New Jersey Baby Boomer

It was such a treat to attend the very first air show not far from our home at the Greenwood Lake Airport here in my home town, West Milford, New Jersey.  I have always loved air shows…we’ve traveled miles and stayed over night in hotels to visit some, so having one so close by was an extra blessing. 

We were there on Saturday, September 26, 2009, and probably the best day as it rained and was very overcast on Sunday.  This is an airport that we brought our children to when they were young to watch the small planes take off.  Now they are adults…it’s also a place we occasionally visit for a weekend lunch at their restaurant.  Always so quiet and peaceful, nestled in an area surrounded by trees, but last Saturday, the crowds were amazing to see.  Parking was up in the parking lot for the old Jungle Habitat, and was handled with great efficiency by our local police dept. and what I believe were members of a unit of the air national guard…correct me in comment if you happen to stop by and read this and I’m wrong.

I have always loved planes, this going back I’m sure to having a grandfather who was a Navy man and a retired US Air Force Captain.  Then there was my own Dad who was an electrical engineer all of his working years in the aeronautics division of a large company…designing parts for planes, including an invention or two, as well as designing parts for the space program when that became important to our Nation.  So I guess you could say it’s in my blood.  The funny part is that I prefer my feet to be on the ground, not in a plane…but there’s no greater sound to me than the rush of a powerful military jet flying low overhead, and nothing more fun than watching extremely skilled pilots make smaller sized planes do things I never imagined possible. 

I’m including a couple pictures here, and plan to devote some more time, pictures and detail to the air show through another venue soon, I’ll link to it here when it’s done.  You’ll also want to visit http://www.greenwoodlakeairshow.com - I hope this is the first of what will become an annual event.

Just noticed that my son added some pictures to his facebook page, stop by and take a look, he’s a better photographer than I am.

It would be a beautiful day to be down at the jersey shore today and it’s a beautiful day here as well, so for now I’ll settle for sitting on my deck watching the children play in the lake.

The picture below is taken on the beach at Lavalette, a sunrise shot, as I’ve said before, my favorite times to be on the beach are when the sun is rising and when the sun is setting…or a full moon is over the ocean.  When walking along the beach, in many areas you can walk through a few different towns or boroughs, such is the case with Lavalette.

You can find a lot of information on the Borough of Lavalette at the official website for the borough.

Here is a link to the Jersey Shore Tourist Map where you can zoom in to locations you might want to visit.

See you at the beach!

Navasink Twin Lights

Cape May and Wildwood News

Jersey Shore: Ocean Grove

The Jersey Shore (1st post)

The “Jersey Shore beach Vacation” season will be starting at the end of this month, a favorite time of year for those of us that love the beach.  There’s hardly a place in NJ that isn’t within a reasonable distance from one of our beautiful beaches.  We are in the very northernmost part of New Jersey, but have made trips down to Wildwood, NJ which is at the bottom of the state, and is always worth the trip!

If you are planning a vacation or trip to the Jersey Shore this year, and will be near Wildwood, New Jersey, please do plan to attend one or more of the FREE concerts offered at Morey’s Piers taking place from June through August. Many of the top Radio Disney artists will be performing. Morey’s Piers is a fun place for the whole family, if you are in need of a place to stay, this link will provide you with some Wildwood New Jersey motels in the area.

You’ll find more information at any of the fun links in this post.

Here are more Christmas events to enjoy in New Jersey…continuing the theme of the previous post.

Cape May, all the way at the opposite end of NJ from where we live has a lot to offer:

Dec. 12, 19-20 Enjoy the Lamplighter Christmas Tour - Self-guided, tour 5 beautiful B&B’s and Inns. They are beautiful, too! Adults - $15, Children - $7.50 Tickets at the booth at Washington Street Mall.

Dec. 11-12 Cape May Candlelight Hospitality Nights - Merchants offer treats to holiday shoppers throughout Town. For more information, call 609-884-9565

Dec. 13 Cape May Christmas Candlelight House Tour - Another self-guided tour of Victorian Inns, homes, churches and more all decorated in beautiful holiday splendor. $22 for adults, and $11 for children. There is a free shuttle service. Call 609-884-5508 for more information.

Dec. 13 - Ocean City will have it’s Christmas Parade on Asbury Ave, complete with Santa Claus. This will be at 7:30 pm. from 6th to 11th Street.

For a complete list of Cape May events, visit this link.

I’ll be back with more with some places closer to home…if you live in Northern NJ

Hope you’re enjoying the holiday season!

New Jersey has a lot of fun things to do around Christmas time.  I should have started this a week ago, because I’ve already missed the opportunity to tell you about the Cathedral Choir’s annual performance of the Messiah at Hawthorn Gospel Church, and how could I forget to tell you about the Holiday Open House at the New Jersey Botanical Gardens (NJBG), they were this past weekend, with the beautiful Ringwood Manor (pictured) decorated in Victorian Christmas splendor, especially since I was there for their wreath-making event, making a wreath for our home and another to decorate the botanical gardens.

Well never fear, there are a lot more things happening in New Jersey, I’ll try to post them as I stumble on them.  Here’s things that will be happening this week, and this is not a complete list by far:

12/11/08 in Clinton, New Jersey:

Don’t miss CANDLELIGHT NIGHT when luminaries line the streets, there are horse-drawn carriages, and the shops are open later than usual. This takes place from 6 - 9 pm on Main Street. For more information, call the Clinton Guild at 908/735-8614

12/11/08 in Morristown, NJ:

VIENNA BOYS CHOIR will be performing their holiday show at The Community Theatre at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts from 8pm - 10pm. The price ranges from $32-$47. Theatre located at 100 South Street. Call 973/539-8008 for more information.

12/12/08 in Morristown, New Jersey:

THE DRIFTERS AND THE MARVELETTES will be celebrating Christmas from 8pm - 10pm at a price ranging from $27-47 at 100 South Street, the location of The Community Theatre at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts  Call 973-539-8008
I’ll be back with more dates for you later…have to go get some lunch!  Oh, please, if you have an event coming up in NJ, please add it in a comment!

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.