Italian Family in the Pine Barrens

  Italians-Americans are omni-present in New Jersey. Most people will not remember a New Jersey without pizza and hoagie shops. I grew up in Hammonton and I remember when all the local slang was infused with Italian curses, words that I cannot spell like mi-cue, citruelle, and my favorite gubba-doste which means hard-headed. I never really saw these words in print so I do not know how to spell them. I know the one nice term that my grandmother Baglivo used for all her girl grandchildren was gwandiza-bella. Well, I wanted no part of that Italian heritage at that time and I didn't curse in Italian either. What I clearly remember was a clash of cultures when I visited my grandfather Tassone's house on East Stokes Road in Atsion. There was absolutely nothing Italian going on in that house. I believe it was due to the fact that my Tassone grandmother died when my father was about eleven years old leaving him to be raised by his older sisters: Anne, Julia, Loretta, and Mary. I guess all the culture and the Italian cooking died with her. During visits we were offered sliced white bread, cold-cuts, and mustard. I viewed mustard as "what the other people used"--- a foreign condiment. It always was a step back in time when I visited there but that was exciting to me. The yard had white sandy pine barrens soil with a few sparse sprigs of grass that only needed a swinging scythe to cut it back. These Italians talked like true Pineys. Even the names in the neighborhood excited me: Wells, Lemunyon, and Giberson. There was a pump in the kitchen with no plumbing or toilet until about 1955.  I actually had to use the out-house.  The center of the house had a huge black wood/coal burning furnace and I remember the bedrooms being horribly cold.  There was one impressive centerpiece in this house: a player piano. They had a phone but it was a party line and if you wanted to be nosy you just pick the phone up and you could listen to your neighbor's conversation.  I think it went by the number of rings to enable you to know who the phone was for. My grandfather was lucky enough to have my father for a son because I believe he got a television for my grandfather before they got plumbing. My grandfather would watch boxing matches in the kitchen and he seldom joined in the conversations. We never got gifts but we usually got silver half-dollars or dollars from him. The only other Italian family that lived in the area was the Chiappine family. Phil Chiappine and my father were boyhood schoolmates and now they both reside on route 206 in an assisted living home called the Heritage. Also, it is only recently that we have become aware that our father's birth certificate has Louis on it. We found out that a kindergarten teacher preferred the non-Catholic spelling which was Lewis, so my father forever after became Lewis J. Tassone. (We have to get the certificate out again I have heard it's just J, John and James.)


I will post some photos of my grandfather, my grandparents and my father.


Antonio Tassone

Older Antonio Tassone:

 Older yet:

Antonio Tassone (with the moustache below) working or relaxing at the station in Atsion, NJ.

Tassone grandparents
(grandmother's maiden name:  Rosa Bagiotti)

My father, Lewis J. Tassone:

Grandmother's Ellis Island document:

H

Cranberry Harvest

    It is bewildering to think of all the manufacturing that existed here in South Jersey when I was young and now it's gone.  I can't imagine how our economy works at all when we produce so little and there are so many service jobs.  Somebody has to produce and I am so happy to say that it is the farmers. They still exist here---they still PRODUCE!  I had the opportunity to visit a cranberry farm. The farm had an impressive new farm building and a long row of tractors and other harvesting machines.  This is one business that isn't going to China for awhile.  This summer cranberry farmers out in the Chatsworth, NJ had to deal with excessive heat and too much rain at times causing the fruit to rot. Some bogs were hit hard and others not so much.  The farms that I visited are harvested underwater.  There has been and there continues to be an evolution of machines that keep improving the efficiency of harvesting the beautiful berries.  These berries will be used for juice products and not the fresh produce market.  I was able to see one of the newly developed harvesters. The cranberries grow in low bogs and can be flooded with water for varying reasons.  This flooding can protect the plants from excessive heat or frost in the spring or fall. When you drive through cranberry farming areas, you will see little houses next to the fields.  They house the pumps that regulate the water in the bogs.

Harvested cranberries in the flooded bog float to the top.

Berries with a twig from the low growing bush

These are the common type of harvesters used in a small team of workers.

This is another type of harvester.  A concern for the farmer is that some machines have wheels that somewhat damage the bed of cranberries.  So a harvester that floats like this one may be an improvement over the wheeled variety.  This one is drawn back and forth by a cable attached to a tractor.

After the harvesters get the berries off the plants, the floating berries are drawn into a conveyor that will bring them up and then send them to a shute that will deposit them in the trucks for hauling.  They still have bits of stems, leaves and dirt so they must go on to the main building at the farm where they will be processed for cleaning purposes.   

This is one of the pump houses with cedar siding.

This is the pool where the cranberries are dumped for the cleaning of the berries. This is the last step at the farm and then they are hauled away to be processed into juice and other products but these berries will not be for the fresh produce market.  I ate a few of the raw berries and they were quite enjoyable---no added sugar! 

 

At the Shore in Fall

   It was a perfect day in Atlantic City.  First we walked on the beach and then hit the boardwalk.  Stopped in at Fralinger's and I wanted to buy taffy for my friend that was having her shoulder operated on that day.  I did not want to buy taffy for her there because her husband's family had some connection to the James' Salt Water Taffy.  But then I saw the posting that all the taffy places were owned by the same company now.  I purchased 4 vintage postcard reproductions:

I am fond of pigeons because my husband raised a few as a kid.  He knew all the different types: barred, checked, rollers and whatever other types they had.  So pigeons make me think of him.

All types of birds were in the pine trees feasting on the pine cone seeds including this squirrel that allowed us to get close:

Fall Reveals

  Basically I am not a big fan of fall--colorful or not---everything is dieing, going dormant or migrating. Raking leaves is not that enjoyable either.  All I can think of is the coming winter season and being cooped up in the house.  No matter how unbearably hot it gets in the summer I never feel like like a prisoner of my home as I do in the winter.  The one thing I somewhat enjoy is how the bare trees reveal the starkness of the branches against the blue sky.  Usually, I find a praying mantis or a walking stick in the garden during this season and I got photos of both:

   They are so fascinating.  They are big, they move their heads up and stare at you dead in the eye, they are a good example of camouflage and they eat the head of their mates!!  Whoa!  One year there was one on my porch and I flicked a bug near it and I got to see some real action in the pursuit of prey.

The walking stick:

   After the leaves are gone bird's nests are revealed.  I used to find the sack-like nest of the Baltimore Oriole.  You would see blue tarp stands woven with other natural materials.  I haven't had the pleasure of their nesting for two years.  Maybe the disintegrating tarp is gone and the birds have moved on or the new high school was just too much development.

Squirrel nests are revealed as well:

Migrating pale-colored robins seek red berries from the dogwood trees:

Sometimes I find a nasty infestation of bag worms on trees and shrubs.  The insects winter over in a cocoon-type of formation:

Aside from nature's revelations, how about some colorful fall scenes:

My old milk bottle arrangement:

Farm Market offering:

Good time of the year to plant trees, Roe:

Another Day in Pitman

   I spent Friday in Pitman, New Jersey and visited the post office there.  The building is quite old and it features a plaster bas-relief sculpture.  The clerk told me it was a commissioned work with more details below:

"Often mistaken for WPA art, post office murals were actually executed by artists working for the Section of Fine Arts. Commonly known as "the Section," it was established in 1934 and administered by the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department. Headed by Edward Bruce, a former lawyer, businessman, and artist, the Section's main function was to select art of high quality to decorate public buildings if the funding was available. By providing decoration in public buildings, the art was made accessible to all people." from "Articles from EnRoute : Post Office Murals" by Patricia Raynor


My son's house with new updates: 

Chipmunk getting ready for winter.  His landlord tried to evict him but he was hearing none of that with his stash at the side of the driveway.

Pitman buildings:

The South Jersey Pumpkin Show Festival

  Just was too nice of a fall day to stay home and this festival is just one straight drive of about 5 miles from my home.  Brings up sentimental memories because it was held at the 4-H grounds in South Egg Harbor.  Just recently got rid of some of my blue ribbons that I received. For the most part,  I got them for sewing crafts.  Also, it was there that I once made a presentation on salad making. There was a question period afterwards.  The head of the 4-H asked me something about garnishing a salad and I used the word  "lousy".  Something to the effect--Well, the salad might be "lousy" but if it looks nice someone may at least want to taste it.  I then I got a lecture on the origins of the word "lousy".
  The festival was your typical craft show with an extra emphasis on home improvements:  bath fitters, granite counter tops, gutter guards, solar energy panels, and reps from Lowes and Home Depot.   Also, there were various pumpkin contests on the agenda.

http://www.sjpumpkinshow.com/


  We enjoyed the band called Ten Eddy Drive. It is a rock & roll cover band from South Jersey, although the members hail from all over the state from Highlands to Wildwood. They play music that spans generations, from Buddy Holly, Elvis & Johnny Cash to Matchbox Twenty and Cee Lo Green.  My video wouldn't load :(

 Near by there is a salvage yard for metals and old cars.  I took a photo of the line-up of Mack trucks.  There really were about ten of these bad boys.

 Also, we went around the block to see what this woman was harvesting in a weedy field.  It was in an area in South Egg Harbor where there used to be quite a few black farmers.  About thirty years ago, I remember mules were used to plow the fields.  Well, as we came around, we could see a black woman with her cotton printed house dress being used to help her carry out the freshly picked collard greens.  I think she even had a bandanna wrapped around her head in the typical fashion.  She was happy and even gave us a smile as we rode by.  She would have made one of my best photos ever if I were brave enough to ask her permission to take her photo.


 Here's a photo that somewhat matches my memory except I remember at least two mules yoked together:

Good-bye Tacoma-----Hello, Jeep!

   In March it was I that first gave up on the my trusty 10 year old Malibu but yesterday my son gave up on his 12 year old Tacoma Truck.  It served him well.  It was never a chick magnet and now it was pretty sad looking.  Dull black, dings, splatters, low-riding, and no hub caps!  But not bad on gas, room enough for camera gear, and comfortable enough for the daily drive to Philly.  Two vehicles in about 20+ years of driving isn't too bad.  

So here's the old Tacoma that he had:

But he bought a new Cosmos Blue Jeep.  He took me for a ride in it and it was quite comfortable until we got on some bad roads in Pitman and then it was a little like taking it on an off-road trip. Looks rugged enough so it should last at least another ten years and it might be a little more fun on work-free days now that he has a few of them.

October Vignettes in a Cozy Little Home

    I put up a foil leaf garland, a fall wreath, and put my witch on the dining table and my seasonal decor was complete.   But then I had a chance to visit a special little home that made me ooo-oo and aaahhh!  I had to take photos and I told her I would be posting them on my blog but she probably won't even get to view these photos since she doesn't go online much.  She favors Annalee decorative dolls. I have been to her house at Christmas and I was mesmerized then but I didn't think the Halloween theme would measure up but it did.

Love her vintage chairs:

My favorite view with the French doors. And really a Halloween tree!  :

Halloween towels??  I never gave a thought to decorating the bathroom for any season--well, maybe a hand towel at Christmas:

Such a cute little enclosed porch:

Featured Annalee dolls:

   I was so intrigued by the welded art work made by her son that I didn't notice the Halloween themed prints.  I think they are fantastic and I never even asked about them:

  For now I will post these photos but I did collect some sprigs of nature's fall offerings and put them into a old milk bottle.  I will add that photo later.