G'BYE AND FLY.

Yesterday, we did the laundry, I packed for my flight to Las Vegas where I’ll be attending my grandson’s graduation and enjoying family time.  Late in the afternoon, Jim and Ginnie barbecued  hot dogs and hamburgers. It was a beautiful day, not too hot.
She makes this delicious Greek spinach, tomato, rice dish that is eaten cold. Great with the barbeque.

Jimmy had to dash off to work his second job. Not much time to rest between jobs with us there, but we won’t see them again for two, maybe three years. They are such good company. When you drive into their neighborhood, the sound of cicadas fills the air and  surrounds you. They live less than two miles from the Elks Club, but when we got back on the road and left their neighborhood-no more cicadas. Ginnie sent me a picture of one to my phone.



I got this picture on-line, taken by Roy Troutman. The picture Ginnie
sent me looked like this.


I grabbed this picture from National Geographic.


This photo came from Wikipedia. I read enough to learn they come with prominent eyes, both black and red. Some have very transparent wings, some have prominent wings. I had them mixed up with locusts. They do eat sap from trees and can cause a lot of damage, but they are not related to locusts.

Blogging will be spotty as I am away from my computer for several days.

LAUREL WOOD GARDEN AND OPAS GREEK LUNCH

Laurel Wood is a lovely public garden in Wayne, New Jersey about a mile from my friend, Ginnie’s, house. She and her husband often walk the 33 acre garden to enjoy its beauty and quiet. We decided to have a girls day outing and visited the garden before lunch. The Japanese kousa dogwood is madly blooming. Huge trees with branches that look like umbrellas of creamy blossoms were strategically planted all over the woods.

The trail is paved and has many interesting features, arches, little coves with resting spots, beautiful benches, a gazebo, running water, fountains, a small lake, and many botanical specimens imported here by the original owners of the garden.

The sight garden, which is replanted frequently for its blooms and beauty is part of a foursome. Sight, smell, taste and touch.


You may recognize the foxtail fern, fuzzy leaves, spiky plants and how different they can feel. It makes it a nice place for a blind person to visit.

Edible flowers, nasturtiums, mints, sages etc. all fun.

The garden designers made a point of contrasting colors and textures. The hostas here grow to gigantic size with a wide variety of types, as well.

Again, that mix of textures, hard and soft leaves, gravel, wood, shade  and density.

It had rained hard the day before and Japanese iris were still carrying drops of rain.

Ginnie and I both liked the peonies. Almost done blooming Ginnie found one large pink blossom bent over with the recent rains.

The single petal peonies were still going strong, lush and pastel. One round ball not yet open. I miss my blooms at home so a public garden is a real treat.

We lunched at Opas Greek restaurant nearby. Ginnie is Greek and she knows what dishes to order. We started with the pellini, an assortment of dips eaten with crisp pieces of pita bread. Upper left is taramosolata, which is made with fish roe and is a greek way with caviar. Right is a spiced beets, za’atar with garlic potato, lower left tzatziki, cucumber with herbs and creamy yoghurt,  and feta with kalamata olives. All excellent.

I ordered bronzini, a very tasty fish.

We laughed because Ginnie doesn’t like to see the fish with the head and eyes on the plate but I told her I’d make sure it was dead.

The fish came with a wonderful Greek salad with a stuffed grape leaf (dolmada) in the center.

Ginnie ordered the ibrami, (I’m not sure that is spelled right), it is a roasted tomato, eggplant and onion loaf. Girls share and we both tasted everything; one of the benefits of having girls day out. The pellini sauces enhanced the loaf. Every bite a treat. I hope I’ve made you hungry for Greek food, because just writing this makes me want to go back.

COUSINS AT THE ELKS CLUB.

The mystery animal that made a quick pass by the motor home window a couple of days ago, turned out to be a groundhog. Thank you Virginia. Taking its place was this perky robin. Every day, she comes and I tried and tried to get a good picture of her, and finally, a decent shot. Robins move so darned fast.

As I go yammering on about pictures, yesterday we spent most of the day with Jim’s closest cousin Simone and her husband Pat. They grew up together and share a lot  of childhood memories.

She brought photos of her daughter’s wedding, which gave Jim an opportunity to see a bunch of family members he hasn’t seen in years.

We went for lunch at a good Italian Restaurant called Timbers. Then we went to her daughter’s house. She lives in Oakland not far from the  Elks Club.

Her daughter, Elizabeth is the inheritor of the pictures and family history and what a character she is. It has been placed with the right person. She remembers many summers staying with her grandparents. She remembers all the funny family stories, and, between she and Simone, I learned more about Jim’s family than ever. It was fun.

When we returned to the Elks Lodge, it was open, and Lew gave me a tour of the place.

Gregg is their “resident” master gardener and he was working on the landscaping around the place and then it started to rain.
We returned to the motor home and just snacked for dinner.  We had to move the motor home because the puddles began to surround it until it grew into a small lake. It is raining, still, as I write, but it smells fresh and clean outside.

GEESE ON THE RIVER

You've heard that song, I'm sure, 99 bottles of beer on the wall?  I couldn't believe it when I unloaded my camera and I had 99 pictures of geese. I managed to toss 53. Jim always offers to get me down to ten pictures, but, I tell him I intend to paint some day and I need models.

It was tough to pick photos because we are getting close to our limit on bytes. These geese look like they should be on the Christmas platter.

This one was just poking its head under the water for a morsel, but often they turn upside down, and I found myself laughing to see three butts in a row sticking out of the water.

I felt I learned a lot about geese observing them for most of the day while I sat on this gorgeous river bank and read my book with my camera close by.This is a mad goose, steaming through the water, head down, chasing a flock away from a particularly popular log so his bunch could move in and take a bath.

This is that same stance, this time a mother head down, challenging anyone to interfere with her goslings as she made her way through the crowd.

Later in the day, they moved onto the grass to feed on bugs and grasses. They feed in a group with an ever protective gander watching over all.

Actually, these mallards had the log first and got chased away by the geese.

I took a short walk along the river's edge where bright flowers grow in the sandy soil.
Folks, including me, appreciate the river on a hot Saturday afternoon, quiet and soothing.

Fishing, kayaking and canoeing are popular. I was grateful no one used a noisy skee-doo. It is quiet and beautiful here at the Elks Club where we will be parked until I fly to Las Vegas on the 5th. It was hot yesterday and the river is cooling.

I spotted this little turtle making a bee-line to the water. The minute I got close enough to take a picture, he stopped and hid from me. As soon as I walked away, he completed his journey.

From out of the woods came this mystery animal. Some type of rodent, I think.  At first, I thought it could be a baby beaver.

I got a good look at its tail. I remember beavers having a flat, rounded kind of fleshy tail. I looked up nutria and they have definite rodent, rat-like tails. This is a mystery animal. If anyone knows what it is, let me know.

OAKLAND,NEW JERSEY, ELKS CLUB

Oakland, New Jersey Elks Club is located just a mile from our good friends, Jim and Ginnie Palumbo. The grounds at the club are elegant, with a gazebo, tennis and basketball areas, a huge barbeque and picnic area and then...the Ramapo river flows at its feet.

Among the landscaping plants was the biggest hosta I've ever seen in North America, about four feet across. Beautiful.

I spent the afternoon reading at the riverside and watching the geese swim back and forth under a nearby walking bridge.

The bridge may have been meant for people, but this deer took advantage of it as well.

When Jimmie got off work, they came and got us, and the four of us went for dinner at one of their favorite Italian restaurants.

The zuppza de peche loaded with calamari, scallops, huge delicious mussels, and shrimp with angel hair pasta, excellent.  It came with soup or salad, and wonderful french bread and extra sauce. The guys had meatballs with their pasta. It doesn't get much better than that.

We sat by the river and visited with Ginnie and Jim until it got dark.  Beautiful  swans swam by, gobbling something they liked.

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A couple of fishermen took advantage of the dusk and put their poles in  from a small boat. Earlier in the day, a kayak went by and a heron landed on the bank, but I didn't have my camera ready at that moment. Next time.