Shopping and Nor'Easter Season

We are in the midst of a Nor'Easter and the waves are a nice tall 21 feet as they hit the beach so it will be quite a night to say the least. It is that time of year for them and hurricanes.

We are due for another storm, Kyle, back to back with this one tomorrow. It might rain clear through the weekend.

If I venture outside tomorrow I will try to take some photos of the water. 'IF' is the operative word because the wind is quite bad.

I went shopping for some groceries tonight and got caught in the rain and wind which I didn't mind too much since it was so nice and autumny. I thought it was a good night to go because of the storm, so less people shopping and the major rain had not really hit yet. Boy was I wrong.

But I forgot that the grocery store puts out new things on Thursday night and blocks off the shelves. I could not get a lot of things I needed. Also, I got hit by a by pushing a roll around cart stacked with boxes. So I will have to go back and get what I missed.

Plans hardly ever go as you think they will.

Reproductions

frazzled



This is a photo I found on the internet and which I reproduced by painting.

Here is my rendition of the photo of the ship above. You will have to click on it to enlarge it to see it I think.




Though I love doing it, I don't often reproduce or retouch photos. But in this case I did and also here in this redo of a photo of Mrs. Glanz a Jewish holocaust victim who touched my heart so much. Her photo was part of an exposition of personal photos of concentration camp victims at Yeshiva University in New York City.


Here is the original very damaged in its original sepia tones.

You can click on them to enlarge them to their real sizes.



here is my painting of Mrs. Hilda Glanz.

I did several other redos of photos of holocaust victims also, such as a wedding photo of a young couple that was very weathered and didnt do them justice anymore.

She looked so happy in the photo with her little dogs and then she was killed and for what?

I suppose I try to honor their memory in this way.

Well I just thought I would share them with you.

Sometimes when I surf the web and see people who hate their photos, I redo them. I rarely give them to the person.. usually delete them after as I don't wish anyone to think I am intruding.

Summer Ends, Autumn Begins

flying season is here




Last of Summer on the lovely Atlantic Ocean

I received an email asking me what my 20 favorite things about Autumn are.

I thought of so many that leaving it at 20 was difficult.

But here is a list I came up with.

1. "Indian summer" that slightly still warm time when a crisp breeze blows too and leaves scatter everywhere.
2. The brilliant reds , oranges and neon yellow on the trees. The landscape is alive with a festival atmosphere.
3. That golden light that settles on things on autumn days. Even the sounds are different in the cooler air.
4. The smell of spiced cider in the house
5. Huge apples of red and green.
6. Pumpkins and squash and gourds of all kinds.
7. Early twilights when houses spill out golden light from windows.
8. Watching the Swans head south. Hearing the call of flights of geese overhead moving to warmer sites.
9.Turkey, sweet potatoes, buttered squash, soups, hot chili for dinners.
10 Warm candles glowing in windows.
11. leaves blowing in the wind
12. The call of crows on cool mornings.
13. The sound of football.
14. Warm blankets and down filled comforters on beds.
15. Reading mystery novels on chilly afternoons with a cup of steaming hot tea.
16. Walking by the water seeing the changes in the landscape.
17. The joy spending time with family and friends for fall holidays
18. Chrysanthemums, especially the big Football Mums that I love so much.
19. Sunflowers and fall flowers in tidy bowls on tables.
20. The smell of pine and cedar and burning leaves.
List your favorite 20 things if you have the time. I don't know about you but I love reading what other people like..their interests , hobbies and what pleases them or puts smiles on their faces. So if you can share it , please do.

Love in a Candy Box

a busy day in the kitchen

Love in a Candy Box

My father was a romantic.
He loved my mother dearly and he loved her mother, who lived with us most of my life, very much also. He showed such a great deal of respect for her and for his own parents and as my maternal Grandmother said.."He is better to me than 20 sons".
My father was a scientist who for his own reasons later opened a soda fountain/ice cream shop that eventually became a small stationary store in a tiny town, selling stationary to local businesses and cards and school supplies.
He took a beating money wise from malls and the big stationers.
But he was honest to a fault and ever the romantic who learned constantly.
 He would bring home boxes of candy to my mother and grandmother sometimes after work.

Once, I remember him walking home without his brand new coat  because he had given it to the town homeless guy "Its only a block walk. It's not that cold out"He wore his old one from then on. It was just as good he said.  A candy box was  tucked under his arm for Mother.  He sat down to dinner as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

In my grandmothers bedroom , inside the closet on a shelf , were old candy boxes filled with her crochet work (she made fillet crochet that was amazing), news clippings of her friends deaths, births of grandchildren, marriages, etc., cards from holidays, mementos and tiny souvenirs of times past. One was used to house her "good gloves" and "my good scraves".

I once asked her why she saved all those boxes.
"Oh, " she said, "its a shame to waste things".
"Yes", I said, "but you could fit this all in one or two hat boxes".
She looked at me with those deep gray eyes , now half blind and said , "But there is so much love in these boxes".

The Week Begins...........

Quiet Sunday evening at home

Autumn is approaching and the last of summer's golden light washes the shores.

The evenings grow chill but the moon and it's sky grow brighter.

The last of the die hards linger on the beach to take in every single drop of what the ocean has to offer: salty breeze, fresh and clean, the still warm sand between their toes and the sound and the power of the surf in their ears.

The air has a thin warmth to it now, the hot thick heat is over for the year.

Cradling containers of coffee in their hands some look out to sea, no one saying much.

Even the children stop to watch the surf turn to liquid gold in front of them.

What an amazing world God created. What a gift to see beauty in the things around us. No accident there.

End of Season

sunny day here by the bay
You are just in time for a cup of tea!



Tourists have gone home and the summer residents are mainly gone and will come down only for weekends now through October if the sunshine holds.
Boaters will go til the bay freezes over, if it does this year. Farmer's almanac says it will be quite a cold winter all across the nation so, it just might.
I have seen people drive across the bay to the barrier island . Well, some people are not bright I think.


Barnegat bay is resting now. Gulls take over where people once sat and the bunnies that populate our little island here are relieved since the tourists don't give them carrots.
Now we year rounders come out and reclaim our beaches and our private swimming spots. We have our morning coffee by the water in quiet now and women with pre-schoolers dominate the beaches now.
Not that we don't like the tourists or the summer residents, we do! They are our lively hood and we appreciate them. We miss some of them who become good friends along the way.
But there is something to the serious quiet that descends at the end of the summer. The sounds mellow out quite a bit and it can be refreshing just to hear..nothing much for a time.




In the lagoon sail boat owners will still anchor for the weekends and spend romantic nights on board under the stars til its just too chilly to do anymore

I love September and October on the bay.

Last Rose of Summer

small craft advisory










Caught this last rose of Summer just before the sky began to darken with thick tropical clouds loaded with water.
Note the ground? Yes, thats sand. 100% NJ white sugar sand, darkened by water here. It is hard to grow anything but beachy plants here. I stick to climbing beach roses usually and Pampas grass etc. You can see the wild strawberry creeping along on the ground too. I have tons of it.








The sky darkened and now we are in the midst of a pretty loud thunder storm with heavy tropical- like rain falling. It gathered up very quickly. Isn't the sky beautiful though?










I am happy to be inside with a nice hot cup of coffee watching the action from my chair.


Hope your day is bright and sunny.