Jersey Summer, Part 2

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Yesterday I highlighted our day trip to Asbury Park as part of our summer vacation in New Jersey this year. (That post can be found here.) Today I just have some bits and pieces from the rest of our time off – some lovely visits with friends who came to stay for a few days and our wanderings into town, our annual visit to the local fireman’s fair (prior posts on the fair can be read here and here) and of course my adventures in gardening.

I am afraid I must report that gardening this year didn’t pan out especially well on the vegetable front – my sweet peppers have consistently been sneakily consumed, hollowed out by the likes, I believe, of a particular chipmunk who I spy daily (or a rotating cast of chipmunk characters), who teases me hopping around the deck every morning. Only my hot peppers (two varieties of jalapenos and one banana pepper) have performed admirably – the critters having tested them and realized that they were indeed too spicey. A few measly cherry tomatoes and a single full sized one round out the produce. Sigh.

*My favorite dahlia – red, pink and white.*

Meanwhile half the dahlias have had the good grace to bloom while I am here, the other half have buds but are holding out. I especially adore this red, pink and white one and the hummingbirds share my enthusiasm – they and the butterflies stop for long drinks of nectar there and I find bees drunk with the pollen as they roll around in them.

I commuted longer than usual before vacation on this trip and Kim and I discovered Senor Peppers restaurant and take out across from the train station. A little careful planning and I could place our dinner order when the train hit the station before mine and by the time we got to Red Bank our order was just about ready.

Ice cream ran a close second to Mexican food this summer and I discovered that Nicholas Creamery does a powerful peach ice cream which rivals Ryan’s, my go to until now. The Creamery has the great advantage however of being within walking distance of the house. We further explored blackberry and lemon pie flavors (thank you Deva for pushing us out of our comfort zone) which were wonderful, but peach is still my go to.

*Old tin mugs I purchased. I have a very fond memory of one at my grandmother’s house and I sort of can’t resist them.*

The weather ran to rain (after some extreme heat) which meant I had fewer beloved evenings out on the deck although we did sneak a few in at the end.

*The rather jolly interior of one of the Mexican restaurants we went to in Red Bank.*

A trip to Red Bank with our friend Bill resulted in several purchases. He and Kim did some buying at the comic book store, but I had my go at the Antique Annex. Among my purchases were: a cat picture (future post), a copy of Peggy Parker, Girl Inventor, some silverware (yes, I bought Bakelite silverware in Asbury and some silver flatware in Red Bank – we’ve been suffering a loss of silverware in the NYC apartment), and a rather extraordinary pink glass with images of stars on it.

*Just love this and would like to research it a bit.*

A later trip to Red Bank (taking Bill to the train) resulted in a real discovery – a new independent bookstore opened there in the last few months. Tucked on a side street called Monmouth it is called Crazy Story Books. It is large and well stocked and I look forward to many happy hours of shopping there.

A few select other dahlias.

Last night we hit the first night of the Fireman’s Fair. Kim and I took our favorite ride on a firetruck around the neighborhood and threw caution to the wind and went on a rather nutty, jarring ride in some flying saucer cars. We bought raffle tickets and of course lost and ended the evening with veggie burgers at our local diner. If I haven’t mentioned it before, the fireman’s fair which runs about a week, is one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the country and raises almost all of the annual funding for our (largely volunteer) fire and first aid. (A prior post about this fireman’s fair and its history can be found here.)

A ride on a fire engine!

Fireman’s Fair fun.

Kim’s distance walking has improved over our vacation and just today we walked into town and back – yay! So it is time to pack the New York kitties up and head back to Manhattan. I suspect this won’t get posted until after we are back there tomorrow. We need to gather up our dress duds and get ready for our trip to Washington on September 10 and Kim’s talk there so more to come about that soon too.

****

Posting this shortly after arriving back in New York. Cats are recuperating under and on the bed. Unpacking (and lunch) up next!

Jersey Summer, Part 1: Asbury Park

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: This is my first round-up post about our summer days here in New Jersey. Our time here started a bit early (my friend who cares for the New Jersey cats went to Jamaica for a few weeks) with Kim working here and me commuting. Our two weeks of real vacation wraps tomorrow when we head back to Manhattan – again a bit early to accommodate Kim’s gig speaking at the Library of Congress and then SPX the second week in September. I will need to travel back to New Jersey in late September or early October if I want to see the last of my dahlias bloom however – several have stuck stalwartly to buds only.

Last weekend I seized the opportunity for Kim and I to grab a ride with a friend to Asbury Park. Kim had never been and I had investigated and found a few junk stores potentially worth checking out there. The Asbury of my childhood has receded almost entirely into the background of pricey new condos, townhouses and shore hotels superimposed on it.

*Maybe a future post on this little gem!*

We didn’t go to Asbury, or its kissing cousin across the lake Ocean Grove often (or nearly often enough for me), as a kid. I remember going to a doctor there and also a sort of girl scout outing there. We were taken to the amusement pier for a bit although it was largely closed down. (The other feature of that day is we made candles – I have no memory of exactly how all this matched up.) Seeing the pier and the then defunct Merry-Go-Round, lives in memory however and I always itched to go back but it was a little too far and a bit too rough around the edges for my folks to bother taking us. Somehow by the time I was in high school my crowd wasn’t one for going to the Stone Pony and we never got in the habit of going down there.

*A sort of average view from the interior of the Antiques Emporium.*

*I really wanted this weird jug but evidently, I have very good taste and he was too pricey!*

Kim is still recovering his distance walking and I wasn’t sure how much we could cover of the pier on this hot day, so we started at a smattering of junk and vintage clothing stores (and one rather superior used comics store), in a little downtown area with a larger antique annex next to it. After Kim bought some paperbacks at the comics store, we wandered to the annex. It is one largeish floor. The pickings seemed a bit thin at first but somehow as always, we came away with some interesting bits including this rather lovely plate of Psyche (shown here) and some Bakelite forks and spoons for the apartment in Manhattan. Kim came away with several Gene Autry novels he regrets buying. (He does not appear to regret the paperbacks however.)

*I think all these came from our Asbury junket!*

While we looked for a place to eat lunch we stumbled on a photo booth, and I insisted that we take photos. They are catnip for me; I can’t pass one without stopping.

Views of the pizza place and a period movie theater playing revivals.

We wandered a bit more and I saw a pizza place in a rather extraordinary old building and snapped these pics. However, in the end we decided on Mexican food. (This has been a bit of a theme for this vacation – we’ve eaten a lot of good Mexican food. Many Mexicans have settled in the area and there is no shortage of great places in Red Bank as well as this one in Asbury.)

Close to a train station, Asbury Park has clearly become a spot for day trippers and weekenders coming for a shore weekend even as their great grandparents may have. Every shop carries copious copies of Weird New Jersey magazine and absolutely every place is playing Bruce Springsteen – the ultimate in native son made good. We visited a shop that appears to specialize in occult publications – Bruce playing there as well (is it one loop somehow piped into all the shops?) but they had a very impressive Zoltar fortune telling machine which I gave a shot for a quarter.

*My fortune was very non-descript, but his delivery was well worth the price of admission.*

After lunch we walked to the boardwalk. Despite it being the afternoon and sunny, a breeze found its way, off the ocean or the small lake, which made it a pleasant walk. Asbury is beach and the ocean on one side and what they call lakes (small fingers of water) on the other two sides. Old pedestrian walkway bridges, as well as roads, cross them and this feature also always stuck with me from childhood. My grandmother’s preferred, red church was on the outskirts of one side, closer to her home in Long Branch and the town of Ocean Grove is to the south.

Some views of the old buildings in a state of decay or being repaired?

We walked along the south lake to the boardwalk and examined some of the old buildings, in various states of disrepair, there without making it all the way up to the original pier and bathing pavilion which appears to also be the process of renovation.

Heading back to where we were being picked up we walked along the Ocean Grove side. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the area, Ocean Grove is a Methodist camp founded in 1869. Maintained impeccably as a Victorian architecture gem and historic site, with its summer tent inhabitants, has held a dual fascination for the area which I have never had sufficient opportunity to explore. We could see old hotels on the ocean front, still in use, with wide porches with views that must incorporate sea and town in all directions.

*Swan pedal boats as the sun started to head down.*

In my mind these two towns have had a sort of remarkable Cain and Abel existence all these years. Cheek to jowl, the religious community which doesn’t even allow cars to drive through it on Sunday is a stone’s throw from the music venues and biker bars (we only saw one biker bar while we were there although my guess is that there are still a number of them tucked away) of Asbury. One can’t help but wonder how many Ocean Grove inhabitants sneaked quikely across the river on a Friday or Saturday night in summer for a different kind of fun.

Jersey Girl Garden

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: We are nicely installed here at the Jersey shore. Cats, both the Jersey Five and the NYC kits, are getting used to a new routine. My friend Winsome who cares for the Jersey cats is in Jamaica on vacation and so these kitties are stuck with me and my commuting hours. Feeding and litter box cleaning for seven cats is plenty twice a day. Kim has been doing the evening feeding shift so everyone doesn’t need to wait for me to get home.

*Strawberries which are prolific and yummy but always tiny.*

The weather has been too balmy to sit outside or do much in the garden yet, however my spring efforts are paying off and my dahlias are already providing a stream of early blooms. We had rain last night so everything is quite content. Finding time to water before or after work has been hard as well, but necessary many of these hot and very sunny days. The sudden hard rains and winds can be hard on them too though and I have lost a few dahlias to it.

*Some nascent tomatoes – all except the poor cherry tomato.*

My tomato plants have been slow starters this year. I planted them in the garden instead of containers and it may have been a mistake. The chipmunks and squirrels (which are aplenty here) delight in digging them up, not eating them, but digging them out, despite cages around them. The cherry tomato seems to be their favorite game. (I will say while planting something else recently I found a bunch of peanuts in the hole I dug! Maybe that is what the squirrels are looking for?

Unlike the tomatoes the three different kinds of peppers I planted in containers have done quite well. We already have some peppers ready for the picking and the promise of many more. We have sweet peppers, jalapenos and banana peppers – I believe it is the banana peppers that are ready for the picking – might be the jalapenos though – I will pluck some and let you know.

*The banana peppers (or are they jalapenos?) are coming along nicely. May trim one for the fish stew!*

*Look carefully for a couple of small green peppers.*

The hydrangea is doing its thing and the purply blue in the backyard is stunning. The honeysuckle is blooming (I taught Winsome’s grandkids about sucking the sweet bit out of the bottom of a blossom.) I don’t cut them often though as they don’t seem to last in a vase – the pink variety is so pretty though I will sometimes. The cut flowers are a great joy to have in the kitchen where they are seen day and evening and always cheer me. Unfortunately, Beauregard does like to have a nibble on them.

*My favorite hydrangea in the backyard. I like to clip a occasional choice bloom.*

*The pink honeysuckle – a favorite of mom’s.*

The herb garden, shown at the top, is a bit feral – the sage and the oregano seeking to crowd out everyone else. The basil is making a valiant effort, and the rosemary has the good fortune to be outside the purview of the sage and is perking along, smelling glorious.

Although in spring the garden is all about the peonies, the centerpiece of the summer garden is the dahlias. This year I have planted some in the garden and others are in containers. The ones in the garden are growing quite huge and some of those are having their first bloom. Some of the old timers are in containers and a favorite orange-red and yellow is already bursting out much to my delight. In the garden is an enormous purple one which I leave in the ground over the winter and seems to be very happy. I planted it for my mom, like many of the peonies, for Mother’s Day or her birthday. That is the origin of the cherry tree and the magnolia too.

*This orange and yellow is a favorite returning this year.*

The rest of the dahlias are dug up annually in the fall and tucked into the garage for the winter where I hope to find tiny green buds on them in the early spring for planting. I had some new ones purchased this year that haven’t worked out so well for me so I have to think about where I buy from in the future. It could be them or it could be me. Hard to really say. I have an experienced gardening friend who advises me in these matters and she too suffered some losses this year on the dahlia front.

So sets the stage for summer here. I am eyeing my fairy lights on the deck and hoping for an evening cool enough to enjoy them. I generally take my time off in August when, even if it rains a bit more, temperatures tend to go down a bit already and the evenings are more enticing. I have a plan to make fish stew today (post with that recipe can be read here) so we have dinner for the week – easier with the commute. More tales of the Jersey shore to come for those who care to follow me.

Jersey Summers

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: I bought this clutch of postcards for a few dollars at the recent postcard extravaganza. They all depict the early days of the shore area where I grew up and now have my mom’s house. Like most areas it has largely been built up and built over, but some of the buildings remain or did during my childhood. All of these postcards appear to be from approximately the same period. Only the one from Rumson at the bottom was mailed and that is dated 1910.

If I had my way we would have spent a lot more time in Asbury Park when I was a kid. It was on hard times in the ’60’s and early 70’s and generally we migrated to things north of us rather than south of us in Monmouth County. This pier, as above, remained and even back then I was fascinated by it. It was somewhat derelict although still in use. There was a carousel in another building that I never got to ride. To my knowledge that remains – it was used in the recent Bruce Springsteen bio pic (which for a Jersey girl like myself was a wonderful compendium of places I grew up hanging out at) so I assume it is in reasonable repair.

The boardwalk is in all its glory here with women in long white cotton dresses of a turn of the century or early ‘teens summer. Parasols and hats abound. The amusements are largely hidden although there is a place for your photo to be taken and where film is sold. (Sadly absolutely no evidence that you could have your photo taken with a giant Felix doll. It just doesn’t seem to have been a thing in the US.)

The North End Hotel is the large building in front of us and below it is identified as Boardwalk and North End Hotel. Asbury Park, N.J. North End Hotel or not, I’m pretty sure the lower pier is what goes out toward the water, the boardwalk above and the sand leading to the water to our right below. I assume some of the long building was bath house space where you could rent a locker for the day, change and leave your things. Although the pier in Long Branch existed into my young adulthood (it was eventually consumed by a fire), it is the only one of the long piers into the water I remember – although maybe Asbury did or does still have one. I am scheming to get there for an ephemera sale this summer if possible and to spend the day checking it out.

*Boardwalk at New Point Comfort Beach, Keansburg, NJ. Fronting the three largest hotels.*

Keansburg was north of us, however I was (sadly) never taken to the beachside amusement pier there. It too still exists in some form. (There used to be ads for it on local television – Keansburg Amusement Park.) I don’t think any of these beachside hotels still exist however. To my knowledge only the tinier waterside homes still stand in that area. I have to admit I have never been on their boardwalk, although I spent much time in neighboring Highlands and even Matawan where my sister lived for several years.

This is what the towns of Long Branch and Sea Bright would have also looked like, the shore dotted with large hotels and rooming houses on the water which largely no longer exist. The trip down Ocean Avenue between Sea Bright and Monmouth Beach and then to Long Branch is still lined with some of the old single-family mansions overlooking the ocean and somehow surviving both tides and progress, mixed with new construction and the occasional beach club.

Until just a few years ago, the highway referred to in this photo of a swath of Atlantic Highlands would have been the very same one which people routinely walked over in order to go to and from Sandy Hook state park and connecting to Sea Bright. A new much higher and larger highway was installed to much construction mess, expense and fanfare. I guess you can still walk (and bike) across the new one, but it is vastly larger for more cars and most importantly, more boats below it. (It is no longer a drawbridge.)

*Scene from the scenic highway highest point on the Atlantic Coast Highlands, N.J.*

While likely more crammed and with contemporary stores and some more modern homes, my guess is that this view has remained somewhat the same with small cottages dotting the shore. This would have the Shrewsbury River just in view to the left with the bay to the ocean (and New York City in the distance) behind the viewer. The ocean is just on the other side of the tiny spit of land that is Sandy Hook and Sea Bright and the photographer, standing on the highway, could easily have seen all these things by turning around.

There was a time when this was a major stop on passenger pleasure cruises heading south and I assume for day trippers, even as it is by ferry in the summer today. (I could take the ferry today but beach traffic will snare on the weekend so instead I will take the train which will leave me closer to the house.) One of my ancient novels had a stop there on a cruise which I enjoyed finding immensely.

Finally, I get to my hometown of Rumson. There was a time when I knew the length of Rumson Road like the back of my hand from years of being a passenger traveling up and down it. A major artery running not just through the town but connecting the beach communities with the rest of the area, it is fairly long and famously heavily trafficked. (The Sea Bright bridge at one end was also a drawbridge and traffic during the summer would back up for miles for boat traffic. That bridge has also been replaced recently, leaving only the Rumson bridge in a state of sad decay and planned replacement.) Having said that I am puzzled by this view. While small water tributaries create a number of manmade and natural ponds and streams throughout the area, I am stumped by one of this size. (I wrote about a photo of a small pond near my house in the town of Fair Haven here.)

*Glimpse of Rumson Road Lake on the Rumson Road, N.J.*

I am wondering if this was ultimately filled in to make the golf course or country club. I will ask some of the folks who have lived there longer than I have. For all of that I like this card because it captures the feel of Rumson and Rumson Road. In the fall it is the most beautiful drive lined with old trees, leaves turned. It has always been a sort of millionaires’ row of mansions, old and new, despite being a few blocks in from the river which you would think would be more prime real estate. Perhaps the flooding discouraged the largest homes perching there and I grew up on an inlet of the river, a block off this road. If I calculate correctly though I lived much further east, where Rumson Road begins at the Sea Bright bridge. This would be on the western part as you head into the town of Little Silver, my current home in Fair Haven where these three towns connect.

As noted above, this card was mailed. On the back it says (in one run-on sentence), suppose you have been after chestnuts before this wish I was there to go along Harold. It was mailed to Miss Mary Crawford, Pine Bush, Orange Co, NY. It was mailed from Sea Bright, NJ on October 13, 1910. (Until a few years ago the post office in Sea Bright would have been this one. Sadly a larger and more modern building replaced it too.)

As I head out today I am tucking these in my bag to take with me. I will round up some frames for them and put them up at the house where both local images, beaches and piers in general and wider New Jersey images rule. (Some of those posts can be seen here and here – I have a passion for panorama photos but they are hard to document!) Keep an eye on Instagram for some garden pics. My project for the weekend is to acquire and plant some tomatoes.

Schimdt’s White and Gold Band

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: With Memorial Day behind us, and despite the fall-like weather this Saturday as I write, I thought I would pull out this postcard purchase. It both celebrates the summer season ahead and the town where my mother grew up, Long Branch, New Jersey. I snatched it up at a sale recently and will take it to the house in New Jersey where, among the images of cats, are a number of early local Jersey shore photos and postcards, an homage to my family’s history in the area and my own.

I find that Max Schmidt (1850-1951) was a violinist who immigrated to the United States in 1886 from Germany. He lived and worked primarily in New York City, even reportedly with the Met Opera at times, so this summer gig for his 24-piece orchestra was a short hop away and his orchestra enjoying some limited fame of the time.

Here is the Band White and Gold in all their 1909 glory on today’s card. Although it is somewhat standard of all the musicians with their instruments in hand, there are a few interesting elements. I like that the trumpets all have flags (pennants?) advertising the band hanging from them – three tubas, two more tuba-like things and so many drums! Behind the musicians is a sign that says Band White and Gold and a sort of gong hanging below it. At the bottom (a bit hard to read) it declares, Max Schmidt Celebrated Band White & Gold Ocean Park, Long Branch, NJ.

They appear here to be on a stage set of some kind and a careful look to the back reveals a painted column and some foliage. As best I can tell the area around them on the outside of the stage looks like a cave entrance. Most intriguing however are the three men, just behind the fellow I assume is Max himself (small child seated on the floor next to him), and they appear to stand behind wood stumps with anvils, hammers in their hands. I assume this is part of the opera music they were known to play. Tucked away, all the way on the left side and hard to see, is a harp.

This card was mailed on August 23, 1909 from Long Branch. It only says, Love from, Minnie. It was mailed to, Miss Amelia Freuzel, Sayreville, N.J. The card, produce by The Rotograph Co. NY, City was printed in Germany.

Meanwhile, this was the heyday of the band concert and his sported striking white and gold uniforms. They were hired in the summer of 1909 to play outdoor concerts in Ocean Park. (If I understand it, Ocean Park was subsumed by what is now known as Seven President’s Park – if wrong Jersey folks let me know.) Their repertoire would have been popular band music, evidently combined with excerpts from operas. At the time Long Branch was the summer haven for the very wealthy and even Presidents. (The most outstanding remaining example is Wilson’s summer home which now forms the core of what became Monmouth University’s campus. I understand that there is a building which will house Bruce Springsteen’s papers quite nearby.)

The fortunes of the town, like many, have waxed and waned over the decades. Despite my grandmother living in a residential area on the outskirts in the house my mom grew up in (I wrote about that house in a previous post here), the downtown area and even the waterfront was largely down at the heels during my childhood. The shopping district was usurped by an enormous mall (which in turn was ultimately killed by online shopping and an outdoor shopping center) and only a few essential stores hung on. There was a Foodtown supermarket by the train station (which I shopped in a few times when my sister was in the hospital across the street), a paint store called Siperstein’s, which mom frequented. (A quick look online and it appears to still be there, selling wallpaper and blinds now as well. It may be a chain.)

*Another from the internet not in my collection.*

There was also a library which for some reason I found more interesting than both the tiny one in Rumson (the Oceanic Library – I must write about it one day), and the much larger and more modern one known as the Monmouth County Library. (It is out by Trader Joe’s so I have seen it and it has been expanded further since my childhood.) We didn’t go to the library in Long Branch often as it was a bit more out of the way, but we’d stop in occasionally and there was just something especially warm and inviting about the children’s section. I wish I could remember what books I found there, I was already reading chapter books, but it would likely be a false memory. I want to say the later Alcott children’s books like Jo’s Boys. Below is what the library would have looked like in my childhood (albeit more beat up) although it is a much more contemporary and entirely different building today.

*Undated photo of the Long Branch public library via the internet.*

In addition, there was another smaller commercial area closer to my grandmother, where my great-grandparents once had their bar and restaurant. (I wrote about the blue willow ware plates – the blue plate special plates – which I inherited and use. The post is here.) My vivid memories of that area from childhood were a Dunkin’ Donuts we frequented and the rarified early McDonalds. My parent’s accountant was also there – may still be for all I know but I doubt it. (Sadly, later in life, it is also where the funeral home the family used is and that is what I associate with it now.) There was a laundromat (strange word now that I look at it) nearby we sometimes used in the years before getting a washing machine although there was one closer to home, in Sea Bright, that I remember best. Mom may have been doing laundry for my grandmother.

And so the march to summer at the shore begins again today, even if I am drinking hot coffee and eyeing a sweater for my trip downtown in a bit. However, I’m sure there will be more shore and vacation posts coming soon.

Dahlia Days and Jersey Delights

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: These are not only the dog days of summer but International Dog Day as I sit down to start this. No dogs here in the House of Seven Cats and I think the Jersey Five find the addition of the two New Yorkers two too many more let alone pups.

Blackie has wiled most of his days away in our bedroom when not hunting up Cookie (who resides in Kim’s studio upstairs) and eating her food. He’s also gotten into numerous tussles with Beau, the head of cats here and fluffed himself up into a righteously puffy Halloween-esque fellow. I am trying to resolve the problem with an extra can of food in the late afternoon. It might be working.

*The view from the back deck one glorious afternoon.*

I am on the back deck as I write, where I have spent many happy hours this vacation. Stormy, the gray tabby who seems to be perpetually surprised and terrified by the world, is at the back door looking out – hoping against hope that a fat fly will land on the screen door for her to chase.

Labor Day comes early this year but having said that the light in the afternoon already has a fall look and I have seen large v’s of birds starting to make their trek south. The evenings are chilly enough to warrant a jacket and I am starting to eye the little used fire pit. However, the earlier part of the day in full sun can be roiling hot so we are not there yet.

With heavy spring rain and subsequent dry spells the dahlias are slow to bloom this year but their show now that it has started is worthy. A few new entries are small in bloom stature but bursting with bright colors, red and white and an orange red and yellow. My beloved hummingbirds come to feast on them and they go from one to another and back to a favorite – like a bird buffet. ( Does anyone know what I mean when I say hummingbirds, hanging in the air, look like they are somehow stopping time?)

I can almost always find bees tucked in the centers of the dahlias, drowsily, drunkenly and dizzily covered in pollen. The strawberry plants are also enjoyed by the hummingbirds and are overflowing with flowers right now. I think I’ve mentioned before that they oddly produce only the tiniest, almost doll sized fruit – delicious but bizarrely small.

The tomato plants promise produce, hanging green on the vine but ripening SO slowly. Another producing tiny tasty yellow cherry tomatoes is doing a great business – unusually small but tasty bits being the order of the day here I guess. We pop small handfuls in our mouth, still warm from the sun. The jalapeno peppers are bountiful (and perversely huge) and of course are the hardest to use up quickly without killing my diners with devilishly spicy treats.

This year has felt like a real vacation. Kim and I have taken long daily walks to the neighboring towns, shopped in the antique stores and scored some items. We brought piles of books from New York (and admittedly added to them) and we have worked our way through almost all of them. Kim has been catching up on some of my Rosa Mulholland recommendations including one I brought with me that arrived shortly before our departure. In addition he has made occasional trips to the comic book store in Red Bank (Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash of Kevin Smith fame) where he has amassed books reproducing the Superman saga.

*From my favorite perch at the comic book store, reading work email while Kim looks.*

Kim and I both worked for the first two weeks here after arriving in early August and we’ll put in a few days from here after Labor Day. Last week I wrote about our pending visit with Bill which kicked off our vacation and below are some photos memorializing his visit. (Bill, if you’re reading this, we found both the Reed Crandall book AND the Pinocchio book after you left! They were on an overlooked shelf together.)

Tonight is our first visit this year to the local Fireman’s Fair. (I wrote about it last summer in a post here.) Although I have reserved the right to go again when another friend visits from Manhattan this weekend.

I recently told Kim if he wants to sound like a native New Jersey-er he weigh in on the state of the summer’s corn and tomatoes – peaches for the bonus round. We take these things very seriously and the quality of Garden State produce is of great local importance. This year corn is small but good corn can be found with some work – it is perhaps just late as it has improved as the month has gone on. The tomatoes are somewhat underwhelming unless you hit one of the El Dorados of good ones (or can convince the ones on your deck to ripen) and eat them quickly before they go from ripe to bad. All but one purchase of peaches failed the test – however last night had some that had been purchased at the peach of ripeness before going bad, ate them with ice cream and felt like we really hit it at last.

In this spirit I began to make tomato pie. After looking at numerous recipes I settled on a simple one which I share below. The tomatoes need to be bled of water briefly before starting and I used a pre-made crust. (For all my apparent cooking talents there’s something about pie crust which I have never gotten into the rhythm of properly.)

Fifteen minutes to throw together and this is in the oven cooking away for 45 minutes or more and it is without question best if consumed immediately – it is inferior when reheated. My only other word of advice is that you should pack it as full of tomato layers as possible because they shrink in the cooking and my first effort looked a bit woebegone as a result. Dan and Cathy Theodore were the first to try my pie and liked it enough to ask for the recipe, but more about their visit and the gift they brought in another post.

Recipe:

1 pie crust
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly into rounds
1/4 cup mayonnaise
6 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
3-4 ripe tomatoes, sliced about 1/4-1/2 inch thin
4 tablespoons fresh basil, sliced into ribbons (chiffonade)
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400F.
Line a 9″ tart pan with prepared pie dough. Poke a few holes in the dough with a fork, then cover with parchment paper and pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes, until crust is starting to turn golden.
While the crust bakes, slice the tomatoes on several sheets of paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Flip and salt the other side as well. Let the tomatoes sit for 10 minutes, then blot off moisture with dry towels.
Mix together the mayonnaise and the shredded cheese, and spread the mixture in the parbaked pie crust. Sprinkle 2-3 tablespoons of the basil on top.
Top with one layer of the sliced tomatoes, the onions, followed by a second layer of tomatoes. Add a third layer if space permits. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. (If like me you are worried that the tomatoes are salty from the bleeding the wiping them down wipes off most of the salt.)
Bake for 30 minutes, until crust is golden and some juices along the edge of the pie crust are bubbling. Remove from the oven and set aside for 20 minutes to cool before slicing. Tip with the remaining basil and serve warm or room temperature.

Note: Tomato pie is best served on the day it is made, but leftovers can be store in the refrigerator and reheated in the oven at 350 degrees for 12-20 minutes.

PS – At top, Beauregard, top cat of the Jersey Five, in a pout before we left today!

Vacation: Jersey Days, Part One

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: I realize I am late getting to this today, but my cat care called in sick and I had chores for the maintenance of the Jersey Five plus the NY pair, so there was a lot of cat stuff that needed to go on. Then I started the gardening, but decided that I would give you all a turn first.

When I say I started the gardening, in reality I tackled the pruning of two huge flowering trees, Crape Myrtle, in our front yard. I am not an experienced pruner at all but when in bloom these trees get heavily weighted down with water and branches snap off. With a heavy rain some were sort of hanging half off and a friend lent me heavy clippers. I, who evidently don’t own a step ladder (I will look in the basement to be sure but none in the garage/mud room), took a step stool out and did my best to reach the necessary branches. I did my best, got covered in showers of tiny pink flowers.

*Beauregard, a very fine guy. Has tried to make friends but NYC kits not having it.*

For the cat update. The good news is that Cookie and Blackie did not stand on ceremony and refuse to eat for the first 24-48 hours and instead got right to it. Cookie is at home and enjoying her private aerie in Kim’s studio upstairs. She is not pleased with cat visitors although our enormous black male, Beau, persists in visiting and attempting to make friends. I find him sitting calmly like a loaf of cat on the day bed and her being hissy, pissy.

Blackie and Beau have had a few set to’s and I need to keep an eye on that. Beau really has tried to make friends but now is hissy himself – it is after all his full time house. Blackie is not having it but also he has a gamey leg that we had seen at work before leaving. Because he refused to walk for the vet wasn’t much they could do but pain killers. He’s better but his jumping is off and I think he knows it and is more defensive.

*Some beautiful sunrises during my commute but just as happy to not do it for a few weeks!*

Aside from that, much rain has made the garden explode with green but I feel like the flowers and the veggies are slower coming to fruition. I waited forever for the cosmos seeds to come up. The heavy rains moved them around and some probably actually rotted. However, we have a nice clutch for cutting flowers. The dahlias are just getting started and I am anxious for them as they and the Rose a Sharon tree attract the hummingbirds I love.

*Chopped one of these into my fish stew and my guest’s head about blew off! Forgot I like it really spicey!*

Tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are promising this year with the cherry tomatoes already kicking out produce regularly. The jalapeno peppers are doing a grand business, but as above the tomatoes are dragging their feet and so are some beans I put in which are just getting down to business. There’s a fig tree bursting with figs for the first time and some excellent, if mysteriously doll-sized strawberries. Huh.

A nice addition to New Jersey life are the farmer’s markets. It is a discovery for us, they’ve been here. The really good Garden State produce I love can be found at these – juicy Jersey tomatoes (my own are still green!), corn, peaches and nectarines. There is one in Red Bank and one in Fair Haven. Red Bank is about a three mile walk and the Fair Haven one is about that round trip. Kim and I like a good walk and an Uber and always be employed if we don’t want the six mile round trip to and from Red Bank or if we have heavy bags.

Today we welcome our first house guest in a long time. Our friend Bill is making the trip. He’ll be followed by some folks for lunch Monday and then another friend for three days at the end of the month. (Deva, we’re practicing and working up to your stay!) Of course I always cook a lot when I am here so it is just a question of laying in supplies for some marathon Jersey meals and deck time. I figure guests should be treated to the best of our Jersey fare and as part of that project I am making (my first!) tomato pie. So more to come on that and the relative success.

*Early, new dahlia with a pollen covered bee!*

So, lots more to come but I have to get outside and water the plants before it gets any later.

Holiday Migration

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: We are (mostly) packed and at the ready to head to New Jersey this morning. It is still pitch black out as I write this, but here in New York we got our first snow flakes in a long time yesterday. I think the ground was too warm full there to be a frosting of it out there, but we’ll see what Monmouth County has, if any.

Although there is a certain feeling of routine to it, this is only the second year we are spending in New Jersey for the holidays. We are still finding our stride with it. While there are packages of gifts and essentials, I usually take the opportunity to move a few bulky items to the house there while we are packing up a car.

*Christmas breakfast with Eileen Travell yesterday before leaving town. I gave her this pretty little blue and white bowl.*

Rides With Cash is a car service I have used since I commuted frequently during my mom’s last illness. (I posted about it previously here.) Jeff, the proprietor, brings his unfailingly wonderful Aussie, Cash, with him and I get a dog cuddle in as well. Now that Cookie and Blackie share some of these rides they are less thrilled with Cash but the car is large enough for a generous separation of cats in carriers and dog!

*Cash sitting in the front seat during our summer sojourn.*

Although more frequent commutes from New Jersey in recent years has mentally shrunk the distance between the two locations, bringing the cats and going to stay is still definitely a maneuver which requires forethought and planning. Somehow the holidays got away from us this year and I feel a bit like we are going to land in a heap. Blackie’s Thanksgiving holiday illness set us back a bit schedule-wise and there will be a holiday card reveal tomorrow while we are still sending out the bulk of our mailed cards! (Apologies in advance to those of you who don’t like your surprise ruined.)

*We had our annual Top Dog Gala at work last week. We honored the NYP’s K9 unit and the dogs we care for on the force.* *Centerpieces complete with usable leash were for sale at the end of the event.*

Blackie is better, although he required yet another trip to the vet this week – puffy eye. We aren’t sure but maybe his sister socked him, or he got something in it which made him rub it a bit raw. He is somewhat demoralized by gooping three times a day and I’m sure this trip out of state will get on his last little cat nerve. (It is finally getting light and it has indeed snowed and there appears to be a half inch or so on the ground.)

For those of you who are new to the fold – five additional cats await our arrival in New Jersey. My mom left me her cats who continue to reside in the house there where they are cared for. Our visits mean a house full of seven cats. What was my mother thinking?

*All staff holiday party. My colleagues had spent the day in the lobby playing Santa and Elf to visiting animals who could have their picture taken.*

For all of this, going there for the holidays is very soothing for me . Like many folks, I feel the loss of family and friends most keenly at this time of year. Being in the area I grew up in and being around the people there mitigates it somewhat and blunts the blow of the sharp edges. I know it is asking a lot of Kim and the cats who would much rather stay in New York. However, going as a family and having everyone I love together in one place for a few weeks is special to me.

So, a brief entry today an unsuspecting Cookie and Blackie to be placed in their carriers shortly. More from the other side. Let the holidays commence!

Ode to October

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: October is a favorite month for weather here on the East coast of the US. It is when we start to pull our sweaters on and jackets, but we have not yet moved to burrowing in our warm coats and many woolen layers. The holidays and the end of the year still seem pleasantly far in the future. (This year with an anxiety fraught election in the offing, we are staving off thoughts of November.)

When I was a kid it meant you were weeks into a new school year and while the shine was still on the year and the slogging had not started, it wasn’t so new that you were adjusting to it all as you had been in September. All those back to school clothes that were a little warm in September were working better come October and by now your stiff new shoes were getting better worn in.

*Late strawberries and the olive tree, residing in the blue pot, which has much bright green new growth.* *Am hoping it is willing to be coaxed through the winter inside.*

Having spent my whole professional career in fundraising, it is the signal to the tumult of year end which is always very busy. (If it isn’t something else is entirely wrong as it was my first year at Jazz.) The summer has been spent laying plans for these last months of the year and we execute them at breakneck speed. My new gig combines the end of the calendar year with the finish of the fiscal year and tops it off with a Gala at the beginning of December – dizzying. (Driven by the close of the tax year for donors, many not for profits will bring in 25 to as much as 50% of their annual income in the last quarter of the year.)

Given my choice (although I rarely have been), it is the time of year I would travel and sometimes I have booked my business travel in the fall when I had an option. (I often did not – fundraisers tend to do things like go to Florida in the winter, or in my case formerly, follow the orchestra somewhere in February and March.) I had the good fortune to travel to Germany on a trip with the Met in the fall once. Lovely!

*A friend suggested cutting some of these and drying them to keep inside which was a nice suggestion. These hydrangea have turned this lovely pink late in the game.*

But New York is hard to give up in October as it is the time the leaves on the trees start to change which never fails to enchant. The City has whipped itself up for the fall, exhibitions opening, concerts scheduled and more, and is in full tilt. All of the dates with people I had deferred far into the future are appearing on my calendar.

For that reason I am especially pleased Kim and I got married in October. It was an event I got to schedule and choose and October was a lovely day and is a lovely moment for our anniversary. Although our level of celebration is low-key (watch for a maybe post next week) fall is a nice time to be out and traipsing around a bit together.

*A friend staking these in my absence. The apricot one is the first I have seen from that plant!*

I head to New Jersey tomorrow (the heating system needs to be serviced and turned on), where I get reports that the dahlias are full tilt. One I had never seen bloom before has turned out to be a favorite apricot color. Zinnias which took their own time about flowering are finally hard at it. I will plant more (and perhaps earlier) next year though as they are very jolly.

Some errant cabbages have taken hold and I am not sure what to do with them – will they become more like heads? How do I cook these? Also, something is eating them. Sadly the cucumbers may come to much fuss about nothing and not produce that much in the end. Maybe I will even get to sit out with the fire pit tomorrow night. I never seem to be there for the right weather.

My vulnerable young fig tree needs wrapping in burlap soon and the hibiscus and olive tree, in pots, will need to move inside for the winter. The dahlias will need to be dug out and stored too once they are done, but that is more like a trip in November.

*Saved this hibiscus from a damaged half-price shelf at Lowes and it is lovely.*

However, I find this fall haunts and chases me a bit with hints of sadness for the waning year. Perhaps just too much change with mom passing, job shift and the like – I don’t respond to change well in general. The fall is not filling me with optimism and energy the way it usually does. However, a day in the garden tomorrow, cuddles with kitties and a anniversary day with Kim next weekend should do much to set me right again.

Commute

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today is a bit of a day in the life of post, back to toys tomorrow! As ongoing readers know, a few weeks ago Kim and I packed kitties and a few bags and headed to our house at the Jersey shore for a few weeks. With a new job I don’t have a lot of vacation so I am commuting these first weeks.

My new digs for work are way over on York Avenue and 62nd – an ideal daily commute from our New York apartment and I walk to and from most days. Occasionally I hop on a slow moving bus that wanders up and down York – and then oddly meanders across 57th Street.

Over the river heading to NYC just as the sun is coming up.

I am paying for my being a hop, skip and a jump from work with more than a month of a Jersey commute which is an hour and twenty minute train ride, with another twenty to thirty minutes on the subway and walking on the other end. It is a bit of a shock to the system – being at the mercy of the NJ transit system and back in the clutches of the Q train daily.

On the other hand, as I write this from my deck this Saturday morning I just saw a hummingbird take a long, long drink from a flowering tree and that is part of my summer reward. As I write, I am perched on my deck in full view of some ripening peppers and tomatoes. Cicadas buzz in the background.

*My commuter mug, a great gift, but it did turn on my earlier this week.*

It may be worth it but there is a cost for my slice of paradise! Our morning, always an early start, is even earlier. Cats (so many cats!) need to be fed, litterboxes cleaned and Blackie needs his shot. Kim tackles much of it but there’s a mad flurry of activity for a bit. The train ride in is an easy one and I get on early so always have a seat. As long as I don’t have an early appointment to make me crazy if the train has a hiccup, it is generally a time for some extra work or reading.

*Sunrise on the way into the city – sort of the dividing point where it becomes more urban.*

A friend christened my commute with a travel mug for my coffee, which I now fill religiously and think of her as I drink my piping hot coffee on the train. However, the other day in my enthusiasm I filled it too high and the steam popped the top. When I threw my bag onto my shoulder to run out the door hot coffee streamed down my back! Ouch and a pause to change my top layer (and put some soap on it so it wouldn’t stain!) and I was out the door. My back smarted all the way to work and I couldn’t take my jacket off as my tank had a coffee stain on the back! I have learned my lesson and I both allow to cool and don’t fill quite so ambitiously.

Heading into Red Bank station, we slow through these woods and then over the river. I love this few minutes coming home.

This route to and from the city is a well worn one of course and I have been traveling it on and off since reaching adulthood. It was the first and last leg on my trips to and from college for the holidays. Eventually it was the trip I took to visit my folks once I was living in New York, and ultimately to my dad in hospice during his long illness. Aside from the time of the pandemic (I have written about my time taking the ferry here) and just beyond when I indulged in a car to and from my increasingly lengthy visits to mom during her illness, the train was my main conveyance here and back. (I wrote about those trips with a lovely comfort dog, Cash, here.)

*Where the view turns urban as we approached NYC the other morning.*

The trip on the Jersey side starts out with water and woods. A third or more of the way there, houses start to emerged and are closer together, over some marshland (my mom used to talk about the wildlife in those marshes!) and then it becomes increasingly urban. Before you know it you are in Elizabeth and Newark and then the City is in sight before a ride through a tunnel (used to terrify me as a kid, these tunnels) where my ears pop, and then into Penn Station on the other side.

*Mom always talked about the birds and other wildlife in these marshes.*

Of course the trip back is the same in reverse going back. Getting to the train is always more stressful in the evening and I struggle with the discipline to get out of the office with enough time to do the reverse path to the train. It is generally boarding when I get there (unless delayed) and I hop on in the nick of time. The evening by necessity is more work filled as I have left things I can deal with on the train for that time and it is largely work time.

Weather permitting a quickly assembled dinner can be had on the deck – twinkling lights on and Radio Dismuke (more about that here) playing popular standards of the 20’s and 30’s. Tempting to stay up, but an early to bed with the early to rise to commute on the horizon again!