By Paul Goldfinger at the New Jersey Cranberry Festival. (This year, 2022, it will be held on October 15 and 16. It’s fun, but get there early. About one hour drive south. to Chatsworth, NJ)
The food stand on the top photo had a sign that said, “Shiksabob.”
We wondered about that dish. Was their word spelling correct for their language, or was this an English misspelling ?
We said it over and over until we figured out that it was a misspelled word: Let’s try “Shiskabob.” No–that’s not a word.
Then we said: “Sishkabob,” but no, that was rejected.
But we finally realized that it was “Shishkabob,” but we tried so many versions that we began speaking gibberish and we seemed to have become fahblunget. Or farblunget. Oh, “farblunget” means hopelessly screwed up in Yiddish.
And, last but not least, the correct word (s) is “shish kabob.” And even though I briefly thought I was having a stroke, we finally became coherent again as we walked to our car.
On the way, there was a row of toilets at the Cranberry Festival with the name “Mr. Bob’s” on each door. A lady came out of one and walked towards me.
I held out my hand and said, “Hi, I’m Mr. Bob, and that will be 50 cents. ” She laughed and breezed by. No more Mr. Bob jokes.
A mailing was sent out today (2021) for those who want to obtain their beach “tags” now. If you order by mail, there will be a $7.00 mailing fee. The cost for 2016 will be the same as 2015. You have to sign and return the enclosed card which promises that you will “follow all of the beach rules and regulations.”
Is this unique, or do other towns require that you sign a pledge to follow the rules? Do you think these rules are stated clearly? I wonder how many of you have actually read the rules. If you haven’t, here are a few that are of particular interest.
Note that Ocean Grove CMA controls most of these rules, not the Neptuners, even though the beach, boards, and parks are considered “public thoroughfares”
You may not swim at the North End beach because it is reserved as the “primary surfing beach.”
You must “obey lifeguards.” So if you are a sweet young thing in a bikini, you may not want to agree to this rule.
Use of electronic devices such as radios are only permitted if you wear a headset.
Children under age 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Will you parents with precocious, brilliant kids restrain them from going to the beach alone?
No disrobing or changing clothes on the beach. Heck, that is a popular spectator sport.
No burying persons below grade or in standing position. Does this mean that both the buryer and the buryee cannot be standing? Do the same rules apply if you are burying a dead person?
Sports fishing is allowed in “locations not being used for bathing or surfing.” This could use some clarification.
No flying kites over beach or boardwalk. Is that 24/7 or only while the lifeguards are there?
Only service dogs are allowed on the beach or boardwalk. Do they mean year-round?
No bikes, skateboards or skates except between 3 am to 10 am (Neptune ordinance) Why is Neptune Township writing this rule? (Thanks I.M. Radar.) The CMA is empowered to make rules for the beach and boardwalk. The CMA has jurisdiction over those areas.
No smoking on the beach. CMA allows smoking in their parks, but they probably made this specific area smoke-free because people pay to get on; they don’t pay to visit the parks, including Auditorium Square Park which, strangely, allows smoking despite the big wooden structure next door.
Well, you get the idea. There are 45 such rules and regulations; you have to decide which ones you want to obey fully, which ones you will gracefully ignore, and which ones you will obey selectively.
Oh, and who gets to enforce all these rules, especially if they are 24/7? And how does the CMA insure equal justice under the law?
JOHNNY DEPP and HELENA BONHAM CARTER “By the Sea” from Sweeney Todd-the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics 1979)
“By the sea, Mr. Todd, that’s the life I covet By the sea, Mr. Todd, ooh, I know you’d love it You and me, Mr. T, we could be alone In a house what we’d almost own
“Down by the sea, anything you say Wouldn’t that be smashing?
“With the sea at our gate, we’ll have kippered herring What have swum to us straight from the Straits of Bering Every night in the kip, when we’re through our kippers I’ll be there slipping off your slippers”
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net. Ocean Grove, NJ. 2015.
James Bradley, a wealthy businessman from New York, founded Asbury Park. He was an admirer of Ocean Grove and bought the first lot from the Camp Meeting in 1870. He liked the area so much that he purchased 500 acres south of Fletcher Lake along the ocean. That land became Bradley Beach.
In 1886 he dismantled an Asbury Park Dutch Reformed church and somehow brought it to Bradley Beach and created the First United Methodist Church.
As many of you Grovers know, if you bike or walk in this area, you can discover many neat things. Stephen Goldfinger came upon this landmark during a walk last week. He was following Pennsylvania Avenue into BB where it became Madison Ave. We went over to check it out and “found” this beautiful historic church.
—Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
HOT CLUB OF SAN FRANCISCO. “It’s Not Exactly a Sonata—-For Renata.”
