Month: July 2009

Ancestors

These are the cemetery monuments of my grandfather’s either grandparents or great grandparents, Elizabeth and William Clark. They are buried behind an old church in Perrineville, NJ. William fought in the War of 1812. Elizabeth’s stone has weathered much better than William’s.

[We have a copy of a newspaper clipping somewhere of the obituary for the aforementioned William Clark.  As I recall, he enlisted underage for the war of 1812, served with distinction, and was demonstrably proud of it for the rest of his (for then) long life.  — John]

Monmouth Battlefield State Park

There’s something poignant about a battlefield regardless of how long ago the war was fought. This park is just down the road from the Perrineville Church. I wondered if William Clark’s father fought here.

[This was the last time the main armies battled one another during the Revolution.  It was essentially a draw.  The British, having decided to abandon Philadelphia for fear of a French blockade, did what they had to do and got their troops and supplies back to New York, while the Americans learned they could actually fight.  The real lesson learned, though, IMHO, was that fighting a major battle was a bad idea for the Americans.  One American general, Nathanael Greene, learned this lesson and proceeded to conduct the subsequent hit-and-run campaign in the Carolinas so effectively that he ultimately forced the British under Cornwallis to retreat to Yorktown where the they ultimately surrendered.  –John]

Pizza!!!!!!!

Way back in Denver I promised I wouldn’t eat another pizza until I got to New Jersey. Well, here it is. Toppings were great. The crust was maybe too done. Or maybe I’m just too picky.

After a great visit with Peg and Ted, we packed up our faithful WUF and headed out for our next adventure. The first leg of today’s trip was the ride up to Lewes, DE and then the crossing of the Delaware Bay by ferry. That’s WUF there behind the truck.

Sea legs

Here’s a picture of John aboard the SS Ferry that Crosses the Delaware Bay. We stayed on deck to insure that there would be no sea sickness. Plus it was a beautiful day.

Lighting the way

This lighthouse is just outside Lewes, DE. That’s pronounced Lewis to all you non-First Staters. The town motto is “The first town of the first state.” Not bad, but their high school is the Home of the Vikings. Really, Vikings? Did they make it all the way to Delaware? Anyway, along with the lighthouse, there were ships, dolphins, buoys and gulls to watch as we made the crossing.

Maxing Out

One of the reasons to take this trip to Red Bank is for me to take a trip down memory lane. But it seems that I have fewer memories of Red Bank than John does. Or at least fewer things that I remember as well as he does. I know he just can’t help himself when he remembers all the street names, restaurant names, names of my childhood friends, etc. etc. but sometimes it gets to me. After all he grew up in Philadelphia and Chicago and yet it’s like he’s my little childhood shadow. But enough ranting. It’s good that one of us remembers something.

One of the things that we have to do when we are in the Red Bank area is to have lunch at Max’s. The Max meal today was hot dogs, of course, sauerkraut, onion rings and a beer.

Red Bank, NJ

When I was growing up Red Bank was not such a hip place to be from.  But now it’s all the rage.  It’s nice to see that the downtown is still vibrant and that lots of the old houses have been saved and repurposed as offices for lawyers and architects.  This is the view from our hotel window of the riverfront in Red Bank.  I have lots of memories of good times down by the river.  I think I’ll keep them to myself.

While you are enjoying this picture of Peg and her tomatoes, let me backtrack to yesterday and add that last night we also went to a Murder Mystery Dinner. The play, Murder on Wall Street, involved several supicious characters, two bodies, and an audience of stockholders. We each got a role to play – Ted was Stu D. Baker, John was Dick Tashun, Peg was Mama Marlene and I was Maggie Zeen. Peggy was especially good at this and had fun playing the mother of a Texas billionaire. We all guessed the outcome incorrectly but had a good time nonetheless.

Bird brains

This bird feeder in Peg and Ted’s backyard has been an endless source of entertainment. The feeder is set so that heavier birds such as grackles will shut the device. Only little birds such as cardinals are light enough to keep the feeding station open. Squirrels also lose out. But this does not keep the grackles from trying. They seem very intelligent and share their knowledge with one another. They’ve figured out that two of them can’t get on the perch at the same time. They’ve also figured if they sit way up close to the feeder on the side of the perch (see picture) that sometimes the feeder will stay open. Most interestingly, they’ve also figured out that if they flap their wings while sort of perching, they can keep the feeder open. They take turns doing this.

The rest of the day today was spent fetching my cell phone that I lost yesterday, getting pedicures, buying groceries, packing, and having munchies and wine (as well as dinner.)