Acai bowls are great subjects for our new black and white camera. Paul Goldfinger at the Farmers Market in Ft. Myers, Fla. Dec, 2020. One of the last exposures of the year.  Click to enlarge.

REBECCA LUKER     “Be My Valentine.”

a.  Happy 2021.   We’re still doing Blogfinger although currently from our southern command post.  Please send us news to Blogfinger@verizon.net.  We have continued our quest for the perfect tomatoes, bagels, and girls in their summer clothes.

Our photography has expanded into a more black and white mode which takes me back to my roots with Leica film cameras  starting in the 1970’s.   Now they have also gone retro, in a way, by producing high tech cameras that are dedicated to only black and white.  I hope to report about that trend another time

b.  Photography: To continue our color efforts, here is our idea of a perfect pepper. Eileen helped me with this one.  After all, she’s a pepper too.

By Paul and Eileen. A pepper, 4 inches in diameter, and only $1.00 at the farmers market.

BARRY MANILOW WROTE THIS:

c. Town Wide Yard sale:      The 2020 9th annual Town Wide Yard Sale was cancelled.

2019 Town Wide sale in Ocean Grove. It was and always is fun. Blogfinger photo. May 2019.

May 2019 Town-Wide sale. this yard sailor found a treasure. Paul Goldfinger photo.©

So this past October we had a trial run of a curbside sale, and a number of families participated. It was successful and showed that we could do this despite  COVID-19 looming about.

Now we know that outdoor activities accompanied by masking and distancing can be rewarding.   Look at the restaurant scene in Asbury Park on Cookman.  No spike occurred there as far as we know, and people are becoming braver.

So Blogfinger will sponsor the 10th Annual Town Wide Yard Sale on May 8, the Mothers’ Day weekend as always.   We will promote it as before, and hope for the best in terms of sellers and shoppers and out-and-abouters.   People need to have those happy small town events which we have always promoted to lift the spirits and pride in community.

More information will be forthcoming and fifthcoming.

We will start collecting names and addresses now and tuck them away for May.  And, as before, we will promote the event on line at Blogfinger.net and deliver a list of items for sale about a week in advance.  Contact us at Blogfinger@verizon.net

Read Full Post »

a.

Fitzgerald Fountain bundled up in its  winter garb. Nov. 12, 2020. Blogfinger.net.

b.

Surf Avenue beach block clogged with cars on a rainy Thursday. 11/12/20 Blogfinger.net.  How will it be “in season?”

This is the “before” photo before the tenants , 4 luxury condo buyers at the Aurora,  move in.  Note that there is a house for sale next door.

And, it is rumored that two of those condos have already been sold. A New Yorker traveling by train or bus might not care about the parking situation, but it won’t be good for the neighbors. The condo price is about $1.5  million.

c.  We heard from Rosemary Salow about a fund raiser.  She says,”The Ocean Grove Beaches Instagram account is publicizing the sale of T-shirts and hoodies to raise funds for an Ocean Grove Beach employee, a lifeguard, with a serious medical diagnosis.”

Here is a link to that Instagram page:

www.instagram.com/ogbeaches/?hl=en

d.  Monmouth County General Election results are still being counted, but it looks like the Republicans will win in the County Clerk and Freeholder races.

In Neptune, the Democrat candidate for Committee, Keith Cafferty,  will win by a huge margin over Gary Moll.  Chris Smith (R) will retain his seat in the US House.

The Board of Elections continues to count, and we will get the Ocean Grove breakdown when it becomes available to the Township Clerk.

In the presidential race in Monmouth County, Trump has a lead.

e.  We will inquire about whether the OG Police substation is still open.

f.  Watch out for the HPC–they may come after you if someone reports that you have an architectural feature that you may not have gotten approval for.  The Historical Preservation Commission actually accepts signed or anonymous complaints.

Citizens should not partake in witch-hunts around town to cause trouble for neighbors.

It’s actually outrageous because the HPC can make your life miserable.  They should be focusing on new renovations and construction applications only.

g.   AMA News for Physicians:    

Young, healthy people with coronavirus often asymptomatic but can still transmit virus unwittingly, studies suggest

The New York Times (11/11, Carey) reports, “Young, healthy people who contract the coronavirus are often asymptomatic, very rarely need hospital care and can transmit the virus to a roommate unwittingly even when following strict quarantine orders, according to two new studies” published in the New England Journal of Medicine. These “findings support the need for strong measures, like daily testing, that go beyond the temperature checks and symptom reporting now commonly deployed to prevent transmission in offices, dormitories and other group settings, the authors said.”

Read Full Post »

a.  Main Avenue:  The new coffee shop Odyssey has a sign in the window.  Glass is blocked by brown paper.  Word is that the opening is held up by delays at the Mother Ship having to do with zoning and mercantile licensing. Mary got her Place’s zoning designation very quickly.

10/26/18 Blogfinger photo. It’s good we can read Greek.

b. The former surf shop, where the news stand used to be has a sign in the window:    “Coming soon—‘Serenity by the Sea’  (formerly from Belmar——Weird and Wacky and always Zenfully wonderful!”

Editor’s note:   “The word ‘Zen‘ is the Japanese attempt at pronouncing the Chinese word ‘Chan’, which in turn is the Chinese attempt at pronouncing the Sanskrit word ‘Dhyana’, which translates as ‘meditation’. And indeed, the word Zen conjures up an image of motionless Buddhist monks lost in deep meditation.”  (Dictionary note)

Perhaps “Serenity by the Sea”  will bring us motionless Buddhist monks lost in deep meditation.  But that would be superfluous given the state of motion on Main Avenue in the winter.

c. Signs of the times:

Sign on Sunset Avenue at the Wickipecko Fire Dept: “Change your smoke alarms every 10 years.”   Hopefully no wacky wicko confuses this warning with smoke alarm battery changes due when the clocks change.

Sign seen on Rt. 287:  “Go to University of Maine for the in-state cost of Rutgers.”   Editor’s note:  Not if you factor in room and board in Maine vs. commuting to New Brunswick. Commuting to Maine might be a hardship from NJ.   But you must admit that this is a clever ad—an unusual approach to recruiting paying customers.

Sign on Rt. 287:   “Robert Wood Johnson—help us beat cancer.”   How can I, driving by in my car help beat cancer?   Beats me!

d.  Song of the week:  “A Star is Born” with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper brings a few wonderful duets  to this fine film which has received glittering reviews.

The music is terrific including her solo rendition of “La Vie en Rose” in the very first scene in the film–a scene where she sings to a barful of gays enjoying the transvestite nightclub  scene (except for Gaga.)

This duet is particularly wonderful:  “Music to My Eyes.”

LADY GAGA AND BRADLEY COOPER  from A Star is Born:

e.  The Clueless Coaster creates a case of mish-mash out of their report about redevelopment as discussed at the 10/22 Committee meeting.  Read Blogfinger for the scoop.

f.  BF stats for 10/25:  700 visits.  Most popular are the redevelopment piece, Jack’s paintings, and the Granelli candidacy.  11 foreign countries visited including China, Russia, and Australia.

Read Full Post »

a.  From Helen Stocum:     “Stopped in to the new Yarn shop. Lovely assortment of yarns. Sadly, I am not a knitter or crocheter (is that a word?).  They even have alpaca yarn that is so soft.”

“Coffee shop coming soon. We must support these small businesses if we want a viable village.”

Paul Goldfinger © portrait of Maggie at the alpaca farm, 2014. Link below.
Dee, the alpaca rancher, says that Maggie’s behavior indicates that she is “in the mood for love”©

Blogfinger reports on alpaca farm in Wall

Editor’s note—PG:  Thanks Helen.   Eileen is a crocheter  (she verifies the word) and she belongs to a knitting/crocheting  group called Happy Fingers.

We’ll check out the new shop.  The idea of a yarn shop seems attractive, because knitting and crocheting are creative arts resulting in unique hand-made items that are practical and warm.  It’s the sort of business we need in the Grove.  Locals should support the arts in town.

I like your reference to a “viable village.”  It’s too bad the Chamber of Commercials hasn’t tried to define  a vision for our downtown.

I also am looking forward to an authentic coffee shop–much overdue since the February 2015 fire on Main Avenue.  At that time it seemed that the Bean would re-open, but it never did.   Here is a link:

Fire damages Barbaric Bean

b.  WASSUP?  song of the week:  

HARRY NILSSON from Midnight Cowboy:

Blogfinger is the only media source which is devoted primarily to OG.  There had been a newspaper in town until the end of the last century.    BF was supposed to be an information sharing project—- a new digital idea for small towns where local newspapers have been dying like an epidemic.   But that idea hasn’t worked out very well. So here is Helen Stocum helping us out today with some news.

It would be a public service if more of you did the same.  Just write to Blogfinger@verizon.net.  You can even provide anonymous information. But no fake news, tall tales or yarns (except in Helen’s case.)

Thanks, Paul @Blogfinger.net

Caprese salad by Eileen Goldfinger in Ocean Grove. October,2018. ©

c.  Eileen makes a caprese salad in October.  The tomato crop is about over for the Jerseys.  Eileen used small Campari’s  (from Mexico)  for this salad.

Usually the Caprese salad contains only tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil with a vinaigrette dressing, but this time she was inspired to add a bed of romaine lettuce and some avocado slices.  Below is a link to her original  (2015)  recipe including the dressing:

Caprese salad by Eileen

CONNIE FRANCIS:

d.  Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Assoc. has hired a new Executive Director.  His name is James “Jamie” Jackson.  He comes from Virginia where he has been the Chief Operating Officer of a combined fitness complex and Christian congregation with a 100+ member staff.

Read Full Post »