One Year Anniversary

   On the 21st of March it was my birthday. It was a week long celebration.  Family, friends, and neighbors were so kind. It is one year since I bought my Sonata, and one year since I started this blog.  I thought I would change the name but 64 and counting still applies in a way even though I am now sixty-five.

              My neighbors brought me such a beautiful arrangement:

 I love flowers, birds, and being outdoors.  I just scanned this one of me enjoying my mother's petunias.  Even at that age I might have grown them myself.  I remember saving the seeds of the petunias, marigolds, four o'clocks, salvia and the zinnias for planting the following year.   I was very good at identifying seeds and seedlings. 

The celebration week started on the 17th on St. Patty's Day.  Well, it wasn't my special day but it was our special day.  It was a class reunion which normally comes at five year intervals but since we missed one reunion in 2010, we had one titled "The Class of  '65 turns 65.  So I was still 64 on the big event.   Even though I was on the planning committee, I was a half hour late and I missed the photo session and I couldn't find a seat at first. Our class took a photo surrounding a vintage Cadillac. So from that low point things turned around.   It turned to be an enjoyable affair.  I wound up eating out 3 more times that week and my daughter and the four grandchildren called with a Happy Birthday serenade.  I decided to post another tadpole update.  All the eggs have hatched:

Recently scanned this one of me during spring break probably 1971.  I guess it was bike week at Daytona Beach, Florida:

I know this posting has no real theme.  This is a group photo of a hunting club from Germania, NJ.  I think they called themselves the Red Bones.  Larry Schwenger is kneeling at the extreme right.  My husband, Roy, is the second to last in the row of men standing.  For many years we had venison cutlets breaded in Italian bread crumbs at least once a week.  Also in this photo, John Vaccaro, Dick Filling and Louis Stadtmueller.

Chain Restaurants: A Trifecta

  One week----a trifecta of good chain restaurants:   Red Robin, Cracker Barrel and Maggianos!  Ok, this happened back in February and I started the post then but almost stopped my blogging forever because I couldn't find my Red Robin photos that I thought I had downloaded to my computer.   I can't find the photos on any of my 10 memory cards and can't find them on my two computers either.  So I will re-post a couple of photos that I found on- line.  The Red Robin that I went to in Hamilton, New Jersey had a statue on their iconic robin but I could not find any postings of it. Red Robin is known for good hamburgers, Cracker Barrel for inexpensive southern comfort food including breakfast all day long, and Maggiano's for traditional Italian favorites.  I would have to say it would be hard to pick my favorite of the bunch but Maggiano's had a special going. Two could share an appetizer or pick two ceasar salads as we did, your pasta entre, your shared desert (tiramisu--excellent) and then  a take home additional pasta entre!  Not bad for twenty bucks each! I went there for my son's birthday.  Previously we had been to the one in Philadelphia and it was wonderful.  Always a special excitement to eat in a large city.  Especially fun in Philadelphia where I always imagine that I am tracing streets that were once walked on by none other than Benjamin Franklin, one of my favorites from history.

  My friend Peggy took me to Cracker Barrel's. We had to drive through historic Mount Holly, New Jersey to get to there.  I am always fond of that because of the history there and my father's roots as he went to Mount Holly High School.  I am sure that George Washington stayed at a hotel or two in that area.  People can make fun of us here in New Jersey all they want but we have it all:  history including that of our founding fathers, culture, great restaurants, great cities nearby, ocean, mountains, farm lands and the diversity of people that makes life interesting.  Because I wasn't driving it freed me up to click away right through the window of the car and I got some great shots.  They look like I must have taken a walking tour but I didn't.

At Maggiano's:

Mount Holly is the county seat of Burlington County and is about 20 miles south of the state capital of Trenton. Mount Holly played an important part in the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776. Colonel Samuel Griffin marched into Mount Holly on December 24, 1776.  The Hessian forces battled with the Continental Army until they left at night.

Driving Through Historic Mount Holly:

Old Firehouse  1752-1892

Oldest Firehouse in USA

 

Sitting on the Porch at Cracker Barrel Restaurant

Another Historic Place 1807

Loved this town but--the wires??  What is this?
 Reminds me of a picture I once saw of the wiring in India.

Yummy Sweet Potato Pancakes!

                                               Ok, my mom had a wringer washer

when I was little but it had a white enameled tub. 

Monitoring the Development of the Tadpoles

I could not wait to go back to the pond to note the progress that was made in the development of the tadpoles.  Sure enough the change was visible.  Where as each center had been like a round lttle ball in the middle of the jelly, the centers had now elongated.  You could definitely see a tail and where the head would be. Since it had been warm for three days, it was also obvious that that this part of the pond had alot of evaporation.  So much so,  that there was one mass of eggs that was now laying on dry ground.  In all probability these eggs are doomed unless we get a major rainfall that may help all the smaller sections join into one large one pond.  The biggest and deepest one had no eggs that I could see. You would think nature would know better.  I am trying to think why would there be several masses of eggs in the very small section and none in the much larger part.....?

It is not quite spring yet but the daffodils in my yard are in full bloom:

Here's a wreath that I made:

Pretty but not rare enough to stop the development:

Rehabilitation of the Pinelands?

Here in southern New Jersey I am battling our town's decision to develop a large piece of pristine woodlands. It probably is a futile effort but my friends and I are trying to put a stop to this new housing that we do not need.  New Jersey has a regulatory group known as the NJ Pinelands Commission. Here is a passage from that commission:

The Pinelands National Reserve (PNR) was created by Congress under the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978. The PNR is the first National Reserve in the nation. The PNR encompasses approximately 1.1 million acres covering portions of seven counties and all or parts of 56 municipalities.

This internationally important ecological region is 1.1 million acres in size and occupies 22% of New Jersey's land area. It is the largest body of open space on the Mid-Atlantic seaboard between Richmond and Boston and is underlain by aquifers containing 17 trillion gallons of some of the purest water in the land.

In 1979, our state formed a partnership with the federal government to preserve, protect and enhance the natural and cultural resources of this special place.

Our town entered into a unique agreement with a designated developer.  The planning board met recently to give the final approval. Before all permits were finalized some clear-cutting began in our area. The initial project was labeled as an area in need of  “rehabilitation”.   We have a town that lines an important corridor between Philadelphia and Atlantic City.  As you drive along this highway you will see a few eye sores including an abandoned supermarket and a couple of adult bookstores.  These are not the focus of the rehabilitation.  The focus is the once protected beloved pinelands.  In addition to this plan they put into place a 5-year gradual tax abatement plan. The first year new home buyers will pay no property tax. This puts an unfair burden on the citizens of town that already pay the highest property taxes in southern New Jersey. Also, if anyone decides to sell their house they will have a difficult time doing so because the buyers of other houses in town will not receive any abatement.  So:   “life is unfair” as someone was heard to say.  So I went to view the clear-cutting that was done and I visited a vernal pond. Thankfully I found the pond intact.  I continue to monitor and pray that the laws will continue to protect at least this little treasure of a pond.

Clear-cutting of the Pines 

Getting Ready to Make Mulch

A vernal pond that has been my special little treasure for years.

A Mass of Jelly-Like Frog Eggs

Close-up! Soon to be tadpoles.

 Still Waters

 Part of an Old Enameled Bowl

Of course someone is concerned about our safety.

A machine that collects trees as they zip them off.

  In a matter of one minute you can have 6 trees felled.