For some reason, I've been feeling nostalgic for our years living in New Jersey. I enjoyed our brief time there, from 2009 to mid-2011. It was transitional period for me -- I lost my job at the New York Times Company in December 2009 after more than 20 years, because of the economic crash the year before. I'd met Dave in April of that year, my cat died that November and I was on the verge of selling my Manhattan apartment. My life was changing, and I was still figuring out what the future would look like.
I moved in with Dave in East Brunswick and got a job with Gannett, as a neighborhood news blogger and then local reporter. Some of the photos below, which I dug out of my archives, are related to those jobs. Most I've never posted here before.
I remember the day in October 2010 when I drove to Jamesburg, not far from where we lived, to check out the autumn scenery. I found this pond positively teeming with geese. And what a racket! I made a recording with my iPhone because the honking was so remarkable, but after I moved to London I had to have my phone erased in order to unlock it and use it here. I had the photos backed up, but not the audio recordings. Adios, geese.
I do NOT miss this about New Jersey. This was our car after a blizzard. (I have blogged this photo before.)
When I started the neighborhood news blog for Gannett -- it's no longer online -- one of my regular features was to go to the local Goodwill and write a short post about the quirky things on sale there. (Anyone who knows my penchant for thrift stores will understand this.) Here's one of the items I highlighted.
"This looks like the product of Aunt Irma’s painting class," I wrote. "She must have been in her fauvist phase." It was priced at $8.99. I did not buy it.
I also wrote a post about this sculpture made out of auto parts outside a local garage:
Asked who built Joe, the Midas manager pointed to Paul Arora, handling service orders at a nearby computer. Arora paused long enough to explain that Joe has a muffler body, struts for legs, an alternator for a head, a brake rotor for a face and brake drums for feet. He also has a jazzy paint job, and he’s even puffing his favorite smoke.
Joe’s been standing out front for about a year, facing traffic on the highway. Arora, who has no experience as an artist, said he wasn’t hard to build.
His motivation?
"I didn’t have anything to do," Arora said.
"We were slow that day," the manager explained.
(Yes, I even found the text of my blog post in my archives! Amazing!)
I also took this for the Gannett blog. I was toying with a post about all the vacant gas stations in town -- it seemed like there were a lot of them. But I'm not sure I ever wrote it.
I found this flier in New York on one of my trips to the city. I was curious about the (incorrect, I believe) use of the word "affective."
Some of you will remember that before Olga, we had Ernie and Ruby. They were Dave's elderly dogs from his previous life in Michigan, both boxers. One early spring day we went to Rutgers Gardens and took them with us. Ernie loved the car trip, though driving with the window down must have been cold!
Finally, a picture of yours truly, in Brooklyn with some street art by Roa. (I blogged this picture before too.) I still have that t-shirt, which I bought about 15 years ago at a thrift shop in the East Village. You can't quite tell but it has jellyfish on it -- it's one of my favorites.
Nice legs. And nice pictures too, I like seeing places I will never ever get to see for real.
ReplyDeleteHa! Thank you! I spent a lot of time running and on Stairmasters in those days. LOL
DeleteI love the stories and photos. Great photo of you. When I saw “Jersey Days,” I expected to be in OLD Jersey. My cousin had a house for years near East Brunswick. It was a regular stop when I’d visit from California. I’ll bet we passed each other on the road.
ReplyDeleteProbably! Maybe we yelled at each other and shook our fists in true New Jersey style. :)
DeleteIt's a nice photo of you. Manhattan apartment? Rich dude.
ReplyDeleteI suppose the earing could be affective, but I am not sure in what manner.
OMG, my apartment was so NOT glamorous. Believe me, there are no riches here.
DeleteLove the picture of Ernie at the car window. What a shame that Olga and Ernie never met. It would have probably been love at first sight. They could have sucked up spaghetti together like "The Lady" and "The Tramp". Like you I am not quite sure about that particular use of "affective".
ReplyDeleteNormally jewellery losers would write "...of great sentimental value".
DeleteYeah, I would have used a different word. Maybe she's a psychologist or a psychology student. I don't know who else would use "affect" in that way.
DeleteWell, so you were my neighbor back then and we never met. East Brunswick is just a few miles from here. I'm glad you enjoyed your time here, and started a new life with Dave here. And I certainly hope you visited the Americana Diner on route 130.
ReplyDeleteI think that writer was reaching for sentimental value, and came up with the nearest word that came to mind.
There were several diners we frequented -- the Skylark I remember. And the Bridgewater and Somerville diners up in Somerville, where I used to work. (That's where my eventual reporting job was based.)
DeleteInteresting juxtaposition of Ernie,s closeup just before the slavering jaws in the next photo. Might even say ‘affective’!
ReplyDeleteHa! Purely unintentional but now that you mention it there is a resemblance. LOL
DeleteGreat photos. I can almost hear the geese in the photo. And the dog looking out the car window is perfection.
ReplyDeleteHe was very happy with the wind in his face.
DeleteA fun stroll down your memory lane. Great shot of ernie. I love boxers, they are such great dogs.
ReplyDeleteThey ARE great dogs. We loved those two. They came to London with us but were already very old when we moved here so they died soon after.
DeleteI enjoyed this walk down memory lane! And that was a LOT of snow! I don't miss that about Ohio either.
ReplyDeleteIt WAS a lot of snow!
DeleteThat is a LOT of geese!
ReplyDeleteAnd a lot of snow.
There was a muffler man outside of a Midas (I think) in Ocala for a long time. There are dinosaurs made from car parts at the local natural museum- the one we call the Junior. They, however, are truly art and amazing.
Ruby and Ernie are about the best dog names ever.
Hey! You should tell us the story of how you and Dave met. I would like to hear your romance story.
One more thing- writing about the worst thing I found while Thrift Store shopping on a regular basis would be sort of my dream job.
Wouldn't that be a great job? It was the one thing I missed when I gave up the East Brunswick blog. Dave and I met online, on Chemistry.com, which I'm not sure even exists anymore!
DeleteInteresting post! I love all of these old stories. It is fun learning about you and your past!
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to be able to share them here. I was bummed when that East Brunswick news blog was eventually taken down by Gannett, erasing all my work. (Some of it more substantial than what I've shared here.)
DeleteI think our "past lives" form a great part of what we are -- our interests, memories, the good, bad, ugly and quirky. I like the idea of the neighborhood posts. Our Gannett paper now is basically about 10 pages, give or take (and we're the capitol city in Michigan) and largely obits and Gannett articles. There is little local coverage. Very sad indeed.
ReplyDeleteI could go on for days about how miserable Gannett is. They basically squeeze the life out of everything they own.
DeleteI was born and raised in New Jersey and lived there until my twin brother and I graduated high school in 1970. My family moved to California and that was that. I don't think I've ever missed it. Perhaps a nostalgia for my high school days, an easy bus trip to NYC, concerts, and Greenwich Village peace-seeking hippie paradise.
ReplyDeleteI remember your New Jersey references! Yes, proximity to New York was a huge plus, although Jersey itself was pretty nice, despite its reputation.
DeleteI know how much noise two geese can make, I can't imagine the racket with that many geese. I quite like that painting. And, what a quirky muffler man. There is a place not far from here that still has a similar one in front of it. A lot of memories here.
ReplyDeleteI sort of like the painting too, though I'm not sorry I didn't buy it!
DeleteGeese are both noisy and (to me) scary! Loved reading this post as I knew little of your life prior to the current version. :)
ReplyDeleteI will never forget how noisy they were.
DeleteI would have loved that job in an earlier part of life...great photos and I remember that t-shirt...
ReplyDeleteThe neighborhood blog was fun -- I could write about whatever I wanted and it was mostly features. The paper already had a reporter assigned to East Brunswick to cover the "hard news."
DeleteRemembering Ernie and Ruby- I thought it mighty heroic for those elderly pooches to fly to London. I love your adventures through this one precious life! You get a star and an A+. Thrift store finds of the most curious sort(bad) - such a great way to spend time.Stella and I entertain ourselves doing that- rather USED to before covid.
ReplyDeleteIt WAS heroic. I'm so glad we brought them here. They provided some precious memories of our early time in London.
DeleteSo many things to like in this post! We have a few Canada geese on our pond pretty much year round. Even a handful are noisy, so I can only imagine what it was like with that many of them! Love your tee shirt and the street art.
ReplyDeleteI bet they could be heard for miles around!
DeletePut those legs away handsome lol
ReplyDeleteHa! That was in my gym-going days, which are, sadly, now over. :)
DeleteAn interesting life.
ReplyDeleteI've had fun so far!
DeleteWe can think back to the good times we had in one place but usually the next place is as good or better.
ReplyDeleteNostalgia always makes the past look better than it really was. That's kind of the definition of the word, I believe.
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