Taken from the canoe last weekend on Monksville Reservoir.

This weekend I decided that my cherry tomato plants on the deck had truly outdone themselves all summer long and were deserved of a rest. The poor things were still bearing fruit, but the leaves had long since given up due to cool nighttime temperatures. It was time.

Last week I had harvested a large amount, and this week there was yet again another bowlful waiting to be picked. My Roma tomatoes out in the garden had finally kicked into gear (once the chippies and squirrels left the green fruit on long enough to ripen!) and they were added to the stash. Before I left them too long, I decided to just go ahead and make a tomato sauce wth them.

I first chopped the cherry tomatoes in half; the Romas into chunks.

My large 4-cup measuring glass runneth over!

After sautéing some onion and garlic in olive oil, in went the tomatoes and some fresh thyme from the garden.

After cooking for about half an hour the tomatoes have released their juice and are free of their skin. Perfect!

Time to run the mixture through the food mill to get rid of the skins and most of the tiny seeds.

Et voilà!—a lovely thick sauce ready to become the base for ... something. From 5+ cups of chopped tomatoes I got about 2.75 cups of sauce.

Maybe this one: Tagliatella with Bacon Sauce; or Rigatoni with Tomatoes and Vodka. Or perhaps just simply to top some of the delicious fresh ravioli that we can get locally. Yum, I’m making myself hungry. Won’t you join me for dinner?

Note: We opted for the Tagliatella with Bacon Sauce, but used penne instead of the tagliatella. We always use Canadian bacon as the “lean, non-smoked bacon” it calls for in the recipe. It was delicious!

I didn’t plan on walking today, it just happened. Before I knew what was happening, I was out the door with my camera in hand, my feet carrying me along seemingly of their own volition. As I penetrated the forest, the wild rose bushes that have overgrown the path reached out to snatch at my clothing with their thorny fingers.  ~ pluck, pluck ~ little girl ... who do you think you are to enter our forest, eh? ~  I ignored them and pushed forward, their thorns leaving tiny pinprick holes in my sweatshirt from their greediness.

The forest is subtly changing. Although most of the leaves are still green, the ground is carpeted with yellow and brown already. As I walk along leaves sift downward on the freshening breeze, making a gentle shushing sound. It’s comforting and restful. The breeze also loosens acorns from high above which come rattling down as they bounce off branches, and my head narrowly escapes a good clonking. Squirrels scurry back and forth amid the thickening blanket of spent leaves, probably collecting those very same acorns. Ah, the cycles of life.

These newly “born” shelf mushrooms look like seashells to me. Such intricacy of coloration.

How did this leaf manage to impale itself on this ragged, upturned tree trunk?

Further down the path I started to notice the vines. Funny what you can see when the thick vegetation of summer is gone. They seemed to be claiming the trees for themselves; making them their own possessions.

I wondered if I stood there long enough, would I be assimilated too?  ~ resistance is futile ... ~  They seemed sinister to me; not sure why.

I walked a bit further, not certain of how far to go. A squirrel came down a tree right in front me, chattering noisily—almost like he was admonishing me to go back. So, heeding his advice, I headed for home, taking my strange mood with me.

I found these grape-like clusters growing close to home. I had never noticed them before. The more I looked, the more I saw! I picked one and broke it open with my fingernail. It smelled very sweet, sugary, grapey, and delicious, but I don’t know if they are edible or not. If they are, why haven’t the birds gotten to them? Does anyone know what they are? New Jersey vegetation still mystifies me!

Until the next time, dear forest. I never know what you have in store for me.

I grew up being fed a steady diet of fairy tales and nursery rhymes. My little imagination would take flight as I was transported into the world of make-believe as the stories were read by my Mother. Do children today even know the basic fairy tales and nursery rhymes? Or do parents avoid them because they think them “violent” and “too scary,” not suitable at all for young children? What a shame. I can’t see where they did me any harm.

I’m sure that’s why this quirky little piece of history nearby in Oak Ridge is now sitting lonely and abandoned. It’s a relic from a simpler time, when children could be easily amused. It’s the Fairy Tale Forest and Storyland which first opened its gates in 1957 and closed in 2005.

Driving by you can’t miss the signature shoe from the nursery rhyme There was Old Woman who lived in a Shoe. You know that one, don’t you?

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children she didn’t know what to do!
So she gave them some broth without any bread,
And she whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed!

Hmm…my guess is that in today’s society she would be arrested on child abuse, but they probably deserved it for messing up the shoe from toe to heel. If you are curious as to the origins of the rhyme, click here. I even found one site where someone had written a ‘kinder, gentler” version of their own—ugh. Nothing is sacred.

The shoe is huge. This is the view as I stand next to it:

I love how it even has big wooden bobbles for buttons, although a few seem to have gone missing.

There isn’t much left to see except for the facade. It’s really sad.

Through this window I could see a knight in not-so-shining armor.

This happy mushroom greets people out by the road. Are you feeling transported back in time yet?

There was an article in our local newspaper about a month or so ago about the Fairy Tale Forest. It was the brainchild of a German immigrant, Paul Woehle, who wanted to keep alive the stories from his native Germany to share with his new country. Woehle made most of the life-size figures that are said to exist in the forest from a plaster, burlap and sawdust mix in a workroom on the grounds. How did he make the shoe I have to wonder? Oh how I wanted to creep around the back and steal away into the childhood realm that lurked behind the locked gate! There are no No Trespassing signs posted, but the article talked of how it was frowned upon to enter the closed site. Next time I think I might get the courage up to ask if I can go in to take some photos. Maybe under the guise of doing a story, after all, it wouldn’t be a lie now, would it? You all would like to see more I’m sure!

I did peek through the gate underneath the shoe, but was disappointed with the view. Nothing to be seen!

I connected strongly with the Fairy Tale Forest. How I wish it was still in operation so I could go through it and relive a part of childhood! You see, when I was a child we visited Storytown U.S.A. in Lake George, New York several times. I remember going in and out of the miniature houses and posing with the statues. If you look closely in the first photo below you can see me and my sister posing amongst the characters. There I am by the skunk and my sister is by the elephant.

Here we are with Paul Bunyan.

Obviously these photos were taken a few years apart since we are both a few years older in the last photo (taken in 1960). Storytown opened in 1954. It still exists today, but was swallowed up and incorporated into a Six Flags theme park called the Great Escape. At least it’s still there.

I hope you’ve enjoyed our little escape back in time. I wish I could end with “and they all lived happily ever after,” but unfortunately for the Fairy Tale Forest in Oak Ridge, New Jersey that is not the case.

More...

you and me, you and me, oh how happy we’ll be!
I love to be beside your side, beside the sea,
Beside the SEASIDE [HEIGHTS], by the beautiful sea!

Back in late July Rick took a day off and we headed down to the Jersey Shore. Ahh ... the shore. Anywhere else it would be called the beach, but not in Jersey. Oh, no, here it’s The Shore. It seems there is a mass exodus to The Shore in August, so we wanted to avoid the vacation crush. We went last year several times to the Boardwalk at Point Pleasant Beach (once with Rick’s visiting parents), but our neighbors told us we should head to Seaside Heights for a better shore/boardwalk experience. Plus, last year when we finally got around to going it was after Labor Day and past the high season, so not much was happening.

It’s approximately a two hour drive down the the Garden State Parkway from our house. We were obviously a little early since the boardwalk wasn’t quite fully open yet. Next time we’ll know that it all starts at noon! It’s a larger Boardwalk than the one at Point Pleasant, and during the week it was still pretty uncrowded. We walked around for several hours and took in all the sights.

I liked some of the signage:

But the highlight, for me, was the old carousel at the northernmost end of the boardwalk. “The historic Dentzel/Looff Carousel is one of the only two remaining vintage carousels in New Jersey. Many of the hand-carved animals date to the 19th century, and music is provided by the state’s only continuously operating carousel organ, a 1923 Wurlitzer military-band organ.” Of course I had to go for a ride even though the only other riders where small children and their mothers! It made me quite dizzy!

C’mon, take a ride! How many of the above animals can you spot?

Instead of opting to eat at many of the tempting places along the boardwalk, we found ourselves gravitating instead to our old stand-by: Spike’s Seafood in Point Pleasant Beach where two lobster rolls with our name on them were just waiting for us! Yum, heavenly!

I’m certain another trip to The Shore is in our near future. It’s a shore thing.