Here in HP » Central New Jersey

West Side Story Reds

Leora — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:15:34 +0000

My daughter and I had a lot of fun seeing West Side Story on Broadway two weeks ago. We learned from my daughter’s theater camp director that the show was originally going to be called East Side Story and was going to be between the Italians and the Jews. I am so glad that idea got canned (the Puerto Ricans started moving into New York and thus the story line was changed). I can imagine all the complicated issues it would have brought up if it had involved Jews, such as intermarriage.

Anyway, the now classic story with the Sharks and the Jets featured fabulous dancers and lovely costumes. The Sharks (Puerto Ricans) wore bright purple costumes, in contrast with the more muted, natural colors of the Jets. My favorite actress was Natalie Cortez who played Anita. I loved when she gave a piece of her mind to the members of the Jets who were picking on her in a nasty way.

Have you seen West Side Story, either as a play or the movie? What were your reactions?

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Thank Heaven – SOOC

Leora — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 02:46:30 +0000

“Thank heaven…for little girls…” – this is a scene from Gigi, which was performed at the Middlesex County College Theater Camp that my daughter attended. The director of the camp introduced the song by saying, “remember the name Michael Mills.” He is the adorable boy in front of those teenage girls singing the song that was originally performed by Maurice Chevalier.

For more photos straight out of the camera, visit Murrieta:

Asbury Park Theatre

Leora — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 01:34:52 +0000

Facade of the Asbury Park Theater, New Jersey Shore

The Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, New Jersey was built in 1927: The entire complex was designed in a combination Italian-French style, with an emphasis on nautical themes in recognition of its oceanfront location. The interior of the theatre was dominated by gold, black, and purple, and featured a giant rosette on the ceiling.

Thursday Challenge theme is CREATIVITY (Art, Music, Writing, Photography, Architecture, Handicraft,…).

Next Week: FUN (Festival, Fair, Carnival, Party, Playground, Dancing, Laughing,…)

Batsto Village Reds

Leora — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:41:17 +0000

This is the main house at Batsto Historical Village. Originally built in the 18th century, businessman Joseph Wharton added unto and renovated the house. We received a tour of the large, spacious house, but no pictures were allowed, similar to our tour of the house at Allaire State Park. If you want historical homes in New Jersey where you can take photos, try Longstreet Farm or East Jersey Olde Towne.

This old-fashioned stage coach seems to scream: I want to be in a Ruby Tuesday post!

Pictured in the little museum in the visitor center are Batsto village owners William Richards (early 19th century) and Joseph Wharton (second half of the 19th century). The man on the left may be Charles Read of the 18th century. See history of Batsto Village.

Pure Turkish emery was one of the items advertised for sale in the Batsto shop. Note the crescent moon on the advertisement. This was from the days of the Ottoman Empire.

For more photos with a little or a lot of red, visit Ruby Tuesday:

Batsto Village in Sepia

Leora — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 13:13:53 +0000

On Sunday we headed down to the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey and visited the Batsto Historical Village. The village was built around the iron industry in the late 18th and early 19th century. When the ironworks was abandoned for more profitable iron in Pennsylvania, it became a glass blowing village for a few years. Then Joseph Wharton, a Philadelphia businessman, bought it in 1876, fixed up the main house and built it up as an agricultural area. Today it is a fun place to visit for both history and nature lovers.

The top photo, with the roof and chimney, is of the village store. I took the store photo with the sepia setting on my camera. The bottom one is of some storage building in the village.

For more sepia and/or doorways, visit:

Dinner in the 1890′s at Longstreet Farm

Leora — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 11:23:57 +0000

We haven’t gone on many trips this summer, as it has been quite hot, other than to the pool. Here’s dinner at the Longstreet Farm in Holmdel, New Jersey as it may have been in the 1890′s. Looks like they are having ham, asparagus, grapes, lemons and — is that challah?— a twisted bread, served on delicate blue china. We are planning to go on a family trip today.

For more Summer Stock photos, visit Robin’s Around the Island:

Lazy Bean Cafe in Teaneck

Leora — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 03:08:56 +0000

On Sunday we pick up the boy of ours who had the gall to leave us once again for a month at camp. He is sad camp is over, but we will be happy to see him.

This photo is of the Lazy Bean Cafe in Teaneck, New Jersey where we went a month ago directly after dropping off my son so he could get on the bus to camp. The Lazy Bean Cafe serves delicious coffee, some kind of creamsicle shake that my daughter enjoyed, simple salads, muffins that my husband sampled, and Belgian waffles. The sign reads: “Belgian Waffles. Possibly the world’s most guilt-free people.” I think it has something to do with the calories. Everything at Lazy Bean Cafe is kosher.

I am related to the woman in the ponytail, so if you go to Lazy Bean, tell her Leora from Highland Park says hello.

Nature Notes: Baby Animals

Leora — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:45:02 +0000

This family of birds was living in the rafters at the Longstreet Farm in Holmdel, New Jersey.

My daughter had the opportunity to milk a cow at the farm. On the left is that cow’s calf, whose birth helped the cow be a plentiful nurser.

In local sad news, the mama of the guinea pigs we adopted for the summer has died. We buried her in our backyard. In the words of my veterinarian friend, she was “geriatric” (over four years old). The guinea pigs’ original owner comforted me over the phone, saying, I was afraid this might happen. I think I was more upset than my daughter. My daughter noticed that I’ve been checking on the remaining two a lot, and she said I’m glad you don’t fret over me like that.

For more Nature Notes, visit:

In memory of Bobbie (click to read Michelle’s memorable post about her dear friend):

Asbury July 4th Reds

Leora — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:46:10 +0000

I loved this t-shirt that was for sale in a store next to the Asbury Park Conventional Hall. The New Jersey books look worth a scan, too.

Aw, shucks, we missed the wrestling.

The boardwalk was all decked out with American flags.

If you like these fireworks, you can see more on last week’s Skywatch post. And here’s the pre-fireworks beach scene.

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Asbury Park on July 4th

Leora — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 02:21:04 +0000

Here’s the scene a few hours before the fireworks on the 4th of July at Asbury Park beach on the New Jersey shore. It was a great place to people watch. We had been sitting in the area where there are white nets shown in the picture, but then some policemen nicely kicked us off that part of the beach because the fireworks were going to be there. It was worth the hot drive down to the shore, the waiting around in a crowded area, and the annoyance of needing to move our stuff for the 15 minutes of fireworks. See a few of the fireworks on my Skywatch post.