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Monday, April 30, 2012

Kinnelon Security Shredding: May 5, 2012

Kinnelon Security Shredding: May 5, 2012
This serves as your reminder as well as mine, in case the annual Kinnelon Security Shredding seemed so far away into the future that it would never get here...

Yet, it is upon us taking place Saturday, May 5 from 9am until noon behind Kinnelon Borough Hall.

Security shredding means that you can safely and securely dispose of confidential documents, including important personal and tax-related documents that you no longer need to refer to.

Here are details:

Doing the shredding: Security Shredding of Morris Plains, NJ  

Benefits associated with Security Shredding:
  • Unique opportunity for confidential and secure treatment of your personal information
  • Optimum security… Dispose of important but obsolete personal documents. Don’t just toss personal information in the trash…especially after tax season. 
  • Using the latest state-of-the art equipment…Done in the most secure way while you watch. 
  • Fully bonded and insured.
  • Makes disposing of documents easy, safe and economical.
  • Drive in, unload your papers, drive out with peace of mind.
Where to go? Go behind Kinnelon Borough Hall. Volunteers will help you.

How much? It's a $5.00 donation per box… to support the Friends of the Kinnelon Library.

Important detail!  Boxes should be no larger than14”W x18”L and 10” D.

Time to get my boxes ready...

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Kinnelon Friends Presents: Assassins, Barn Theater, May 25, 2012

Kinnelon Friends Presents: Assassins, Barn Theater, May 25, 2012
If you're looking for some musical entertainment, look no further than the musical Assassins, presented by the Friends of the Kinnelon Library at the Barn Theater on May 25, 2012.

Per Wikipedia, Assassins, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, "uses the premise of a murderous carnival game to produce a revue-style portrayal of men and women who attempted (successfully or otherwise) to assassinate Presidents of the United States. The music varies to reflect the popular music of the eras depicted. The musical first opened Off-Broadway in 1990, and the 2004 Broadway production won five Tony Awards."

This production of Assassins is directed by Roseann Ruggiero.

The Barn Theater is located on Skyline Drive in Montville, NJ.

Details from the flyer:

This takes place on Friday, May 25, 2012. The curtain goes up at 8pm and doors open at 7pm for "Great Refreshments".

Donation: $25.00 per person which includes ticket and those great refreshments.

Your donation supports the very wonderful Friends of the Kinnelon Library!

For tickets, go to the Kinnelon Library or call 973-838-1321 for information.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Boonton Art Walk, May 4th, 2012


Boonton Art Walk, May 4th, 2012
On Friday May 4th, the town of Boonton is having an Art Walk from 4pm to 9pm. 48 Boonton businesses will be participating and all but 2 are on Main Street. For more information visit Boonton on Main Street.

If you’d like to hear a little bit more about what the town of Boonton has to offer, read on.

Imagine a Main Street where the town’s people would go to visit the library, do their banking, mail letters, get a hair cut, buy flowers or just gather. It sounds like a scene from ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ and the town named Mayberry in North Carolina.

How about a Main Street with restaurants of international cuisine- Italian, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Middle Eastern, and Mexican? Doesn’t that sound delicious? Add to that some local flavor like an ice cream parlor, a cafĂ© and sweets shoppe, a few delis and pizzerias, and of course, a burger joint and pub. I’m not finished building that perfect Main Street; it would have to attract people from neighboring towns. Art galleries, jewelry shops, vintage clothing boutiques, an interior decorator and several home design stores, a Pilates studio, and an acupuncture center, would all bring to town a diverse group of people.

The Main Street that I have described sounds ideal, right? Folks could stroll around on a warm night after buying a scoop of their favorite frozen confection. Couples could meet for their first date at one of the many fine eateries and after dinner, grab a cappuccino and biscotti before viewing the many art galleries. Pet lovers could bring home a doggie bag with the leftovers from dinner and a separate doggie bag from Bubba Rose Biscuit Company. Long time couples could walk hand in hand and secretly get matching tattoos for their silver anniversary.

You might think that such a place as the Main Street that I have described does not exist. Oh, but you’d be wrong, it does. I have been there many times over the past 25 years.

Just head south on Boonton Avenue and when the road ends, you have arrived! Main Street Boonton is thriving once again. I’m glad to see the many art galleries that have taken over the retail space for the store fronts that were vacant just a few years back.

Boonton has such a rich history dating back to the mid-1700s. The town became quite prosperous from the Boonton Iron Works. But when it closed its doors in 1876, the town learned an important lesson: ‘The economic health of a community should not rely on a single industry’. Over the years, silk factories, the famous Boontonware dinnerware, and McGregor sportswear were just some of the industries that set up business in town. If you’d like to read more about Boonton’s history, here’s a link to the Boonton Historical Society’s website.

[Note: check out this description from Skylands about the historic mill towns, including Boonton, and their Industrial History.]

Stop by Main Street one weekend or evening; I’m sure you’ll be glad you did. On the first Friday of each month there is a special event planned. If you are on facebook, you can even ‘like’ Boonton Main Street. I did.

~ Mary Beth Grybowski

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Westerhoff Musical Experience, 4/29/12, Smoke Rise Church

Music Lovers! Save Sunday April 29th, 2012 at 3pm for the annual Westerhoff musical experience at the Smoke Rise Community Church!

You may have already seen the flyer and set it aside. In case you haven't, here are the details.

This is a Performing Arts program organized by Kinnelon's Center for Lifelong Learning (CLL). It consists of a Musical Recital featuring the faculty of the Westerhoff School of Music and Art:

Helga Westerhoff, 
Executive Director and Founder

David Isowitz, 
Music Director

who promise to expose you to a memorable and stimulating musical experience!

The Community Church of Smoke Rise is located at 38 North Road in Kinnelon, NJ.

Admission is $5.00 at the door and refreshments will be served.

It doesn't get much better than that!
Please note: 
  • The Westerhoff School of Music and Art has been a dedicated supporter of the CLL Performing Arts Program featuring their talented music department faculty. 
  • These programs are supported by generous grants from the Westerhoff Foundation, The Columbia Bank and by you the audience.
I wish you a wonderful musical experience at the Smoke Rise Community Church with the Westerhoff School of Music and Art!


Saturday, April 14, 2012

Meet Liz Holste: April 28, Morris County Library

Meet Liz Holste: April 28, Morris County Library
Mark your calendars!  On April 28, 2012 Liz Holste, former Kinnelon resident, skiing historian and author of Skiing In New Jersey? - whom you may remember from New Jersey, The Skiing State: History & Details - will be taking part in the Morris County Author's Day celebration.

The Morris County Author's Day takes place from 10 am to 2pm on April 28th at the Morris County Library which is located at 30 East Hanover Avenue in Whippany, NJ.

Check out this amazing list of Morris County authors! Notice Liz's name! Yeah!

Liz will be at the Morris County Author's Day selling copies of her  book "Skiing In New Jersey".

As Liz says, "Stop in and buy a few copies for your family and friends. Looking forward to seeing you on April 28th. Please feel free to spread the word about this great event."

Please, do help get the word out.

P.S.: Emma has been exploring the Olympics at school and was delighted to realize that Olympic Gold skiing medalist Donna Weinbrecht lived locally. Although Liz has mentioned her to us, it has only just now 'clicked' for Emma what an amazing resource for talent - Olympic, skiing, and more - New Jersey is!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Friday, April 13 at the Movies, Kinnelon Library

For those of you in Kinnelon whose children are on Spring break this week [April 9 through 13], consider the Kinnelon Library on Friday, April 13 at 1pm for a showing of Hugo, a 2011 Martin Scorcese film.

As the Kinnelon Library newsletter describes the movie:
"Twelve-year-old Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks with an eccentric girl and the owner of a small toy booth in the train station, Hugo's undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy."

[Here is a review from Mail Online: Scorsese's first family movie is pure 3D magic.]

And the movie Hugo's official trailer which you can also watch directly on YouTube.


It looks fun, don't you think?

Have a great Spring break in Kinnelon. See you at the Library.

Monday, April 9, 2012

April 15 Hike: Kincaid Woods, Kinnelon Road


Happy Spring & Hiking in Kinnelon!

Ken Bitz has organized the first Smoke Rise and Kinnelon hike of this season for Sunday, April 15th, 2012, through Kincaid Woods.

This is a hike that we've been wanting to do ever since Estelle Anderson mentioned back in 2009 [see New Pyramid Mountain Park Trail!] that a new trail had been opened. It's definitely time to check it out!

If you are interested, and available, come join us.

Smoke Rise residents can meet up at 1pm in the Smoke Rise Inn parking lot and head off to the trail head together.

Or, plan on meeting at ~1:10pm at the Kincaid Woods parking lot right by Kincaid House on Powerville/Kinnelon Road.

Ken says that children and dogs are both welcome.

The hike is approximately 2 miles long, not strenuous, and leads to Pyramid Mountain through connecting trails.

Let me know if you have questions.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Taking Care of Your Computer For Free -- The Best FREE Software -- Talk at the Kinnelon Library Wed 7 PM Apr 11 2012


It Costs No Money!

I will be giving a talk at the Kinnelon Public Library Wednesday, Apr. 11 at 7 PM, which is the 4th of 6 such talks a month apart, on the subject of taking care of your Windows PC, new or old, with special attention in Part 3 to:

The Best FREE Software for Your PC, including :

1) Libre Office (Open Office) A Microsoft Office Substitute -- Do Not Pay for MS Office -- you can get Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and more workalikes, that suit most everyone just fine. Works just fine with Office files, such as doc, ppt, xls, and so on.

2) Google Chrome -- If you are still using IE, don't -- Chrome is SO much faster, and simpler to use that you need to switch right away -- unless you like waiting around for your browser to catch up.

3) Google Picasa -- Hands Down the Very Best Photo Manager, Light Editor, Uploading and Sharing, and Printing Program, EVER. If you rake photos and print them, you must have Picasa.

4) Dropbox --Share a common directory with other computers, family and friends!  Never lose a critical data file again! Share and sync your Quicken, Outlook, Powerpoint, or whatever files with another computer, and you CANNOT lose them ... well ... hard to, anyway.

5) Skype -- Free video Phoning for everyone, except for the price of an HD VidCam (less than $50, sometimes less than $25). Works easily, great for family and business.

6), 7), 8), ... and so on. We have a list -- there has to be something on there for you!

Come find out what you have been missing, and avoid spending money on expensive commercial software!

We will repeat our "Open Mike" period at the end of the talk so you can find out why your computer isn't doing what you want:

All of you Kinnelon and North Jersey people, and everybody else, are welcome to come.

Call the Kinnelon Library at 973 838 1321 and reserve a spot.

See you there!

~Ted


PS: Check out the Working Computers Blog article, The 7 Best Free Software Programs As Of January 2012, for more on the subject -- we will have more software to recommend at the talk

PPS: This talk pertains to PCs running Windows 7, Vista and XP

Photo Credit: various websites


You get the idea!


Rutgers Master Gardeners in Kinnelon

Rutgers Master Gardeners in Kinnelon
Daylilies by stone wall in my front yard 

Rutgers Master Gardeners by Mary Beth Grybowski

Many years ago, after buying my first home, I invited Brenda, my former college roommate,  for lunch and to see the place. In addition to catching up on things, I also looked forward to her visit for gardening purposes. Brenda and I graduated from Cook College (Rutgers University). While I loved to garden, technically, I was an amateur. Brenda, on the other hand, was a professional in the field. She graduated with a degree in Landscape Architecture, one of Cook College’s most competitive majors.

I did quite a bit of gardening in the various apartments that I rented, but being a homeowner left me feeling a bit over my head. Though it has been thirteen years since this event transpired, I still remember the day well. It was June of 1999 and I had just planted 10 flats of impatiens atop the stone wall in the backyard. The lawn was freshly cut and the house cleaned to the point of being nearly sterile. Brenda not only was a magician in the garden, she was also a neat freak. Needless to say, I was trying to make a good impression. Brenda arrived with her husband Pete, carrying a hanging basket of purple petunias, their housewarming gift.

Showing them around the yard, I had expected something . . . anything . . . in the way of gardening advice to automatically tumble out of Brenda’s mouth. Instead she took in the setting, saying nothing. We headed inside to continue the tour and soon we all sat down to lunch. I waited a respectable amount of time . . . approximately two hours . . . before I asked the question. “Can you give me a little gardening advice . . . like what to plant and where?

Brenda snapped back as if annoyed, “Plant perennials!

That’s ALL the advice she’s going to give me?” I silently asked myself.

“And why are you wasting your money on impatiens?” Brenda scolded. “They’re only going to last a few months and without adequate water for just a day, that’s it, they’ll wither and die!”

If you’re thinking, “Wow, Brenda didn’t help at all.” Actually, her advice pointed me in the right direction. Had she told me exactly what to plant and where, it wouldn’t really have been MY garden. Her NOT being helpful pushed me to go out and find my style, my colors, and my favorite flowers. By giving me just a little piece of advice, I sought out the best garden centers and consulted with their master gardeners and they got to know me by sight. I loved gardening in my yard in Bloomingdale for eight years; it was a gardener’s paradise. But in summer of 2006 we sold and moved to Kinnelon and I left all of my wonderful perennials behind.

Fast forward to spring of 2012, and I am so grateful for the early warm weather. In the almost 6 years that I have been in this house, the yard is still a work in progress. The front yard is almost the way I’d like it, but the backyard will require a team of strong young men and some heavy earth moving machinery. In the meantime, I’m trying to envision how I would like my backyard in a completed state. So when I saw that Morris County Master Gardeners were going to be at the Kinnelon Library, I signed up.

I was actually surprised that the attendance wasn’t higher; perhaps everyone was enjoying a walk in the mild air instead. I am glad to report that Morris County Master Gardeners Connie Barry and Gail DiDomenico were quite helpful and were more than willing to share EVERYTHING they knew. Both women spoke to the audience and their love of gardening showed through. And, like me, gardening was their passion. There was a slide show which included pictures of both women’s houses. We all also learned about the Rutgers Master Gardening program and what services the Morris County Master Gardener office of the Rutgers Cooperative Extension provides. Hand outs were provided for us to take home. Books on gardening available at the Kinnelon Library were displayed on a table for all to view.

Clematis by my mailbox
I did learn a few things that evening.
  • I had been pronouncing one of my favorite flowers, Clematis, incorrectly. 
  • Postal carriers don’t like flowers on the mailbox because it attracts bees. 
  • I learned the names of many new flowers and plants that I had never heard of before like : Lobelia, Viburnum, and Cinquefoil-Potentilla. 
  • The 3 ingredients for a great container garden are : a ‘thriller’, a ‘filler’ and a ‘spiller’. 
  • I was also reminded that if I don’t want my pink hydrangeas to turn purple like they did last year, I’ll need to make the soil more alkaline by using either lime or calcium. 
  • If I ever have a gardening question I can call the Morris County Master Gardener Helpline at 973-285-8300.
My favorite part of the evening was seeing the pictures of various private gardens in Morris County. I especially liked the one Gail’s husband designed himself to take care of a drainage issue. It was beautiful with river stone rocks and a small covered bridge.

At the end of the evening, our Master Gardeners Connie and Betty asked, “Are there any questions?

I wanted to ask Gail, “Can I borrow your husband?” Of course, I meant for gardening purposes. Instead I asked Connie, “Can you name a few local public gardens for inspiration.

Here are the places she recommended :
Don’t forget to catch the “Spring Gardening” talk scheduled for Thursday April 19th at the Kinnelon Library.

~ Mary Beth Grybowski
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