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- Sunshine brings out the crowds in OceanGrove. 5/15/21
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- Lucy is in love with her new Minnie Mouse found at Eileen and Paul’s.
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- Most yard sail explorers did not wear masks today. All photos by Paul Goldfinger , Blogfinger.net ©
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- Merriment on Heck. Blogfinger.net
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- Jean and Bob yuck it up while playing their invisible kazoos. They are both members of the Days Marching Kazoo Band.
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- Fun and games on Embury. Click on any photo to enlarge it.
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- Children learn to love yard sales in the Grove. 5/15/21
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- Finding something wonderful on Embury
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- Joyce Adase finds plenty of good stuff on Jean Bredin’s Heck Ave. porch. Blogfinger.net
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- Cowgirl on Mt. Hermon Way.
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- Eileen has some vintage table clothes which attract attention.
Photos and text by Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor at Blogfinger.net
There were town-wide yard sales today in Ocean Grove (sponsored by Blogfinger), Bradley Beach (sponsored by the Ladies’ Aux.) and Belmar (sponsored by the Collegiate Thong Society.) There were visitors in the Grove from all over this part of New Jersey and beyond. The mood was festive—it was the weather, but just as important was the sense of freedom–people needed to get out and reclaim their old lives. And most were going maskless, and it felt safe.
As usual there were early starters, before the announced 9 am start. We humored them; they usually have specific goals in mind such as vinyl, rare coins, jewelry, and old sewing machines. One fellow arrived at 8 am and bought our two bistro chairs.
At 9 am, a large black sedan with New York plates stopped in front of us but they did not get out of the car.
He: (rolling down his window in front of our house as Eileen and I were looking for places to put items) “We wanted to buy those bistro chairs, and you weren’t supposed to start until 9 am” (He was angry.. He must have thought he was shopping at Tiffany’s. Evidently he didn’t know that yard sales have a certain amount of charming je ne sais quoi—- i.e. flexibility.)
Eileen: “Well, someone beat you here. We’re sorry.”
He: As he started to drive away, “No you’re not…”
Later our old friend Carl Swenson, the artist and former actor, came by. We told him the story—he was not amused by that behavior. That let him to contemplate what he calls a “change in demographics” in the Grove. And it is true that the personality of the town is evolving. But, for the most part, those changes are good for the Grove.
He wished that the Camp Meeting would take notice of those changes followed by his complaint that we no longer have secular concerts in the Great Auditorium.
Yard sales do prompt stirring conversations, but we heard not one bit of politics. A few people stopped by to talk photography and music with me; one wanted some medical advice. —that is great and shows why I had to get back from Florida.
But mostly the yard sailors and sea men and women were having fun on HMS Blogfinger—cruising the Grove. They evidently are sick of Covid and of politics.
So here is Billie Holiday with an eternal question posed at the Jersey Shore and still unanswered today: