A rainy May day in Ocean Grove. Photograph of parrot tulips by Eileen Goldfinger 5/5/17 Blogfinger.net Click for the “Jack and the Beanstalk” effect. Title lyric quote* from “April Showers.”
“Trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers
If you want the things you love
You must have showers
So when you hear it thunder
Don’t run under a tree
There’ll be pennies from heaven
For you and me”
BILLIE HOLIDAY From the album: Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia. “Pennies from Heaven” is from the 1936 movie of the same name. Music by Arthur Johnston; words by Johnny Burke. First performed in the film by Bing Crosby.
In high school my friends and I went to Seaside Heights in the summer. We knew that we could find girls and great music in Jersey Shore bars such as the Chatterbox and the place in my photo above. But alas, we weren’t old enough.
However, 4 of us had a band. (one girl and 3 guys), and we played in the Red Rail Restaurant/Bar in Lavallette. We got a cabaret license to let us perform there—but no alcohol for us.
It was a very adult clientele who wanted fox trots and jittter-bugs. They were like our parents. And there were some folks sitting at the bar staring at us and requesting songs like “Fascination,” a waltz.
No hard-core rock and roll there, and all the girls in their summer clothes were elsewhere.
We 3 had an apartment over a garage and we sometimes met girls after work at about midnight on the Seaside boards where there were some who couldn’t get into the bars either. When they heard that we were in a band, we……well, let’s say a little celebrity goes a long way.
Bunny, our pianist, was an FDU coed, and she had her own place and a policeman father.
Last year, walking our grandson on the boards in Seaside, the sight of this place brought back some of my own American Graffiti moments.
Monmouth Battlefield State Park. Photograph atop Combs Hill. By Paul Goldfinger 2014. . Click once to enlarge.
Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor Blogfinger.net
The Battle of Monmouth took place in the vicinity of Monmouth Courthouse in Freehold.
On a blistering hot day on June 28, 1778 the land that is now Monmouth Battlefield State Park was the site of one of the longest battles of the American Revolutionary War.
From the “State Parks Information”: “Here at Monmouth, Washington restored a reputation battered by defeats in 1777. In the day-long battle in the hills, wood lots, farm fields and meadows, the main Continental Army, retrained at Valley Forge, repulsed attacks by the main British Army.
By the end, over 600 men were dead, dying or wounded and the Continental Army held the field.”
The vista above is from Combs Hill where the Continental Army had placed their artillery.
The park is a beautiful place where you can visit, picnic, ride horses or sleighs. The visitor center is near where I was standing to make this photograph. The address is 16 Rt 33 Business in Manalapan.
I enjoy photographing battlefields, although this is only my second. The first is Gettysburg which we have visited quite a few times. Battlefields are evocative of so many qualities of man including bravery, fighting for right and freedom, loyalty and sacrifice.
It seems as if you can time- travel back in such a place as this, and that is an emotional experience.
I tried to capture that mood in this photograph which is much better felt in black and white than with color. —
Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net
BAND OF HM ROYAL MARINES: “Main Theme from Saving Private Ryan” (2006) Written by John Williams.
Allenhurst Beach Club. Paul Goldfinger photo. As seen from Deal. 2014. Click once to enlarge. This facility is happily owned by the people of Allenhurst.
Naples, southwest Florida. Choppy waters on the Gulf of Mexico. Paul Goldfinger photo. Click to enlarge.
Naples is a fabulous international city in southwest Florida.
The downtown is elegant with beautiful shops and restaurants. Yet, despite attracting tourists, the beaches are open and uncrowded. That’s because there is plenty of parking and no mega events to force the residents into their homes such as happens in Ocean Grove and continues into September and beyond.
This photograph is from March, peak season for southern Florida.
2016. CASINO. North End, Ocean Grove. The Great White Whale is seen on the right. Much of the space between it and the Casino belongs to A. Park. Paul Goldfinger photo.
The North End saga: a long and winding road. THE BEETLES:
