Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, next to Delaware River
Today we went to Howell Living History Farm in Lambertville, New Jersey, and after enjoying the chickens, horses, a sleepy cat and a corn-fetching dog, we went to Washington Crossing Historic Park. There are two Washington Crossing parks, one on the New Jersey side and one on the Pennsylvania side. Today we went to the Pennsylvania park, with its historic houses (which were all closed, disappointing the girls we had taken), the park that borders the Delaware River. We got to watch the end of the last screening of the day of “George Washington Crossing the Delaware.”
Howell Living History Farm in Mercer County, New Jersey
I took over 200 pictures, so I’m sure some more will be showing up on the blog soon.
Middlesex County Fair at night, August 3, 2009
Yes, more photos from the Middlesex County Fair: night shots capture action and light.
I really don’t like going on the rides, but they are fun to photograph. This photo was taken just a few hours earlier than the one above.
Dhaval thought my sepia photo of the fair was still a bit gloomy, so I added back in a bit more of the colors from the fair. Then I took the sky out of sepia mode, so now it’s really the cars alone that get the sepia treatment.
Middlesex County Fair, August 3, 2009 - Opening Day
The Middlesex County Fair in East Brunswick, New Jersey had its opening day on Monday, August 3, and we had the fun of attending. I found this photo rather dull, so I decided to convert it to sepia (desaturated it then added yellow and tiny bit of red back in). To bring back just the fun colors of the fair, I colored over some areas with the history brush.
This is my son’s idea of a grande ole time – the setting is Hurricane Harbor, Jackson, New Jersey. We traveled to this (outrageously expensive) waterpark two weeks ago for his entertainment – his sort of thing.
Would you go down this green slide? I’m not showing you the whole thing, but believe me when I say it’s tall, tall, tall. The red arrow shows my son patiently waiting (a half hour? an hour) to go down this green giant.
Here’s my daughter in the pirate section – I daresay she’s Captain of the Ship.
I had fun photographing these birds, who look like they own the place.
My son created this video “Elements in Motion” two weeks ago with the members of his object animation video class at the Zimmerli Art Museum summer program for kids. He did the water section with a few other kids (that’s his voice saying “wheeeeee…”). His friend was part of the air group. Some girls we know did the fire section at the end, but my 12-year-old son is still at the stage where girls are ignored.
Robin’s Summer Stock Sunday is a photo meme, but I am again taking liberties with that definition and including this video, as creativity is in important part of our summer. My daughter is in theater camp for three weeks; I hope to do a post about the play (Brave Little Tailor) she was in on Friday soon.
I got on the computer tonight, and I found a note from one of my favorite European bloggers, Jientje, who granted me this:
The rules to this award are :
1)Show the award in your blog.
2)Link back to the blog that tagged you.
3)Pass on the award to 8 blogs that you love. (Since this award has been around for a while feel free to pass it to as many or as few as you want.)
4)Inform the bloggers that they have been awarded.
5)Take your time, there’s no pressure, but try to check out the other awarded blogs.
Adin Steinsaltz will be speaking at Congregation Ahavas Achim in the middle of the day on Shabbat and at Congregation Etz Ahaim at 4:30 pm. I hope at least my husband will be able to hear him; there is a little chance that maybe if I can get my daughter to come with me and play with her friends, I can listen, too.
The Velveteen Rabbit
The Velveteen Rabbit will be showing at the newly re-opened Forum Theatre in Metuchen at 3 pm on Sunday. You can follow the Forum Theatre on Twitter (@ForumTheatreNJ). From the review of the Velveteen Rabbit on Facebook by Graham Gudgin:
I do not want to give too much away, but it was an extremely entertaining show. Steve Graham, playing Velveteen, was very engaging, and Maggie Graham played three roles, and played them very well. One thing I noticed especially was that while there were sad and scary parts, there were also funny and happy parts, and the whole thing was so very well structured and paced, that it held the youngsters’ interest throughout. I found that there was enough to keep the adults amused too, which always helps. In addition, the music, by Paul Farinella, was great.
• • •
In this post I’ve juxtaposed two very different events, both of which interest me – ah, the beauty of eclectic interests! Have you seen the Velveteen Rabbit? Read the book? Have you heard Adin Steinsaltz speak? Read any of his books?
There is also a blood drive at a private home in Highland Park this Sunday.
Boy Peers Into Window of Jerusalem Pizza, Highland Park
No pizza served at any of these events, but I thought you might enjoy this photo of a boy peeking into Jerusalem Pizza on Raritan Avenue. Click to enlarge.
This bridge leads over the Raritan River into Highland Park from New Brunswick. It is hard to believe that in the 18th century one had to take a ferry to cross over the river. The bridge was named the Lincoln Highway Bridge in 1914 according to Jeanne Kolva, a local expert historian. You can find a timeline of when all the Highland Park bridges were built here.
I liked this shot of the bridge a little better than the top photo (do you see graffiti as art or as pollution or ?), but no water in this shot.
In honor of Lag B’Omer, which starts tonight, here’s a post about the previous Jewish holiday, Yom HaAtzmaut. Maybe by Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day, I’ll have something to say about Lag B’Omer.
Two weeks ago was the annual RPRY (Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva) march around the block for Israeli Independence Day (Yom Ha’atzmaut). This “little” parade isn’t so little; with parents and neighbors in attendance, the numbers in the crowd may have reached 800.
One of people who came to the parade was Mayor of Edison Jun Choi. Here is RPRY Principal Rabbi Gross introducing Mayor Choi (wearing tan suit), as he calls Edison “best city in the world outside of Yerushalayim” (Jerusalem).
And here is Mayor Choi declaring Rabbi Gross his favorite Jewish day school principal, possibly his favorite educator. You could tell they were both enjoying each other.
There is an upcoming mayoral primary in Edison: you can find out more by visiting Jun Choi’s website and Antonia Ricigliano’s website. One of my son’s RPRY teachers, “Morah” Rachel Callen, is on Jun Choi’s campaign signs (it doesn’t say “morah” – teacher – on the sign, but that is how we think of her).
Not everyone who marched was a human being. This dog was quite popular.
What is RT? (I’ll give you the answer now: it’s Re-Tweet! More on Twitter in future posts)
Upcoming in Highland Park: The Highland Park Public Library is once again having a book sale! (and my neighbors put a lot of energy into putting this together, so three cheers for them. You’ve seen their red bud, magnolia and dogwood trees on my blog). It’s the same weekend as the Annual Street Fair, which is on May 17. If you live in Central New Jersey, you can donate books from May 11 to 14.
Some of you get paid to speak; others hope to get paid one day. One thing that we all face as paid speakers is the issue of payment vs. exposure. That is, we will be invited to speak pro bono, or will be offered less than our usual rate, and we’ll have to decide if it’s worth it to take less money in order to get exposure or visibility…only a few of my pro bono speaking engagements have paid off in clients or future speaking engagements. Read the rest.
