Thinking better of that idea, I assumed that our cottage was far enough away not to be affected by the water situation – WRONG!!!

The cats got bottled water and I hope to shower before bedtime.

This has been a day of anguish, of introspection, of concern, and a deep appreciation and thankfulness for the bravest of the brave – The firemen and I assume some of the many companies that responded to Ocean Grove’s call for assistance, are volunteer fire houses.  Thank you West Long Branch, Neptune, Asbury Park, Spring Lake, Allenhurst, Bradley Beach, Shark River Hills, Avon , Deal, Belmar, Ocean and please forgive me if I omitted some, there were just so many trucks and firemen everywhere.

Just like a victim of 3rd degree burns, our town has been indelibly scarred.

Saving the big Victorian on the corner

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

A House is Not a Home Anymore

Relentless Fire in Spite of the Rain

A Burnt Piece of a Column Amid the Omnipresent Hoses

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Eight on Main at Seven

Posted in BY THE WAY, Friends, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , , , , , , on March 13, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Pecan Pie

And they call this Pot Luck? What a meal! Eight of us gathered Friday evening at the home of Trish & Ron who live on Main Avenue.  They have a big beautiful home with a fantastic dining room and a table large enough to seat eight comfortably and Editthat wasn’t even with all of the leaves.

Guests included Heide, who divides her time between Belgium, Ocean Grove and California, Carol, a full-time resident who runs The Ocean Grove Trading Post, Jim and Susan, full-time entrepreneurs (I’ll be doing a blog about their business in the near future)in Ocean Grove, and Peter and I, the Ocean Grove part-timers.

You had to know with this group, Pot Luck wouldn’t be your Ham & Bean, Macaroni & Cheese church supper type.  We started the evening off with liberal libations and small gourmet pizza slices – delicate and delightful.  Oh and I forgot to say right up front that our hostess is a baker of renown and when we walked in, the table was set beautifully and two enormous racks of individual pies were flanking the centerpiece of flowers and the aroma was mouth-watering.  And then we sat down to an array of delicious dishes.  While we were chatting away before dinner, Ron and his guest chef of the evening, Jim, were in the back yard grilling lamb chops that had been previously marinated in Ron’s own special marinade.  So rare, so beautifully charred on the edges,  a real treat.   We had a chicken dish that I truthfully have no idea how Heide made it or what was in it besides chicken.  What I can tell you is that I had two helpings and the flavor was so familiar, it took me to the second helping to remember where I had savored this kind of dish before – my Grandmother Schmidt used to make any meat delectable with the same kind of sauce and seasoning that Heide used, and I have had steak at Heide’s home and she did some similar magic with that too.  I think it’s some kind of Germanic thing that these great cooks do. Carol created an artful arugula salad that was crisp and fresh and chock full of good things.  Susan was on vegetable duty and she brought us seasonal vegetables (almost locivore) -they were roasted to perfection.  With 3 of the 5 woman having Italian ancestry, of course we had a pasta dish but no ordinary red sauce (a/k/a gravy to those who know) for this group.  I contributed a rigatoni and cannellini bean and broccoli dish and I thought it was very good.

And then the piece de resistance – the pies came out! Two big trays; mini pecan pies and apple pies.  Well anyone who knows Trish knows that her apple pies are not only to die for but we all tell her she should sell them – so I immediately said, “I’m only having apple and besides I don’t like pecan pie, it’s too sweet”.  WRONG – Jim, our N’awlins native proclaimed the pies to be perfect.  Was it curiosity, arm-twisting ( lol,lol) or an insatiable appetite for dessert, well maybe all of the above – even though I made the arm-twisting part up!  I took half of a mini pecan pie and the flavors just swirled around in my mouth. This was not the sticky, sweet, gooey glop that I always thought all pecan pies tasted like- Oh No, this was smooth, creamy, flavorful and not  too sweet. Trish let us in on her secret but unless given permission, far be it from this blogger (who wants to be invited back!) give away any culinary secrets.

And after many hours of laughter and even some after dinner cordials, we all went home and that ladies and gentlemen is Pot Luck in Ocean Grove.

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And Just Where Would They Park Their Cars Anyway?

Posted in BY THE WAY, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , , , on February 24, 2010| Leave a Comment »

The title of this blog is just one more rationale to think about while you are reading this excellent blog from Blogfinger. http://blogfinger.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/blogfinger-editorial-sleeping-watchdogs-in-ocean-grove/feed/ The Manchester Inn wants to sell out to a Developer of condominiums. Precedent is being set and if not kept in check, you will be astounded how quickly quaint Ocean Grove is no longer.

Where once many neighborhoods of Manhattan were populated with numerous Mom and Pop stores; the local dry cleaner, news stand, coffee shop, drug store, toy store, candy store, pet shop, pizza place, dress shops, bakeries and more – now there are large chain pharmacies such as Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid,  national brand clothing stores; Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy.  We have Petco, Home Depot but most of all – where some of those stores stood, the footprint of a 20 story apartment building stands.  And it is really simple math to go from there; the more people – the more services required.  Soon the need for more commercial space will be necessary and then????

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Dinner and a Movie

Posted in BY THE WAY, tagged , , , , , , , on February 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Easy Living

Here’s how a really great fun evening evolves: (in Ocean Grove)

I wanted to invite the Taylors over for dinner  and at the same time,  try to get together with Susan so she could get me started on my new knitting project (read obsession) and yes this is the same Susan and the same knitting that has popped up several times in these blogs. Peter wanted to watch a movie that he had just acquired – Easy Living which was written by Preston Sturges.  Those who know, know that Preston Sturges is one of his favorite screen writers – directors of all times.  Actually, begrudgingly, I have to admit that the Sturges movies I’ve seen have been terrific, replete with some of the world’s best ever character actors such as Franklin Pangborn and Luis Alberni.  But I digress (and that’s one of the best parts about a blog – you can!)

We could invite them over BUT really who wants to watch a movie on the  20 inch screen of a 1986 TV?  Luckily for all of us, the current economy and the latitude of friendship in this special place (Ocean Grove) allowed for a bold move on my  part.  I called Susan, told her what I had been thinking and then quickly negated it with a description of our TV as compared to their very large (42″-48″??) flat screen which is opposite their very spacious and extremely comfortable couch and without stopping to take another breath, just pushed on and suggested I bring the dinner to her house and we’ll watch the movie there!  Susan, being Susan, thought that was a marvelous idea.  We were all set then – she needed to provide the wine and dessert and the Peterlori catering company would bring the fully cooked meal to their door.

PROLOGUE:  We had drinks, hors d’ouevres and lots of laughs AND knitting before dinner and then a very good dinner if I do say so myself, with good conversation always with more laughs.  We watched Easy Living and The Producers!

There was one minor problem;  the advanced technology involved with the wide flat screen TV, the altercockers and the aspect ratio.  Sort of like the blind leading the deaf so we ended up watching the movie as if it were a pie crust being rolled out.

However, even in Ocean Grove with friends, leaving their home at 1 am seemed well you know….

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Robin Redbreast Wearing Winter White

Posted in Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , , , , , on February 19, 2010| 3 Comments »

A Harbinger of Spring? Yes well supposedly that’s what robins are and do.  Usually  it occurs on a

Robin Redbreast

day in late March or early April and by chance I happen to look out the window and yippee I am so excited – a ROBIN is in the yard! Is there anything more beautiful than seeing that big plump rosy breasted bird pecking away at the ground – it’s not lawn yet but sure ain’t snow anymore!! Well that’s what usually happens. SO HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN the fact that yesterday after we shoveled, cursed, dragged downed tree branches to the side of the house, swore, rehung the bird feeder, moaned, chipped away the ice, whined, salted the walkway and finally went into the house to get out of wet shoes and warm up cold hands – – there they were!!  At first it was just one, and then three and then I looked up into the tree in the yard behind us and it was dotted with  what looked like black silhouette blobs in the branches.  ROBINS EVERYWHERE!  I grabbed the binoculars to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating or had gone snow blind and yes they were big, they had red breasts (although most of theirs were orange-red) and gray tail feathers with white corners SO they must be robins.  Even checked the Birds of North America book.  There was a robin on the fence between our house and Mary and Mitch’s.  There was a robin on the walkway in front of the trash cans, there were a couple of robins in the tree that dropped the big branches in our yard.  There were robins all over the place.  Nicky (the cat) was sooooooo excited.  He sat in the back window, eyes darting back and forth, fascinated by the activity going on in his backyard.  When he spotted the tail feathers of one who was in the gutter, I thought he would fall off of his perch on the windowsill.  There is a foot of new snow on the ground and about 20 robins are hovering around and only God knows why.  Either they made a wrong turn or consulted a goofy groundhog because they were definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time.  There would be no worms for them today.  I felt really bad about the fact we had just refilled the bird feeder, put new suet up and hung corn for the squirrels but robins prefer worms and grubs and although they also eat berries, we had nothing for them.  After all the tsuris seeing them was a lovely treat. I did find an interesting fact in the bird book about their habits;  apparently robins will flock together in a winter roost, sometimes in the hundreds and even in the thousands. And then later in the evening while I was relating the bird incident to my brother-in-law Matt, he mentioned that I already told him about this (which I hadn’t) and then remembered that his daughter, Dani who lives in Virginia had just told him about a flock of robins landing in her yard a day or two  ago – so what’s going on here? Are the robins migrating north too soon? With nothing to eat, what will they do?  Turn around?

See new post: Baby It’s Cold Outside! Hello Robin Redbreast!!

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OMG!!!

Posted in Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , , , on February 19, 2010| Leave a Comment »

And this is the other branch I dragged to the side yard

Look What I Found

You may think this is just another rant about this  interminable winter and the unending snow storms leaving compounded snow  accumulation – BUT just read on if you will.  We left Manhattan in the early afternoon cats in tow, streets cleared and clean, the only snow left was on the roof of our car.  When we arrived in Ocean Grove, it was clear that we were now in another climate zone.  OMG! I kind of gasped and screamed because as I looked at the house, I saw that  two enormous branches had fallen into our yard.   Must have been heavy snow and ice BUT we don’t have a tree in our backyard. BUT first things first – we couldn’t really park the car since the plows had created a solid wall of snow against the curb.  I’m wearing sneakers, have a really bad knee and am trying to negotiate stepping through but am actually stepping into (up to my knees) the mound of snow and onto the sidewalk that’s not shoveled and up the steps that were iced and snowed over, and trudged my way to the backyard by way of the not shoveled However, when I mentioned the fact that we had a lot of tree in our yard, he didn’t make any suggestions as to how or who should remove it. walkway. WHY am I heading to the backyard (remember where my husband keeps the snow shovel)? It’s like a routine now with me-I walk through the snow, go into the house and get the dust broom’s shovel and actually use that to remove enough snow so I can get to the shed and retrieve the snow shovel. Here we go again – I have to shovel my way to the front of the house, clear the steps at least to the front porch  BECAUSE the cats are still in the car! Can’t open the car doors anyway until we clear away the snow bank.  Our neighbor, Brian (whose tree it is) came out with a coal shovel and helped us chip away the ice so we can unload the car.

After the cats and all the kaboodle we seem to transport back and forth across the state line were in the house, Peter and I tackled the tree situation.  Two really big branches and all their little branches were entangled like tentacles in the fence, around the squirrel feeder and the bird feeder was dangling from yet another broken branch that had yet to fall. You know a picture is worth a 1000 words – take a look!

Oh wait, I forgot one of best parts of our arrival today – After I shoveled the walk and cleared some of the front porch, I checked the mailbox and found a Notice of Violation and Order to Correct from the town reminding me of the snow removal ordinance and giving me until yesterday to remove the snow.  Well we cleared a very narrow path on the sidewalk  late this afternoon so since  today is the 18th so I hope that was only a warning and hope there won’t be any summons to follow.  Just in case you all want to know we are in violation of Ordinance 13-2 Removal of snow and Ice and 13-2.1 Responsibility for Removal: Time. You’re expected to remove all snow and ice from the sidewalk within 12 daylight hours after the snow fall. MMmmm.

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I Think We’ll Stay Home

Posted in BY THE WAY, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , on February 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I Think We Should Stay Home!

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Could this be “our” storm of the century?

Posted in Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , on February 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I can still hear his words “I don’t want to be trapped in the house because we can’t dig out the car, the roads won’t be plowed and I don’t think looking out the windows at the snow is all that much fun.” Uh huh! That’s my man,  New York City born and bred.  Good morning Saturday and props to the weathermen who seemed to have tracked and predicted today’s snow fall SO  DAMN ACCURATELY!  I still maintain it is cosy in the house.  Well let me say it is more cozy now since I discovered the upper window of the kitchen’s double hung to be partially open (at least a couple of inches) and the storm windows were reversed!!! I don’t want point any fingers at anyone in particular as to how this possibly could happen but I wasn’t the one who took the air conditioner out!  Geez there was ice in the window tracks – Do you think we were losing any heat, Pete?

Chipping Away the Ice!

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Punctuality is NOT always a virtue

Posted in Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , on February 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Snowy Descent at Midnight

Right on time almost to the minute,  and without a sound, they silently began to arrive.  Slipping down so quietly and unobtrusively just like a late parishioner quickly sliding into the back pew of the church.  So carefully orchestrated, those early few messengers came and barely left a calling card.  These emissaries of Mother Nature should not have been ignored and actually their precipitate arrival was much anticipated.  The first few came in twos and threes, and they seemed to stagger reaching their destination.  That was around 10:00 and now it is 12:30am and omg, the armies, the hoardes, the mobs of THEM are here.  Rushing, tumbling over one another, not waiting politely for one to land – no these guys are hell bent on getting to the ground and it’s every man or snowflake for himself.

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