SANDY
HOOK AND WEST LONG BRANCH
May 17 & 18, 2010
SANDY HOOK
This year cousin
Mark, brother Jim, Bob and Camille took a side trip to Sandy Hook, a place full
of wonderful memories. Many a summers day was spent at Sandy Hook enjoying
the great swimming beaches when we were kids. Jim took these photos. Click
on them to see larger images.
ILLUSIONS
The weather was
perfect for a really good stretch of the legs – not too sunny. There
was an unusual optical illusion laying along the horizon on this day that caught
the image of ships and flipped them upside down. None of us had ever seen anything like this before.
Jim took these pictures and you can click on them for a closer look.
WE LOVE
THE BEACH
We try to get to
the beach whenever possible. Getting there with family makes it even more
fun! Jim took the picture on the right.
RELICS
Horseshoe crabs
have captured our imaginations since we were very young. Camille’s father
used to warn her and her brothers to be careful around their sharp tail.
Llittle did we know that these menacing but harmless creature have been in
existence for over two hundred and fifty million years. James puts his
shoes back on in front of a Ammunition Magazine which was built in 1938 when
Fort Hancock. Here’s
a nice page with some good photos from someone else’s website.
THE TRAIL
HOME
We walked across the sand dunes back to the parking lot along this shady
trail.
DINNER AT
FRANK, SHAWN’S
Frank, Shawn and
Houston really know how to entertain. They have a beautiful home on the
river with a great deck out back with views to die for. As you can see, we
are all deep into good wine, hors d’ourves and conversation. Frank is
turning to see who is snapping photos and that photographer was Jim. Click
on the picture to see a larger image.
And then there was
the meal! Penne pasta with a light sauce, beet and baby green salad and
grilled everything!
BIRTHDAY
CAKE!
Houston brings her
grandmother (Camille’s Aunt) a birthday cake and Kathy prepares to blow out the
candles. Birthdays are special for everyone involved and cake makes even the
best meal even better. What a great way to end a wonderful evening!
Jim brought the cake and captured the moment with these lovely photos.
Click on the pictures for a better look.
THE HOME
PLACE
Camille had an
epiphany after noticing a for sale sign in front of the house she and her
brothers grew up in. She and Bob now felt free to take more photos and
linger along the street outside the house. What Camille realized is that
this home was her “Home
Place” a phrase she recently began hearing and took to mean where your
family began. Even though Camille was already nine years old when the
family moved to this house, those seven years in one location became the stage
for most of our family memories.
64
HOLLYWOOD AVENUE – 1960’S
Camille’s cousin
Barbara stands outside the house more than forty years ago. Camille’s
parents bought the eleven room house in 1963 for $17,500. The roofed in
porch was built as a contingency to the sale. There are sun porches, two
fireplaces, two staircases, a ballroom, library, dining room and butler’s
room. This home was built in 1924 as a summer cottage to compliment the
cottages at Norwood Park on Hollywood Avenue.
DAD’S
LIBRARY AND THE SPARE ROOM UPSTAIRS
Camille’s father
taught at what was then Monmouth College just a few blocks away. He made
his own book shelves and made his library and study downstairs in this large,
windowed room. The room upstairs had a bed in it but belonged to no
one. On hot summer nights, Camille would lay beneath those windows to
escape the heat of her room.
STILL
LOOKING GOOD
Many of the old
trees are gone, while new trees have grown up. The house has been painted
and the lawn seeded with wildflowers. If Camille and her brother’s had
half a million dollars, they’d buy it just to have someplace to visit in the
summer!
FRONT AND
BACK
Johnny and Bobby
shared the bedroom up front which featured its own balcony. Camille’s
room, the butler’s room was in the back of the house behind the last window to
the left upstairs. She remembers inadvertently lighting her bed on
fire with a candle one night, waking up to flames and pushing her mattress out
the window onto the roof. So do her parents!
ACROSS THE
STREET VIEWS
Across Pinewood
Avenue, what had once been a riding arena, casino and stables has become fenced
in tennis courts and housing. Camille spent a lot of time at the stables
learning to love horses. Across Hollywood Avenue stands the house
where our friends and the doctor who delivered brother Jim lived.
[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Annual May Road Trip North ] [ Dickinson College Farm Visit ] [ Cumberland Valley Family Visit 2010 ] [ Sandy Hook and West Long Branch, 2010 ] [ Hanging out with Ned in Cabin John – May, 2010 ] [ Sunken Gardens of Moncure – May 2010 ]