SpeakEasy
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•October 21, 2015
Sweet Memories: Show Place Served Up One-of-a-Kind Experience
Things were eerily quiet in Beach Haven this past summer, and that had nothing to do with weather. By now everyone knows why. The landmark Surflight Theatre on Engleside Avenue went into bankruptcy…
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•October 14, 2015
Can’t See, Can’t Hear, Can’t Swim, But the Water’s Great
The Tuesday after Labor Day, I went looking for something to occupy my schedule, now that the great migration was over. I needed some meaningful exercise that didn’t put any more stress on these…
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•October 9, 2015
Protect Wondrous Reign of Monarch Butterfly
As they alight on seaside goldenrod flowers or roost in Eastern red cedars, monarch butterflies are unmistakable, with their brilliant orange and black-patterned wings.
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•September 28, 2015
Shore Stalwarts: Seagulls and Surfcasters
There are two types of creatures that inhabit the ocean beaches of Long Beach Islandon days when nothing else will: seagulls and surfcasters. Fishers alike, both are out there when the rest of us are…
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•September 23, 2015
Virtual Rentals
Every year, as soon as the winter winds stop howling and the spring breezes appear, my wife and I start thinking about the friends and relatives we would like to have visit us at the shore. For me…
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•September 16, 2015
The One That Got Away & LBI Memories That Stay
That’s what we ponder once a year over clams and beer at The Whale. Martha should have married him. And, well, as things go – he still could be out there. If only we could remember his last name.
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•September 9, 2015
Life Lessons Learned at Grandmom’s Knee
Sept. 13 is National Grandparents Day. When I think of them I realize how much influence my grandparents had on my life. So today I would like to share some of the life lessons I learned from my…
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•September 2, 2015
New Rules at Wharton State Forest Mean ‘Keep Out’
“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign. Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind.”
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•August 26, 2015
Gentle Jake
We would start running from the driveway of our home at the bottom of a rolling hill on a cul-de-sac in Chester County, Pa., and not stop until we were a half-mile away, at the crest of the hill at…
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•August 19, 2015
‘By the Book’: Adapting the Times Q and A
As a writer and a long-time subscriber to the New York Times Book Review, I’m fascinated by the section of the Book Review called “By the Book,” a page-long Q and A interview with a different author…
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•August 12, 2015
Remembering West Creek Charlie, Legendary Bayman
While my father made a living and raised us seven kids, my Uncle Charlie had become a household name down along the Barnegat and Great bays. He lived in West Creek, along the mainland side of…
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•August 5, 2015
Some of the Best Things on LBI Are Found
A small, framed “At the Beach House” Sandy Gingras print in my dad’s former Surf City place suggested, “What you find is always better than what you buy.” There’s considerable truth in that…
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•July 29, 2015
Seasons of a Sand Castle
All sand castles have four phases to them; they are like seasons: creation, protection, admiration and destruction. It is within these phases that a day at the beach can be spent.
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•July 22, 2015
Andrew Jackson or Harry Truman Would Put Trump in His Place
People who spent Monday waiting for Donald Trump to apologize to Sen. John McCain were deluded.
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•July 15, 2015
Expiration Dates: A Gray Zone
Although I enjoy every minute on LBI, the company of family and friends can get a little trying when three generations are living under one roof. If the weather doesn’t cooperate and we’re…
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•July 1, 2015
Lost But Not Forgotten – LBI Markers of Our Lives
My daughter, Claire, recently broke the sad news to me that our beloved Surflight Theatre and the adjoining Show Place Ice Cream Parlour in Beach Haven are closed so far this summer with no news…
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•June 24, 2015
Choosing the Right Mate Is a Big Deal
Choosing the right mate can make or break your life. How do I know that? I’m married over four decades, I’m a practicing psychotherapist for the same amount of time, and I know what I’m talking…
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•June 10, 2015
The Old Man and the Bay
The cooler thumped onto the gunwale behind me as I unloaded the boat for the trip home. The old man had brought his car alongside to load his gear and had passed the cooler up to me so I could load…
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•June 3, 2015
Remembering D-Day and Uncle Benny
June, named after Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage and hearth, is a month for celebration and remembrance: weddings, wedding anniversaries, graduations and birthdays. June also signals the…
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•May 27, 2015
It’s Not Just an Old Table; It’s a Time Machine
That’s my son asking me the same question he has asked me 1,000 times. I’m fixing the old picnic table again. It seems like every year when we open the beach house we do the same things over and…
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•May 20, 2015
Our Furry Ball of Rescued Sunshine
Summer fun is right around the corner, not only for us people but for our furry friends. Whether it is a dog, a cat or any other type of four-legged friend you might have, we know they all probably…
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•May 6, 2015
Happy Mother’s Day to Every ‘Good Enough Mother’
For many of us, Mother’s Day brings something deeply loving;for others, it brings ambivalent feelings. You see, after working 35 years in the counseling field and drying the tears off many faces, I…
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•April 29, 2015
Getting to Know My Brother, My Hero
I thought I knew my brother Mike pretty well. He and our brother Pete and I were very close in age – Mike was born two weeks before my first birthday and Pete was born 11 days after my second…
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•April 22, 2015
Countdown to Memorial Day Weekend
Summer is right around the corner. I can feel it and smell it.
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•April 15, 2015
Small Dilemmas and Missteps
The other day, in front of me at the supermarket deli counter, was an attractive, slim woman. She was wearing very tight jeans and I did an internal gasp when I realized she had a tear in the back of…
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•March 25, 2015
The Perfect Tomato and the Imperfect Tomato Sauce
Usually my comedic husband gives me top billing: He manages my website, washes my car and quickly hands me a paper bag whenever I’m hyperventilating. At this time of year, however, my attention…
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•March 18, 2015
LBI ‘Family’ Grows in the Off-Season
No matter how many times we snowbirds head to LBI, there is just something about crossing that bridge onto the Island that no matter what time of year it is, it feels like you’re coming home. The…
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•March 11, 2015
Beware the Ides of March
The Ides of March (March 15) hold a special significance for me. Maybe the significance is not as impressive as it was for Julius Caesar, but for me it is significant nonetheless.
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•March 10, 2015
Witness to History Recalls Hindenburg
On Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012, I tuned into “The Waltons,” a popular television program now in reruns.
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•March 2, 2015
Today’s ‘Verbal Virus’ Must Be Contained – ‘Like Toadally’
Dear grammar school, high school and college English teachers:
