LOVELY DAY

Yesterday was a lovely day in Cape May County. It started for me somewhere around 5:am. This is what I saw from my back deck. I love the trees silhouetted against the dark blue sky. I had been looking for the meteor shower. That never happened, but I was treated to this picture as the sky brightened.


As the day went on, the temperature rose, the sky became a very bright blue, and there was a low bank of the whitest clouds you can imagine. By early afternoon, I just had to take a ride.


First I tried Cape May City, at the end of Beach, where I had a pleasant chat with a tourist who had a delightful brogue. There were bathers on the beach. I sharpened the picture to bring the distant lighthouse into better focus. You can make it out if you click on the picture.



I drove up Sunset Boulevard, and this was the view over South Cape Meadows.



I continued up to the Point. I always seem to end up at the Point. Must try heading in a different direction sometimes. Everyone you see at the Point has a smile and usually a few friendly words. The place just seems to put people in a good mood.




While I was there, I noticed a lot of activity in the birdhouses by the parking lot.




Here's another shot, plus a close up which is pretty poor. My only excuse is that I can't see the view in the screen of my digital when there is bright sunlight, and I guess my aim is bad.













Not a particularly exciting day - just a very pleasant one.

THIS AND THAT AND SOMETHING ELSE

I feel all at loose ends today. Can't seem to concentrate on anything.

-------------------------------

There was, allegedly, a meteor shower this morning before dawn. I woke up early, as usual, and remembering what I'd heard about the shower, pulled on my clothes and hurried out to the back deck. Didn't see a thing. Very disappointing.

-------------------------------

I read that Autism Awareness Month is being extended. (Exactly how do you extend a month?) Well, it's a good thing to extend a period of awareness. But then I read that it will give us an opportunity to raise more money. I guess I am incredibly naive. Somewhere in the back of my mind sits the awareness that money is a huge issue in any cause. But I honestly never once gave a thought to money when I was pushing for Autism Awareness. My concern is that people come to a better understanding of the problem and the people.

--------------------------------

I'm growing oh, so weary of the media's pretense at concern over what the antics and the clothing styles of young starlets must be doing to influence the thinking and behavior of our own teenage and pre-teen daughters, all the while exploiting the heck out of it.

Sorry. As I said, I'm just in a mood, and my mind keeps jumping from one thing to another.

--------------------------------

Yesterday I went to the pharmacy to pick up couple of prescriptions. The young woman behind the counter told me, in a completely disinterested tone, that my prescription card had expired, so it would cost around $400. Well, I know that my card does not "expire", I was all paid up on my plan, and my former employer, who is the source of this card, had not changed companies for coverage. She told me that this sort of thing happens when "someone pushes the wrong button" so, did I want the prescriptions or not? - Not - I drove to the former employer's office to find out if "someone pushed the wrong button". They had. It took a while, but eventually got straightened out. But all along the way, no one but me seemed very concerned about the whole deal. My prescriptions were not anything threatening life or death. But someone else's could have been! Why are people not concerned?


-------------------------------------

--------------------------------

Well, enough of This and That! The weather is beautiful and the flowers are in bloom. I have a pot of calibrachoa on my front step under the hummingbird feeder. The hummers like it very much.


The azaleas seem to be very beautiful this year, don't they?






And the wisteria is just gorgeous!

So maybe I should try to shake off this strange mood and get out there and see what this day may have to offer.

BLOGGERS UNITE !

Just to let you know - I've opted for "Comment Moderation". I had about eight spam comments on my last post. Since that is starting again, I'll just start checking out comments before they're posted.







You probably have noticed the badge on my sidebar. It involves a very simple request. On Thursday, May 15th - write a post about some topic involving human rights.


To join BLOGGERS UNITE! go to http://unite.blogcatalog.com/ for more information. That's really all you have to do. You're going to write a blog post on the 15th anyway, right? Please consider making it one on a subject that just might make a real difference for someone somewhere.

LIGHTHOUSES I HAVE KNOWN AND LOVED

This could turn into a very long post. I think I'm indulging myself, recounting most of the light houses I have visited.



In 1956 I was living in Rockville Centre, NY. When Ralph and I started dating, I was rooming with a family and he was temporarily staying with his sister and her family, so we were always looking for places to spend a day together. One day we decided to drive all the way out to the end of Long Island, to Montauk Point. It was the first time I had ever seen a lighthouse close up. At that time Montauk Point Lighthouse was sadly neglected, standing amid tall weeds and surrounded by a chain link fence. Not much to see, but something about it excited me. The sea and the shore are always beautiful - and the fact that it was a bright autumn day, and we were in love, might have had something to do with it. Today, Montauk Light has been fully restored and is surrounded by a state park. I have been back several times with children and grandchildren.


While I lived in New York, I did visit other lighthouses. Fire Island is a wonderful one. I was first there with a Girl Scout troop, with Rita.


I've been to Jeffery's Point, the " Little Red Lighthouse Under the Great Gray Bridge" of children's literature fame that started out in New Jersey, and was moved to the Hudson River, only to be straddled by the George Washington Bridge. That's a fun place to go, situated where it is in Spanish Harlem.


I've visited the Statue of Liberty, which is also a lighthouse.



And my oldest daughter, Ruth, and I spent some time driving around the north shore of Long Island, searching for lesser known lighthouses. We found a couple.



I've also visited a few in California with Kitty and her family: Pigeon Point was very interesting to explore.





I've talked about Point Sur Light Station in this blog before.


Point Pinos is one of the delightful places to visit in Pacific Grove.




Santa Cruz is in a lovely spot on the coast.



I've seen a few in the San Francisco Bay area. Beautiful to look at. I have never been inside one there.



I have lived in New Jersey for thirty years, and have managed to visit most of this state's lighthouses. Missed a few, like Tinicum, Finn's Point and Ambrose Light Tower. But one of the best things I've done is take a couple of lighthouse cruises on the Delaware Bay. It's a great way to spend some time on a summer day, if you're in Cape May. There are quite a few lighthouses out in the water. But before you get far offshore, you can see East Point Lighthouse, in Heislerville, at the mouth of the Maurice River. That one can also be reached by land of course. A particularly nice place to visit in early October, duriing the butterfly migration.

Out in the water you can see Ship John Shoal,




Miah Maull,



Fourteen Foot Bank,



Brandywine Shoal,

Elbow at Crossledge,


and even the remains of a light now taken over by gulls, which I think is called Twelve Foot Bank. Can't swear to that. I believe there are others as well. The captain keeps up a monologue, naming the lights and giving you a bit of history. He brings the boat around to let you take pictures. The cruise usually ends with a visit to Cape May Light, where the bay and the Atlantic meet. Gives you a whole new perspective when you see it from the water, especially nice if the sun is setting at the time.

Cape May Light is also, of course, fully accessible by land, situated in a state park which has a small museum and visitors' center, a hawk watch platform, and nature trails. Click picture to see all the birds in this one. My house is located halfway between Cape May Light and Hereford Inlet Light.



Hereford is really a very delightful place in summer, surrounded by gardens. The house itself is a museum, filled with artifacts and photographs.


Continuing up the coast, Absecon is next. I don't have a decent photo of that one. It is no longer on the water, but in the midst of a residential neighborhood, and within sight of the Atlantic City casinos. It has been restored in recent years.


Next is one of my favorites - Barnegat Light. A real beauty. I made it halfway up the steps once. There are also a few really interesting places nearby, including a museum.



Continuing north, Sea Girt is a brick house, sitting at the end of the town's boardwalk. A rather attractive building. It was closed to the public when I was able to make my way up there, so I can't tell you about what is inside.



Continuing up the coast, to the Highlands, we find two lights. Sandy Hook is the oldest and seems to be the most famous of New Jersey's lights. Laura tells us about Sandy Hook and its environs in her blog, Somewhere in New Jersey. I've made only one visit there, and again, it was closed at the time. But if you've made the trip that far north, you are within a short ride to another.


The second is my favorite of all in this state: Twin Lights of the Navesink. I find this one really exciting. The Twin Lights sit high on a cliff, looking like a medieval castle. Unless you are on the water or in the air, or hanging off the side of the cliff, you probably won't be able to photograph the entire building except at a great distance, seeing it on the horizon. But there are opportunities for all sorts of interesting shots of its towers and other architectural components. Inside are fascinating objects and pictures. Outside is a lovely little park, complete with picnic tables. And when you stand near the cliff's edge, the twin lights are at your back, off to the right you see Sandy Hook, and to your left, over the water, on a clear day, you can see three more lights which are in New York Harbor.



For the lighthouse enthusiast, New Jersey has a lot to offer.

SKY WATCH FRIDAY

`
Went exploring Tom's Sky Watch Friday site. I like it! Decided that it might be interesting and fun to try.

This is probably my favorite of the many pictures I have taken of the Cape May, NJ Lighthouse, where the ocean meets the bay - and all because of the sky behind it.


The Sky Watch site that Tom hosts listed more than 150 people participating last week! This is amazing! And most of them have really exciting pictures. What a great project.

TRIVIA

When I was in the fifth grade, in about 1943, Miss Henderson distributed books to the class and told us we would be reading Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Evangeline. Miss H. read a few lines in her wavery, dramatic way. I ignored her voice, shut it out, and read on by myself. I was hooked. I took the book home that night, and read the whole poem - all the many pages of it. At that age, I was pretty much over-dramatic myself. What else could I do? I set out to write a similar epic. It was much longer and more romantic than Mr. L.'s poem. It was also a pathetic imitation, but I wallowed in it for a while, as only a ten year old girl can. Eventually, I did realize that mine was rubbish, but I've always remembered Mr. L.'s Prologue, which is lovely. (See yesterday's post.)

----------------------------------------------

All of this recollection of days gone by started me wondering how accurate my memory is concerning the old neighborhood and school. My childhood friend, Jack, has already corrected me on some things I have mis-remembered of more recent history.

I went to Scroogle. (Scroogle, for those unfamiliar, is Google, without cookies or search-term records, and with access log deleted within 48 hours.)

Aren't computers wonderful? (sometimes) I learned all kinds of things about my school and my old home town:

There's a place there now called Indian Rock Park. I wonder if it's near the woods where Jack and I used to find arrow heads.

There's a Swedish log cabin near Darby Creek, circa 1654, which may be the oldest in North America.

Thomas Garrett, for whom my school was named, was a famed abolitionist who lived there before 1822, and then went on to Wilmington where he was Station Master at the last stop on the Underground Rail Road.

And my old school was built on ground once used for a prison where prisoners had been murdered and buried in unmarked graves. Later there was an orphanage there where another murder occurred. So today, there are tales of hauntings on the property.

What fun! I'll have to explore further.
And all this thanks to Scroogle.

-----------------------------------------------

And one more thing - more in keeping with the Merry Month of May -

This is the annual picture of Isaac, sitting amidst the purple ice plant in
Pacific Grove. It makes a beautiful carpet of flowers every year about
this time.
Kitty may post these pictures too. They are hers, after all. But I don't think she'll mind too much if Grandmom posts them as well.