Nature in Native Plant Reserve
What’s going on in your area? Birds, flowers, animals, trees? Visit Michelle’s Nature Notes for more natural wonders.
Ruby Tuesday White Flowers and Red White Blue Parade
Who can tell why I am posting white flowers for a Ruby Tuesday post? The answer is very red.
In honor of memorial day, here are three pics from our local parade down Raritan Avenue. The motorcyclist is so un-me (the clothes, the motorcycle, the whole look), but I liked the photo and wanted to share it.
My friend is the leader of this Girl Scout troop. I used to march when I was a Cub Scout Leader.
To me, this picture says “Memorial Day.” We have so much to thank for, living in this country because of those who fought for our freedoms. May those who lose their lives fighting for freedom be remembered and cherished.
For more photos with a little red or a lot of red:
Window Views: Store
This shop on Raritan Avenue in Highland Park is called Centerpiece. I photographed the store window during the annual street fair (see slideshow).
Here’s the sign for the shop, giving you a flavor for the store:
View more Window Views.
Street Fair on Raritan Ave 2009
I used a plugin called WordPress Gallery Slideshow to create this slideshow of the annual Highland Park Street Fair on May 17, 2009. There was also a 5K Run in the morning that ran close to my home; you can see one tired friend who did a great job of running pictured in his lime green t-shirt in the slideshow. The run was in memory of Riki Jacobs, a Highland Park resident and social justice advocate who died of Lou Gehrig’s disease.
One advantage to slideshows as opposed to posts of individual pictures is that sometimes you don’t have a lot to say about each photo, but you have a lot of photos to show. See if you can find the photo of me squinting at my daughter who has taken the picture. Raritan Avenue was crowded and diverse, as it always is on Street Fair day.
I liked the booth of paint your own bags the best. For $3/for a plain white canvas bag, kids painted the bags with acrylic paints. More on the paint your own bags booth in a coming “Guess what it will be” post soon.
Week in Review with Azalea
I had a very busy day on Friday (did work for two clients and I cooked), so I didn’t have time to put up my weekly review. So why not put it up on Saturday night? Enjoy.
On My Blog
Social Media Networking at Central NJ Libraries: I did my first presentation to the Edison Public Library on “Twitter, Blogs and Websites” this past week. As I can say I was very nervous beforehand, afterward I admit I had a wonderful time! Part of it was the supportive group of people with whom I was speaking, and part of it was the great responsive audience.
Yom HaShoa, Holocaust Memorial Day:
A Child of Survivors Writes
Many links to what others have written about Holocaust Memorial Day
Promote a Business without Spam? My interview with Itzhak Schier: if one wants to learn about a topic, write a post!
Windows of Jerusalem: I’ll post the whole building tomorrow. Those who guessed got so close!
8 Photo Memes to Improve Your Photography Skills
Mom in Israel hosted KCC; I used it as an opportunity to discuss meat consumption. And I wrote up a recipe for Stuffed Squash with Mushrooms.
Ruby Tuesday at the Circus
Today’s Flowers Visit Macys
Upcoming events in Highland Park/Edison: Thursday night I will be speaking at the Highland Park Public Library. On Tuesday night, related to Israel Independence Day, Rick Black will be reading poetry at the Highland Park Public Library. And Wednesday is the annual walk around the block by RPRY in Edison for Yom Ha’atzmaut, so I suspect I will be taking pictures of children wearing blue and white and waving Israeli flags.
Elsewhere in the Blogosphere
- My thoughts and condolences go out to Melissa of Sunbonnet Cottage who lost her dear sister this past week.
- Mottel has gone on another Eastern European trip with great photos and descriptions.
Past Two Weeks
Past Two Weeks on My Blog
Flowers: Forsythia, Daffodil, Red Tulip and Magnolia
Many links to photos of Birkat HaChama (Blessing of the Sun, every 28 years) and other Pesach links
What I Would Blog About If I Had More Time to Blog
Highland Park Featured Event: Found Objects Art Show at Pinos
Elsewhere in the Blogosphere
- Blogger vs. WordPress.com: A comprehensive look at the two free blogging platforms (the chart is a bit difficult to read, but information is good. I like the factors in the left column; may use some of these for a WordPress vs. Drupal post)
Note: I use a wordpress.org installation on my own website, so that is different than using those free systems that are hosting on someone else’s website - Hillel Fuld on Ten Things you Must Know before Using Twitter (and you can wish him Mazel Tov on his new baby girl)
- There is a custom called gebrochts, in which some Ashkenazi Jews do not eat soaked matza during Pesach. This means not eating matzo balls on Pesach, for example. Custom stringencies vary; for example, some families do not eat cream cheese on matzah. Mrs. S. posts about eating gebrochts the week after Pesach; sounds like this is her own innovation and a good way to use up the leftover matzah.
- Rick Black, a friend, local Highland Park resident and award-winning poet, emailed me that his brother is the creator of the Jewish Writing Project. I guess the creativity gene runs in his family.
Found Objects In Highland Park
Here is an event that is going on in Highland Park: a Found Objects Art Show (click to enlarge). What is a Found Object Art Show? I’m not quite sure, but Pino’s is right in the center of Highland Park, so I think I should be able to attend and find out. Rick Black of www.turtlelightpress.com sent me this poster. The poster is by Bill Bonner.
What are artists in your area doing?
Landscape Workshop
On Sunday my daughter and I had the pleasure of attending a Yoga and Art Workshop with Jill Caporlingua. You can see my post about a workshop Jill conducted last year. You sign up your child for the workshops with Jill, but if you are one of the parents who stay (and not all parents do), you can see the adults are having a wonderful time as well.
Jill showed the group a landscape by Vincent Van Gogh as an inspiration for the children to create their own landscapes. My daughter created a cityscape, and I plan to show it as my next “What Do You See” post. Then she said “and parents feel free to do your own.” I happily took a piece of paper and created the above scene. My daughter wanted to help out, and she added her own embellishments to the painting. I wonder if you can figure out what parts she contributed?
Red-Budded Tree and a Gull
My daughter got out early from school on Tuesday (parent-teacher conferences) so we spent an hour in Donaldson Park, a large county park on the edge of the Raritan River. I took a lot of photos, and I wanted to share a few.
Tree identification time! Does anyone know what kind of tree this is? It is growing right by the little pond in the park, and it doesn’t look very tall. The red buds attracted my eye.
Update: according to my local tree expert, the tree is probably a red maple. She said Middlesex County planted quite a few of those near the little “pond.”
We saw many gulls. I got a nice shot of this one.
Twitter for Local Business?
On Tuesday I attended my first meeting of a local networking group, BNCJ. I found the other attendees friendly and informative, and I look forward to joining the organization. There was a lawyer, a home inspector, a contractor, a travel agent, a financial services representative and an stock broker. And me, the web designer! Or web builder, as I sometimes call it. Design is only a small part.
At one point I mentioned Twitter, and some of other people had never heard of it. “Twitter? Is that like Facebook?” Actually, it’s much easier to use, I responded. Instead of connecting with people you already know, it’s easy to meet new people. I cautioned them not to use Twitter for direct sales (you will get unfollowed fast if you are too pushy). The people I follow want to have intelligent discussions on a variety of topics.
Yesterday I posed the following question on Twitter:
Shimon responded: “answer (IMO): yes if they have tips and promotions (like make up tips for women or computer coupons). Women oriented should b better”
liajen (aka Jennifer Fong) responded: “I believe it can. You just build your targeted niche through local searches (such as with twellow) & build relationships.”
What do you think? How can a local business use Twitter?