SpeakEasy
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•July 26, 2023
Fighting Insomnia With Cherry Juice and George
Shakespeare said it first, “‘to sleep perchance to dream.” It’s such a simple request that I repeat at night with a bit of trepidation. I sniff some lavender soap and tuck myself in with a good book…
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•July 19, 2023
Beach Trash-Picking Yields Multiple Rewards
I’ve been coming to my family’s house in Brant Beach, which my grandfather designed and had built in 1936, since my first summer (1960). Probably the first beachcombing I did was on all fours; I…
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•July 12, 2023
Walk LBI Is Cathartic Trek Down Memory Lane
The thought occurred to me in December 2022. It had been a long year with a struggling economy, a difficult personal job search, and the loss of “Grammy,” our family matriarch. How could I slow it…
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•July 5, 2023
Solstice Dance and More: Our LBI Summer Thing
The summer solstice dance, outside-shower beers, shellabration garden replenishment, the first summer sunburn (which I do not recommend) – so much to do and so little time as the daylight starts to…
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•June 28, 2023
Love Affair With Food Requires Dreaded Gym Time
For most of my adult life, I have gone to the gym at least several times a week. I have always believed in exercise, especially after one of the tattooed trainers at the gym instructed me that by age…
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•June 22, 2023
Shore Shots: Another Casualty of Wind Turbines
I’m one of a group of avid photographers who love to photograph and show off the special beauty of LBI. These include professional, serious hobbyists and all the residents and visitors who love to…
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•June 7, 2023
Close Encounter in Mexico of the Protected Whale Kind
What would it be like to lean over the side of a small boat and touch the back of the largest mammal on earth, a 45-foot whale? I contemplated this question as I filled out an application to stay at…
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•May 31, 2023
Another Season of Overload: We Will Surely Get Through It
Even though, as soon as those lights stop blinking, we know that summer is upon us, it is still a shock to find wall-to-wall cars, bikes, skateboards and dogs on our once quiet streets.
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•May 24, 2023
A Thousand Words Are Worth a Picture
Often, when I know that I will be dining in a restaurant or enjoying a particular meal at home later in the day, I will refrain from eating in the hours beforehand so that my appetite builds. At…
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•April 26, 2023
It’s Not All Fun and Games in ‘Batch Heaven’
Many years ago, on an island very much like Long Beach Island, there was a quiet, little fishing village called Batch Heaven. The Native Americans who summered on this barrier island called the tiny…
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•April 20, 2023
Happy Hunting for Sea Glass
There were a lot of good things that happened to us as kids. Some were direct, like a new baseball glove or bicycle for a birthday present. Some were indirect, like the time the road we lived on was…
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•April 14, 2023
Special Agent Down: How Coop Ended Up in the Soup
On March 24, an observant kayaker found a peregrine falcon floating helplessly in Barnegat Bay and he skillfully returned it to shore. Thankfully, Ben Wurst, senior wildlife biologist with Conserve…
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•March 23, 2023
I Have a ‘Love/Hate Relationship’ With Cliches
It happens “out of the blue” when I least expect it. A phrase from a friend, neighbor or a “complete stranger” (is there an incomplete stranger?) sets “my head spinning” in annoyance.
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•March 15, 2023
Unforgettable St. Patrick’s Day Shenanigans
Everyone in the house woke up excited to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. My husband, Gene, and I and our rescue puppy, Otis, got dressed in matching “Kiss Me I’m Irish” sweaters and shamrock headbands.…
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•March 8, 2023
Let Police Officers in Schools Play Larger Role for Safety
Several years ago Little Egg Harbor Township placed police officers inside school buildings for the protection of students and staff. This trend has spread across the country as a very common…
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•March 1, 2023
The Tale of a Town Renamed ‘Pickleball Haven’
The year is 2031. The place is Beach Haven, a once-lovely town on Long Beach Island, N.J. Beach Haven, at one time, was a much sought after resort, where a variety of accommodations and activities…
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•February 22, 2023
Remembering a Life Well Lived, Learned, Traveled
My mom, Cynthia (Cindi) Inman Graham, had a fear of flying. As the plane took off, and during its descent, she would clench her fists and grit her teeth. When my brother Adam and I were little she…
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•February 16, 2023
Appreciating the Raw Beauty of LBI in Winter
With the holidays behind us, the last present opened, the final seasonal cookie consumed, a hush falls over Long Beach Island. Long gone are the tourists of August frolicking in the waves and…
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•February 9, 2023
Yearning for Football’s ‘Good Old Days’
Last week the AFC and NFC conference championships were decided between the Eagles/49ers and Chiefs/Bengals. Even though I hated myself for doing so, I wound up spending lots of time in front of a TV…
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•February 1, 2023
Breakfasts of Champions … and the Rest of Us
One of my favorite treats, living on Long Beach Island, is getting coffee at Wawa or Dunkin’ Donuts. It seems I’m not alone as these places are usually crowded in the morning, even in the winter. I…
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•January 12, 2023
Sending Out an SOS Ten Years After Sandy
As the 10th anniversary of the “Sandy Blows” benefit for the Ship Bottom Volunteer Fire Co. approaches on Saturday, Jan. 14 with an event at Joe Pop’s Shore Bar and Restaurant, please consider…
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•December 26, 2022
Santa’s Perfect Present: ‘We Want to Call Him Gus’
Three boys, a cat, a station wagon, The picture’s not complete, Without a protective loving pooch, To fill the whole back seat.
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•December 18, 2022
Birth of a Fisherman Amid Intense Bass Season
Our grandson, Tyler Strodel, is 12 years old. He is athletic, active and always grateful for any favor or gift from Gram and Pop (me). At 86 I have been chasing fish since age 6, and Ty shares my…
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•December 8, 2022
Just Keep It Simple for True Barnegat Bay Clam Chowder
When I was a kid we always summered in Ship Bottom. Then, in the 1980s, my family and I were stationed at U.S. Coast Guard Station Barnegat. We homesteaded here. Along the way, one of my hobbies…
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•November 24, 2022
Talking Turkey and Bald Eagle This Thanksgiving
Wake up, rub eyes, go to window. They are not there yet, but I know they will be. “They” are the pair of bald eagles perching on the original TKR (Comcast) TV tower between 24th and 25th streets in…
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•November 9, 2022
A Stormy Life – From ’35 Nor’easter to Today
Those of us living on Long Beach Island, trying to hang onto our homes against threatening storms, are well aware of the horrific damage of Hurricane Ian in Florida and the 10th anniversary of…
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•November 3, 2022
A-Hunting We Go for Ghosts on Long Beach Island
The world’s fascination with ghost hunting is not a recent phenomenon. Queen Elizabeth I, who began her reign on Jan. 15, 1559, a date chosen by her astrologer, John Dee, adhered to the teachings of…
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•October 27, 2022
Happy Hour Group Helped With Hard Sandy Times
Ten years ago, just five days after I submitted “It’s 5 O’Clock in Beach Haven,” the story of the idyllic existence of the Happy Hour Group of Beach Haven, to a local publication, dire warnings about…
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•October 19, 2022
And Now Just When I Thought I Had Seen Almost Everything
That time of year has come again when I must depart the Island and will only be able to savor LBI in memories until next summer. To collect more of those memories I always spend the last few days…
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•October 13, 2022
Get Ready to Become a Member of the Bridge and Funnel Crowd
Last Monday, I got a text from Noah: “Dove sighted carrying a branch of some kind. Surely the deluge is almost over! Hallelujah!!!” I looked outside at the sheets of sideways rain and felt an inkling…
