SpeakEasy
-
•June 11, 2014
Kite Flying on Long Beach Island – a Metaphor for Raising Kids
Thanks to a remarkable recovery fromSuperstorm Sandy, everyone who desires to spend time on Long Beach Island can now enjoy returning to all their favorite activities and amusements. I have…
-
•June 5, 2014
Hold the Pickled Octopus
As a soft breeze wafts gently over LBI, you think how nice it would be to spend the afternoon lolling on the beach reading a light, amusing book. Grab your Kindle, download a cookbook or two, and let…
-
•May 28, 2014
Happiness Is Summer ‘Down the Shore’
Ah, summer. Double ah when it’s at the beach. Triple happiness when it’s down the Jersey Shore. We simply cannot get enough of this southern part of New Jersey. Why not? Because summer down the shore…
-
•May 21, 2014
One Man and the Sea: From Norway to Tuckerton
Capt. Morten Mortensen has what it takes to bring quality fresh seafood to all of us who truly enjoy eating the best. His story is one that will enlighten many and give all a greater appreciation for…
-
•May 14, 2014
How Green It Was Then
An article on the new $8.25 minimum wage in New Jersey brought back many pleasant memories of growing up in Newark in the ’40s. In noting the stark differences in salaries from the mid-’40s to today…
-
•May 7, 2014
Motherhood Is a Wonderful and Fulfilling Club
As I was driving along recently, I slowed when it appeared that a teenage boy might skate into the street. He was on in-line skates, held a hockey stick and was making circles on his driveway very…
-
•April 30, 2014
Treading, Writing and Getting an LBI Education
Taking my second Lynchburg College semester off meant pumping gas through spring 1980. It was much less glamorous than being in school, but the peace of mind from reading books and writing during off…
-
•April 23, 2014
A Golden Match in Manahawkin
My first life began about11 years or so ago. I do not know where I was born or anything about my early days. All I know ismy lifeprobably was not any fun, so that is why I cannot remember.
-
•April 16, 2014
Whatever Happened to Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice?
I turned on my laptop, opened to my homepage and checked out the question of the day: “Which one of these trending names is the coolest? Blue, Zebulon, Calix, Halcyon, Decimus, Senna?”
-
April 9, 2014
For a Feisty 99-Year-Old, ‘It’s Only a Number’
When my friend Harriet Berne of Tenafly turned 90, she celebrated by investing in a 10-year CD. At 91 she endured a root canal and a year later enrolled in night school to brush up on her French. A…
-
•April 2, 2014
Walking the Line
Three hundred fifty years ago, a British royal decree created New Jersey’s first “subdivision,” the provinces of East Jersey and West Jersey. But the duke of York, who gave the land to two loyal…
-
•March 26, 2014
Before Sandy, the Mayor of Clarence Drive Ruled
Someone once said when one of us dies, it diminishes all of us a little. I’m feeling a bit diminished now as I come to grips with the recent death of Bob Dorer, the self-proclaimed mayor of Clarence…
-
•March 19, 2014
Telling Tales Out of School
“The best-laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley …” So said the poet Robert Burns, who lived in Scotland many years ago but was apparently able to predict the fate of my best-laid schemes in an…
-
•March 10, 2014
Winter Willies
The tiny hairs inside my nose quiver as I inhale the frigid moonlit air. This year, nights remained arctic cold with way too much snow. I read stories about this kind of winter and resulting cabin…
-
•March 5, 2014
With the Falling Snow Comes an Urge to Purge
There is nothing like a snowstorm to get me in the mood to lighten the junk in a few drawers. Once I began this exercise, I was surprised at what I had been keeping for far too long. I am a mother of…
-
•February 19, 2014
Hillary R. Clinton: The Queen of America
I don’t know why our nation has to tolerate so much time and money spent on campaigning for the next president of the United States. Most voters are aware that Hillary Clinton has it “in the bag.”
-
•February 12, 2014
It’s Been a Long Winter and We’re All Getting a Little ‘Ticked’
Jay Mann’s column last week really struck a chord: There really does seem to be a growing number of people “ticked” with just about everything anymore. You can almost see it on their faces at any…
-
•February 5, 2014
Memories of a Gibson Girl By the Jersey Seashore
I was cleaning out an old chest in one of my closets at home in Philadelphia when I came across a treasure I thought I had lost: century-old photos of my mother and her familywhen she was a child.…
-
•January 30, 2014
Sounding Off About Hearing Loss
Most of our summer weekends are spent entertaining guests on Long Beach Island. This means waking to a houseful of people whom we normally do not see so early in the day. My husband and I live alone…
-
•January 22, 2014
There’s No Place Like Home
I was at the Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce luncheon last Tuesday and one of the speakers was asking why people come here. I met with him afterward and offered a few ideas on how he could…
-
•January 8, 2014
Old-Fashioned Values Sewn Up in Love of Dolls
Growing up in the 1950s had many rewarding moments. Playing with dolls and sewing with my mother are two pastimes that I cherish and continue today – in memory of the best mother ever.
-
•December 18, 2013
No Car, No Problem
I have been here in peaceful Harvey Cedars since Sept. 1 without a car and so have been riding a bicycle to get anywhere. Although riding several 10-speed racing bikes is part of my past and those…
-
•December 11, 2013
Icy Capades: Extreme Clamming on Christmas Eve
The alarm buzzed at 4:30 a.m. Christmas Eve, 1983. I got up with the usual eagerness, fixed bacon and eggs and coffee, ate and suited up in three wetsuits: a full-cover thin skin, a 3-millimeter…
-
•December 4, 2013
Remembering a Fraternity, a Float, a Real Feat
Sitting in front of the TV watching the Rose Bowl parade is definitely a couch potato activity. I have done so many times. Going to Pasadena a day after the parade to look at the floats requires more…
-
•November 27, 2013
‘Tis the Season for Eating, But Is There a Best Christmas Cookie?
Oh, not that gift-giving shopping part; I gave that up a long time ago. I refuse to go Christmas shopping in July, which seems to be the norm now. I don’t do the “day after Christmas, let’s save 90…
-
•November 21, 2013
Piping Plovers Are One Beneficiary of Superstorm Sandy
One year ago, Superstorm Sandy moved tons of sand inland and upward, as storms have done for millennia, causing much suffering to New Jersey’s coastal communities. But not so for the piping plover, a…
-
•November 13, 2013
The Calm Before the Storm
On Oct. 26, 2012, my trusty canine Baloo and I met with professional pet photographer Michael Bagley in Forked River to do a creative photo shoot. We arrived with a carload of costumes, makeup and…
-
•November 6, 2013
A Tale of Two Islands, Each a Sandy Survivor
There’s nothing like an off-season morning on Long Beach Island, driving along Long Beach Boulevard and watching the traffic lights – turned off until the next Memorial Day – gently moving in the…
-
•October 30, 2013
After Last Year, Halloween Is Special Treat
It starts in late September. Scarecrows seem to grow overnight on lawns. Houses decorated with pumpkins, corn husks and even lifelike tombstones announce the anticipated arrival of Halloween. It is…
-
•October 24, 2013
Back Off My Bumper and Gimme My Space
Have you noticed not many people have any concept of personal space anymore? Even in my own house there seems to be a conflict regarding the basic principle of physics that only one kind of matter…
