New Jersey Baby Boomer

It seems like nothing is immune from being tainted by politics, even the beauty of a holiday snowstorm.  New Jersey Governor Christie has to defend going away on a vacation with his family….a vacation he promised to his children that coincided with the Lieutenant Governor,  Kim Guadagno, former Morris County Sheriff being away on a Cruise.  She asked for special permission for time off to go on this cruise with her family, including her father, who is gravely ill with stage 4 cancer.  Who would have known that there was going to be a major snowstorm during that time?  And why does a governor have to be smeared because he wasn’t present during the storm?

There are plans made well in advance for storms, and the Governor generally doesn’t run a plow.  Technology allows the governor to be in constant communication.

For us, it was just a pretty snowstorm, but for others, there is good reason for upset as their streets were not plowed for days, and emergency vehicles cannot get to homes during times like this.  But does this mean someone has to be blamed?

I hope some of you out there are enjoying the snow, that none of you were harmed by it (share your story in a comment if so), and wish you all a Happy New Year.

Christmas was only 2 days ago, but feels like it has been longer! Here in Northern NJ we enjoyed a large blizzard, that is if you enjoy that sort of thing! It started Sunday around lunch time and finished this morning leaving over a foot of beautiful white snow to blanket the area. It is also my birthday, which was spent quietly at home. My husband took the week off between Christmas and New Years and spent it spoiling me…my son did the snow shoveling for us which was much appreciated.

I will find a picture of our beautiful snow to add later, but for now, offer my hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and my wishes for the coming New Year!

I was just reading a report about drive-by purse snatchers in New Jersey…and when I saw the headline, of course, the first thing I wanted to know was where. Turns out it’s in the County next to mine, not far enough away, but not in my neighborhood either. So far I’ve read about snatchings in parking lots in Kearny and Lodi.

In most cases the woman is carrying her pocketbook loosely, and maybe a bit distracted…and a person in a SUV comes by and grabs the purse. The pictures I’ve seen show a black SUV.

Police suggest that you hold your purse close and in front of you, or carry your money in your pocket…and of course, be aware of what’s going on around you.

Here’s a video taken from newyork.cbslocal.com of the snatcher in action:

It’s black Friday…or grey Friday if you look out my windows. No, I didn’t run out the door to hit the midnight sales last night, or the 3 am sales at Kohls, or the early sales at other stores. Those days are done for me, for some they may be a tradition, for me, they were something I did when my children were young….and there was no such thing as “online shopping”.

I’m an online shopper but this year, with a challenged economy and how it has challenged us financially, I’m going to try to rediscover my creative side, and see how we can save.

Thanksgiving holidays…yes, we have lots to be thankful for, there is no doubt about that, but it’s a deeper more meaningful kind of thanksgiving, not the kind that is thankful because we own this or that, but the kind that is thankful that someone in the family who is aging is still with you, the kind that remembers those that are no longer with you with thanksgiving for the part they have played in your life. There’s missing, the missing of those loved ones, missing children that may be overseas in the military, missing children that have married and moved out of the area. Everyone’s circumstances are different, so their approach to the season varies.

This was maybe not the best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had, not feeling well and various circumstances, but still, there are so many things to be thankful for, always…it’s a good exercise to take time to count your blessings, to count my blessings, especially if my mood isn’t lining up with the season as it should.

I’m thankful for you, my readers.

Recently I was listening to Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant”, a favorite song, story, ballad or whatever you’d like to call it from my teen years released Thanksgiving of 1967. My husband and I were watching a special on public television with Arlo and his daughter and son-in-law singing and sharing memories.

One of those memories that Arlo shared surprised me. It was about Arlo’s father, Woody Guthrie. Woody lived during the times when many in Hollywood and in the entertainment arts in general were under suspicion of being Communists. They were among many that were “blacklisted” for stands that they took that may not have been communist, but were different enough to make the powers that be in Washington at the time suspicious. It’s almost surreal to watch historical documentaries about those times on television, seemed so unjust, but at that time Communism was a very serious matter.

So where does the Woody Guthrie – New Jersey connection come in? Apparently he suffered from what was thought to be a mental illness, and was picked up as a vagrant on the streets in NJ in the mid-1950′s when I was a few years old, and admitted to Greystone Hospital in New Jersey, a Psychiatric facility. I remember driving by Greystone now and then, and comments about this or that person being admitted there, always in a negative tone like the person was crazy and the facility was not the nicest place to be. But what they did for Woody was positive…they were able to finally determine that he suffered from what is now known as Huntington’s Disease…a degenerative nerve disorder.

Those were interesting times in our history, you can read more about Woody at a website devoted to him, www.woodyguthrie.org.

And since Thanksgiving is days away, and Alice’s Restaurant was released on Thanksgiving….here’s Alice’s Restaurant performed about 5 years ago by Arlo Guthrie…just as good as it ever was.