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Posts Tagged ‘Peter’

There’s A Saying In My House… Peter Coddles Trip to New York

Posted in Peter Coddles, tagged , , , , , , , on November 25, 2012| 2 Comments »

And it goes like this:  ” One is nice, two makes a pair and three makes a collection!  And then some…. I think we have collections that have collections!.  Some people come in and marvel at the sheer number of things we’ve managed to have, hold, and display in one apartment!  Most others always ask, “How do you dust all this stuff”?  I never answer them.

I have a category in this blog called Peter Coddles and it is supposed to be about antiques, collectibles, nostalgia and to  feature some of the many collections Peter and I have.  I’ve been really derelict about posting in this area and not sure why.  I LOVE my collections and I LOVE the stuff Peter collects, or well most of it anyway but that’s another story. Peter Coddles is also the name of our antique business.

Anyway, Murray came over the house the other day to photograph Peter’s collection of Peter Coddles Trip to New York vintage games.  This is a collection I’m particularly fond of because when I met Peter 20 years ago, he had ONE game and over the years   I bought him many various versions as presents.  We believe  he has the complete collection because for years now, we’ve not seen or found one that he doesn’t already own.  It’s really hard to display everything and especially vintage games.  We do have a few in a frame but most of the others are in drawers and boxes so by having Murray photograph them all, Peter is going to make a book.  Great idea!

 The game itself is an early 19th century parlor game.  It’s kind of the prequel to Mad Libs.  There are a lot of cards with random words on them and as the storyteller reads aloud from a booklet, whenever there is a blank in the sentence, one of the other players draws a card and reads the word to complete the sentence.  Peter Coddles is a farmer, country boy, a hick and he has decided to take a trip to the big City!  He runs into all sorts of things and predicaments. Of course you know the story can never makes any sense and induces gales of giggles all around.  Being a boomer from the last century, it just occurred to me that this game might be hysterical if everyone was stoned.  Oh well, that was certainly not the idea behind the original  innocence of this game, but it is something to consider.

Peter Coddle’s Trip to New York

St. Nicholas Series-Peter Coddles

Peter Coddles Trip to New York

Peter Coddles Trip to New York

Peter Coddles – This ONE was the first in the collection

Peter Codles Trip to New York-later edition

Peter Coddles & His Trip to New York

All photos courtesy of Murray Head

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Too Many Cooks…The Prequel

Posted in BY THE WAY, Friends, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , , , , , , on August 5, 2012| 2 Comments »

English: Costco in Moncton, New Brunswick

The Discount-if-you-want-to-buy-large store

Just like Hollywood, I think I figured out a way to make one good idea into two!  LOL LOL, seriously but not too seriously.  I had started my blog post last week with what I’m about to write.  At that time I realized I was going way too deep into my day up to the point of my cousins arrival and not adhering to my title and topic.  I had saved the draft and my intention was to post this the next day.  Well we all know what the road to hell is paved with, now don’t we??   Or is that the seed of yet another blog post about the origin and meaning of well-known and often soon-to-be-obscure phrases?  We’ll see…. But back to the back story of last Friday’s visit with familigia and our subsequent dinner.

My day started out early enough, I had my list written from the night before. Where to go, in what order as well groceries needed.  However, I had also promised a friend to go to his new house twice to open up the door for  deliveries AND I would have to pick my husband up from the train.  AND I wanted to make some gazpacho before my cousins arrived.  I figured they wouldn’t want to go to the beach today, having just returned from Cape May and they would probably stay for dinner.  It was such a hot day, cold gazpacho sounded just right for tonight.

Ah but the best laid plans of mice and men (and yet another little catchphrase!)…. Too many phone calls to get out of the house really early but OK, I’m finally on my way and first stop is the dry cleaners to pick up clothes I need for Sunday.  Oh dear, the dry cleaning will not be in till later this afternoon.  Mmmmm  okay I’l come back later.  Then to Laurie’s vegetable & fruit stand to pick up the ingredients for the gazpacho and snag a couple of peaches too and maybe a few ears of corn – mission accomplished.  Next to Aldi‘s to pick up some staples; park the car, lock it walk to entry, oh I forgot my shopping bags.  A minor delay but nothing to worry about, I flew around the store grabbing what I needed and rushed out.  I just finished putting the bags in the car and my cell phone rings and it is the friend telling me that Lord & Taylor did NOT call him a half hour prior to delivery (so he would be able to alert me) but rather they were waiting at the house.  This turned out to be not so inconvenient because if I went to his house now, I could then go to The Lillagaard to drop off the refrigerated stuff.  I meet the driver and he has only 2 chairs!  That seemed odd for a dining room and especially one whose owner is an interior decorator.  But I signed for them, proceeded to drop off the refrigerated stuff and called him informing deed was done, and why only two chairs?  Answer – apparently, L&T goofed up the delivery.  Oh and by the way, would I be around on Monday for the Target delivery?

Back in the car and off to Starbucks for some well-needed caffeine and a cup of Pike’s for Pete upon his arrival and per his request.  Off to   Costco,  noting the gas price of $3.35 per gallon whereas two weeks ago it was $3.15!  I made a really quick trip through the mega discount-if-you-buy-giant-size store picking up what I needed for Sunday’s tea service.  I still have one more grocery store to go to but decide I should call Peter and see where he is.  Well,  apparently he is and has been waiting at the station to be picked up. So I step on the gas as I wheel out of the Costco parking lot and thereby cause the tray with his cup of coffee  to tip.  It’s an interesting maneuver to be driving, talking on the phone and trying to retrieve a full cup of coffee from the floor of the passenger side.  Of course I got coffee on my pants. I must have a full body magnetic field because food and drink stains are consistently drawn to me.  At home in Manhattan, I believe I am personally responsible for sending at least Korean children to college.

I picked him up and we did NOT go home or Pass Go and collect $200.  We went back to Neptune and to Wegman’s where the two of us set off  in different directions in order to shop twice as quickly.  Time was not on my side!!! I happened to pass the International aisle and the Goya bean display caught my eye.  Mmmm maybe I should make my hot summer night stand-by-Tuna Fennel Cannellini  Bean salad.  Last words heard as we left the store, “I wonder if I have enough gin at home?” Hey I don’t check everything!

Of course Peter didn’t have enough gin! So leaving me at home to begin chopping, peeling, dicing, and  juicing in the course of making gazpacho, Peter left to go out and buy some gin.  Which turned out to be helpful to me because now he could drop off the rest of the refrigerated stuff at the hotel.  And then my dear friend, Susan called.  I believe  she will read this so now she’ll know why I sort of rushed her off the phone and said, “Call me Sunday night when you get home!”

I don’t think it was much more than 10 minutes later that my cousins arrived and I realized I needed tomato juice.  Funny how some things go together!  I called Peter and asked him to pick it up, knowing full well, this would never be done without another phone call.  After quickly greeting my guests, I excused myself to the kitchen to try and get this gazpacho underway.  

If you’re wondering what happened after that and did not read the previous blog post, here’s the link;

https://pbenjay.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/too-many-cooks…in-the-kitchen

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Fun with Fin

Posted in Finley Ray, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 12, 2011| 6 Comments »

Yesterday Finley Ray arrived for the weekend and in less than 24 hours we already had a few adventures.  We went to a book fair and she was in her element for sure.  She just plopped down on the concrete floor and went through several books discarding those she decided were not worth taking home and choosing very carefully the keepers.   The Ladies auxiliary had set up a hot dog concession and the wafting odor of hot dogs was too irresistable for her, so one hot dog with ketchup was ordered.  Then it was off to the boardwalk where we didn’t go to the beach per se because rain was imminent but still we had time to take off our shoes and walk in the sand.

Picking Papa Pete up at the train station was going to be a treat in hopes that we would see the “big” train.  Alas he arrived before we did.  Still we had another stop, this time to the Laurie’s Vegetable & Fruit stand in Neptune.   Laurie  is so friendly and warm and since it had begun to rain and we were the only customers at the time, she invited Finley up onto the counter to have some fresh blueberries.  The fruit stand was originally a gas station in the 1930’s and there were still some remnants of its origins and don’t you know, little Miss Finny announced that this was a garage!  Yes,I have a genius granddaughter.  The rain was dripping heavily from the garage doors that were opened and Fin realized as every little child does that running back and forth in the rain can be so much fun.  First of all you get big drop marks on your clothes and your hair gets wet, water runs down your cheeks and soon you have water squishing between your toes in your sandals (hers were jelly thank goodness).

Dinner on a TV tray is fun too especially if you are getting to watch a movie at the same time!  I think Finley had her first corn on the cob Friday night because she didn’t seem too familiar with the concept.

Finley Ray, corn on the cob, Jersey corn
Jersey Corn Naturally

It was a no-nap day due some unforseen circumstances and the fact that Finley and I hit the road shortly after she arrived.  So by dinner time I could tell she was fading but she refused to cave in until after her two movies had been seen.  First a bath in Gigi’s blue drink bucket ( a cottage without a bathtub can be a real drawback when you have kids around), then the movies and we are off to bed.  A promise made to read two books seemed unlikely as I was pretty sure she wouldn’t insist.  Sure enough she was just about asleep by the time I finished one of the new books we had bought at the Book Sale.

She turned her head, closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.  So deep and so fast that I ran downstairs to get my camera to capture this photo.  Take heed Mommy, I used a flash! Well of  course it was PAST her regular bed time, lol. lol.

Nicky, Finley Ray Clark, La Vie en Rose,
And then there were TWO!

Not to be left out, while I was snapping this shot, another member of the family joined in to make it a menagerie a trois!

Nora, guest room at La Vien en Rose
And Then There Were Three!

Saturday morning , errr, rather early in  the morning, Finley was thoughtful enough to get out of bed and go downstairs and bring up two videos that she thought we all should watch together in bed.  So of course we did.

She was very busy around the house that morning, actually helping me clean.  She insisted on having a paper towel spritzed with Simple Green so she could wipe down tables, cabinets and anything else I pointed at.

We plopped her in the stroller and took off to the Book Fair again, this time so Peter could peruse the aisles in search of literary treasures.  Finley made off with 2 more books and surprise, surprise, one of them is Cinderella.  It was so bloody hot and I was hoping to get over to the North End beach to see the sand sculptures.  By the time we walked east to the boardwalk, and then to North Beach, I was already over it as far as viewing any sand castles.  Just as we approached the staircase to the beach, Finny announced that she had to pee.  Just GREAT-no bathrooms at this end of the boardwalk, the restaurant located there is closed and so I had to walk all the way back to the Pavillion and talk my way past the ticket taker to get her onto the beach where there were some bathrooms.  NOT pleasant restrooms at all,  and we had to cut the line as she was jumping up and down literally so who would make a little girl wait? Truth be told I don’t think I have ever been on a public beach with decent bathrooms. Sorry to say that the sculptures weren’t worth the hike, the sun and the hot sand 😦

We headed home by way of Day’s Ice Cream because having ice cream in the middle of the day is just the perfect pick-me-up on a blistering summer afternoon.  The girls in the ice cream shop tried to convince Finley that she wanted strawberry because it was pink or party cake and after she tasted each and turned up her nose, she ordered just exactly what she told me she wanted;  soft vanilla with sprinkles on top! 

Day's ice cream parlor, Ocean Grove, Finley Ray Clark
Ice Cream Makes Me Smile Too

Finally we made it to the beach.

At first she didn’t even want to get her feet wet and she raced back to the sand each time a wave lapped anywhere near where she was standing.  Peter finally got her into the water by splashing her and letting her splash him which brought forth shrieks and uncontrollable giggles.  Soon she was sitting down and letting the waves foam up around her knees.  And before long, she was in the water being held, swung and dipped while wave after wave crashed into her each one eliciting one of Finley’s ear-piercing shrieks and I just know how much the people who were in sand chairs down at the water reading, really and truly loved that sound!

Ocean Grove, Peter, Peter Press, Finley Ray Clark,
Look how wet I got Papa Pete

I wish I dared to get in the waves with the camera so I could have taken a photograph of her loving having the waves crash on her.  Finally, it was strongly suggested that she might want to make a sand castle…

Finley Ray, Ocean Grove
Sand Castles

After a bath to remove sand from places one would never expect sand to land, Fin was ready for bed.  Again,it was a one book night because this little water baby was very tired.

Sunday was tea party day for Finley Ray.  I was helping my friend, Jane who runs a Tea Room and so about lunch time, Peter brought Finny over to the Tea Room so she too could attend a Teddy Bear Tea as they are known when kids come to High Tea.

Teddy Bear Tea, Lilligaard Hotel, Ocean Grove
A Teddy Bear Tea

Believe it or not she ate EVERYTHING!  It was a blistering hot day so off to the beach we went and this time there was no hesitation.  Finley was shrieking through the waves as soon as she hit the shore line.  This time she was so sandy that only a shower would do to get her clean. 

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A Thank You Note From Her Majesty, The Queen of England!

Posted in BY THE WAY, Finley Ray, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on July 7, 2011| 4 Comments »

Once upon a time…this is how most fairy tales begin but not so with this one.  A few days after The Wedding of Prince William and his beloved Kate, my friend Gail called me with an interesting idea.  I can’t remember whether or not she read about it or if  someone she knew told her about a British tradition associated with a royal wedding.  Apparently, it’s a custom for the Queen to reply to well-wishers who send a note of congratulations to her on the occasion of her grandson’s wedding.  One of the Queen’s Ladies in Waiting will send a thank-you note.  As Gail said, “this is right up your alley”!

And she was right;  not only did I decide to write a note in my name, I also wrote one in Finley’s name.   I thought it would be a wonderful keepsake for her.  I had my doubts that we would ever receive a reply and a couple of times I meant to mention it to Chiara because I was afraid she might toss the envelope out as junk mail.   Well weeks went by and I forgot about the letters. 

Today my daughter called and said, “Have you seen Facebook“? I hadn’t so I  got on the computer while Chiara was telling me how amazing it was that Finley Ray had received a Thank-you note from the Queen of England!  I screamed!!!  Chiara had posted the letter on Facebook thinking that maybe Finley’s dad, Tom, had a hand in this.   “No, it was me”! I was so happy it had actually arrived and on Facebook, it’s  getting a lot comments.

Well I can’t wait to see if my response has arrived.  I have a week’s worth of mail to go through when I get home.  And I better tell Peter so he doesn’t think it’s some junk mail!

Here is the letter, I hope they frame it and save it for Finny;  direct from Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace, Ladies in Waiting, Queen Elizabeth

Queen Elizabeth Thanks Finley Ray

Thank you Queen Elizabeth!

Thank you Gail!

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La Vie en Rose – A Look Here and There

Posted in Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 4, 2011| 2 Comments »

I always maintain that La Vie en Rose is in work in progress but perhaps this confection of a cottage is almost done since we both swear we certainly can’t add or put another thing into the house.   Murray was here on Sunday, he opted to come even though the weather was bad and he hadn’t seen Stacey and Matt who had arrived on Saturday, in a long time.

Murray took some great little snippet photos of what I refer to as Life in Pink;

The front porch is pinker than ever! My friend Jane, who owns the Lilligaard Hotel has been doing some redecorating and I’ve been the lucky recipient of some cast-offs!  The new pink wooden rocker  as well as some beautiful pink and turquoise floral cushions have definitely enhanced the front porch.

Ocean Grove, La Vie en Rose

Pinking Up the Porch

Finally my birthday present to myself bike was put together by my brother-in-law, Matt.

Schwinn bike, pink and white petunias, Ocean Grove

My Birthday Bike

The hydrangeas in the front yard are in full bloom and gorgeous.

pink and purple hydrangeas, Ocean Grove

Pink and Purple Hydrangeas

Squirrels are the official mascots at La Vie en Rose.  Peter feeds them all year round.  On the rare occasion when a live squirrel isn’t on the porch looking for a hand-out, we always have our ornamental friend.

statuary

Our Mascot

And here is the real live version chomping on a treat from Peter.

ocean grove, Peter Press

Yum yum! A peanut

Looking at So Cute from the front porch.

Nash Metropolitan, American Flag, Ocean Grove

A View From My Porch

All the floral beauty isn’t just in the front of the cottage.  This year I put a huge planter of pink and white petunias in a white wicker planter next to the shed.

wicker planter

Pink and White Petunias

By the way, squirrels aren’t the only wildlife that get fed on a regular basis.  The birds have feeders in the backyard a couple of Blue Jays show up from time to time for a peanut treat also.  Bold and brazen, they are not fazed by humans, at least not when there’s a peanut in sight.

Blue Jay, Fourth of July

In Pursuit of a Peanut

All photos by Murray Head

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Easter Parade 2011 Photos!!!

Posted in BY THE WAY, Friends, New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged , , , , , on April 26, 2011| 2 Comments »

Helen Uffner, Uffner Vintage clothing, Lori Press, Easter Parade 2011, fifth avenue

Helen and Lori

Here we are post-Parade and post-cocktails too!

Easter Parade, Fifth Avenue, Helen Uffner

Helen and her sunglasses!!!

Check out Helen’s saucy vintage hat!

Finley Ray, Easter parade 2011, Fifth Avenue, Easter hat, easter bonnet

Finley and Gigi on the Avenue

Peter Press, uffner vintage clothing, fifth avenue, Easter parade, new york easter 2011

Dapper Peter and Dazzling Jessica

uffner vintage clothing, Helen Uffner, Lori Press, Easter parade 2011, new york city easter, fifth aveneu

"Sorry about the hat" - The real Helen

I hope to have more photos soon!

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Supper Under the Stars

Posted in BY THE WAY, Everyday Food, Friends, Ha-P 2 B in OG, Tasty Tidbits Tuesday, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 8, 2010| 3 Comments »

If you recall somewhere in one of my blog posts I said I was going to make a couple of the recipes I put up last Tuesday!  I know, I know, you THINK I have already made a recipe before I post it, thereby attesting to its goodness.  Well….confession time and truth be told-NOT ALWAYS!  But don’t turn away so quickly in disappointment-I said not always. I would say the percentage of recipes I haven’t tried first is less than 1%!!! So small I probably shouldn’t have even admitted it because now you may doubt my creditability.  Well don’t; I’m going to toot my own horn here, however if you want letters of reference, I can get them, lol.  Besides being a very good cook, I also have this uncanny ability to look at a recipe and know intrinsically whether or not it will taste good and if it will be too difficult to make. I don’t purport to be a gourmet cook, I am just a really good cook.

Well now that we have put that to bed, let me tell you the real story of this blog.  Last night we had supper under the stars with our next door neighbors, Jim and Judy.  The invitation was casual enough; Saturday morning and we are each on our front porch, drinking coffee and reading the morning newspapers.  That is what a summer weekend is all about right? Well, that and cleaning, and going to the grocery/hardware/home goods/pet food stores, watering the plants, filling the bird feeders, weeding, going to the beach, mowing the lawn and washing the car/changing the oil/getting gas. Whew! I’m already hot and sweaty!  But, I think that’s  from vacuuming the porch rug, the bedroom carpet and under the bed(that was scary!) and making Peter some bacon and eggs.  He’s on a kick to gain 10 pounds; I don’t know why he thinks it’s so hard….I told him just eat what I eat and he’ll be there in no time.  Oh the digression just goes on and on.

Back to the Saturday morning porch scene;  I lean over close to Peter and whisper that the meal I want to make tonight probably is more than enough for just the two of us and I think we should invite Jim and Judy to a casual  summer  supper in our backyard tonight.  So we did – or rather I left the inviting up to Peter stressing that he make clear it is really casual food (read it is DEFINITELY not steak), it isn’t even hot dogs and hamburgers  which  is probably summer’s most casual food.  Oh let me back up a little, I had it in my mind all along to have guests for dinner which is why I sent Peter out REALLY early to get my requisite Grande Americano, cat food and corn – except instead of 3 ears, I told him to get 4.  I wanted to say get 6 or 7 but if the dinner plans didn’t work out I didn’t want to have leftover corn.  BECAUSE if you know me, you know I only eat fresh corn picked that day! It’s not weird, it’s sugar….once the corn is picked it begins to turn to pure sugar immediately. Okay well,  we’ll have to do a nutrition blog another time.

So now that we have established guests, time and place, I know what prep work I need to do so that I can go to the beach and when I get home not have to knock myself out.  I am going to make the Squash, Cucumber and Cantaloupe side dish.  As you may remember, this dish requires the cucumber, squash and melon to be shaved into ribbons.  While not the best sous-chef  (but the only one around) I commandeered Peter to do this because he isn’t afraid of the mandolin.  Thank God, he did it with the patience of a saint that he doesn’t believe in.  The cantaloupe was SO RIPE that it just kept falling apart so instead of mandolin, I made the thinnest slices I could.  Those items got refrigerated.   I made the yogurt lime dressing and put it in the fridge.   I looked at the rest of that recipes  and realized this was NOT a meal you could prepare much in advance.  So we went to the beach!

supper under the stars, Martha Stewart Living,

He's Not Afraid of the Mandolin

Fast forward to 6pm and I am putting some hors d’oeuvres out on the front porch.  When Judy asked what could she bring I said dessert – they arrived with a BOX of fruit tarts, a raspberry, pear tart, a monster bottle of red wine, a bottle of white wine and a bottle of Absolut.  YIKES – they aren’t even getting cooked food!!!

I visited for a while with our guests, but I knew if we were going to eat I had to work in the kitchen and ALONE.  Several times Judy offered to help but I refused because a) I like to work alone, b) by the time I thought of what she could do, I could no doubt do it myself and c) I had never made all of this before so my timing was all off and I was winging it and you can’t both be winging!!!

I drained the cucumber squash mix and the cantaloupe, I peeled and cut up two avocados which were too ripe to slice so I just scooped out the pulp, sliced a tomato, got the pot out for the corn (and thankfully remembered to take the corn out to Peter to shuck),  lined the broiler with foil, made the blue cheese vinaigrette dressing.  At this point, I was ready to put corn in the pot, fry the turkey bacon and slice the rustic bread to toast in the broiler.  You know a cook and/or a mother make the best project managers in the world.  Why companies hire men who hardly ever do two things at once I’ll never know.  I set the table outside, got the candles, and was almost ready.  A quick survey of the food told me more dishes were going to be required.   I could see that you couldn’t or maybe shouldn’t put the yogurt dressing on the melon, cukes and squash and stir it up, so I put some in 4 bowls  and dropped a few dollops of dressing on each, put out the hokey (but oh so in the period of my kitchen) plastic corn plates, (you know they look like an ear of  corn lol).  I quartered the iceberg lettuce, drizzled the vinaigrette over the wedges and sprinkled a little more blue cheese on top- Mmmm they looked good! Finally with corn steamed, I assembled a few sandwiches with sliced tomato, bacon, mashed avocado and radish sprouts on the excellent Tuscan bread, cut them in halves, put them on a platter and I’m done!!!

We sat outside for hours under the stars; after supper, it was dessert and coffee and hours of conversation – to Peter’s delight our neighbors are liberal Democrats, intellects and well-read; they know Sarah Palin is stupid and that Lee Harvey Oswald was NOT the lone assassin who killed President Kennedy.

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A Perfect Jersey Shore Evening OR The Magic of the Moon

Posted in BY THE WAY, Ha-P 2 B in OG, tagged , , , , on July 31, 2010| 1 Comment »

No, no it has nothing to do with Snookie and the rest of the Guido Gang….I’m talking about…………

First of all it was a glorious day and I was still alone at the cottage with the cats (my choice) and so I did some running around.  I even drove to Shrewsbury because I was sucked in by a persistent ad that has been running on the radio on The Breeze from Shrewsbury Bicycles.  I want a pink beach cruiser or mint green or yellow or well, you get the picture.  Too far to go to find out all of their bikes started around $325.00!! Oh well….

I picked Peter up at the train station around 4pm and he was glad to be back; see his wife and his cats (hopefully in that order) and finally be able to sit on his porch and enjoy a martini, something he has been unable to do because of the dreadful heat wave which made going outside a chore and not a pleasure.

That’s how the evening started and around 6:30pm we took the Metro (so cute and so much fun) and drove to Bradley Beach to Vic’s – NOW that’s a Jersey Shore kind of place and we love it.  Pasta the old-fashioned way with gravy you know.  A bowl of shells and meatballs and a Perroni, sitting on the restaurant’s patio and I was in heaven.  The breeze was delightful, the food was exceptionally good that night-we even shared an antipasta salad.

My plan was to come home and leave the car and talk Peter into walking over to Day’s because I had been abstaining from ice cream all week and wanted a treat tonight.  Here’s what I forgot; It was Founder’s Day in the Grove and hundreds of people went to the Great Auditorium at 7:30pm to hear a concert and they got out somewhere around 9:00pm and MOST of them headed directly to Day’s for ice cream- this is how we live it up here in Ocean Grove.  In all the years I have been coming to Ocean Grove this was one of the longest if not the longest line I have ever seen.  It literally was back to the corner of Pilgrim Pathway and Pitman Avenue.  Even a junkie like me was deterred.  Plan B: I suggest we go over to Nagles where hopefully the line won’t be so long.  So much for Plan B.  Trying to keep up good spirits and chatter so my companion who never wanted to walk anywhere at this hour, would not say “Enough is enough”.  So I suggest we walk to the boardwalk and wait for the moon to rise – an experience my Brooklyn-born, City bred husband has not yet seen in his life.  The breeze was delightful, so soft and cool but not cold and this is the kind of summer day and night we have been hoping for all through July.  Hot day, not humid, cool evening-God is good (after all we ARE in Ocean Grove)!

We sat down on a bench facing the ocean and watched the waves gently lap at the shore-no crashing waves tonight.  You could smell the ocean which by the way does NOT smell like any candle claiming it’s name and scent as Ocean. The stars were out, however we couldn’t really see the hundreds that were dim spots overhead because of the lights on the boardwalk.   Still, seeing as many as we did is a treat for us city folk who have to view the night sky through thousands of ground lights.  We thought we saw Mars, that is until Mars started to move North.  Oh well, astronomers we’re not.  I knew the moon was supposed to rise at about 10:07pm and like a child wanting to know “Are we there yet?” I kept asking Peter the time.  Finally the clock moves to 10:05. 10:06, 10:07-nothing.  10:08, 10:09, 10:10 and “Look, there it is”! The slightly larger than half moon popped up above the horizon as big orange beach ball, albeit a misshapen one.  Beautiful bright orange, a fiery imitation of sister sun.  And it kept rising, faster than I thought it would.  Lucky for us we happened to be near one of those put the quarter in telescopes on the boardwalk.  In went the quarter and I got to see the bumpy topography of Mr. Moon.   Lots of people were walking along the boardwalk this spectacular evening and many remarked on the orange orb floating in the night sky.

Time check – we still have time to get ice cream and surely the line can’t be as long as it was at Nagles, which was the closest ice cream venue.  I would have preferred Day’s BUT I didn’t want to push my luck.  The line wasn’t too bad and it was almost 10:30 – I can’t imagine how many scoops of ice cream were sold in Ocean Grove last night!!!  By the time I got my cone (coffee mud pie) and we were walking home, our moon had risen high enough through the atmosphere to become a creamy white.  It followed us home, the end of a perfect evening.  The photo below is not what we saw last night since the moon is waning and is at about 68%, but isn’t this a better photo anyway?

full moon, orange moon

Full Moon Rising

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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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Whoever said New Yorkers weren’t friendly?

Posted in New York Speaks, Only in New York, tagged , , , on February 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Who ever said New Yorkers weren’t friendly?  The most recent snowstorm (I mean pretty soon they will be given names, we’ve had so many) caused our car to be buried in snow and impacted with ice by the snow plows.  Since the day seemed warmer than most, I thought the snow which was now black and yukky would be soft and we (meaning Peter) should try to shovel away some of this gritty stuff otherwise the car looked like it might be there, unmovable at least until April.  It was NOT soft, it was mounds of ice pretending to be snow!  Peter got the handy (remember who insisted we buy it to keep in thecar)  shovel out of the car with great difficulty and attempted to clear away the snow. He wasn’t making much headway at all when a young man came along with his daughter and asked Peter if he needed help.  Peter replied that he wasn’t really going anywhere today, just trying to get rid of some of the snow.  Well, the man said he would help him as soon as he brought his daughter upstairs and he could help out for about 15 minutes before his dinner guests arrived.  True to his word, Pierre returned with his own shovel and he and Peter proceeded to chop ice away from the front and the back mounds.  After a lot of effort enough had been cleared so he could move the car forward and backward a few feet.  However, as it turned out that still wasn’t enough to get the car out!  It so happens that the parking space in front of our car had been cleared away yesterday by the previous occupant.  And as luck would have it, that car pulled out of the spot – now if only Peter could get the car out and pull into that space, he would be in good shape.  BUT of course if he was able to pull the car out, he wouldn’t need to change parking spots!!!  David, one of the handymen in our building who had come across the street to help, had a brilliant idea.  He told Peter to drive the car up on the sidewalk and literally go around the front mound of ice and slip right into the spot in front.  The car just about cleared the mound and was able to get into that spot.  Much appreciation was expressed to Pierre who demurred, “If you can’t help each other out, then what’s the point?” There is no doorman in your building, Pierre, and we don’t know your last name.  BUT we really want to say THANK YOU!  And who said New Yorkers aren’t friendly?

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