Sixty-four and counting...

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Revealing the Revel on Opening Day

On Monday, April 2nd, 2012, my friends and I went to the Taj with the intent of walking on the boardwalk to the new Revel Casino. It was a chilly day but it was a manageable ten minute walk about two blocks down toward the inlet of Atlantic City, New Jersey. Monday was an unusual day for a grand opening. They wanted to open on Sunday, April first but they did not want the opening associated with any April Fool’s joke.

Little did I know that the next day my friend would find herself in the AtlaniCare Hospital with quite a different view of this magnificent structure. The hospital there is a good one with recent renovations. My friend was resigned to the fact that she needed some attention to her health issue but being in a hospital where you have views of some of the top casino hotels helps.

I am very happy to be able to share these photos because for over a month I thought I lost these shots. I could not find the memory card that had the photos so I assumed that there was a malfunction with the camera and they just were not to be found. But today I found the card in pocket of a jacket that I wore. I am happy to have these photos especially the ones on the casino floor because that day I was flashing away and security said absolutely nothing to me. But on a later visit the guards were very stern in their warning against taking photos on the casino floor. That must be a challenge for them when small camera phones are ubiquitous and video slot winners whip them out to record a picture of their jackpot screen. The structure is stunning. There is a layered curvaceous foundation and then the soaring tower. Inside a clean minimalist decor is not in any way extravagant. One stairwell had an art feature that I liken to a hundred dangling fishing lines with gilded irregular squares anchored at odd angles. It is very appealing but I think it is a look that I can replicate with some items found at the local craft store. In comparison I think the Taj decor is dated but they have these magnificent chandeliers that only can be made by glass artisans. And they do not have one chandelier they have many.

Security was tight that day:

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Earth Day April 22, 2012

It's Earth Day tomorrow but I am posting today because of the forecasted rain event. We are so dry around here. We desperately need it. My hope is that the rain will also help to sprout seeds on the scarred and barren ground that they just about clear-cut near my house. Because the prediction is for an inch or two of rain, erosion and flooding might occur but I am holding out for the possibility that a load of good topsoil may wash into my yard. Yeah, I am the bottom of a hill.

The Iris plants are loaded with buds and here is the first bloom:

A friend gave me some 3-foot tall saplings of the Rose of Sharon shrub or tree, hens and chicks, and some lavender. I have been trying to grow hollyhocks with no luck so I was delighted to try these these resilient relatives in the hibiscus family. They are going right next to the property line to give me privacy from the ever increasing traffic to the school. Next year the high school will be at full capacity when they have their first senior class. Here's a photo of the hens and chicks. Don't they look like they have been there forever?

With the devastation behind me I have new appreciation for the seedlings that I find around the house. These were collected in out of the way little nooks and many were hiding just under shrubbery. I have potted up, American holly, dogwood, swamp maples, oaks, pines, red bud, huckle berry, and laurel. I will baby these plants:

Now some might think this is a trashy looking thing to junk up a garden. So to feature this item here on Earth Day I am a little embarrassed but I am having so much fun with this solar powered butterfly. Its action is so realistic. It jiggles and flutters round in circles. I know it is realistic because I saw a robin go after it---only once it was fooled :

Maybe I will get a to share a few strawberries with the birds:

This is for documentation only. I do not care for my cultivated blueberries properly so last year the berries were plentiful but this year these are the only blossoms that I have from four bushes. So I definitely will not be tasting my own blueberries:

Same as above. I did not care for my asparagus enough to get those fat stubby shoots. What do you expect from pine barren soil? My grandfather came over once and called it "sweet potato soil". Just about pure sand! It needs to be "amended" with manure :

Cranberry bogs up in Chatsworth needed a drink, too:

A trip to the bay in Tuckerton, NJ gave us this view. http://www.tuckertonseaport.org/ Love this town:

Two more scenes from Tuckerton:

Finally, my house with the red maples starting to leaf out and a dogwood in bloom. Never went for the gusto and got myself a beautiful pink cultivated one like my neighbor's. Happy Earth Day :

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Springtime in the Pines

I am still grieving the loss of the woodlands behind my house. So now instead of walking a few steps to wilderness I have to drive about a mile down the road to the lake area. I once took a day course with a biology professor from Glassboro State College now know as Rowan University. We stopped at several sites in the Pine Barrens: cemeteries, pygmy pine forest, the remains of old settlements, Oswego Lake and then a surprise stop. We stopped at the Egg Harbor City Lake that is within walking distance of my house. I was able to see the area with new eyes. You would have thought that he had a house on the lake for how he went on about the area. As we surveyed the more isolated part of the lake we observed cedar trees, turtles, the tea-colored water, and the birds. The professor spotted a Great Blue Heron's nest of all things! I have since gone back to see if I could find another roosting heron but never had any luck.

Lone Canada Goose on the Egg Harbor City Lake:

Rustic Cottage---Picture Perfect :

Unpaved Road

Daffodils are now replaced by mountain pink phlox:

Needed to research the following image.

Ok, I will say that this is sassafras--extremely common in our woods and I am shocked that I did not recognize it. I even have this in my yard!

Another one that I have to research.

Edit--- after my research: This one is the invasive species of Japanese Honeysuckle. I did an image search and had a very hard time identifying it because these lobed leaves are only common in early spring later leaves will not have this lobed effect as much.

Woodpecker nest hole! This one is in use and I am

happy that the developer did not get this one!!

Friday, March 30, 2012

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.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

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: