Hallelujah!! I did it! It's November 30th - the last day of National Blog Posting Month and I posted every day.
And here's the background:
One of the writer's trade magazines - either The Writer or Writers Digest - published an item about NaBloPoMo that unfortunately caught my attention and apparently stirred up my competitive spirit.
The challenge put out to all bloggers was: Post every day of the month of November. And I can tell you now it is really hard! My admiration has increased a hundred fold for newspaper columnists who have turned out thoughtful, literate essays for many years and can still face a keyboard.
On the plus side, it is a good writing exercise and you produce stories that would otherwise be forgotten. On the negative side, your significant others can get really annoyed at the amount of time you spend on the whole thing.
For all who enjoyed my blog: Thanks. I'm not giving it up, but probably cutting back to a few posts a week.
To my family: Thanks. I'm not giving it up, but probably cutting back to a few posts a week. Honest.
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If you think you might want to try your own blog, start by going to your real brick-and-mortar library. There are a lot of books about the technical aspects of setting up your blog. For the writing part I highly recommend the book Dispatches From Blogistan by Suzanne Stefanac which the Hillsborough Library has.
Online I found two helpful articles: "10 Tips on Writing the Living Web" by Mark Bernstein and "How to Write a Better Weblog" by Dennis A. Mahoney.
www.nablopomo.com
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"... writers do not find subjects: subjects find them. There is not so much a search as a state of open susceptibility." - Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973)British novelist, story writer, essayist, and memoirist.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
"Gambling" Habit
Growing up in Central Jersey, my mornings were dedicated to “Rambling With Gambling” – the morning wake-up show on New York radio station WOR.
The show had three hosts in its 75-year history – a father, son, and grandson, but the “middle” Gambling - John A. who hosted from 1959 to 1991 - was mine.
You turned on the radio on the hour and heard 15 minutes of news and the weather report and the rest of the time the John Gambling family and their friends chatted about this-and-that. Nothing consequential, but they had a way that made you feel included.
They didn’t play much music, but they always played the morning march around the breakfast table. I guess the idea was that there were families who would actually stand up and march happily around the table, getting the blood moving before mom sent them out the front door to another day in the world. I didn’t know any of those families, but I had absolute faith that they were out there.
Even more important, they were one of the first shows that announced school closings – known as snow days. They read lists of closed schools from the tri-state area: New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. And to listen for your school’s name you had to be awake earlier than you would normally voluntarily wake up – maybe as early as 5 a.m. – because if you missed your school you had to wait for them to go through the entire list again.
Sometimes you would listen over-and-over, absolutely sure that you had missed your school the first time…or the second time…or the third time…or until you mother yelled at you to get up and get dressed.
How your school name got on the list was always a mystery that we thought we could break. Obviously there was a special telephone number that had to be called and a special code assigned to each school and if we could just figure it out and one of us could disguise our voice just right…well you can see what we could accomplish!
These days I can’t seem to find a station that connects with me the way WOR did, so I listen to one of the all-news stations. If "Rambling With Gambling" came on I still wouldn’t get up and march and nowadays I don’t have to get out of bed and go to school.
But somehow I can’t give up the belief that there really were families that marched around the breakfast table.
The show had three hosts in its 75-year history – a father, son, and grandson, but the “middle” Gambling - John A. who hosted from 1959 to 1991 - was mine.
You turned on the radio on the hour and heard 15 minutes of news and the weather report and the rest of the time the John Gambling family and their friends chatted about this-and-that. Nothing consequential, but they had a way that made you feel included.
They didn’t play much music, but they always played the morning march around the breakfast table. I guess the idea was that there were families who would actually stand up and march happily around the table, getting the blood moving before mom sent them out the front door to another day in the world. I didn’t know any of those families, but I had absolute faith that they were out there.
Even more important, they were one of the first shows that announced school closings – known as snow days. They read lists of closed schools from the tri-state area: New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. And to listen for your school’s name you had to be awake earlier than you would normally voluntarily wake up – maybe as early as 5 a.m. – because if you missed your school you had to wait for them to go through the entire list again.
Sometimes you would listen over-and-over, absolutely sure that you had missed your school the first time…or the second time…or the third time…or until you mother yelled at you to get up and get dressed.
How your school name got on the list was always a mystery that we thought we could break. Obviously there was a special telephone number that had to be called and a special code assigned to each school and if we could just figure it out and one of us could disguise our voice just right…well you can see what we could accomplish!
These days I can’t seem to find a station that connects with me the way WOR did, so I listen to one of the all-news stations. If "Rambling With Gambling" came on I still wouldn’t get up and march and nowadays I don’t have to get out of bed and go to school.
But somehow I can’t give up the belief that there really were families that marched around the breakfast table.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Hearing a Memory
The TV stations began showing the 1983 movie A Christmas Story this past week.
Every year I watch it over and over, picking out different memories each time: the story, the desks in the classroom, the dish detergent boxes in the background of the kitchen, the coal furnace battle, the kid wrapped up in his snowsuit, the alleys – there is just so much.
But it was this year that I realized that I was hearing an important memory – the voice of Jean Shepherd, the writer and narrator of A Christmas Story.
Growing up in New Jersey, I was the recipient of a passed-down wooden AM radio that sat on top of the small bookcase-nightstand next to my bed, and that radio was tuned to WOR where storyteller Jean Shepherd reigned from 10:15 to 11 p.m. every night.
All through junior high school and high school as I got ready for bed I listened to the news from 10 to 10:15 [I guess I was a news junkie even then.], and then, just as I snuggled in and turned out the light, Jean Shepherd’s theme music came on and he began telling his tales of growing up in the Midwest.
As the years passed I felt I knew his hometown and his friends and his family. And of course at that age I felt the stories he told were so much more exciting than my own family's tales.
Just think what he could have done on the internet. And he would have made a great blogger!
##
I can’t find a show like that any more, but “Shep” still has his fans. There are entire websites: www.flicklives.com and discussion forums: www.sheptalk.com, a Wikipedia entry, and the house where the movie was filmed has been restored and is open for tours.
Jean Shepherd (1921-1999) was on WOR from 1956 to 1977. He also wrote books and magazine articles.
Jerry Seinfeld is quoted as crediting Jean Shepherd for some of his "comedic sensibility."
For those of you unlucky enough to not be familiar with Shep's work: www.keyflux.com/shep/madtxt.htm
Every year I watch it over and over, picking out different memories each time: the story, the desks in the classroom, the dish detergent boxes in the background of the kitchen, the coal furnace battle, the kid wrapped up in his snowsuit, the alleys – there is just so much.
But it was this year that I realized that I was hearing an important memory – the voice of Jean Shepherd, the writer and narrator of A Christmas Story.
Growing up in New Jersey, I was the recipient of a passed-down wooden AM radio that sat on top of the small bookcase-nightstand next to my bed, and that radio was tuned to WOR where storyteller Jean Shepherd reigned from 10:15 to 11 p.m. every night.
All through junior high school and high school as I got ready for bed I listened to the news from 10 to 10:15 [I guess I was a news junkie even then.], and then, just as I snuggled in and turned out the light, Jean Shepherd’s theme music came on and he began telling his tales of growing up in the Midwest.
As the years passed I felt I knew his hometown and his friends and his family. And of course at that age I felt the stories he told were so much more exciting than my own family's tales.
Just think what he could have done on the internet. And he would have made a great blogger!
##
I can’t find a show like that any more, but “Shep” still has his fans. There are entire websites: www.flicklives.com and discussion forums: www.sheptalk.com, a Wikipedia entry, and the house where the movie was filmed has been restored and is open for tours.
Jean Shepherd (1921-1999) was on WOR from 1956 to 1977. He also wrote books and magazine articles.
Jerry Seinfeld is quoted as crediting Jean Shepherd for some of his "comedic sensibility."
For those of you unlucky enough to not be familiar with Shep's work: www.keyflux.com/shep/madtxt.htm
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
TV Timing
I have always thought that television schedulers live in an alternate universe, but now I am convinced.
Yesterday evening's TV listings had the following entry:
"5 Minute Workout With Dell-Maree Day"
The show ran from 8p.m. to 10p.m. Yes, that's right - two hours. Now I am not familiar with Dell-Maree, but that is quite an accomplishment. The only other activities I can recall that can stretch 5 minutes into 2 hours are the ends of football and basketball games and PBS fundraisers.
Oh, now I understand. It was on a PBS channel.
I'll wait for the Reader's Digest Condensed version.
Yesterday evening's TV listings had the following entry:
"5 Minute Workout With Dell-Maree Day"
The show ran from 8p.m. to 10p.m. Yes, that's right - two hours. Now I am not familiar with Dell-Maree, but that is quite an accomplishment. The only other activities I can recall that can stretch 5 minutes into 2 hours are the ends of football and basketball games and PBS fundraisers.
Oh, now I understand. It was on a PBS channel.
I'll wait for the Reader's Digest Condensed version.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Claremont Sewer Meeting
Just to update the Claremont development septic saga, I had one last item that I couldn't find yesterday but came across this morning.
The residents of Claremont have been invited to attend a meeting at 7 p.m. this evening at the municipal building to get information on the sewer connection plan and special assessment contract. There are supposed to be "various professionals...at the meeting to answer [residents'] questions."
The more professionals the more it's going to cost.
The residents of Claremont have been invited to attend a meeting at 7 p.m. this evening at the municipal building to get information on the sewer connection plan and special assessment contract. There are supposed to be "various professionals...at the meeting to answer [residents'] questions."
The more professionals the more it's going to cost.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
The Legend of the Claremont Sewers
Once upon a time not so long ago – around 1960 – a bunch of brand new houses were built in Hillsborough off Millstone River Road called the Claremont Development.
They weren’t big expensive houses, but to the people purchasing them they were castles, often bought by families who never thought they would have an opportunity to own such a place.
Now, some of these homebuyers were savvy enough to express some concern about having septic systems – especially septic systems that seemed a tad small. But the sellers reassured the buyers that they would only have the septic systems for “a while” as sewer lines would go through the area in “the future.”
After “a while” had passed and the Claremont builders had long moved on to other projects, some of the homeowners asked about the sewer lines, but the township told them that the time had not yet come. As decade after decade went by it became the 1990s and some of the septic systems failed. And some of the homeowners wanted to expand their houses but were told their septic systems were too small and their lots were too small to accommodate the larger systems they would need.
By the late 1990s, more and more of the old original “temporary” systems were failing and homeowners were filling their small yards with expensive mounded septic systems.
Larger groups of Claremont residents (also known as voters) were appearing more frequently before the township committee to ask exactly when it was that the sewer lines would be installed.
The sewer lines couldn’t be put off any longer.
And so, it appears that maybe – almost fifty years later - “the future” has come. The township is talking about the possibility that sometime soon the sewer lines will probably be coming to the Claremont area.
The paperwork is in the pipeline (so to speak).
Many of these original homebuyers have died, but it is surprising how many are still there and kept their faith in the American dream all these years. They are hoping that their faith is being repaid. [Well, actually they are paying for their faith by paying for their sewers – more than the original houses cost.]
But they are finally getting sewers. Soon. Really.
They weren’t big expensive houses, but to the people purchasing them they were castles, often bought by families who never thought they would have an opportunity to own such a place.
Now, some of these homebuyers were savvy enough to express some concern about having septic systems – especially septic systems that seemed a tad small. But the sellers reassured the buyers that they would only have the septic systems for “a while” as sewer lines would go through the area in “the future.”
After “a while” had passed and the Claremont builders had long moved on to other projects, some of the homeowners asked about the sewer lines, but the township told them that the time had not yet come. As decade after decade went by it became the 1990s and some of the septic systems failed. And some of the homeowners wanted to expand their houses but were told their septic systems were too small and their lots were too small to accommodate the larger systems they would need.
By the late 1990s, more and more of the old original “temporary” systems were failing and homeowners were filling their small yards with expensive mounded septic systems.
Larger groups of Claremont residents (also known as voters) were appearing more frequently before the township committee to ask exactly when it was that the sewer lines would be installed.
The sewer lines couldn’t be put off any longer.
And so, it appears that maybe – almost fifty years later - “the future” has come. The township is talking about the possibility that sometime soon the sewer lines will probably be coming to the Claremont area.
The paperwork is in the pipeline (so to speak).
Many of these original homebuyers have died, but it is surprising how many are still there and kept their faith in the American dream all these years. They are hoping that their faith is being repaid. [Well, actually they are paying for their faith by paying for their sewers – more than the original houses cost.]
But they are finally getting sewers. Soon. Really.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Painted Ladies
Sometimes you see something that brightens your day:
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or makes you wonder:
.jpg)
and what these Hillsborough houses always make me wonder is:
Are these the colors they wanted or did they look different on the little chips?
.jpg)
or makes you wonder:
.jpg)
and what these Hillsborough houses always make me wonder is:
Are these the colors they wanted or did they look different on the little chips?
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