Meadow Lark,

With all the accusations that Jersey gets these days of being impatient and rushed, snooty and rootless, it's nice to know that someone's long-lost heart calls it home. There are still so many of us here that maintain our connection with New Jersey's dear, fertile earth; we put our hands in it and work it to coax forth beauty and nourishment of body and soul. We garderners know patience and consistancy, and our souls respond to the rhythm of color and life, birth, growth, and death, and the joy of life reborn.

And just so everybody knows, we don't talk like Bugs Bunny.

So there,
Christine

Ahhh, summer in Jersey...You can almost smell the sweet grass......

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Hi Christine and Leigh!

Christine - anyone who has REALLY been to Jersey can't say anything bad about it. It's simply beautiful!

Leigh: Ugggg... the photo makes me homesick all over again. What town is it? (Kind of looks like my old neighborhood...) LOL...

I can almost smell the air!

Meadow Lark

HAHAHA!
I grew up in Alabama and now live in NEW JERSEY. I'll stay put even if I do have to shovel snow every winter.

Sheila the Jersey Girl

Sheila

That's just WRONG! LOL...

I will never be Bama-ized! NEVER!

Meadow Lark

I first moved to Alabama from Southern California when I was five and it was like a foreign country. The people looked funny, talked funny, and dressed funny. And those were my Dad's relatives!

Sheila, YANKEE girl

Hi Meadow Lark! I'm about 20 mins south of Wantague. The drive up 287 North is just gorgeous ~ I love the Ramapo mountains, especially in the fall.

These were on a cloudy day in the fall, but you'll know it well :)

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More fall color:

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Many years ago I lived in Ramsey, I just loved those years of my childhood.

Leigh... the pictures are BEAUTIFUL! When I lived in Wanaque, 287 was a long way off. I used to rock climb on the cliffs over Lake Inez. (My understanding is that Lake Inez has since been drained, and developed.)

I saw something on CNN about the flooding of the Ramapo River. That used to be a problem, even 35 years ago...

The pictures still make me homesick. I wish they could be posted in EVERY forum, so that people could see how beautiful Jersey is...

I hope you don't mind, but I've saved them on my drive, to use as wallpaper. The one with the flag is going up the 1st of July!

Thanx for the memories... (as well as the tug at my heartstrings...)

Meadow Lark

Meadowlark - I too grew up in Wanaque - in Haskell. I left when I was 15 - I am now 40. I was overseas and moved back to NJ about 15 years ago. That stretch of 287 shown in the Photo goes right across Ringwood Ave by Union Avenue. You may have gone to high school with my sisters Amy or Lisa. (their former last name is the first four letters of my user name) The town has changed in some ways but stays the same in others. I too remember the reservoir. We used to drive up to that root beer place in Greenwood lake and always went past the reservoir. The reservoir is much larger now - they created a new extension called the Monksville Reservoir, and it is open to the public, unlike the old reservoir. Nice to hear from you.

Rothwood,

I am from Haskell (eastern end of Bergen Ave), right next to the hills (by Back Beach). I remember the Roth name... My last name was Miller. I am 46 now (Lakeland graduating year 1977).

I have thought many times about going up there, just to look around... (The last time I was there was 22 years ago)... I'm afraid seeing it would break my heart.

Anyway - nice to talk to you too...

LONG LIVE JERSEY... Yee Haw! Meadow Lark

Hi Meadowlark! ~ I'm so flattered that you are keeping my pics! Yes..Jersey is very beautiful, there so many cool places to explore & many memories to cherish.

Autumn is special for me too, as that is when our child was born.. & I'll always remember the breathtaking view of the fall colored trees outside my window~

I scanned this one for you ~ Rt. 23 North, Bloomingdale, NJ, Fall 1988:

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Kinnelon, NJ

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New Years Eve..and it was a balmy 55 degrees!, Boonton, NJ:

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Fall 2004:

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and ... PALM trees in the ground in Northern New Jersey!!!!

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Leigh,

You are absolutely terrific for sharing the pictures. Ooooooo, that picture on Kinnelon!

I know that area of Rt. 23 very well. I used to live in Bloomingdale!

This area of Alabama is very hilly (not quite as high as the Ramapo Mountains), but close enough to remind me...

Anyway, please keep in touch - It's very special to me that you have been so generous!

To know Jersey is to love Jersey...

Meadow Lark

Meadow Lark,
Glad to have shared some pics. of the area. You keep in touch too, if you have time, now that spring has sprung!

I'm dreaming of a waterfall ~

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Here's to a glorious new gardening season!!!!!

Can any one post pictures of Princeton or Plainsboro.
I used to live there. I remember the beautiful fall colors
and the woods of NJ, upstate NY and Mass. Is the soil very fertile in NJ ? How often do you compost ? How about summer, do you water frequently ?

Meadow Lark,
I grew up in SC, but now live in Metuchen, NJ. Still have the accent, a little bit anyway! I donÂt miss the SC heat one iota. This is a great thread! Thanks for starting it!

Lazy, I have a few pictures on my Website of Plainsboro and Princeton (used to work at P.U. and lived in Plainsboro). DonÂt know about the rest of the state, but the soil on my little plot is quite nice. I water newly planted things, but not the established stuff.

I have been photographing my trees in the seasons since we moved to our current house. Take a look...

Here is a link that might be useful: My trees

Joolz,

Thank you so much for sharing your web-site. I looked at everything!

Your diary of 9/11 is very touching. I was living in Orlando on that date, but it felt very personal to me. I had the privledge of eating in "Windows" several times. Two guys that I went to school with were in the towers when they fell.

When you talked about the conversation with your son, and I looked at the photo of the two of you, my eyes welled up...

Thank you for telling me about the fire fighter. I had no idea that he survived. The picture has always haunted me, as I figured it was the last photo his family had of him... It is good to know that he made it out...

My family used to travel to Princeton each fall, to look at the trees and the spectacular buildings! (I actually dream about it sometimes...)

Lastly - your photography is fantastic! Do you do the developing... or send them out? Are you "professionally" taught - or just a "natural"? You have a keen eye for color and contrast...

Meadow Lark

Meadow Lark,
I am humbled by your kind words, each and every one. I am sorry for the two friends you lost on 9/11. We will never forget. How could we?

Most of the older pictures on my diary are film, processed for the most part at Target and then scanned by me. I took a photography class in my last semester of college and by about mid-semester, I wished I could change my major! I learned the techniques in the darkroom and the professor dispelled my naive notion that the class would be an easy-A from my very first roll of film. He took one look in the dim red light of the darkroom and TURNED ON THE LIGHTS saying, "Start over." That was the most challenging class I ever tried to get an A in. (Univ. of S.C.)

I bought my first and only digital camera 5 years ago -- IÂll never go back to film. Saves me a FORTUNE!

We love to go to Princeton football games, a great family outing since the game tickets last time I checked were only $5 each. CanÂt beat that! The trees in fall there are awe-inspiring. I donÂt really care much for the football; I go to watch the trees. (My college friends would be SHOCKED by that statement; the southern thing is ALL ABOUT football.)

Thanks again for your really nice letter. : )
--Joolz
P.S. My aunt and many, many cousins live in Mobile. Give Âem a wave for me!

Oh, gosh! I just found your post, and I grew teary-eyed looking at my old stomping grounds! I grew up in Bergen County- Rochelle Park to be exact, then moved to New York state and Wisconsin, spent some time in Atlanta and Texas, but came back to New Jersey, Parsippany, then Lake Hopatcong and Stillwater (walking distance to Swartswood Lake) in beautiful Sussex County and lived there until about 1 1/2 years ago. Hubby is from Alabama, and here we are... I love Fairhope and Baldwin County,Alabama, though,,, its just so different. Flat and no ROCKS!! I miss rocks so much hubby got me some recycled concrete to build a pond and a rock garden from! I have been back to NJ once since we moved this year in December. I didn't get too homesick for it since it was cold and rainy then.. but OH!! your pictures really made me remember the beautiful hills and trees, the seasons and the highways.. I drove 287 many MANY times working in the Wayne and Pequannock area! Thank you, thank you.. you made my day...
A Jersey Yankee girl who misses it still,
Windyone

Windyone,

It's funny how those fond memories come back! I still dream about Wanaque. I love the Lake Hopatcong area.

I had to laugh when I read about your husband bringing you concrete... I have a bottomless addiction for rocks (so much so that when we lived in Orlando, we would make "rock runs" up to Georgia so that I could get my fix...) My hubby even paid $75 extra to bring rocks back from Germany for me.

Anyway - I am in Huntsville now, and they are blasting away a nearby hill to extend I-565, so I go rock hunting every few weeks! It's HEAVEN!

LOL... My nickname is Yankee She-Beth. (Kinda of risky here in Alabama, don't 'cha think?)

Meadow Lark

Oh Meadow Lark, you are definitely in for it with a Yankee name down south! Do you have a death wish? Just wondering ; )
--Joolz

Windyone,
I'm so glad you enjoyed the pics!!! I surely love to take them & share them! The lake picture is of Lake Parsippany ~
As for rocks...yes, love them!!! My favorite rock here in Northern Jersy is our native puddingstone ~ purple with white speckles~ there are so many stone walls comprised of it here. I gather them & put them throughout the yard & gardens. Wherever we go, I bring back rock treasures~ from the shores of Lake Erie rocks, driftwood, & beach glass, Southern California rocks & blue mussel shells, Long Island smooth stones, Pennsylvania slate, etc. Those are my treasured souvenirs :)

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Hi, all,
It's a rainy morning in South Alabama, and I am dreary from the rain, too. Looking at the pictures of the beautiful rocks (we always called them West Milford stone) makes me homesick all over again for my old home grounds. I miss the terrain.. hard to explain how all this flat and tropical combined with farm fields and huge live oaks and pecan trees still just doesnt feel quite like home some days. I guess this is one of those days.
On a positive note, our garden is blooming and producing like crazy here. We ate our first sweet corn 2 days before Memorial Day, and harvested just a mess of green beans, yellow squash and zucchini. Tomatoes just covered in blossoms and green tomatoes.
My cosmos daylilies, petunias, mandevilla, bachelors buttons, sunflowers and zinnias are blooming like mad. I hear a rain frog outside croaking ( little funny green ones with webby feet) and my tiny pots of herbs which I started from seed are loving the rain. For once it isnt a frog-strangler. Seems that is all the kind of rain we get down here.. tropical downpours that pool on the flat ground and run into the shallow ditches and finally make their way to Mobile Bay and the Gulf.
I ramble. I am homesick today.
Thanks for the pictures.. keep them coming.. anyone here from Sussex or Northwestern Morris county?
Happy gardening,
Windyone

Ooooooooo those pictures. And that smoke tree!!! And those ROCKS....

Oooooooooo...

Torture... sheer torture!

Meadow Lark

PS - Keep it up!

Hiya Meadow_Lark
You won't recognize Brigantine now.I lived there for 15 years( until a year and a half ago).It has like 4 traffic lights now,lol
I'm going there tonight to hang out with a friend.I'll borrow a camera next week and post you a few pix.

Joe

Hi!

I've just been reading through this post and its wonderful see read and see all the nice images and thoughts of New Jersey. I've lived Central Jersey all my life ---except for one year in Wash, DC, but the less said about that, the better! :)--- I just love this state! I've just started a shade garden this spring and so far its looking pretty good. eventually, I'll p ost some pictures. In the meantime, here are some pictures I took in early autumn at the Princeton University Prospect Garden. I work at the University and had just gotten a new camera, so it seemed like a good place to spend my lunch hours..Hope its okay to post these here.

Jill

All from autumn 2004:

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