Ocean Township Daily Photo :: no longer updating ::

mad seagull

2012-01-02T16:55:00.001-05:00

I don't live in Monmouth County anymore, but my parents do, and I visit them, and sometimes there are nifty things around here to photograph. So I'm going to add a couple unofficial not-updates (since OTDP is very clearly "no longer updating"). :)

After my last post (August 17, 2008), I moved to Chicago for two years, and then back to north Jersey. I'm still there, and I've been running New Providence Daily Photo for a year and a half (welllll... a little over a year). It's sort of the bastard stepsister of Monmouth County Daily Photo.

There's nothing like NOT living on the shore to make you appreciate it!

Is OTDP still on your RSS feed? Do you still even have an RSS feed? If so, how are you doing?

(FYI, I will probably not continue updates for this clone of the blog; for Jersey shore photo updates, check Monmouth County Daily Photo [on Wordpress] or New Jersey in Photos [on Tumblr].)

an ending

2008-08-17T13:59:00.001-04:00

1. If you found this photoblog through a search engine, and you're looking for a particular search term or image, try typing those keywords into the search box up on the left-hand side of the menubar (technically, "navbar") at the very top of this blog, above where it says "Ocean Township Daily Photo." (up there ^ )

2. If you're looking for newer photos from JosyC, check out Snapshot Optimism.

3. If you're wondering about this post, my mother and I are driving to Chicago tomorrow. I will not be returning to New Jersey for the forseeable future. (See yesterday's post for details.)

Tschüss!

so here we are...

2008-08-16T13:13:00.001-04:00

On Monday, I will be leaving New Jersey and starting a new chapter of my life in Chicago. I'll be going to graduate school there for biomedical visualization (which is a fancy way of saying "medical illustration," which is, y'know, drawing kidneys and stuff). I will be ceasing my daily photo activities. You will, however, still be able to find me on Snapshot Optimism, an occasional photoblog that I'll be keeping up, as well as JosyDoodle, where I'll show off my kidney drawings and stuff.

I am prone to enthusiastically starting projects, followed by enthusiastically forgetting about them two or six weeks later. But here, I wanted to prove that I could keep the ball rolling on something (that wasn't immediately crucial to my life, like work or school). With the exception of a few short out-of-town excursions, I've posted every single day since December 14, 2006--which, including today, makes a total of 606 posts on MCDP and 475 here on OTDP (which only started 4/30/07). I've loved it, I've hated it, I've been super-involved, and I've cared less, but I did it. I think I've accomplished what I set out to do here; I can only hope you've enjoyed the ride and maybe even learned something about Monmouth County, NJ. :)

Tomorrow will be my last (and 607th/476th) post.

I'll miss these blogs.

berries 4!

2008-08-15T16:17:00.001-04:00

Wild raspberries in Allaire State Park.

Unless they're mulberries.

But I'm pretty sure they're closer to raspberries.

entertainment

2008-08-14T14:13:00.000-04:00

For those who have found this blog by Googling "Things to do in Monmouth County:" I am as clueless as you are. My main source of entertainment 'round here is wandering around with a camera, looking for interesting things to photograph.

Here are some things I have done:

1. Bowling. (Often with bumpers for the second game, because I am just that spectacular.) I usually go to The Lanes at Sea Girt, but I've been to Memory Lanes in Shrewsbury, Shore Lanes in Neptune (which is on the Asbury Circle, which is not a fun circle to navigate), and Brunswick Bradley Beach Bowl (maybe that link will work if you have the latest version of Flash, which I don't).

2. Bars (and/or restaurants, grills, etc. that serve liquor). Not so much fun here in suburbia 'cos you have to drive home afterwards, so you really need to (ought to) watch yourself. Unless you have a designated driver, which no one wants to be. (The above photo was taken in the Brickwall Tavern, Asbury Park.)

3. Coffee. Only really works if there's only a small group of you, though.

4. Movies. Hey, it's something.

5. The Datebook. Go find your local print copy of the Asbury Park Press and leaf through it until you find the Datebook, which takes up the bottom half of a page and is usually printed in red or blue ink. A lot of the stuff is craft sales and "square dancing for 'kids' 55 and over," but it's worth a look. I have been unable to locate the Datebook online; you do need an actual physical copy of the APP.

6. Go biking. All right, maybe it's not a 'Saturday night with the gang' sort of activity, but it's healthy. Bob Lucky reviews and photographs several Monmouth County bike paths, and many of the Monmouth County Parks are set up for that sort of thing.

7. Walk around. This sounds monumentally stupid, but if you have nothing better to do, give it a shot. Red Bank, Asbury Park, local parks, and anywhere with a boardwalk can be fun places to do this.

Speaking of Red Bank and Asbury Park, here are some official lists of what's going on in various towns:
Asbury Park

Red Bank (see also the Count Basie Theater, Two River Theater Company, Improv Comedy Jam, and Red Bank Art Cinemas)

Also see Go Kids NJ, which sounds stupid, but you're never too old to enjoy a boardwalk or a festival or an aquarium. You can search for specific towns.

Freehold

2008-08-13T17:43:00.000-04:00

Downtown Freehold! It kind of looks like it's stuck in the 1960's or 70's, to me.

What YOU'LL be stuck in, if you visit downtown Freehold, is TRAFFIC.

P.S. My internet connection is more of a fizz today... it's in for 30 seconds, out for 3 minutes, in for 25 seconds, out for 4 minutes, etc. etc. etc. It may be worse tomorrow. If I miss a day--sorry!

down the shore

2008-08-12T16:05:00.002-04:00

A big trend nowadays on the Jersey Shore is using your car to proclaim that you're a local (and not, heaven forbid, a benny) AND what town you're from (in the manner long practiced by European countries). They make stickers like these for all of the shore towns, but these were the only ones I saw A) on parked cars B) while I had a camera handy.

gradient

2008-08-11T18:05:00.001-04:00

Another unidentified flower! I really don’t know my wildflowers, do I?

Edit: Careful reader USelaine has identified it as a Gaillardia, or Blanket Flower. Thanks!

(Found in Thompson Park, Lincroft, NJ)

taken over the course of three minutes.

2008-08-10T14:40:00.001-04:00

Wheeeeeee!

(Pine Creek Railroad fun at Allaire!)

pidgins

2008-08-09T16:14:00.000-04:00

Pigeons in the Asbury Park Casino.

Rather than thinking something normal, like "Huh, we usually see more mourning doves than pigeons around here, 'cos these parts aren't too urban," I keep thinking something more along the lines of "Bet those pigeons don't speak Pidgin."

tropicana!

2008-08-08T19:00:00.001-04:00

A mysteeeeeeeeerious orange flower.

It's mysteeeeeeeeeeerious because its identity is a mysteryyyyyyyyy.

Thoughts?

geese

2008-08-07T18:01:00.003-04:00

Why did the geese cross the road?

...well, wouldn't you want to hang out with your friends?

beautiful alley

2008-08-06T16:55:00.000-04:00

I remember when this little balcony didn't used to be fenced off.

It's part of the Asbury Park Casino/ Boiler House/ Carousel complex, on the Ocean Grove side.

beach finds 2

2008-08-05T17:56:00.002-04:00

It's a little long to have come from an Eastern Goldfinch; I'm not quite sure what sort of bird this feather comes from.

new trails

2008-08-04T16:06:00.003-04:00

Three days a week, I drive south on the Garden State Parkway and marvel at a rickety footbridge that passes overhead. At some point, it occurred to me, "OH! That must be the Manasquan Bike Path!" [It's formally known as the Edgar Felix Bike Path.) And, since it seemed to be on my way to and from Ocean County College, and since I like to try new places to in-line skate, I decided I'd stop and check it out at some point.

I read that the eastern portion (the beginning in Manasquan) was rough (not fun if you're on skates with unforgiving hard rubber wheels), so I began at the western portion (the ending in Allaire Village's parking lot).

At first, it was pretty enjoyable. There was some debris in the trail, a few annoying road crossings, nothing major. And then I arrived at the part I'd been looking forward to: the bridges over the Garden State Parkway!

Eagerly, I rolled one foot onto the bridge.

And almost fell over.

The wooden planks were UNEVEN, UNSTABLE, and had GIANT GAPS between some of them: my wheels kept getting caught!

(The video below is poorly shot and may make you dizzy. Watch at your own risk.)

If you watch that video, the "thunk th-thunk" sound is one of the loose planks making racket as I tap it with my foot. Timewise, because my one-handed video skills suck and you may not know what you're looking for, you can see it move around 0:07. NOTE THE TRAFFIC zooming below (at 65mph in a 55 zone. They just changed the speed limit from 65 to 55 within this past year, and drivers haven't embraced the change yet.).

After it became very clear that skating wasn't working, I managed to make my way across the bridge by grabbing a railing (see that thing in the top picture that's hanging in pieces? that.) and pulling myself across the bridge, hand over hand, slowly and very unsurely.

I repeated this procedure for the second bridge. (Two bridges for two directions of parkway traffic... and one median between them.)

On the way back, I actually took off my skates and walked across both bridges in my sock feet. I have never been desperate enough to do that before.

I didn't manage to do the whole trail. Shortly after a really obnoxious road crossing...

(I looked at this and said, "You've got to be KIDDING me"), the trail becomes so bumpy and gravel-like that skating without falling over becomes impossible. I turned around and headed back.

This is a bike path. It wasn't set up with Rollerbladers in mind.

vetchling 2

2008-08-03T13:42:00.000-04:00

This, I believe, is a meadow vetchling. But why it only has two blossoms, one of which is a sickly orange, is beyond me.

blight

2008-08-02T16:04:00.005-04:00

I don't know what that thing it, but it's a big and easily identifiable building on Atlantic Highlands.

I went to Coney Island in March. When I walked to the end of the pier, I squinted my eyes and said, "Hey!!! That's the Highlands!!!"

"How can you tell?" asked the friend I was with.

"See how the land is all flat there except for that building sticking up in the middle?"

"So you can identify New Jersey by that giant blemish, boil, blight on the landscape?"

"Yeah! Isn't that awesome?!"

Also seen in photos taken from Coney Island: the Twin Lights (above)...

...and Sandy Hook lighthouse (above)!

For as often as I've seen New York City from Sandy Hook, it was really cool to do it in reverse.

(The originals of these photos were taken at absolute full 10x zoom, full resolution. And I still had to crop those last two photos to ~420 pixels wide.)

manholes of monmouth

2008-08-01T01:00:00.006-04:00

What's with all the manholes?!

Back in January 2007, I posted a photo of an Ocean Township gutter. Someone said, "You can learn a lot about a community from its manhole covers." Fine. I posted some manhole covers. Someone else suggested that I make a typology out of it. I was compelled.

And THAT is how all this madness started. (They're all from Monmouth County, by the way.)

The manholes are for you to EXPLORE. C'mon. There's almost 50 photos here. Do you know where they were all taken? Did I REPEAT any patterns? Clicky clicky! Find out!

I'm posting this in honor of the City Daily Photo "metal" theme. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants!

the fair! (5)

2008-07-31T15:00:00.001-04:00

When we go to the Monmouth County Fair, of particular interest to my family is the antique tractor tent. My grandfather, born and raised in Kansas, possessed two International Harvesters, which he used to mow his fairly substantial lawn until he was 90 years old (when someone finally succeeded in convincing him that mowing the lawn in 95 degree heat was a poor idea at his age). When my midwestern uncle had to spend a few years in New Jersey, he lavished his attentions on a small yellow tractor (a Cub Lo-Boy--again, an International Harvester). And when all these tractors needed to find a new home, my cousin began using them for his landscaping business.

So it's kinda fun to go look through the tent and decide which tractors on display are most similar to the tractors that my family knows and loves.

This concludes our five-day retrospect of the five-day fair. But TOMORROW there is something VERY AWESOME planned for this photoblog, so be sure to tune in!

the fair! (4)

2008-07-30T12:08:00.000-04:00

I know I already showed you the midway by night, but since I went to all the trouble of hauling my tripod out to the Monmouth County Fair, I thought I might show you something else. :)

So here we have the Zipper.

the fair! (3)

2008-07-29T14:10:00.000-04:00

Remember Bwana Jim? This is one of his armadillos.

They're apparently pretty unfriendly critters, but they are SO CUTE.

the fair! (2)

2008-07-28T13:36:00.000-04:00

I know in this day and age it's kind of assumed that kids are scared of clowns. But I don't exactly see any of the kids in this photo clinging to their mothers, bawling their eyes out 'cos THEY DON'T WANT TO MEET THE CLOWN. Perhaps the clownhood still has a chance.

This friendly fellow drives around the fairgrounds every year beeping his horn, playing loud dance music, giving out random silly goodies to children, and generally making the fair more fair-like.

the fair!

2008-07-27T13:37:00.001-04:00

You may or may not remember it from last year, but it's time for the Monmouth County Fair again!

People flock to the East Freehold Fairgrounds from all over the county. They can ride the rides, play the games, submit entries (art, crafts, homegrown vegetables/ flowers, and canned goods) to the home and garden tent, smell the animals in the 4-H tents, visit vendors, eat the traditional fair cuisine, watch all kinds of entertainment (including pig races, lumberjack shows, Bwana Jim, local artists, dog shows, etc.), and plenty of other stuff.

It's a five-day festival that sadly ends today, but I'll keep providing you with photos for a few days. :)

lake

2008-07-26T13:18:00.000-04:00

The lake at Thompson Park. It's kinda pretty, innit?

awful

2008-07-25T16:19:00.004-04:00

Okay. Look. I know they're gross enough that you don't really want to carry them around in your pocket, but does that mean you should just THROW THEM ON THE BEACH?! I found these two applicators about 20 feet apart at Sea Girt. Seriously, folks. Grow up.

(P.S. If this offends you, well, so it goes. Which is a thoroughly mature response, especially coming from someone who had the audacity to say "grow up," but, y'know, it's a part of modern life. If I were going to be a feminist, I'd say something like, "It's not disgusting; it's a beautiful and natural part of being a woman." I'm not a feminist; it's gross. But I am someone with a camera who doesn't think life is all sunsets and flowers.)

mourning dove

2008-07-24T16:27:00.002-04:00

We've been having a bit of a drought around here. It's not a worrisome drought yet, since we got an awful lot of rain this past winter to fill our reservoirs, but the plants have been generally unhappy. (Our entire lawn has turned a lovely shade of crunchy brown.)

This morning, however, it rained! The plants were ecstatic, and the mourning doves seemed to be enjoying themselves, too. (This afternoon, though, Monmouth County is back to its original state of hot, dry misery.) Speaking of mourning doves, by the way, I am NO NATURE PHOTOGRAPHER. These photos were all taken through a dirty rain-spattered window.

Don't mourning doves usually travel in pairs, you ask?

Yup. They sure do!

Here are a couple more photos, 'cos even though I try to bring an editing eye to this stuff, sometimes I really can't narrow it down to less than four. (There were originally about 24 shots. Give me some credit for trying!)

ringlets

2008-07-23T13:49:00.000-04:00

While I do try not to post a zillion flowers in one week, I thought the little pre-petals on this zinnia bud were too cute not to share with the world.

Strollo's

2008-07-22T17:40:00.001-04:00

Strollo's ("hand made Italian Ice") is a popular place to get dessert, day or night!

sunny

2008-07-21T18:17:00.000-04:00

I know they're trite and overdone and cliched and everything else, but our sunflowers bloomed today, and despite their prevalence in pop culture, sunflowers are STILL pretty darn cool.

(And a side note, for those interested in Monmouth County, NJ: here, sunflowers are not weeds as they are in the midwest. If you see a sunflower in NJ, chances are pretty good that someone went to the trouble of actually planting it.)

in plane sight

2008-07-20T14:45:00.000-04:00

I am SO DARN PUNNY.

One thing we see with a certain amount of regularity in the summer months is PLANE ADVERTISING. This is the Jersey Shore, and there are an awful lot of people on the beach during the day; what better target audience is there than a large group of people who already have their wallets out to pay for beach badges and spend their days looking up at the sky?

A few days ago, I actually saw some skywriting above my house (which is much less common than banner-dragging). Unfortunately, the writing was, from my perspective, upside down and partially obstructed by trees, so I could only make out a word or two (involving "1-800" or ".COM") and the advertisement was totally lost on me.

This plane here was actually part of a fleet of five. They were spaced out enough that I couldn't even see them all at the same time, much less get them all in the same frame. Having closely examined my photographs of their individual banners, they all seem to be advertising a local cable/voice/internet provider.

Common as they are, I still like looking at 'em. They strike me as being a little bit old-fashioned, like Burma-Shave signs.

nagle's

2008-07-19T15:12:00.000-04:00

Nagle's by night.

prickles

2008-07-18T14:35:00.001-04:00

A cactus? In New Jersey?!

This is a prickly pear cactus. Wikipedia says: "Prickly pears are also the only types of cactus natively found to grow in the eastern United States. Opuntia [the prickly pear genus] are the most cold-tolerant of the lowland cacti, extending into western and southern Canada."

They're not common around here--I only ever see them in Sandy Hook, which is a sandy windy salt-marshy kind of area. And half of the cacti that I see there look like half-rotten roadkill (yes, I'm sure they're not ACTUALLY roadkill), so I can't say that they exactly thrive in this area.

walk through time

2008-07-17T16:39:00.002-04:00

There are two reasons that this path of boards caught my attention.

First of all, it's one of several private boardwalks in Sea Girt [+photos] (not to be confused with Sea Bright [+ photos], which is north), leading from seaside mansions across some dunes directly to the public boardwalk. A low gate discourages the public from trespassing.

I hadn't seen this phenomenon before.

The second thing is that it reminds me of the original boardwalks.

The boardwalk pictured above was in Asbury Park, c. 1877. (Photograph is from Images of America: Asbury Park, by Helen-Chantal Pike, Arcadia Publishing, 1997, p. 100) The caption reads:

"In 1877 the first boardwalk was laid out on the beachfront. It... was just wide enough for two side-by-side strollers, and was rolled up at the end of each season. Seven years earlier New Jersey's first boardwalk had been laid in Atlantic City."

Shockingly, most boardwalks don't look like that anymore.

dinosaur 2!

2008-07-16T14:41:00.000-04:00

Dinosaurs roam in Sea Bright--and they deck themselves out in Christmas lights.

(This is the best front-yard ornament EVER.)

sunset 11

2008-07-15T16:45:00.001-04:00

Okay. So. I know I've shown the sun setting over Sandy Hook before, and I know I've shown the kitesurfers in Sandy Hook Bay before, but have I shown them TOGETHER?!

Seriously, though, this blog has been totally devoid of color lately. It's summer! I thought I could leave the drab browns and grays for winter!

Soooooo here's a colorsplash.

the ushers' march

2008-07-14T16:52:00.005-04:00

I'm going to quote Leonard Sweet (SoulSalsa) because I really can't phrase this better:

"There is no more vintage moment steeped in the Ocean Grove tradition than to watch as a couple dozen ushers fan out across the vast amphitheater in their white pants and blue blazers to collect the offering in old-fashioned wicker baskets. When the offertory anthem is finished, they emerge from everywhere and nowhere to waltz back to the front and line up for the offertory prayer while Gordon Turk plays on the great organ the tune of "The Ushers March" [composed by Clarence Kohlmann, O.G. organist from 1924-1945]. it's quaint. It's campy. It's the signature of Ocean Grove. There's only one problem. All the ushers have been, from the opening day of Ocean Grove, male. (There are a couple of services each year when women usher. But these are the exceptions that prove the rule.)"

(You remember the Great Auditorium, right? And incidentally, the photo I took at last year's choir festival is no longer possible, since there is a new organ taking up the whole balcony behind the sound guys.)

TRAFFIC OMG

2008-07-13T14:39:00.003-04:00

DO NOT GO TO SANDY HOOK ON A WEEKEND.

They've decided that the Highlands Bridge needs to be replaced (with... a non-drawbridge. how this is going to work, I don't know). This unfortunately obstructs the ONLY ROAD out of Sandy Hook. Traffic is like this for several miles, and it was like this for the entire time we were there (from about 6:00-8:00PM on a Saturday--not exactly prime beach time). Construction of the bridge is supposed to continue for 3 years. Three years of this! Egad. You'll probably only get archive photos of Sandy Hook from me from now on.

(Click here to see a map of where Sandy Hook and Atlantic Highlands are in relation to each other. Leave a comment for me if the link doesn't work.)

shed

2008-07-12T15:01:00.000-04:00

Bug molts lying around don't gross me out as much as they could, mostly because I've had hermit crabs for about 15 years, and they molt 1-2 times per year, so I'm used to seeing hairy disembodied exoskeletons lying around. (but not for long, 'cos the crabs eat the exoskeletons shortly after molting to reabsorb the chitin.)

...I mean, don't get me wrong, even after 15 years, I find that picking up a disembodied hairy leg is still kind of gross... but it's probably significantly less gross than it would be if I HADN'T been exposed to it for 15 years.

ATTACK OF THE GIANT FRUITS

2008-07-11T14:18:00.000-04:00

Here we see a gargantuan lemon on the Belmar boardwalk, innocently attracting absolutely no attention from passers-by.

(Clearly it's a scout for a race of giant space fruits that intend to dominate our planet. But that's neither here nor now.)

flowers and portraits

2008-07-10T15:15:00.000-04:00

This description is TOTALLY unrelated to the photo. But so it goes.

Sometimes, it's good to know that other peoples' photographic etiquette is as bad as my own.

Before the Ocean Grove Summer Band concert last night (every Wednesday in the summer, 8:00PM--if you're a musician, show up at the Pavillion on the boardwalk at 7:30PM Monday for a rehearsal--no auditions or registration needed), I was warming up outside. I usually stand at the edge of the boardwalk and blow some notes out to sea for ~10 minutes, trying to ignore the people walking behind me and staring. Last night, I heard a click directly behind me, so I turned to look. Someone was taking my picture!

I blinked at the person a few times, and I went back to warming up. For as many times as I've tried to get candid photos of strangers, I figured, y'know, what the heck--I'll cut this guy a break. I did think that maybe, after we'd MADE EYE CONTACT and I was clearly aware that he was invading my personal space (within the 3-foot radius!), he might introduce himself or say SOMETHING to me, but... no. I heard a few more clicks before he disappeared as silently as he'd arrived.

So if you see a photo of a trombone player looking out to sea... with really messed-up hair (damn those sea breezes)... you'll know what you're looking at.

holes

2008-07-09T08:44:00.001-04:00

If you've ever been to the beach and wondered what those holes in the wet sand are, wonder no more:

they are the burrows of SAND CRABS.

bottles

2008-07-08T09:03:00.000-04:00

The side of Nagle's boasts a collection of old seltzer bottles.

Peeking through the windows of this place (after hours), I really need to go inside sometime. Little apothecary bottles line the inside wall, which kind of fascinates me.

saddle up!

2008-07-07T14:36:00.000-04:00

Rick's Saddle Shop in Englishtown. I always used to be hugely amused by the Purina logo when I passed by this place... but then I discovered that Purina makes more than dog & cat food. Whups.

droplet

2008-07-06T17:22:00.001-04:00

Things have been kind of wet around here for a few days.

medusae

2008-07-05T11:52:00.001-04:00

Detail of the copper Medusa heads* that surround the carousel house in Asbury Park.

Asbury Park notes:

First off, Madame Marie died last Friday, June 27, just nine days after I featured her. She was 93.

Secondly, someone threw... a raw hamburger? a large chunk of watermelon? at my car--about an inch below the driver's side window--while I was driving through Asbury Park last Wednesday. Having heard the ear-shattering THUNK with which it hit, I'm relieved that there doesn't seem to be any permanent body damage. Remember--Asbury Park is looking up, but it ain't there yet.

*Actually, as far as I can tell, nobody's entirely sure what these faces really represent. We all kind of assume they're Medusae, but we're not certain what Warren Whitney was thinking when he decided to add these faces to his design.

kaboom!

2008-07-04T09:57:00.004-04:00

Fireworks at Joe Palaia Park for the USA's Independence Day! Viewed from a slightly distant supermarket parking lot with all kinds of trees and power lines in the way.* I had loads of company in that parking lot--many families threw little tailgate parties for the event. Due to the limited visibility, though, I heard sarcastic teenagers-who'd-been-dragged-along comments, like "OH MY GOD! THE FIREWORKS ARE AMAZING!" when the explosions didn't quite clear the trees.

*Okay, technically, I was in the middle of a field that I probably shouldn't have been in. Okay, technically technically I wasn't in the middle-- I was about 12' away from the edge of Route 35. But I did park in that parking lot.

bridge 6

2008-07-03T15:15:00.000-04:00

Shaaaark R'v'r Bridge is op'ning up, op'nin up, op'ning up
Shaaaark R'v'r Bridge is op'ning up,
My fair lady

(Okay, so you've already seen this drawbridge a few times.)

2CV

2008-07-02T08:59:00.005-04:00

Who doesn't love a Citroën?

I mean, if I had to drive one, I might be a little out-of-love with it.

But since I don't, God bless those who DO drive 'em and give us onlookers that pleasure. :)

Edit: it was brought to my attention that the above text may be a little esoteric for those who aren't familiar with the car. To those people, I offer the following information:

2CVs ("deux chevaux [vapeur]") were produced as an economy car after the second World War as sort of an "umbrella on wheels" for French farmers to haul stuff from Point A to Point B. The seats were hammocks suspended from the roof by wires. The windows didn't roll down, they folded down. And the engines were "notoriously underpowered." To quote Wikipedia,

"When asked about the 2CVs performance and acceleration, many owners said it went 'from 0-60 in one day'. Others jokingly said they 'had to make an appointment to merge onto an interstate highway system'."

One of my mother's old buddies would sometimes drive friends around in his Citroën 2CV; my mom's stories indicate that she'd prefer never to set foot inside one of these cars again. ;)

NO!

2008-07-01T01:30:00.009-04:00

Boardwalks and beaches have a zillion silly rules.

Asbury Park, shown above:
"Welcome to Asbury Park boardwalk and beaches
For your safety and pleasure please follow these rules and regulations:

NO

Rollerblades

Skateboards

Dogs or other animals

Bicycle riding 12 noon-6 AM

Alcohol permitted east of Ocean Ave.

Please swim only in designated areas when lifeguards are on duty"

I love how alcohol is permitted WEST of Ocean Ave. In all fairness, east of Ocean Avenue pretty much is the beach.

Here are MORE Jersey Shore boardwalk "no" signs!

Ocean Grove, sign one:

"NO bicycles on boardwalk

except 3AM-10AM

Neptune Twp Ord. 1120
Strictly enforced by Neptune Twp. Police"

Because, y'know, I love to go out riding my bike at THREE IN THE MORNING.

Ocean Grove, sign two:

"No dogs permitted on beach or boardwalk
May 1-Oct. 1
Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association"

Sea Girt:
"[handwritten] No ball playing, frisbee, or kite flying
No dogs on boardwalk or beach
No bicycles surfboards, skateboards, or rollerskates on boardwalk
No consumption or possession of alcoholic beverages in public
No sleeping on beach from 5PM to 9AM
Bicycles permitted on boardwalk from 5AM to 10AM only
No one admitted to beach without a beach badge
No beach fires or picnic parties
No food allowed on beach
Bathing permitted in protected areas only"

beach finds

2008-06-30T07:45:00.000-04:00

More common on Jersey beaches than conchs or scallops or periwinkles or coral: the skate egg case, sometimes called the "mermaid's purse."

go fly a kite!

2008-06-29T10:20:00.005-04:00

Some people get a kick out of flying kites at the beach. After 5:00PM, there's plenty of space, it's still beautifully light, and the shore winds are pretty good.

(Did I know the family whose kites I was photographing? No.
Did I introduce myself to the family whose kites I was photographing? No.
Did I do ANYTHING except stand in the middle of their fun and aim my camera upwards? No.
Is this rude and sketchy? Yes.

On the plus side, I didn't make any motion to conceal the fact that I was taking photos of the kites, which is a step for me.

Baby steps, baby steps...)

boardwalk

2008-06-28T12:57:00.001-04:00

The Ocean Grove boardwalk is fabulously maintained.

</sarcasm>

fireflies!

2008-06-27T15:00:00.000-04:00

You may or may not be able to see, but this nightscape is full of FIREFLIES! (Or whatever you call them. I grew up calling 'em "lightning bugs" but slipped into calling them "fireflies" at some point. Either term is acceptable around here.)

Some of those fireflies might be the same ones, as this photo is actually a composite (of like 10 of the FOUR THOUSAND PHOTOS--okay, more like 40-- that I took. I've been trying to photograph these guys for a few days now, but my camera's longest shutter speed is 4 seconds [and highest decent ISO is 200], which... just wasn't enough. Google confirmed that this is a supremely tricky task that's virtually impossible with a shutter less than 60 seconds. So I gave up and cheated).

fungus 11

2008-06-26T08:01:00.001-04:00

This is for all you fungus-lovers out there. :D

Well, the different sizes and shapes and textures of fungi never cease to fascinate ME. Surely you feel the same way. ;)

monitors (but not lizards)

2008-06-25T08:23:00.000-04:00

In Ocean Township, the second and fourth Wednesdays of every month are bulk trash day. This means that you can put your "bulk trash" (which is "large non-metal items") out on the curbing the night before, and some nice trashpeople will come by in the morning and take it away for you.

This is, of course, fantastic, but there are certain weird rules that need to be followed.

For example, my family tried to get rid of some old tires. However, we could not put the tires out on the curb until we'd separated the rubber from the metal wheel. This is, unfortunately, a service that local shops will not provide for free. On top of THAT, the trashpeople are only allowed to take three tires at once. Three tires? THREE TIRES?! What on earth is the point of that?!

Anyway. This photo was just too cute to pass up. What sort of suburban residence has that many monitors to begin with?

TURTLE CROSSING

2008-06-24T14:42:00.002-04:00

Why did the turtle cross the road?

To get to the Shell station! AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

beach novel

2008-06-23T18:02:00.000-04:00

The prodigal photoblogger returns...?

Special thanks to everyone who bothered to read and comment on my posts while I was gone. I felt loved when I came back. (If I were the type to gauge how loved I am by the number of comments left. Which I'm totally not. *cough* )

But this is someone enjoying a novel on the Ocean Grove beach. :)

drawbridge!

2008-06-22T10:21:00.001-04:00

Gahhhh. I took like twenty shots of Shark River's Route 71 drawbridge opening (in a fairly inappropriate setting, at great embarrassment to myself), and ALL of those shots are ATROCIOUSLY OVEREXPOSED. (Entirely my fault. I decided to shoot on manual and apparently didn't pay enough attention to the meter.)

I seem to recall that last year in my Photo I class, the teacher told us that it was better to overexpose film (resulting in a "dense" negative) than underexpose it (resulting in a "thin" negative) 'cos if you overexpose it, at least you have exposed the film to the information and the information's THERE somewhere.

I can't help thinking that the opposite rule applies to digital photography. I can always lighten a dark photo pretty easily, but once a photo's overexposed, the highlights get completely blown out. There's no hope for 'em--the information's just GONE.

Anyway.

I am (still) in North Carolina (or maybe Virginia or Maryland today--I should be back by tomorrow), so I will A) be relying on "automatic posting," B) will not update the archive until I return, and C) will be unavailable for comments.

the whole tooth

2008-06-21T10:14:00.001-04:00

A lifeboat. With teeth.

I know when I'm drowning, flailing my arms in the water and terrified for my life, that's EXACTLY what I want to see coming my way--SHARP POINTY TEETH.

I am (still) in North Carolina for a few days, so I will A) be relying on "automatic posting," B) will not update the archive until I return, and C) will be unavailable for comments.

meter & shadow

2008-06-20T10:07:00.001-04:00

Here's a parking meter by the edge of the Belmar boardwalk. (You need only pay for parking until 7:00PM.)

I am (still) in North Carolina for a few days, so I will A) be relying on "automatic posting," B) will not update the archive until I return, and C) will be unavailable for comments.

the empress

2008-06-19T11:37:00.001-04:00

The Empress Hotel began as a luxury resort for vacationing families in the 1950s. By the 1980s, it was pretty much out of business, and by 1991, it was boarded up. But in 1998, famous radio DJ Shep Pettibone bought the property and opened a nightclub inside. The Paradise Nightclub "lured crowds of gay travelers away from Fire Island and instead to the beaches of Asbury Park;" the hotel portion reopened 6 years later in 2004 and continues to attract a LGBT clientele. According to Wikipedia, "It is one of the Jersey Shore's most chic resorts, as well as its only Hotel which caters to the gay community."

And: CHECK OUT MY MAP OF ASBURY PARK! <--clicky clicky
It allows you to put all I've said in some sort of spacial context. :)

This concludes Asbury Park Feature Week (what's that? You didn't know I was doing one? Go back and read my last 5 posts! :) ). I am actually in North Carolina for a few days, so I will be relying on "automatic posting," will not update the archive until I return, and will be unavailable for comments.

madam(e) marie

2008-06-18T13:33:00.004-04:00

Again with the Springsteen--if you've ever heard the line

Did you hear the cops finally busted Madame Marie for tellin' fortunes better than they do?

then now you know what he was talking about.

Yes, Madam Marie is a real person with a real shack on the Asbury Park boardwalk where she tells fortunes (though I believe the legitimacy of this operation was a bit dubious for many years--hence the reference to the cops finally busting her.) This is actually a new building--the original looked like this.

(I managed to take some photos at the lowest resolution my camera is capable of. So please don't look too closely at this.)

Edit: Madame Marie died June 27, 2008, just 9 days after this was posted. She was 93.

cookman avenue

2008-06-17T15:03:00.004-04:00

Some of you non-Jersey-Shore-ites might be wondering why I'm featuring Asbury Park this week.

Asbury Park, aside from being one of two official "cities" in Monmouth County (the other being Long Branch), has one of the most interesting histories in the area (and, according to the official website, has been deemed the sixth-best place in the state for music).

In 1871, James A. Bradley (who developed several of the shore towns; Bradley Beach [a town slightly south] is named after him) established Asbury Park, and by 1894, the resort was officially a bustling city. Development grew; Art Deco and Beaux Arts architecture proliferated; over 600,000 people each year came by train from New York City and Philadelphia to enjoy the pleasures of Asbury. [1]

But progress wasn't kind to the city. After World War II, the surrounding farms were developed into suburbia, so those who could afford it moved into newer houses with spacious yards. The Garden State Parkway, built from 1946-1957, allowed vacationers to plan trips that didn't involve taking trains to the shore. Ten miles away in Eatontown, Monmouth Mall--established in 1958 and continually expanded through 1975, 1986, and 1993--was more convenient and attractive to shoppers than the boutiques of downtown Asbury Park. Thirty miles away in Jackson Township, Six Flags Great Adventure opened in 1972, making vacationers think twice about spending their summers on "a mile-long stretch of aging boardwalk amusements."[2]

Asbury Park was already on the down-and-down when the July 4 weekend race riots in 1970 destroyed several aging buildings and killed 46 people. (My mother actually worked in Asbury Park at this time; she came back from her pleasant little July 4th weekend, heard about what had happened in Asbury while she was off skiing, and got a call from one of her clients warning everyone in the storefront operation to get out, there's a mob coming your way!) It was official: there was no longer any reason for tourists to spend their summers in this seaside town.

Except, of course, the music scene, but I won't get into that here.

The carousel house and Palace Amusements managed to stay afloat until 1988 (in fact, the carousel horses were refurbished at great cost in 1986, but according to Palace Amusements Online:

During the summer of 1987, a 50-mile slick of discarded medical and hospital trash and household garbage ruined parts of the Jersey shore, and scared visitors away from nearly all the rest. Bill Foster, the Palace manager, was quoted as blaming the disaster for a 55 percent drop in Palace business; others, including Sam Vaccaro, dispute that figure but say the impact was very bad. A year later, mistakes made during the cleaning of Asbury Park's sewage line flushed high levels of fecal bacteria into the ocean, closing beaches for 19 days. The State of New Jersey fined Asbury Park more than $1 million for the mistake. The number of day visitors to Asbury Park dropped like a rock. [3]

(There was a lot of drama surrounding the auctioning-off of the carousel horses--read this for details.)

As far as I'm aware, everyone who could leave did. Growing up, we heard about the shootings, the dangers, the "don't go to Asbury if you don't have to." Last summer (2007), when I went to take some nighttime photos of the Asbury Park Casino, an Ocean Grove cop-on-a-Segway stopped for a few moments to warn me to BE CAREFUL! And there was an article on the front page of the Asbury Park Press today (June 18, 2008) describing "96 arrested in Asbury Park."

In 2002, the redevelopment began. The dilapidated buildings are either being preserved or demolished; either way, the city is cleaning up and attracting new people, including a substantial LGBT community. [2] Cookman Avenue, pictured above, is one of the hippest areas of Asbury. According to a friend, "There's a rainbow flag in like every window. It's not as bad as we were told growing up."

Asbury Park's got a rich history: some bright, some dark, all more interesting than, say, Farmingdale. And it's kind of exciting to share a zip code with the best-known municipality in Monmouth County.

Sources:
[1] Asbury Park, New Jersey- Official Website, History, accessed June 17 2008.
[2] Wikipedia, Asbury Park, New Jersey, accessed June 17 2008.
[3] Palace Amusements Online, 1986-1988, accessed June 17 2008.

casino 2

2008-06-16T18:26:00.004-04:00

Interior of Asbury Park Casino--what's left of it, anyway. And, just to orient you, if you click that "Asbury Park Casino" link and pretend you're standing there, this is what you'd see if you looked through a hole in the wall to your left.

(Click the photo for a larger size! This is two photos hand-stitched together with no fancy software.)

tillie!

2008-06-15T11:01:00.009-04:00

What is this?

Painted on Asbury Park's Wonder Bar, this is a reproduction of the original 'Tillie' faces found on the walls of Palace Amusements.

"Tillie?" You go around naming murals on walls?

George C. Tilyou, better known as the owner of Coney Island's Steeplechase Park (and the father of the contemporary amusement park), had a marketing strategy for his Coney Island parks: "his trademark image of a grinning face (replete with twice the usual number of teeth) appeared on the entrance, tickets, and all printed material."[1]

Here's a photo of the George C. Tilyou's Coney Island face, photographed in March 2008:

In an "homage" to Tilyou's original funny-face icon, Worth Thomas designed a similar (though not identical, under threat of copyright infringement) fifteen-foot tall face in the mid-1950s, painted twice--for two walls of Palace Amusements.[2] Why a giant grinning face, of all things to pay homage to? According to the Palace Museum Online, the face "stylistically continued a tradition begun in 1897 when Coney Island amusements impresario George Cornelius Tilyou introduced a fun face as the logo of Steeplechase Park in Coney Island. Tilyou so successfully integrated the image throughout his park that most other amusement entrepreneurs followed with designs of their own."[3] (I've never heard of other parks using the face, though.)

So, to answer the original question: Tilyou--> Tillie. That's all.

Okay, so why reproduce a random mural? It's just a face.

Tillie is/was one of the most recognizable icons of the Jersey Shore. Don't ask me why.

When there were plans to demolish the Palace Amusements building, a whole SWARM of people stood up and fought it for years. They called themselves 'Save Tillie' and managed to have the building listed on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places. But, well, they didn't own the property; eventually economics won out, and the building was demolished in 2004... but NOT before Save Tillie managed to salvage the murals. (Here's a picture.)[4]

So... where's Tillie now?

In storage somewhere, waiting for an appropriate opportunity for display to arise.[5]

Sources:

[1] Ford, Robert C., and Ady Milman, George C. Tilyou--Developer of the Contemporary Amusement Park, August 1 2000; accessed June 15 2008.

[2] Mister Snitch, A Tale of Two Tillies, August 2 2005; accessed June 15 2008.

[3] Palace Online Museum, 1955-1956, 2005; accessed June 15 2008.

[4] Palace Online Museum, Save Tillie, 2005; accessed June 15 2008.

[5] Crane, Bob, Asbury Park redevelopers disregarding historic artifacts, May 11 2008; accessed June 15 2008.
(If that link doesn't work, try Backstreets.com)

(This bibliography is absolutely improper, but hey, at least I'm citing my sources.)

carousel 2

2008-06-14T15:14:00.004-04:00

I have several points to make today. Enter the numbered list:

1. On the left (below) is an exterior shot taken at the same time as the photo featured above. Compare to the photo I took of this building back in January:

This is super-exciting, because--you'll note--this closed-to-the-public-for-20-years carousel IS OPEN. No fences, no doors, no broken glass, no debris, and lights that work! Plus you can see the grooves in the floor where the carousel used to be, which is just awesome.

When I originally posted this in January, I was encouraged to break and enter to obtain photographs. But look--if you're patient, you can do these sorts of things LEGALLY. Yippee.

2. For a full history of the carousel building, visit my original post on the matter. For the abbreviated version-- the Asbury Park carousel building (along with the Casino) was designed by Warren Whitney (one of the guys who designed Grand Central Station); the carousel was installed in 1923; it closed sometime in the late '80s (I think) for economic reasons, and the carousel itself can currently be found in Family Kingdom in North Carolina.

3. There was supposed to be a farmer's market in this building today. There wasn't. There were four vendors (1-flowers, 2-veggies, 3-coffee, 4-pasta) in the Casino next door. I got up early this morning to enjoy the pleasures of this well-publicized "farmer's market in the carousel building," and I was most disappointed. And from the snippets of about 7 other conversations that I caught, I was NOT ALONE. Of course, this means that the next time Asbury Park actually wants to have a farmer's market in the carousel building, we shoppers will all be damned if we bother to show up again.

4. I may make this into an Asbury Park feature week--I have lots of photos and I'm slightly obsessed with it at the moment. Be prepared!

passing by

2008-06-13T15:44:00.000-04:00

This is New Jersey. There are both huge public international airports and small private airports all over the place. C'est la vie.

transplant

2008-06-12T11:27:00.004-04:00

From an artistic perspective, I'd like to have darkened/de-contrasted the background a bit, just so it didn't blend into the foreground so much... but that is pretty darn time-consuming, and the artistry of my photography is not the point today.

This is one of the two carousel horses found in the Grand Arcade between Asbury Park's Convention Hall and Paramount Theater.

I don't think this is a carousel horse that was actually used in Asbury Park--mostly because I didn't see a description near the horse (nor the other one--there's a black steed a few yards away), and everything I've read on the fate of the Asbury Park carousels indicates that the horses found homes elsewhere.

But I really don't know. The town--especially the boardwalk area--is beginning to clean up surprisingly well, so maybe the historic society collected the funds to buy back a few of their own horses and show 'em off in the Convention Hall. Or, more likely, they've been there all along and I just haven't noticed.

*Edit: No, they're a recent introduction.

underneath

2008-06-11T10:15:00.005-04:00

I'm probably ripping off John Maslowski, but y'know, he's not the only person who can photograph the underside of a pier. Take that.

I live maybe 2 miles--as the crow flies--from the Jersey shore, and it takes about 20 minutes to drive to Ocean Grove, which is a little further south. (About 8 of those minutes are spent toodling along at 25-30 MPH 'cos that's the speed limit in touristy areas, and there are speed traps set up all over the place). So really, I ought to feature the beach more often.

Not that I will, but I should.

broken 2

2008-06-10T12:40:00.002-04:00

Found object--probably a street hockey ball. Temperatures continue to push 100 degrees F, so I'm kind of amazed that my camera didn't burst into flame or steam up or one of those things that hot cameras tend to do.

scape

2008-06-09T18:03:00.000-04:00

I apologize for posting this so late. I had an early class, which went to noon, except I stayed late and before I knew it I wasn't home until 4:30 and the dog needed to go out and the garden needed watering and this all took twice as long as usual because IT'S SO RIDICULOUSLY HOT and shows no signs of letting up but anyway HERE IS A NICE COOL PHOTO of Thompson Park.

Thuh end.

QQ

2008-06-08T09:34:00.001-04:00

Man, Josy. What is with all the car photos? Like seriously.

Yesterday was the Colts Neck business fair and antique car show... so there were, shockingly, some antique cars sitting around. Why this particular one? I've always had a thing for woodies (NO JOKES), and apparently my grandmother used to drive one of these old Chryslers.

Normally, I'd blur out the license plate, but I thought it was worth a mention that historic cars in New Jersey can be identified by their "QQ" plates. (I actually call the cars 'QQs,' as in, "Hey look, a QQ just drove by!" but I think I'm the only person in the state who does this.)

fungus 10

2008-06-07T09:48:00.001-04:00

As you may guess from the numbering in the title, I've posted a lot of fungi. But none recently! So here is some fungus for you to ogle!

The Pequon

2008-06-06T10:46:00.000-04:00

Today, we celebrate FLASHBACK FRIDAY with a 35mm photo taken in 2002!

The Pequon--a white 1988 Mercury Grand Marquis station wagon with fake wood paneling--was my first car. It was named after Captain Ahab's "Pequod" 'cos it handled like a boat, looked like a boat, was roughly boat-sized, and probably floated. Besides which, my parents had always called it "the white whale" or "the Moby Mercury," so continuing the Moby Dick theme seemed appropriate.

(It's also the car I took to my senior prom.)

This was taken for my first photography class, and I think it was my first experience in taking candid photos of people... and trying to mollify them after they heard the shutter go SNAP and gave me dirty looks.

two views

2008-06-05T09:53:00.005-04:00

I know this is a little small, but if you can keep from feeling seasick from looking at this split-level diptych, you'll note something a little different between the two white buildings (aside from the obvious seasonal difference). That's right--the park FORMERLY known as Deal Test Site installed a [communications?] tower while I wasn't looking. wtf.

On an unrelated note, dear readers, if you're interested in a sneak peak of my own future... I'm going to grad school in Chicago (for medical illustration) in August, and there are already three Chicago Daily Photoblogs. What to do?! Answer: I've started a new semi-daily location-nonspecific photoblog [CLICKY CLICKY] (read: ANOTHER pointless photoblog clogging up the internet). It's not officially "on the market" yet--I'm still tweaking it, and you won't see it in my Blogger profile or listed in any photoblog directories--but I am posting things, if you'd like to check it out, bookmark it, and/or offer suggestions. :)

monste mas

2008-06-04T10:15:00.002-04:00

They did the mas!
(They did the MONSTE mas!)
The monste mas!
(It was a graveyard smas!)
They did the mas!
(It caught on in a flas!)
They did the mas!
(They did the MONSTE mas!)

Found on Rte-35. I don't know if there's a story behind it. Maybe this abandoned shack turns into a haunted party house around Halloween.

sunset 10

2008-06-03T10:57:00.001-04:00

I think it's been pretty well established that I have a huge weakness for sunsets.

This particular one was seen over Fletcher Lake, about 16 feet from the boardwalk between Ocean Grove and Bradley Beach.

ANTS

2008-06-02T07:35:00.001-04:00

Ah, summer is in the air! The birds are singing, the rainshowers are unpredictable, and... the ants are swarming.

published!

2008-06-01T09:36:00.002-04:00

Well, clearly I should've posted yesterday's church on a Sunday, not a Saturday, but anyway.

Yeah, I forgot to tell youse folks--one of my MCDP photos made it into the Monmouth Review (Monmouth University's annual art and literature magazine). I am now a published photographer! Sort of.

(BY THE WAY--being the first of the month, today is City Daily Photo Theme Day! The theme this month is "your local corner shop" [which I didn't participate in 'cos our "local corner shops" have all turned into 7-11s--even my good old Krauzer's]. But go look at some nifty shops around the world!)

holy

2008-05-31T15:31:00.000-04:00

Presbyterian Church on the Hill--not to be confused with Tower Hill Presbyterian, which is about a half-hour's drive away.

Side note--after my dad and I fiddled with the internet for a few hours this morning (and finally convinced it to not poop out every couple minutes), I went to SpeedTest.net to check the connection. Turns out, my DSL line is running faster than--get this--8% of other American connections and 16% of connections worldwide. Man, no wonder I have such difficulty loading everyone else's photoblogs!

street sweepin'

2008-05-30T11:10:00.000-04:00

I was lucky enough to catch this guy as he was sweeping through our neighborhood!

eggy eggy eggsenfree!

2008-05-29T09:33:00.000-04:00

Awwwwwww.

The place where I took this photo was a fairly high-traffic area of Brookdale Community College, so I had to think twice about contorting myself into the compromising position necessary to take this photo. However, about 15 feet away from me was a woman standing, staring at the ground, and talking loudly and clearly to herself (MAYYYYBE she had a hands-free headset or something... but she wasn't using her hands! they just hung at her sides). I decided that her situation was more embarrassing than mine, and if SHE was willing to look like such a looney in the middle of campus, then I shouldn't have any problem with it! So I knelt down to take the picture without another thought.

bridge 5

2008-05-28T08:42:00.000-04:00

Actually, this is the same bridge as "bridge 4."

"Under the Lake Bridge!
(Out of the sun!)
Under the Lake Bridge!
(We'll be having some fun!)
Under the Lake Bridge!
(People walking above!)
Under the Lake Bridge!
(We'll be falling in love!)
Under the Lake Bridge! LAKE BRIDGE!"

cree-mee

2008-05-27T10:45:00.002-04:00

Enough with the artsy-ness. It's time for some Monmouth County sightseeing!

This here is Millstone Twp.'s Cree-Mee Freeze, which has virtually no internet presence. They don't have a web site and they're barely listed in the business-oriented restaurant lists. What I CAN tell you is that the Cree-Mee Freeze was apparently featured in a season finale of Sex and the City (back in 2002) as a Long Island roadside burger joint.

As for its current state, well, even though there are no cars invading the landscape in this photo, it was absolutely swarmed when I drove by the place a week later. Guess it's popular with the locals--at the right times, of course!

red

2008-05-26T14:30:00.001-04:00

Ugh. It's gardening time. And time for an experiment, sort of, in not-sharply-defined focus.

On a completely random note, for some reason, Roger Miller's "King of the Road" goes through my head every time I look at this photo for more than 5 seconds.

belmar bound

2008-05-25T09:46:00.001-04:00

Spring Lake train station at dusk. I was actually trying to get a picture of the last glow of sunset, but by the time I'd jogged up the street (in shoes not intended for jogging), that last bit of pink had disappeared.

I make no apologies for the lens flares/moisture on the lens.

Guess what! Yesterday, when I was in Ocean Grove for a concert, I saw some kid taking the exact photo I'd already posted yesterday. Ohhhh well, we always knew I was unoriginal! The sky wasn't nearly as awesome yesterday, though. His loss.

STOKES

2008-05-24T11:07:00.000-04:00

Rev. Ellwood H. Stokes, along with Rev. William B. Osborn, founded Ocean Grove in 1869 as one square mile of land along the Jersey shore for Methodists to come and meet in the summer.

Why exactly there is a statue of Rev. Stokes outside the Great Auditorium (outside view) and no statue of Rev. Osborn is beyond me. Maybe Stokes was more statue-genic.

...actually, to my understanding, Stokes was the first president of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, so he gets some special recognition. (The OGCMA still meets every summer; the waitlist for one of the tents [kind of like private beach cabanas, which also have insanely long waitlists, except you live in the tent all summer] is something like 15-20 years long.)

night fishing

2008-05-23T10:20:00.002-04:00

Two guys (one of whom you can almost kind of see in this photo, right on the corner of the pier) fishing in Ocean Grove, aroundabout 10PM.

Now--one thing about my Fuji S700--its slowest shutter speed is four seconds. Four seconds in nearly pitch-dark (especially when the widest aperture is only f/3.5) is... well... not enough. Thank God for GIMP!

birds of state

2008-05-22T10:37:00.001-04:00

I think I'm still the only official City Daily Photoblog based in New Jersey, so I suppose it's necessary to include a little education about the entire state once in a while. :)

The Eastern Goldfinch has been the official state bird of New Jersey since 1935. Nobody knows why.

faceoff

2008-05-21T10:52:00.000-04:00

I was skating through Thompson Park, and I decided, for a change, to take a right turn instead of a left.

In addition to taking me right across the main entrance of Brookdale Community College (which... well... it's not exactly a low-traffic area), the path took me right by Lincroft Elementary School (whose basketball court is seen above). This normally wouldn't be a problem, except that some third-graders happened to be having a gym class about 15 feet away from the path. And here I am, being my usual creepy (and sweaty from skating) self--with a camera strapped to my back.

The kids just seemed kind of curious. The gym teacher was looking at me funny, and the kids were corralled back indoors within 5 minutes.

Who builds a fricking bike path right across school grounds?!

imagine

2008-05-20T09:43:00.000-04:00

Did you ever lean back in your seat at school and look at the ceiling... and wonder what it would be like if lights were on the floor and desks were stuck to the ceiling? I used to imagine walking on particleboard (being careful not to step on the long fluorescent lights) while wondering if the glue that secured the furniture to the ceiling was actually strong enough. I thought it would be neat to decorate a room like that--or at least make a walk-through art installation of it.

When I look at this photo, I see some sort of otherworldly scenario, with waist-high anemones sprouting from the floor, and an undulating cave of light formed by some incredible natural phenomenon. What do you see?

overpass

2008-05-19T10:20:00.002-04:00

This photo was 100% luck.

I tried to replicate this shot under the next few overpasses (sitting in the passenger seat, going 65mph) and got nothing. Overexposed blurs, underexposed blurs, blurs that couldn't figure out where to focus, blurs with glare from the windshield behind which I was sitting, etc. etc. etc.

Someone else in my position might get frustrated that her lucky shots often have as much merit as the ones with careful attention to exposure and composition, but me? I'm a casual snapshot photographer anyway, so it doesn't bother me one bit.

....okay, I'm a little annoyed.

earle 2

2008-05-18T11:00:00.001-04:00

Last January, I featured a photo of Naval Weapons Station Earle due west of Sandy Hook.

The part of Earle shown above--a rail line used for transporting weapons and such--is located much further inland. Earle, as it turns out, is actually two bases ("Main-side," located around Colts Neck [marker A], and the "Waterfront Area," located around Sandy Hook [marker B]) connected by Normandy Rd., a 15-mile rail/road line.

For more information, read Globalsecurity.org's summary.

lilac

2008-05-17T10:08:00.001-04:00

Lilacs have been featured in poetry and songs throughout the ages, presumably because the flowers are associated with springtime, first love, and innocence. Or, more likely, that symbolism is WHY they're featured in poetry and songs. Either way.

Personally, I've always felt a stronger emotional attatchment to honeysuckle.

circles

2008-05-16T11:35:00.001-04:00

Despite catchy signs encouraging people not to litter, people still leave trash (like this abandoned water bottle) all over the place. In all fairness, though, this bottle was sitting on a bench in a tennis court, so it's more likely that the owner just set it down and forgot to pick it up.

Editor's note: Those "circles" are condensation collected on the inside of the bottle--just to avoid any potential confusion as to what you're looking at.

you're just another

2008-05-15T10:07:00.001-04:00

Ever looked closely at a wall? It's kind of interesting.

(This particular wall belongs to our local Tar-JHEY, which is how many of us pronounce Target. Maybe not many of us. But some of us get a kick out of imagining it as a classy French store.)

water flowing underground

2008-05-14T07:52:00.001-04:00

Spring Lake in the rain.

Josy, did you have your camera out in the rain again?

Uhhhhhhhh. Maybe. But I used my left hand as a protective tent for the camera! Does that count for something?

doomed

2008-05-13T09:28:00.001-04:00

OMG ALIENS ARE COMING TO PROBE ME!!!

...Either that or it's the underside of a Belmar streetlight.

facades and power lines

2008-05-12T09:29:00.001-04:00

This is the same building that was scheduled for demolition in 2004.

hi-vi resea

2008-05-11T10:39:00.000-04:00

There was a small pile of broken audio (/visual?) equipment in the corner of someone's front yard. The materials were becoming grimy and leaf-covered; they'd been sitting there a while and were starting to blend in with the ground.

It was an otherwise decently landscaped yard.