829 Southdrive

829 Southdrive

A New Jersey state of mind



Sunday, January 30, 2011

Sledding With My Dad


Well, it's more like sliding and boarding while Dad
smokes a cigar and films me. We walked a couple
hundred yards up the street to our local sledding hill.

Olivia is usually a double-planker, but she's shown
interest in her sister's gig.  After a little encouragement,
she takes to the hill like a seasoned snowboarder.

When we got back home, I uploaded the photos and
videos.  Olivia then commandeered the laptop and 
disappeared into the other room.  What resulted was
the following presentation.  She's so cool. 

 


Saturday, January 29, 2011

Freeze Frames















These photos were taken today by my friend and sometimes crew,
Cathie.  She and her husband John visit their boatyard often
in the off-season, and always come back with great pics.  Thanks,
Cathie.  Hang in there- only a couple more months!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Just Because




WTF


This is Jersey, not Buffalo.  Enuffalo!


At 11:30, I broomed off her car and then shoveled around it to
give my daughter a head start for school in the morning.  It was
still coming down pretty hard with 3-4 more hours of snow on the
way. She'd better get her butt up and out there early.  Even with a
90 minute delay, she'll be cutting it close...too close, I guarantee.


Then I shoveled a pit stop for the wiener dog.  After much coaxing,
she bowed her head and let her rip.


And now you're gonna make me wait?


Contrary to popular folklore,
Mr. Green Jeans was not Frank Zappa's father.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Food is Love





























Who can tell me what the food is and from whose
blog it came? They are all from My Daily Bread.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

What in the World?

Sudbury, Massachusetts, the other day on my
wife's friend's Facebook Page.  Provided this
happened naturally, can someone out there explain
just exactly how snow bends like this?  Am I naive?

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The Good Old Days


It's snowing.  Again.  For like the seventeenth time this winter.
And winter isn't even a month old.  Well, maybe not the
seventeenth time, but it does seem as though it's been
snowing alot lately.  Seems like anymore we get one or two
storms a season, and after them the snow melts and
you can see grass the whole rest of the time.  I can't
remember what grass looks like.  Again, an exaggeration
but hopefully you get the point.  The dog (not this one)
has given up looking for a green patch to poop on and
simply goes wherever she deems fit.

It kind of reminds me of the good old days
(not the pooping part) when I was young.
If it was winter, there was snow. Plain and simple.
There was always snow outside, and we always played
in it.  Flexible Flyers, aluminum saucers, cafeteria trays,
skis, snurfers, shovels, toboggans.  Hell, we even took the
wheels off of a soapbox derby car and nailed old skis onto
the ends of the axles.  And there was always ice to skate
on.  You could play hockey any time you wanted.  And 
we had some bang-up games for sure.  On the Metedeconk,
teenagers used to drive their cars on the ice, it was so thick.
They built raging bonfires and drank kegs of beer out in
the middle, then jumped in their cars and did crazy, high-
speed donuts.  Back in the good old days, when you could
drink lots of beer and then drive your car recklessly on a
frozen river and nobody would bother you.  I even took my
Flexible Flyer and using broomsticks and a shower curtain,
fashioned a mast and sail and tried to go iceboating.  Didn't
work.  But if two people wearing skates took a bedsheet
 on a windy day and held it between them, they could fly!   

Imagine all the cheap, clean, honest fun we had in the winter!
There was no MTV, Gameboys, Playstations, or Facebook
back in the good old days, when I was young.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

L.E. wins AC14!


With a deft hand on the tiller, Miss Louise Edgar won the AC
(all catboat) championship of 1914.  There were treacherous
puffs throughout the race, but the RC persevered and allowed
the race to go on!  Double reefed. Imagine that!


More cut-throat competition on the Bay.  The Mommy Boat
population was out of control, but the photographer managed
to keep them out of the frame for a split-second.  Their oars
were splashing as they desperately tried to keep up with the 
speedy duck-hunting craft/sailboats.  One of the coaches
was afterward heard muttering, "If only our vessels were
motorized!"  Things haven't been the same since. 

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Hometown









Captain John L. Dorsett, Beaver Dam, Brick Township, NJ
Circa late 1800's, from "Down Barnegat Bay,
A Nor'easter Midnight Reader"
 Robert Jahn, 1980, Beachcomber Press
Mantoloking, New Jerey

Friday, January 7, 2011

Beach of the Day


Here you go, Mojo!  Cedarcroft Beach, Metedeconk.
The farther upriver you got, the more cedary the water became.

Beach of the Day

829 South Drive, Metedeconk

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Food and Lodging



Okay:  Which state, town and road?


Identify the components of this plate

Sunday, January 2, 2011

A Vermont New Year


Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there.....


40 plus years skiing in one place and they'll name a trail after you




I like skiing the terrain parks, but I leave the features for the
younger folks.  The knees can no longer endure the impact.


Guacamole, Yellowfin Tuna Tartare, Tortilla chips
and Wasabi.  We practically licked the bowls.


Lucky kids.  Now my older daughter wants a snow machine.
Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh (buzzer sound)



Finale at the base lodge of Stratton Mountain, Vermont.
We and a thousand of our closest friends watched
underneath as we wished each other a Happy New Year!