Sometimes I Wonder What Happened To....

     We went to the beach this evening. It's much cooler at that time of the day when the evening breezes blow in. I really do not enjoy broiling on the sand in the heat of the day. On the way we drove past the public beach in Sea Bright. It's not a large beach. We were headed to Sandy Hook, which has far more space. However, whenever I pass that one small public beach I always wonder what happened to one man we met on the eve of Superstorm Sandy. 

     Hubby and I had driven to the shore that day to see how the coming storm was affecting the ocean. The storm wasn't due to hit until the following day but as we stood there watching the foaming waves chew at the sand, I knew I had never seen anything quite as threatening and I've seen plenty of storms in my lifetime. We didn't stay long, but as we walked back to our car we saw one man frantically digging sand and bagging it. He said he was making sandbags for his house. He loaded his sandbag into his car and went right back to fill up another bag. 

     I felt sorry for him. Sea Bright is a small town with the ocean on one side and a channel fed by two large rivers on the other side. Despite a huge seawall on the ocean side, the town floods on a regular basis whenever there are hurricanes or nor'easters. 

     Superstorm Sandy was a massive and powerful storm. It destroyed many homes in Sea Bright as well as thousands of other homes all along the shoreline of New Jersey and New York. But I still wonder about that young man and whether his home was saved after all his efforts.

The Accordionist and the Singing Cow

Hubby was The Music Man at Longstreet Farm for many, many years. He regularly entertained at the farmhouse, playing old time songs. Longstreet Farm always had an exhibit at the county fair and hubby was regularly scheduled to play during the fair. One Sunday, he played for two hours as usual, but during his performance one unhappy cow continually mooed. The cow had voiced her displeasure all day. It evidently did not like being at the fair, in a small pen, and missed its cow companions.

After hubby's two hour gig was up, he decided to play specifically for the cow--to see if music really does calm the savage beastie. The video below is the result. :-)

My Book Trailer for PATRIOT'S PRIDE

I spent a considerable amount of time putting together a book trailer for PATRIOT'S PRIDE. You can view the result of my efforts below. I have fun with this type of activity. I keep expenses at a minimum by using as many of my own photos as possible. I purchased the video of the sailing ship and the man writing with a quill pen, but the castle is actually Lambert Castle in Paterson, NJ, which I've visited a few times. I snapped the photo of the antique medical apparatus at an encampment at Sandy Hook.

To make inexpensive book trailers, I strongly suggest you walk around with a camera and take photos of everything.

The video was made with iMovie on my Mac. 

The book is available for FREE with #KindleUnlimited. Go to https://www.amazon.com/Patriots-Pride-Penelope-Marzec-ebook/dp/B07QMYKX4V/

Faith and Worn Out Shoes

The photo above shows my mother and her sister at their First Holy Communion. They are the two girls on the right. Times were hard. My grandfather was a coal miner. He and my grandmother had seven children. My mother and her sister were the oldest. Then came five boys. Despite a lack of money, my grandparents were very adept at making ends meet. My grandmother sewed clothes. She grew vegetables and canned them. Nothing was wasted. 

However, when it came time for my mother to be confirmed as a Catholic there was a problem. The church was miles away. My mother wore out her shoes walking back and forth to receive instructions in the faith. My grandfather patched her shoes with rubber tires, but there was no money to buy new shoes. So, my mother did not finish the necessary preparation and was not confirmed. 

Many years later, when my mother was to marry my father in the Catholic Church, the priest asked my mother to promise to be confirmed afterward. My mother kept her promise, but it took her a while. When my brother and I were confirmed, my mother was, too. She did not dress in a rented gown as my brother and I did. She wore a light blue suit. My brother and I were in the front of the church with our peers. My mother was in the back of the church with other adults. 

Even though she received her confirmation at a much later age, my mother always had a deep faith and knew the Scriptures, not only quoting the verses but proving her conviction with action. When she learned of hungry neighbors, she gave them food. When someone was ill, she baked for them. When someone needed a ride, she gave them a ride. She listened to the troubles of the neighbors and gave them advice. I always thought she ought to hang out a shingle as the neighborhood psychiatrist. 😊

She may have worn out her shoes as a youngster, but she held fast to her belief. 

This Bent Tree

I always wondered about this tree. Why is it bent like that? Could it be one of the trees the Native Americans used as a trail marker?

I found a website that lists many of the reasons this particular tree would not be one the Native Americans used to mark a trail. There is a river nearby, which would make a trail marker useful. However, this tree is not an oak. It's a tulip tree--and it's rather young. It's doesn't bend down very low either. 

Have you found any bent trees? Check out https://tiphero.com/bent-tree-meaning to see if it might be a Native American trail marker. 

Cover Reveal for PATRIOT'S COURAGE!

I am delighted with the cover for PATRIOT'S COURAGE! This is the third book in my Patriots series and reveals what happens when the twins, Ryan and Lewis, decide to use their father's promissory note to get land in the Ohio Territory. Soldiers in the Revolutionary War were promised one hundred acres of land, which applied to them or their heirs. (You can read about that in another post https://penelopemarzec.blogspot.com/2014/06/one-hundred-acres.html.)

The book will be released in September. I can hardly wait!

Pandemic Truth

This is my father when he was a young reporter. Dad always sought the truth and checked his sources. Read more about him at https://rawdatafalloutfromthecoronavirus.blogspot.com/2020/05/pandemic-truth-marzec.html