SpeakEasy
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•September 28, 2022
Eating My Way Through LBI – Past and Present
Now that we no longer have to self-distance, I delight in going out to a restaurant. What a treat to eat out!
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•September 21, 2022
Seems Strange But Gray Is My Favorite Color
Not that gray is really a color, but when – at last – the beach is devoid of bright umbrellas and the calm of the off-season sets in, there’s a wonderful peacefulness that comes when the absence of…
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•September 7, 2022
Gotta Love a Mail-Bearing Manatee in a Hula Skirt
It’s Friday night and as we sail down the Boulevard on Long Beach Island, car packed for the weekend trip, bellies full of fast food that we gobbled up along the way, it’s my time to admire the…
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•September 2, 2022
Mystery of ‘Viking’ Figurehead Found Locally Continues
Could a Viking-style figurehead found in 1938 in the mud on Conklin Island, off Barnegat and across the bay from LBI, really date from the Viking age? Did Viking sailors really sail through Barnegat…
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•August 17, 2022
My Mainland Market Trip Is a Total Workout
Whew! As I drive back home to LBI over the Causeway after doing major grocery shopping on the mainland, I feel like I’ve run a marathon, obstacle course or maybe even a “tough mudder” race. These…
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•August 14, 2022
Nonnie’s Pink Beach House: A Story of Salvation
Until the 1960s, Long Beach Island was an offbeat summer destination. During that time, the properties on the Island were predominantly bungalow-style cottages and Cape Cods. For the past 50 years…
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•August 1, 2022
I Hope in Situations Like This My Searches Are Unsuccessful
My sister and her family arrived on Sunday, July 17. Move-in is always a bit chaotic, so I watched her children while she and her husband unpacked. The house is on a lagoon, and neither of us Harvey…
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•July 21, 2022
Enjoying Liberty Until COVID Makes Unwanted Appearance
My husband and I finally succumbed to the COVID bug. I am not sure how, where or when we got it, but we certainly got it! I came down with it first. My symptoms were the noted small inkling of a…
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•July 13, 2022
With Electric Cars We’re in for a Shock
I love new technology. Yet, sometimes we are just not ready for things to be forced upon us, like electric cars. Suppose the governor of Florida declares an emergency because a hurricane is predicted…
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•July 7, 2022
Jessie Coole’s LBI History Comes Alive Again
Jessie Coole was a wisp of a woman, whose feet could not touch the church floor when she sat in a pew. The Kynett Methodist Church in Beach Haven still has the footstool she used to prevent her feet…
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•June 30, 2022
Boat Names: The Good, Bad and Cringe-Worthy
My son Matt has a new boat, a 30-foot World Cat, and he has named it We the People. There is no mistaking it. The name sends a very strong patriotic message. It measures up to such challenges as…
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•June 29, 2022
Blessing and Dinner With Lifeguards: It’s an Honor!
Without exaggeration, it was an honor to host what we had named the evening, “Blessings and Burgers!” Just a few minutes before 6 p.m. on Sunday evening, June 26, about 15 people from both St.…
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•June 27, 2022
It All Began With a Pink Fishing Pole on the Beach
Editor’s Note: Patricia Marie Bongiovi, the author of the following story, started coming to LBI over 40 years ago. Her in-laws had a house in Spray Beach that she and her husband inherited. They…
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•June 16, 2022
LBI Life Is Good With a Coffee Spoon Routine
The poet T.S. Eliot once said, “My life is made up of coffee spoons.” I can identify with this every morning when I set my mug on my Keurig appliance. It’s easy to use and makes a decent brew – not…
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•June 8, 2022
Lure of ‘Jaws’ Grips Shark Fishing Trip Off LBI
We, the members of the Forked River Gang, aka the Six Pirates of Forked River, tried our luck some years back with Capt. Darren Dorris on the Salty Lady for some “sharkin’.”
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•June 6, 2022
Innkeepers, Eelgrass Reaper Put Island on Map
In Matthew 7:26, Jesus spoke from the mount and cautioned the foolish man who would build his house upon a fragile foundation of sand. Foolish or not, a generation of mostly Quaker men in mid-19th…
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•May 31, 2022
Remembering Dad and the Duel in the Dunes
My first miniature golf experience was on Long Beach Island more than 50 years ago. My father, Bill Ritter, and my grandfather, Ted DeVico, both long-time golfers, had done their homework. They…
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•May 11, 2022
Temptation Is Great to Institute ‘Soap Opera Day’
I know I’m opening myself up to ridicule with this admission, but I have been following the soap opera “General Hospital” off and on since I was a teenager. This happened by accident, which is…
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•April 27, 2022
Mom’s Journey to ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’
“Somewhere over the rainbow” we all have hopes and dreams during the different seasons that make up a lifetime, and some really do come true.
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•March 24, 2022
Keeping It Real: That Time I Auditioned for QVC
For many years, like many other moms pre-pandemic, I stayed at home with the kids. Before I had children, I worked at a variety of jobs and did not exactly have what one might call a career. My…
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•March 16, 2022
Home Renovation: Bumpy Ride With Boomboxes
Recently my wife and I had several somewhat major construction projects done on our house, including the complete renovation of a bathroom, a walk-in closet and a pantry, plus the installation of an…
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•March 15, 2022
Going Home Again to Grammy and Grandpa’s House
I was very lucky to have two sets of wonderful grandparents. Grammy (Gudny) and Grandpa Jack lived in the house next to the firehouse in Barnegat Light since 1935, my father’s family home. When my…
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•March 7, 2022
Another Favorite Place Disappears on Changing LBI
It was with surprise and sadness that I read the Feb. 3 article about the closing of the Sandbox Café’s older location in Ship Bottom. One of our family’s favorite “go to” places for breakfast, it…
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•February 28, 2022
Hooked on Fishing, Studying Striped Bass on the Island
From the time I caught my first big largemouth bass at 6 years old, I’ve always thought I was a great fisherman. No one could skip a wacky rig under a dock or work a jerkbait quite like I could. My…
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•February 23, 2022
LBI’s Beaches Are His University Classroom
As a professor at Stockton University, I have the unique pleasure in creating my own general studies course. Because I am an avid angler with a particular obsession for striped bass, my general…
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•February 3, 2022
‘Survivor 2022’ – Long Beach Island Version
If you’re wondering whose fault it is that winter thus far has been brutal, I confess that I am responsible. Back in September, when a friend groused about the upcoming winter, I opined that it would…
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•January 19, 2022
Let’s Resolve to Re-emphasize Respect
Each year as the last page of the calendar turns there is no shortage of look-backs and recaps of highs and lows of the preceding year. I, being no different than others, tend to look at things a bit…
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•January 12, 2022
Discovering Diamonds Even in a Bag of Onions
A ship captain took off with a ship filled with onions when a storm blew the ship off course. He came to a far-off land and was greeted with great kindness. In this land onions were unknown. The…
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•December 26, 2021
Introducing the Pup That Saved Christmas
Christmas has always been a joyous and memorable holiday for my family and me. The last couple of years, however, we have experienced a terrible pandemic. For many families like ours, it has…
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•December 23, 2021
Christmas Around the World in Five Minutes
Many folks aren’t ready to return to airplane travel, myself included. My travel is limited to Surf City and back, twice a week, and forays to the mainland. The ability to get off the Island in 15…
