Welcome to Got a Happy Story? This is a weekly community diary for sharing the better things in life. Do you have any nice family Easter photos or your families recipe for spring lamb? Perhaps you can offer cheers for a nice tax return or the relief of getting those taxes done. How about some of those flowers that are appearing in your yard? And don't be afraid to share links to whatever diaries you may have written lately. This is a good place for that too.
In case you don't know, this series began on a cold and wintry night. Carnacki began this series on January 21, 2005 when there was four more miserable years of Bush and everyone needed a little happy.
Here's an old introduction from the early days of Got a Happy Story?
I admit: I'm superstitious. I believe in the supernatural power of prayer, karma, positive energy and good vibes. The sharing of joy and happiness can help us get through the cold and darkness of this administration.
We can all still use a little happy, so please share something here for the people who need happy the most. Put a Monday evening smile on someone's face.
Well just because this is an open thread doesn't mean I'm not going to lay a happy story on you.
I guess on the day after Easter Sunday my happy story is all about spending some much needed time with family and catching up on what is going on with my relatives that are scattered all over just outside the Tri-state area. I never could understand how New Yorkers leave. I mean where else can you get a Rolex watch for only ten bucks? Being the only New York City holdover seeing family is rare for me and always a pleasure.
It was a very nice day for a small family gathering. Actually here in New York yesterday was a perfect day. A bit cold for Easter but I had the most perfect azure sky for the three and a half hour drive. There was an accident on the Garden State Parkway around Lakewood that changed the commute to Tom's River from the usual ninety minutes.
I never enjoyed a rubbernecking back-up more than yesterday's. With Q104.3 New York's Classic Rock as a soundtrack the parkway had come to life. There was one section that was nothing but mature red maples in full bloom that seemed like a red gauntlet. Ever mile or so there was more red found in stands of eastern redbud blooming. The tree whose old world version was suppose to have been the tree that Judas Iscariot hung himself from and the church once claimed the tree was red with shame.
Another native that kept appearing on the side of the parkway was a spring favorite with more common names that any plant I know of. Serviceberry is one and ironwood is another. Shadblow and Shadrow are common too because the white flowers mark the date that fishermen should get out the poles. Probably better going with Amelanchier canadensis on that one. There was lots of purple too. I thought it was early for azalea but there were these pretty purple azaleas all along the parkway.
The last few miles was a pretty drive through a pine barrens. Do you know how a place as amazingly alive as the those stands of pines got the name barren? It was because the the acidic soil could not be converted to farm land. Since given that name it was discovered that cranberries do great there so much of the land has been used by the cranberry industry now.
Coming to a dead stop isn't so bad surrounded by magnolias, forsythia and cherry trees. There was a little scare when I spotted a dead bunny rabbit on the blacktop. It seemed like a bad omen for Easter Sunday. Then when I got closer I realized it was a stuffed bunny that some poor child must have dropped out the window but other than that it was like a slow ride through a botanical gardens. Does enjoying a traffic jam make me strange?
Well the traffic jam did force me to put off my plans of a side trip to Seaside Hts. and a few quick games on the only arcade Theatre of Magic pinball machine I know of on the East Coast. With a high score of well over ten billion it may be the only thing I ever mastered. I guess I'll have to wait for my next visit to hear a sexy voice tell me "You have the magic." Here's a video of some rank amateur trying to play. Hey if you live on the West Coast there is also one at the Redondo Beach arcade. Try it, you'll like it.
So I arrived last as usual. Just in time for the family tradition, stuffed mushrooms appetizer. I was very happy to see that my uncle Raymond came in a Prius. He burnt a lot less gas than I did. I wish I could afford one but the family all decided I was just waiting for a ragtop hybrid.
Except for my Mom, aunt and sister busy cooking in the kitchen we all sat on the enclosed back porch surrounded by cherry trees and caught up on what each other was doing. My nephew is getting big and excelling in both school and sports, big time Yankee fan. My uncle is retired but still saying active with his volunteer fire department. I got to talk Mets with him. Two more Yankee fans, step-dad in his twentieth year of retirement is holding on and bro-in-law is sort of in limbo since his job went non union but agreed to keep him on until his union finds another job for him.
With not too many lamb fans in the family dinner was a repeat of Thanksgiving, turkey with all the trimmings. Surrounded on all sides by Hummels I found it amazing that iPods were being passed around along with the turnips and stuffing. Times change and that seems to be the new family photo album. Unlike Thanksgiving there was much less conversation about economic woes and shrinking portfolios. With the spring sunshine coming in the windows and a President who seems to have a clue the outlook was far better. So it was nephew's baseball, uncle's recent experience putting out fires, Mom's fascination with Hollywood personalities and everyone's little joys in life.
There was a nice long break between dinner and dessert. We all gathered in the living room and the conversation continued. Everything was discussed, personal goals, accomplishments, the year in television, movies, sports, politics and the changing times. And me with all my trivia stories that nobody really wants to hear but like my Mom and here Mom before her taught, politeness is key. What my Dad's side of the family likes to call The Lace Curtain Irish even though my Mom's side has been in New Yrok since before the Revolutionary War.
The topic got to organic and local food with everyone noticing that it has become more common in their areas. Everyone except me has a Trader Joe's close to home.
Dessert was the highlight. Not to take anything away from my sister's delicious raspberry chocolate cake or my aunt's apple berry pie but Mom was the star of the show. She moved the photo show from iPod to a box of old photos from the closet, deguerrotypes even. Along with the fading old pictures of family members long gone there was a Morningside Heights history lesson, personalities added to ancestors I've never met and reminders of relatives long gone. It's pretty amazing to hear about what a family did to get through the Great Depression in these times.
It was an early dinner and we were all back in our cars while the sun was still shining. Everybody promised each other to get together more often and tentative plans were made as usual but lives are busy and I knew the next gathering will be the Fourth of July Bar-B-Cue at my sister's place.
Of course I got out the camera for a high speed sunset just past those Ocean county pine barrens and coming into the hardwoods of Momnouth. Here's last night's sunset somewhere in New Jersey.
Too bad I wasn't quick enough when I passed a group of around thirty-five deer eating grass on the side of the road but just seeing that was a happy story too for this city boy.