Greetings from the Shore

I'm still in Jersey, still pretty sleepy, and not feeling terribly creative, so I'm just going to fill you in on my day. Mom and I did a little damage at a department store and a Bass outlet. Since the economy's in the sh*tter, the stores are having some crazy sales. I spent about 300 bucks and walked away with 2 sweaters, 2 shirts, a pair of jeans, 2 pairs of shoes (including a new pair of my 'hipster' loafers!), 9 pairs of socks, and a pea coat. Not too shabby...

Whenever in Jersey I feel I must return to one of the motherships -- a diner. We hit the OB Diner in Point Pleasant. This particular diner had a spiral bound menu and offered the usual 400 items. But as usual, I limited my choice to my top three diner meals: a pork roll, egg, & cheese sandwich on a hard roll, a tuna melt, or a Happy Waitress. For those of you not in the know, a Happy Waitress is: 1) surprisingly NOT an oxymoron in a Jersey diner and 2) an open faced grilled cheese, bacon, and tomato sandwich. Perfect! That's what I went with. I was tempted to get "disco fries" -- french fries drenched in brown gravy and covered in melted mozzarella cheese, but decided my waistline didn't really need them. (But I may have to break down at Christmas and get some because my mouth won't stop watering just thinking about them!)

Our path from the diner to my mom's house brought us down my favorite road of all time -- Route 35 from Point Pleasant, through Bay Head, Mantoloking, Normandy, and eventually to my beloved Lavallette. Many of the homes and businesses have changed, but many others have blessedly stayed the same. As we drove by, I daydreamed about living in the huge, cedar shingled homes of Bay Head and Mantoloking just like I did as a kid. In Lavallette, I took a detour past the bungalow we used to rent and drove up to "say Hi" to the ocean as we did whenever we first arrived on our vacation and as we left at its conclusion. If only the folks in charge would knock down the darn mountainous dunes they started cultivating in the late 80s so I could see the ocean from the boardwalk again!

Well, I guess that's about it for now. Time for me to enjoy mom's meatloaf. That's what we do here -- eat, shop, and reminisce!

To be continued...

Hi Mrs. Schmidt!