Experience the sights, sounds, history and community of one of the most magical places on earth - the Land Where the Smoke Rises - in and around Kinnelon, NJ
Anyway, I will be giving a talk at the Kinnelon Public Library, this Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 7 PM, which is the 8th of 9 such talks this year, a month apart, on the subject of taking care of your Windows PC, new or old, with special attention in Part 8 to:
Bootable Backups
1) Why You Need Them
2) How to Make Them
3) Where and How to Buy Backup Drives and Drive Cases.
4) Why You Should Buy Your Own Drive and Case and not a Pre-Packaged External Drive
5) How to Get Up and Running after a System Drive Failure in Just a Few Minutes.
And, As Always we will have our Open Mike period at the end of the talk and demo, so you can find out why your computer isn't doing what you want:
Ask Your Questions about Your Computer and Computer Related Problems, such as:
1) Is my machine too old? When do I need a new machine?
2) How can I "pin" that program to my Taskbar, and what is a "Gadget?"
3) Why does my computer ... ?
4) If you have a laptop with a problem, bring it along and we'll take a quick look.
5) Questions and on-the-spot diagnosis will be limited by the time available!!!
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: This talk pertains to PCs running Windows 8, 7, Vista and XP
Photo Credits: http://www.emergingrunner.com/2011/06/barefoot-but-for-my-shoe.html
and http://www.vtarmynavy.com/belleville-boots.htm
Last week, while I enjoyed the Kinnelon Library - aka the only warm and connected refuge around - Ron Leavesley invited me to come preview the 2012 Artistic Delights featuring our very own artists. The artwork had just been hung despite all of power mess.
You'll find over 60 beautiful oils and watercolors all of which you can bid on in a silent auction now through Thursday, November 29, 2012.
Here are details!
A Fine Arts Silent Auction Featuring Area Artists
ARTISTIC DELIGHTS 2012
This Fine Arts Silent Auction is sponsored by the Friends of the Kinnelon Library and managed by the CLL, source of the artistic talent!
This fine arts, silent auction featuring area artists is sponsored by the Friends of the Kinnelon Library…. It is an exceptional opportunity to acquire quality fine art done by area artists while supporting the Friends at the same time. Your bid determines the selling price… It is that easy. The auction will feature a variety of oil paintings and watercolors. Artwork will be exhibited at the Library from November 5 through November 29 for you to review and bid. Wine and Cheese Reception and Silent Auction results: Thursday, November 29. The reception starts at 7 PM, but you can still bid until 8 PM. You do not have to be present to be a winner.
If you've never participated in a silent auction, here's what's involved.
Obtain a bidding instruction sheet and bid number.
Use that number to enter you bid on any of the Silent Auction artwork.
Bid numbers and information will be available at the Library’s circulation desk starting Monday, November 5 and up to and including the night of the auction.
I hope you'll check out the artwork, bid on as many of the art pieces as you can, then attend the reception on November 29th!
By the way, how are you enjoying the return to power and almost-normalcy? Ted and I went for a walk this afternoon and the contrast with last week was eerie. Twisted trees, snapped telephone poles, remnants of wires and phone pole debris along the roadways, some snow, warm weather, trunk-or-treating at the high school, ...
Hats off, too, to the Kinnelon Nixle system for getting information out via text and email.
I'm really grateful to the New York Sports Club in Butler for a marvelous shower on Thursday evening.
I'm incredibly appreciative for the warmth and community that the Kinnelon Library offered on Friday and Saturday - not to mention free WiFi, power and running water.
Do you remember reading about Garrett Orr in St. Hubert's Chapel, Garrett Orr, Smoke Rise Memories, the story that Joan Semmler Oravits shared about art work related to the Chapel? Thanks to that article, I received the following email from Pete Congleton, grandson of Garrett P. Orr, painter and artist extraordinaire! Here is his message:
Dear Christine,
My wife, Carie, who happens to work in the Class Deans Office at your Alma Mater, is always on the lookout for Garrett Orr paintings that may be floating around out there. She found your blog and I wanted you to know a little more about him.
"Gary" or "Grandpa Orr" was the father of my late mother, Sandy. Born in "aught-seven" as he liked to say, he grew up in the little town of Caro, Michigan. He had a knack for drawing as a boy, and after attending the University of Michigan, he attended the Art Institute of Chicago.
He married his hometown sweetheart, Elinor Smith, and they moved to New York where Gary made a living as a commercial artist, chiefly in the growing field of outdoor advertising. I remember him explaining how he would design and paint the picture for the ad, and then block it off in sections to enable the outdoor painters to blow it up to billboard size. During the war he did a number of paintings encouraging people to buy war bonds.
Can't recall the specific years, but Gary and Elinor bought a home in Mountain Lakes, NJ in the early 1930s, where they raised my mother and her little brother -- my namesake, "Uncle Pete." Both Sandy and Pete graduated from Mountain Lakes H.S.
After Elinor died of cancer in the late 1950s, Gary may have moved back to New York City, because that's where he met and fell in love with Jan Brewster, who I knew as "Mor Mor," thanks to my sister Wendy's mispronunciation of "Grandma Orr." Gary and Jan married and lived for a while in an apartment in Tudor City, which Mor Mor fondly referred to as "the Tender Trap," after the Frank Sinatra tune by the same name.
Portrait of Carie by Garrett P. Orr, Sr.Remarkably, Grandpa painted this not long after he'd had a stroke that initially prevented him from being able to paint at all!
Sometime in the early 1960s, Gary and Jan moved to Montville, NJ, where they bought a house that had once belonged to a canal boat captain. Remnants of the old canal could still be seen nearby on the other side of Valhalla Road. Grandpa set up a beautiful artist's studio upstairs, and Mor Mor operated a small craft business from the in-law apartment downstairs ("The Witch Stitchery," and "The Naughty Needle" are two of the plaques I recall seeing). MorMor's specialty was needlepoint and she had a book published by the title "Needlepoint Now." There's even a stitch she invented that was named after her.
At the peak of his profession, Gary was the president of the Art Directors Institute of New York, and in retirement from commercial art, he continued to earn a living by doing portraits for people.
I'm going to send you a couple of photos of paintings we have, but in response to your commentary on his painting of the St. Hubert's Chapel, I'd like to hazard a guess.
Grandpa Orr had a good sense of humor, an eye for composition, and a love of water-- I can see him wanting to break up the monotony of the snow-covered ice in the foreground of your painting. The painting we have over our living room mantle is a good example of his puckish humor. The scene is a boat pulled up on a marshy shore with huge granite slabs forming a landing of sorts in the foreground (they are actually the remnants of an active quarrying enterprise that once flourished on Cape Ann on the North Shore of Massachusetts). The focal point of the picture is a bright spot under the trees to the right of a little house. Mor Mor once told me that when Grandpa finished the painting, he asked her what she thought. She said she liked the focal point but it seemed empty somehow. Grandpa then proceeded to paint in a tiny silhouette of himself with Mor Mor. I know that it's him because of the way his head is cocked to the side!
Thanks for remembering my grandfather on your blog and for adding a little dash of serendipity to my day!
Cheers, Pete Congleton
Thanks so much, Pete, for letting us get to know your grandfather, Garrett Orr! By the way - this video titled Pete and the new Dodge, Garrett Orr Sr- outdoor artist & Jr, Jake and Sandra Congleton- 1957 [which I had come across earlier] now makes a lot more sense! Pictured here must be Pete and Sandra, your uncle and mother; Jake must be your dad. Do you know where this was filmed?
This is a marvelous free community event sponsored by KAMELOT and the Borough of Kinnelon [last year, Kinnelon Borough Council members grilled some of the best hot dogs and hamburgers ever!]
For those of you who love Kinnelon history, you might want to attend the upcoming History of Smoke Rise presentation taking place at the Smoke Rise Inn on Saturday, September 22, 2012 at 5pm.
The Saint Hubert's Chapel Conservation Committee has organized the photographic presentation of the history of Smoke Rise, which hasn't taken place in a while. 5 years to be exact!
The event benefits St. Hubert's Chapel.
Here's how to participate:
Contact JoAnn Brett at 973-838-8228 or email her at jobrett@optonline.net.
Tickets are $25.00 per person [children under 18 are free].
Make checks payable to "Kinnelon Heritage Conservation Society Inc."
This Poor Woman Doesn't Understand Windows Printing!!
This One Does!
Yes, I Can Reuse the Same Photos and Give Them New Captions!
Anyway, I will be giving a talk at the Kinnelon Public Library, this Thursday, Sept 20 at 7 PM, which is the 7th of 10 such talks this year, a month apart, on the subject of taking care of your Windows PC, new or old, with special attention in Part 6 to:
How to Print Anything Cheaply in Win 7 or Vista or XP -- Desktop or Laptop, including:
1) How to Print and Organize Photos (Mostly for Free) --Print everything from Wallet sized Snapshots, to Posters, and everything in between. The best Photo Printers and How to Save on Ink! Which is the most expensive part of photo printing!
2) How to Make Your Applications Understand Your Printer -- Make sure Windows and Your Printer are on the Same Page. Literally!.
3) Where and How to Buy Printers, Ink, and Supplies -- No, it's not at Staples.
4) What Printers to Buy and Where to Buy Them -- The Cheapest and Best Printers for Photos or General Printing.
5) How to Handle Internet Printing and Making the Fonts and Pages Sizes Print Right -- Like it Says.
And, As Always we will have our Open Mike period at the end of the talk and demo, so you can find out why your computer isn't doing what you want:
Ask Your Questions about Your Computer and Computer Related Problems, such as:
1) Is my machine too old? When do I need a new machine?
2) How can I "pin" that program to my Taskbar, and what is a "Gadget?"
3) Why does my computer ... ?
4) If you have a laptop with a problem, bring it along and we'll take a quick look.
5) Questions and on-the-spot diagnosis will be limited by the time available!!!
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: This talk pertains to PCs running Windows 7, Vista and XP
The Smoke Rise & Kinnelon Blog has no affiliation with The Smoke Rise Club, Inc. All of the opinions shared in this blog are completely our personal views and are in no way those of The Smoke Rise Club corporation. The Smoke Rise & Kinnelon Blog is completely owned and created by Christine & Ted Whittemore.
