East Coast Happenings

Diane Amberg · September 13, 2013, 10:52:40 AM

Woo, busy time around here. The goofy UD Kids had a near riot on Monday night because the "I'm shmacked" bus rolled into town (ask your kids) a couple of "boys" had to go overboard and damage several cars, the rest were just dancing up the street and acting silly blocking traffic for a short time. The two were caught on camera and will be arrested. Sunday is our big Community Day on the UD Green and we are expected to have perfect weather. Many of you saw the serious fire at the Jersey Shore. That's some distance from where I'm going on Monday. Have a great day.

Diane Amberg · September 16, 2013, 11:06:03 AM

Yesterday was a pefect day. Lots of folks enjoying the food and fun on the UD Green. I'm off in a few minutes to enjoy The New Jersey shore, Beach Haven, until Friday. Lots to see and sea.Three girlfriends are coming in, so the good times will roll!

Diane Amberg · September 21, 2013, 09:18:17 AM

Home again in one piece. pretty nice 2 1/2 hour drive. There were only a couple of places where traffic was bad. The NJ turnpike was almost empty and the long drive through the pine barrens was nice, as expected. No signs of the Jersey Devil or any black bears. There is still a good bit of hurricane Sandy damage, especially down on the south end of Long Beach Island. That will keep the builders busy for a long time. At one point there was at least 8 feet of sand covering the road and the yards of all the houses on both sides. Livy's brother's place had some damage as it it just one house off the beach, but it was easily repaired. Others weren't so lucky. Most places are up on stilts at least one floor with car parking underneath, so the storms just roll under for the most part. Some were toppled and a mobile home park was washed completely away. The north end is much wider and had a lot of shifted sand but much less physical damage. There are lots of old pines there too that help shelter the houses. There didn't seem to be any serious problems where Al's uncle's place is.
We ate breakfast at home each day and ate out the rest of the meals. The ocean was nice, but very cold and there was a cold wind on Monday and Tuesday. So we hit the beach all bundled up anyway! Wednesday was lovely. We drove the whole length of the island up to Barnegat Lighthouse and enjoyed watching the fluke fisher folks out on the rocks along the causeway. Had a good clam chowder lunch at one of the local chowder shacks and had dinner at The Black Whale.... feasted on broiled local scallops. The first night we had great Italian, with a local seafood touch of course, at a good place near the house. We talked a lot as only we could do. Their kids are all grown now, with their own kids, and of course there were some sad stories of deaths, parents of course, and younger ones mostly by cancer. Such is life. It was a great trip.
Now they all want to come to Newark next fall to see how much UD and the town have changed. Gotta get working on that right away.

Diane Amberg · September 25, 2013, 11:52:38 AM

Sadness has over run our neighborhood. Mac Mcleod, our most beloved Scot, has died at 89. He's the one who had the St Andrew's Cross flag in the back yard and played the pipes for all of us on special occasions. Many years ago he started the Highland Games here and supported piping classes and groups all over the area. He was like a sweet uncle to me and always gave us tickets to the games each year. I will miss him terribly, but he's back with his beloved Meg once more and will be forever young.

Diane Amberg · October 04, 2013, 09:23:20 AM

Another beautiful fall day but going to be hot and humid soon. We finally have a storm to keep an eye on. Very late this year but may come see us about next Tuesday. The garden is about done. Had one more mess of green fries..yum!
Next week is Fire Prevention Week. This year's national topic is "Prevent Kitchen Fires'' Think of some safety tips. be careful and not distracted when cooking. Check out your smoke detectors too.
On Sunday at noon we'll ring our big 1888 bell 81 times in memory of all US firefighters who died in the line of duty during 2012. Perhaps some of your churches will ring their bells too during the national ''Bells Across America'' program.

Diane Amberg · October 06, 2013, 02:16:43 PM

Back from ringing our big bell. The adorable son of one of our chiefs came dressed in a little turn out coat and his father's white helmet. He wanted to help pull, so he "helped" me at the end. Really cute.Then we walked up the street to IHOP for butter milk pancakes. yummy! Tomorrow a bunch of our firefighters will be wearing pink tee shirts (me too, of course) for breast cancer awareness month. It has Newark Fire Company on the back with the pink looped ribbon where the "i" in fire would be... looks cool!

Diane Amberg · October 07, 2013, 11:21:40 AM

A pretty good sized storm is about to hit here any minute. We're on tornado watch until 5:00.
I got a mention in the Newark Post this week on behalf of the fire company. The Newark Historical Society set up a nice display with some of my burned teaching props, in conjuntion with Fire Prevetion Week and our 125th anniversary. To my surprise ,the paper put a little article in the "Out of the Attic'' section. Yup, that's me alright...attic all the way!

Diane Amberg · October 11, 2013, 12:11:57 PM

It poured yesterday and today. I finished up my last preschool class, but have one more group coming to the fire house for a tour next week. Tuesday evening our Ladies Auxiliary hosted the monthly meeting of all the Ladies Auxiliaries from all over the county. They all take turns hosting. I went to help serve the dinner that they have before each meeting. Had about 200 ladies turn out. they had decorated the hall for Halloween and it was really spectacular.... even had pumpkin shaped cheese balls and crackers on each table.
Fire company meeting tonight with a nod to the 50th anniversary of our second fire house, st.8 where the big hall is and where we'll meet tonight. There will also be a mention of the 50th anniversary on Dec. 8th of a terrible plane crash that occurred here in 1963. I happened to see it go down. I was sitting in my dorm window taking a break just before 9:00, when it exploded just in my line of sight and then disappeared, trailing off down to the south east. All 81 aboard were killed.

Diane Amberg · October 12, 2013, 01:43:01 PM

Woo Hoo! My new clothes washer and gas cooktop just arrived. My "Boat Neighbor" and Al went to pick them up at Sears (Kenmore) and they hustled the old washer up the outside basement steps and took the new one down. It was 25 years old and starting to leak just a little. Time for a nice simple new one. Al will finish installing it and the cooktop tomorrow.

Diane Amberg · October 19, 2013, 11:30:16 AM

Scrappers stopped and took the old washer for salvage value. The new one is running it's first load right now and is so quiet I can hardly hear it running. The rest of today will be spent going over the several hundred fire fund drive returns that have arrived. a number have special requests or questions, so I'll be visiting them personally in a day or two. Again, the weather is spectacular. Chilly but nice. All the sports teams here aren't worth mentioning. Really bad seasons. I should clear out the garden but didn't have the heart to pull the last peppers and toms as they are still producing. Soon though. Have some spring bulbs to plant and some Peruvian Daffodiles to dig before frost gets them. I need to go to the cemetery soon too. Daddy's birthday is coming up Nov 1st and I have a nice fall wreath to put up now until I replace it with a Christmas wreath. Hope all is well for my friends out there.