As a young girl, living in the Nixon – Edison area of New Jersey off Route 1 until I was 14, I remember passing the Edison Memorial when we were on our way to visit my Aunt, and on many other occasions. This was a teaching moment for my Dad, an Electrical Engineer, an opportunity to tell me about the great man, Thomas Edison, that invented the light bulb and many other things that we still depend on today.
Today commemorates the introduction of the first Stock Market Ticker in New York City in 1867. When you look at pictures of the activity and technology involved with the Stock Market today…literally tracking and investing from our laptop if you use a laptop computer… it’s hard to imagine a day when the latest upswings or downturns had to travel by mail or messager.
While Edison didn’t invent the ticker, that credit goes to an Edward Calahan, Edison is noted for improving on the ticker, and patenting his model. Edison made enough money through the use and sale of this invention to be able to construct his laboratory in Menlo Park, NJ, very close to where I grew up, and it was there that many of the inventions he was noted for were developed, including the light bulb.
Mechanical tickers of one sort or another were used into the 1960′s, and in our baby boomer lifetimes, were replaced by what we have become accustomed to seeing today.
The Edison ticker image above is taken from SparkMuseum website, an interesting site.
This past summer, we had the pleasure of seeing Goldfinches come to our bird feeder, especially in the Spring when the yellow was so bright an vivid. I have a tiny little picture of one at our feeder, wish the camera had been closer. Instead I have chosen to share one from Webshots, if you want to see other pictures by the photographer, just click the picture.
The Goldfinch is our State bird, and was declared so in Senate Act No. 241 which was introduced in January of 1935 by a Mr. Kuser. At that time, 44 States had state birds, and I am sure the Mr. Kuser figured that it was high time that New Jersey did, too.
I have been feeding the birds for years, but recently I purchased thistle seeds to use with a thistle feeder, and the picture on the packaging had many Goldfinches on it. I was planning to use the seeds over the winter, and asked whether birds other than goldfinches would eat the seed, the woman at the store said that Goldfinches are around all year, but lose the vivid yellow during the cooler months. That was new information to this bird-lover.
I hope you are enjoying the beautiful fall colors if you are living here in the northeast.
My husband spent the weekend working around the house, including building a new enclosed area for our trash cans. We haven’t had any trouble with bears in our trash all summer, but wouldn’t you know, last evening after supper, only a day after his finishing this project, we had a visitor. I guess he likes the new design My pictures are a little blurry because I was SO excited, but here’s a few shots off the side of my deck, he/she dragged a bag of trash from the can he knocked over and carried it into our neighbors yard. I quietly called my husband as I snapped these, and the bear ran, leaving a nice mess for us to clean up.
Yesterday was Father’s Day, and like many, we decided to visit my Dad’s grave. The weather was cloudy and rainy at the time when we visited, and because of it the balloons that were brought to decorate graves were bowing more than standing tall. Dad was buried in October of 2005, 2+ years ago, and I miss him still. The night before Father’s Day my daughter visited her Dad, we had a lot of laughs, and also a few tears. I started talking a bit about the day he died, and she drew more out of me than I thought I’d share. He died at home in the bed that he shared with my Mom for over 50 years, I was staying with Mom because we knew the time was close, and was able to be with him at the end, which, even though he had been ill for over 5 years, still seemed to come suddenly.
As I stood next to his grave at the beautiful, peaceful George Washington Memorial Park graveyard, I thanked the Lord that Dad was now with Him; and as my husband and I tried everything we could to get the balloons to stand rather than bow, I laughed and said “Dad, if you can see us, you see we’re trying to figure things out, just like you did with every little thing”…Dad was a brilliant engineer.
Below is a statue that I love that is at the entrance to the Cemetery of George Washington on bended knee with head bowed in prayer. It is better seen “in person” as it is a large statue, and beautifully detailed. The side view is even better than this, maybe next time I’ll capture that…my husband took this one quickly in the rain.
I hope all of you had a special day yesterday remembering your Dad’s, enjoying your Dad’s, or watching your children enjoy their Dad’s.
When we went on our trip a bit over a week ago, from a distance, I was able to capture the Twin Lights that are situated in the Navesink Highlands. These historic lights were originally built in 1828, and then rebuilt of area brownstone in 1862. Today they are much like they were when rebuilt, but are no longer operating lighthouses.
Sitting about 200 feet above sea level, when in operation, one light remained stationary while the other flashed. The lights brought cargo and other ships safely into New York Harbor on the Atlantic Coast.
It was interesting to me to see two lights, as most of us are more accustomed to seeing just one. These were built with the light house keepers area, and rooms for storage built between, and connecting the two towers.
Twin Lights was decommissioned in 1949, then purchased by the State of New Jersey as a historic monument and is a museum today. If you visit, you can climb one of the towers and view the beautiful Atlantic Ocean. Enjoy the exhibits showing the history while your there.
We just got home from our local commemoration of this great day in the center of our town of West Milford at our war memorial. I am sure, at least hope, this is being repeated in many towns across the USA. Sitting in front of me was a frail but wonderful WWII Veteran. Sitting front and center were 2 families of our most recent casualties…I don’t like that word, I mean our most recent heroes to give their lives in Iraq. It was special to simply be able to shake a hand, give a hug to a tearful family member, to say “thank you” knowing that there were no words that could take away the pain. We thank those who have served our Nation and paid the ultimate price. Also remembered were local heroes who died in the attack on 911, names that many know nationwide from our area, like Father Mychael F. Judge who left our local catholic church to be a Chaplain for the NY City Fire Department, the image of his body being carried from the World Trade Center ruins now impressed in the minds of many, among the first if not the first victim we heard about after the attack. And Jeremy Glick, a hero of United Airlines Flight 93. So many more names that we must never forget. My son took a few pictures, one shown above.
Now, what has become my favorite patriotic song with wonderful images to stir the heart to remember, and thank you not just to NJ heroes, but all of our heroes all over the USA:
My pictures are a little blurry because I was SO excited, but here’s a few shots off the side of my deck, he/she dragged a bag of trash from the can he knocked over and carried it into our neighbors yard. I quietly called my husband as I snapped these, and the bear ran, leaving a nice mess for us to clean up.
