June 14, 2015
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| Happy at Sandy Hook |
It's been 90 plus degrees here in New Jersey for the last 5 days so we did what everyone in New Jersey does when it's like this. We went down to the shore. Again. Believe me I'm not complaining. I was so tired last night I wrote 2 paragraphs of my last blog and went to bed at around 11:00 pm. I was up at 6:00 am and writing. My laptop is being very uncooperative with the picture thing. I hope it will work better today but I don't know yet. I always write it first then add in the pictures. Before we get to the shore I had already had a full day. I finished writing my last blog around 8:30 am and went down stairs to make a cup of instant Joe. Uncle Charlie was just in the process of getting his day started. "I'm going to the garden to water and plant some pumpkins and squash" he said to me. "I'll come with you" I said for no apparent reason. Auntie Janice made her way into the kitchen about the time we were headed out the door. That delayed our departure for about an hour while they discussed who was going to do what in preparation for today's trip to the shore.
Once again we were on our way when Cousin Laura came down stairs and said she would go to do the shopping with Auntie Laura if she could wait until she had a shower. It was now 9:30 so I went upstairs and woke the lovely Lisa. Then Uncle Charlie and I made our escape to the relative peace and calm of the Duke Estate Community Garden. I had a list of things I was to collect from their plot of land. Lettuce, kale and celery. I didn't have my phone or my camera so I have no pictures. Just in case I can make the picture thing work I wanted to give you a little advance notice. Their garden is wonderful. Uncle Charlie is a chemical engineer and his knowledge of soil additives is all encompassing and all organic. He uses clam shells to control the PH levels in the soil and cow shit to fertilize it. He has by far the most productive plots in the garden.
When we got there he went to his third plot. He's all over the place. He sent me to his regular plot to pick the stuff that Auntie Janice had on her list. When I had done that I was to water all the plants. It's 10 am and it's 90 degrees. I put on a straw hat that was in his gardening box and got too it. 90 minutes later I had three big bags of produce and everything was watered. I ate some delicious peas off the vine as I finished the watering. I caught up with Uncle Charlie just as he was finishing up planting the pumpkins. "I promised John I would water his stuff" he said as I approached him dripping with sweat and more than ready to go." I have to water Peggy's plot as well so you go do John's and I'll do hers" As I watered John's garden I ate strawberries and tomatoes that were ripe and I must say delicious!
"I need to wash the van before we go down to the shore so we stopped at a muey deluxo car wash on the way home. They had free coffee!
When we got back to the house the 3 girls were in the middle of a gabfest. I had said I was going to make tuna salad for beach side lettuce wraps. I whipped up a batch with onion, pickle and a little hot sauce and then loaded up the cooler and the van and a mere 60 minutes later we headed down to the shore about an hour away. But first we had to stop by Costco to add air to the vans tires. Now we were on our way for sure. Halfway there with the airconditioning on stun the van started to overheat. Uncle Charlie turned off the air and we limped into a WAWA station. That's like a 7-11 truck stop for those of you not familiar with New Jersey. You could hear the coolant bubbling when we opened the hood though the overflow jug was not empty. After we got coffee's and stuff we added some water to the overflow container and that seemed to fix the problem. We also left the air off.
It's $15 to get the van into Sandy Hook State Park. Some beaches on the shore charge that per person! We pulled into our parking space about 2:30 and with a giant cooler, 5 chairs, 3 umbrellas and numerous beach bags we struggled our way through the mass of humanity that was littering the beach in an attempt cool off. Uncle Charlie and I found an open spot big enough to set up our stuff while the girls tried to find something better. "There's a lot of people here" they said in unison. "There's a lot of people everywhere" Uncle Charlie and I said as we started setting up the umbrellas and chairs. By the time we were set up I was shirtless and headed for the water with Uncle Charlie hot on my heels.
The water was refreshingly brisk. I felt my testes suck into my body as I hit the water with a headfirst dive into a rolling breaker.
It took a couple of minutes for my body to acclimate but then it was great. We were in the water for about 20 minutes when we got the nod from the girls that we should eat something. I made tuna salad lettuce wraps and we enjoyed watermelon and cherries.
I read for a little while then headed back into the water after berating the lovely Lisa for coming 3000 miles to the Jersey Shore and not going in the water. I turned around and there she was
. " I didn't want to hear about this for the rest of my life" she said, possibly with good reason! We frolicked in the surf for 15 minutes or so but then the lovely Lisa was getting cold. The water temperature was about 65 degrees.
We walked along the beach. Not only enjoying the smell of the ocean but also picking up dead things so we could get that smell on our hands too!
From the far end of the beach we had a good view of Manhattan. We could clearly see the Freedom Tower and the Empire State Building.
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| Sandy Hook with Manhatten in the background |
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| Auntie Janice and Cousin Laura ready to go |
We tried to get up to 2 lights, a double lighthouse on top of the highlands but the road was closed. We made the long drive home sun burnt and exhausted. I had a shower as soon as I was through the door while Auntie Janice made a dinner of Mussels fresh peas, broccoli and corn on the cob.
After dinner Uncle Charlie and I watched The Hobbit on TV. We called it a night when it ended at 11:30.
That's all I've got
Till next time
Peace out Y'all
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