The Journal Late Spring 2024

THE MARVIN PAINTINGS

James Ormsbee Chapin

Publisher & Editor

Amy Bridge publisher@milfordjournal.com

Emmet Marvin, Farmer James Ormsbee Chapin, (1925) The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

Graphic Design Maureen Taylor

Susan Mednick susanmed2@optonline.net

The Journalists

Associate Editor B’Ann Bowman

Advertising Team

Amy Bridge amy@milfordjournal.com

Kimberly Hess kimberlyhess212@gmail.com

Will Voelkel • Alison Porter • Bob Chernow Michelle Vosper • Bill Kibildis Eric Francis

Mission

The tri-state upper Delaware River highlands and valleys are a place of rare beauty…

Seeing the region and living in it almost aren’t enough. Such beauty should be captured on canvas or film so that one can truly appreciate it, glimpse it in the quiet of an art gallery or museum, or between the pages of a poetry book or literary sketch.

The Journal Group’s mission is to capture these momentary snapshots of beauty graphically and through the written word. We celebrate our area and the uniqueness of the people who live and work in the tri-state region. From Pike to Wayne and Monroe to Lackawanna Counties in Pennsylvania, upriver to Sullivan County and on to Orange County in New York, and to the headwaters of the Wallkill River and

Editorial Readers Robert Bowman Amy Smith

David Dangler dangler908@yahoo.com

The Poet Maureen Newman

along Warren and Sussex Counties’ rolling hills in New Jersey, with quaint, historic towns and hamlets at the center, the Journal Group opens its doors to our communities, businesses and organizations, to serve as a communicative journal of all that we have to offer for those who live here and for those who love to visit us, too.

Publication Information

The Journal Group publishes The Journal ten times a year and distributes it in eight counties in PA, NJ and NY. We assume no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts. Contents may not be reproduced in any form without prior written permission. We reserve the right to refuse to print advertisements that we deem inappropriate. All rights reserved.

Heart and Soul

Music vibrates deeply into my soul.

Sometimes it’s the words that get to me, but then, there’s the melody, too.

Just hearing the haunting tune of the folksong “Greensleeves” has always made my eyes well up. George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” probably brightens up most people’s day, but it, too, hits a tender spot inside my heart because, as George wrote and sang, “Little darlin’, it’s been a long, cold, lonely winter.” Both songs are intrinsically linked to my memories.

The unifying factor in this Late Spring issue is, of course, music.

Our opening Art article has been painstakingly researched and in the works for years by local writer, Michelle Vosper. The story has never been told in this way before or from a local perspective. Although James Ormsbee Chapin was a celebrated visual artist, and not a musician, I’m sure you will recognize his descendants, musical stars in their own rights.

This July we are welcoming a new jazz festival to the area. Will Voelkel interviewed Amy London, a talented jazz vocalist and the artistic director of the weekend event. Ms. London has scheduled jazz brunches, swing dance lessons, and a mix of talented performers playing throughout town.

And then there’s musical genius Fred Waring, who lived an incredible life, an innovator in the history of American music. Waring was in the public eye for over 65 years and had a very close link to our area. Bob Chernow spent time at the Monroe County Historical Association and at Shawnee Inn’s History Room to research this story.

Music offers hope, inspiration, and a direct connection to our heart and soul.

The sun is here, summer is on the way, and again, as George would sing, “Here comes the sun, and I say, It’s alright.”

Abounding Beauty

Like a delicate flower with unblemished fragrant blossoms,

An intricate spider web laced with morning dew, Plush verdant pastures as far as the eye can see, Garden seeds planted, nourished, growing day by day, Song birds landing, singing and then taking flight, Butterflies emerging and fluttering here and there, Swans performing graceful ballet upon the water, Raindrops falling, splashing, and soaking the earth, Vibrant colors of a rainbow after a storm, Clouds in skies of blue with sunbeams peeking through, Shining sun, moon, and stars, casting magic bright lights, Like a lighthouse beam pointing the way, All of these blessings renew our souls on any given day.

- Poem and Photo by Maureen Newman

For information/tickets: www.greytowers.org/events

JUNE 16TH – 12:00-3:00pm Picnic with the Pinchots: Free Bluegrass Lawn Concert with The Lost Ramblers. Antique Auto Show, Children’s Activites, $5 Mansion Open House.

JULY 14TH – 3:00-6:00pm

The Meaning of Place: Putting Forest Conservation into Practice Free Jazz Lawn Concert with Amy London and The Bopsters and a performance by the America Readers Theatre. Children’s Activites, $5 Mansion Open House.

AUGUST 11TH – 12:00-3:00pm Gifford Pinchot Birthday: With free ice cream from 2:00-4:00pm, Children’s Activites, $5 Mansion Open House. 3:00-6:00pm Free Lawn Concert with The Chamberlain Brass: From Handel to Sousa.

Around the Towns

Late Spring

June 1st

Saturday 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Heritage Days: School Memories. Minisink Heritage Center, Westtown, NY. Museum tours, live music, food truck & more. Hosted by Town of Minisink Heritage Commission. Info: 845.726.4148, www.townofminisink. com.

1:00–2:30 p.m.

Take a Rake: A Tour of Cornelia’s Gardens. Grey Towers, Milford, PA. A behind-thescenes look at Cornelia’s Gardens and the inspiration that created them. Hosted by Grey Towers Heritage Association. Info: 570.296.9630, greytowers.org.

3 p.m.

Broadway Blockbusters. Milford United Methodist Church, Milford, PA. Presented by the Delaware Valley Choral Society. $10–$15. Info: www.dvchoralsociety.org.

3 p.m.

Spring Concert. First Presbyterian Church, Hackettstown, NJ. Performance by the Stone Soup Symphony Free. Info: 908.509.1047, stonesoupsymphony.org

June 1st–2nd

Saturday–Sunday 2:00–8:30 p.m.

Hot Air Balloons, Arts & Crafts Festival Warren Community College, Washington, NJ. $5–$10. Entertainment, food trucks, music & more. Supports scholarships and local charities. Hosted by Flying Festivals of Warren County. Info: 908.283.0721, www. balloonfestnj.com.

June 2nd

Sunday 10:00 a.m.

Hawley Spring Run: A Race for Mental Wellness. Bingham Park, Hawley, PA. 5K run/walk, music, refreshments. Hosted by National Alliance on Mental Illness, Northeast Region PA. Supports community NAMI programs. Info: 570.342.1047, www.naminepa.org.

Noon–3:30 p.m.

A Day at the Harding Farm. Otisville, NY. Live music, tours, doll making. Free but donations appreciated. Benefits Eleazer Harding Farm. Hosted by Mt. Hope Historical Society. Info: townofmounthope.org.

June 3rd

Monday 11:30 a.m.

Lackawanna College Golf Club Tournament. Elmhurst Country Club, Moscow, PA. Includes lunch, 1 p.m. golf start, 5:30 p.m. dinner. $200. Benefits student-athletes. Info: lackawannafalcons.com/golftournament.

June 6th

Thursday 6–9 p.m.

Rooted in Resilience: Celebrating Land Trust Success Stories. The Barn at Villa Venezia, Middletown, NY. Benefit reception and auction. $300. Hosted by Orange County Land Trust. Info: 845.534.3690, www.oclt.org

June 7th

Friday 6 p.m.

Fork & Cork Dinner Party. Chatlos Environmental Education Center, Lacawac Sanctuary, Lake Ariel, PA. Cocktails, dinner & music. $130. Benefits new Environmental Education Center. Info: 570.689.9494, www. lacawac.org

June 8th

Saturday 9 a.m.–4 p.m.

Arts & Crafts Fair. Bingham Park, Hawley, PA. Hosted by Chamber of the Northern Poconos. Handcrafted merchandise, entertainment, food. Info: 570.226.3191, www. northernpoconos.org.

10 a.m.–3 p.m.

Barn & Cottage Sale. Lusscroft Farm, Wantage, NJ. Vintage, collectibles & more. Benefits the restoration of Lusscroft Farm. Also June 23rd. Info: Facebook: Friends of Lusscroft Farm, lusscroft.org.

10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Trout Parade: Trout on the Range. Main Street, Livingston Manor, NY. Hosted by the Calliope-on-Main Foundation & Livingston Manor Chamber of Commerce. Art festival, crafts, food, local beer & more. Info: 845.707.2723, livingstonmanorny.com, Facebook: Livingston Manor Trout Parade.

10:30 a.m.

Newton Day Festival. Spring Street & Memory Park, Newton, NJ. Food, live music, activities, fireworks. Hosted by Greater Newton Chamber of Commerce and the Town of Newton. Info: 973.300.0433, www.greater newtoncc.com.

11 a.m.–5 p.m.

Sparta Day. Station Park, Sparta, NJ. Hosted by Junior Woman’s Club of Sparta. Free. Vendors, food, entertainment. Benefits local and national nonprofits. Info: 973.400.9260, www.jwcsparta.org.

6–8 p.m.

Italian Wine Tasting. Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Sparta, NJ. $20. Bring an hors d’oeuvre or dessert to share. Advance tickets required. Info: 973.729.7010, www. sothnj.org.

June 9th

Sunday 9 a.m.

Soap Box Derby. Port Jervis, NY. Largest local soap box derby in the world. Info: portjervis.soapboxderby.org.

June 14th–16th

Friday–Sunday

Milford Music Fest. Milford, PA. Free music all around town. Hosted by Milford Presents. Info: www.milfordpa.us

June 14th–22nd

Delaware River Sojourn: River of Inspiration. Upper Delaware River. Explore the river via canoe. Registration: Adult/$100 per day, Child/$70 per day. Info: www.delawareriver sojourn.com.

June 15th

Saturday

Roots & Rhythm Music & Arts Festival. Central Park, Honesdale, PA. Live music, food, craft vendors. Free. Info: honesdaleroots andrhythm.com.

5:30 p.m.

A Musical Journey: Frisson Winds. Grey Towers, Milford, PA. Works for woodwind quartet. Sponsored by Kindred Spirits Arts Programs. $25. Info: www.kindredspiritsarts.org.

June 16th

Sunday Noon–3 p.m.

Picnic with the Pinchots. Grey Towers, Milford, PA. Antique cars, children’s activities, music by the Lost Ramblers. Bring your own picnic. Hosted by Grey Towers Heritage Association. Info: 570.296.9630, greytowers.org.

5–9 p.m.

Rock n’ Roll Concert. Circleville Park, Wallkill, NY. Featuring The Mustangs. Info: 845.692.7800, www.townofwallkill.com

June 17th

Monday 9 a.m.

Golf Outing. Lords Valley Country Club, Lords Valley, PA. $150. Benefits GAIT Therapeutic Riding Center and the Pike County Public Library. Info: pikecountypublic library.com, gaittrc.org.

June 19th

Wednesday Noon

Juneteenth Jubilee. Galleria at Crystal Run, Middletown, NY. Family friendly activities. Hosted by Town of Wallkill. Info: 845.692.7800, www.townofwallkill.com.

June 20th

Thursday 2–9 p.m.

Warwick Food Truck Festival. Mountain Lake Park, Warwick, NY. Benefits Small Things, Inc. & Warwick Valley Knights of Columbus. Live music. $5. Also July 18th. Info: 914.391.3509, Facebook: Warwick Food Truck Festival.

5:30–9:00 p.m.

Craft, Creativity & Cocktails. Walpack Inn, Layton, NJ. Hors d’oeuvres, silent auction, open bar. $145. Benefits programs at Peters Valley. Info: 973.948.5200, petersvalley.org.

June 20th–25th

Senior Citizens Show. Sussex County Arts & Heritage Council, Newton, NJ. Info: 973.383.0027, www.scahc.org.

June 22nd

Saturday 9 a.m.–4 p.m.

Pocono Dragon Boat Race. Lake Wallenpaupack, Hawley, PA. Hosted by Chamber of the Northern Poconos. Info: 570.226.3191, www.northernpoconos.org.

10 a.m.–noon

Plant and Place Connection. PEEC, Dingmans Ferry, PA. Learn about edible and medicinal plants on a guided walk with Heather Houskeeper. $20. Info: 570.828.2319, www. peec.org.

Noon–3 p.m.

Paint & Sip with Jill Carletti. Van Scott Nature Reserve, Beach Lake, PA. Create your own painting. $50. Sponsored by Delaware Highlands Conservancy. Info/reservations: 570.226.3164, delawarehighlands.org.

4–7 p.m.

Welcome Party: Under the Milford Sun. 111 E. High Street, Milford, PA. Hosted by the Milford Enhancement Committee. $75. Food, Bobby Kyle & band, auction, and more. Info: 570.832.4789, www.milford enhancement.com.

June 23rd

Sunday 10:30 a.m.

Gordon & Ginny Shelton Memorial Walka-thon. Sussex County Fairgrounds, Augusta, NJ. Supports services for individuals with developmental disabilities. Hosted by the SCARC Foundation. Info:973.383.7442, www.scarcfoundation.org.

June 27th

Thursday 10 a.m.

Golf & Gamble Tournament. Monster Golf Course, Resorts World, Monticello, NY. 4-person scramble. Benefits Dutchess County 10-13 Foundation & NYS Sheriff’s Institute Summer Camp. Info: kate@rutbergbreslow.com

June 29th

Saturday 10 a.m.–2 p.m.

Plein Air Milford! Milford, PA. Outdoor community painting. Hosted by Barryville Area Arts Association and Artists’ Market Community Center. Info: Facebook: Seventh Annual Plein Air Milford!

4 p.m.–dusk

Montague Day. Montague, NJ. Music, vendors, food, Miss Montague contest, classic cars, fireworks & more. Info: 973.293.7300, www.montaguenj.org

Four Sisters Winery

FATHER’S DAY PIG ROAST

June 16th • 12 noon - 4:30pm

Live Music: Uptown Boogie Band Complimentary Glass of Papa’s Red for all the Dads! Call for Tickets. $40 ages 11+ • $20 ages 4-10 FREE ages 3 and under

WINE TASTING - DAILY

Open 6 days a week • 10am - 6pm Closed Wednesday

VINEYARD VIEW BISTRO Friday & Saturday • Noon - 6pm Sunday • Noon to 5:00pm

GRAPE STOMPING - MONTHLY Tickets Required

MURDER MYSTERY - MONTHLY Tickets Required

(908) 475-3671 • foursisterswinery.com 783 County Rd 519 • Belvidere, NJ

Fox Hunter, James Ormsbee Chapin, (1926). Courtesy of the Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ

James Chapin and the Marvin Farm

My Grandfather

-Harry Chapin

My grandfather was a painter. He died at age 88. He illustrated Robert Frost’s first two books of poetry. And he was looking at me and he said, “Harry, there’s two kinds of tired. There’s good tired and there’s bad tired.”

He said, “Ironically enough, bad tired can be a day that you won. But you won other people’s battles, you lived other people’s days, other people’s agendas, other people’s dreams, and when it’s all over there was very little you in there. And when you hit the hay at night somehow you toss and turn, you don’t settle easy.”

He said, “Good tired, ironically enough, can be a day that you lost. But you won’t even have to tell

Oyourself, because you knew you fought your battles, you chased your dreams, you lived your days. And when you hit the hay at night, you settle easy, you sleep the sleep of the just, and you can say, ‘Take me away.’ ”

He said, “Harry, all my life I’ve wanted to be a painter and I’ve painted. God, I would have loved to have been more successful, but I’ve painted, and I’ve painted, and I am good tired, and they can take me away.”

Excerpts from “My Grandfather” compliments of Sandy Chapin of Chapin Productions LLC. All rights reserved.

ne hundred years ago, in June 1924, a fair-haired artist stepped off the train at a station named Stillwater, a rural village in northwestern New Jersey. He liked the name of the town. Divorced, disillusioned, and broke, James Ormsbee Chapin, age 37, needed to start a new life—a cheap one—so he could continue to paint.

He found lodging for $4 a month in a cabin owned by the Marvin family in nearby Middleville. No plumbing, electricity, or heat, but he stayed for five years. During this time he would create a series of portraits of the Marvin family that, almost overnight, would launch him to the top of the art world.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

James Ormsbee Chapin was born in 1887 in West Orange, NJ. A shy boy, an avid reader, and a loner, he enjoyed canoeing up the Passaic River by himself and sketching scenes. His stutter made him reticent when in a group, but he was a keen observer of others and developed a gift for expressing himself visually.

Against his parents’ wishes, he dropped out of school at 16 and went to work as a bank messenger in New York City while taking night classes in drawing at Cooper Union and the Art Students League. When Chapin was 22, he borrowed money from an uncle and headed to Belgium to study at the Royal Academy in Antwerp, which was

tuition-free for those talented enough to be accepted. He distinguished himself as an award-winning student while living a frugal existence. He traveled to Paris and studied the paintings of the French Impressionists.

Chapin returned to the U.S. in 1912 to pay off his debts, taking on commercial work in New York. Eventually hired by the publisher Henry Holt, he was assigned to design and illustrate the re-publication of a Robert Frost poetry collection entitled North of Boston. Frost, whose poems celebrated the joys and challenges of rural life, became an important mentor and friend to the younger Chapin, who during his lifetime painted two portraits of the great American poet laureate.

Continued on next page

In 1918 Chapin married Abigail Beal Forbes, his high school teacher. The following year Abby gave birth to a son, Jim Chapin, who became a celebrated jazz drummer and educator. Jim Chapin and his wife Elspeth Burke produced a trio of singer songwriters, the first being Harry Chapin (“Cat’s in the Cradle”) who died in 1981 in a tragic car accident. Brothers Tom Chapin and Stephen Chapin are active in the music world today and are the elders of a burgeoning clan of talented musicians.

While the Chapin progeny flourished, the marriage did not. Shortly after the birth of Jim, the couple divorced, sending the painter on a downward spiral of loss and disappointment. The failure of his marriage was followed by the deaths of his father and his younger brother Elliott. The final blow was the discouraging response to his solo exhibition in New York in 1924, dashing his hopes of supporting himself as a full-time artist. Chapin felt he had no more to lose—no family or funds and no future.

Yet he still had his friend Robert Frost. Inspired by the poet’s ability to renew his creative spirit by carving out a simple lifestyle in the countryside, Chapin envisaged a sanctuary in the wilds where he could live on a shoestring and paint whatever he wanted. Finding the Marvin farm made this dream a reality.

The Middle of Nowhere

The Marvins’ Dutch ancestors had come to America in the 1600s. The farm in Middleville, NJ, was one of several in Sussex County owned by the prosperous Henry Marvin. Henry, who was born in 1771 in Peters Valley, donated land for the Old Dutch Reformed Church and cemetery in 1825. The Marvin family began farming in Middleville before the Civil War when the tiny town was called Gin Point. It offered the services of a general store, a post office, a blacksmith shop, and a tavern, the Mountain Brook House, where a century later Chapin would become a regular customer. The tavern building stands Continued on page 16

Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, George Marvin and His Daughter Edith , James Ormsbee Chapin, (1926) 1940.9

Ruby Green Singing, James Ormsbee Chapin, (1927). Courtesy Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida. Bequest of R.H. Norton, 53.29

today and is now a popular restaurant called the HydeAway.

When James Chapin arrived in Middleville, a community within Stillwater, three of Henry Marvin’s great-grandchildren were running the farm. Ella was 58 and unmarried; her brother George, 44, was a widower with three children; and Emmett, 41, was single. These siblings would become the subjects of the first of Chapin’s acclaimed portraits.

Chapin spent the first several months exploring the farm and sketching scenes such as Man Sharpening a Scythe (1924), now in the Newark Museum of Art, and Willows and Farm Buildings (1924), acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

These images, so quickly rendered, delighted the Marvins. Chapin soon joined them at work, chopping wood, harvesting vegetables, and shoveling manure. Over time, the artist came to understand their lives, their personalities, and their quirks. He discovered a distinctive beauty in their physical gestures, a formality in their movements. Their body postures, carriage, and gait expressed dignity and pride.

The second year at the farm, he began to work on their portraits. Ella was the first to agree to sit for the artist, and the others soon followed. Chapin wrote in his journal that they all seemed to enjoy the companionship, the conversation, and the escape from their tedious routines. With five portraits completed in 1925 and 1926, Chapin was ready to display his new work.

The paintings caused a stir in New York in the late 1920s. The Marvins, solemn and dignified, dressed in simple work clothes, sit in an austere setting with bare walls. They look you straight in the eye and hold your gaze. Their outsized hands show years of hard work and exposure to the elements.

The public response to the portraits was emotional. In stark contrast to the frivolity and extravagance of the Roaring Twenties, the Marvins stood as a reminder of the country’s bedrock values of hard work, honesty, frugality, and self-reliance. One critic described them as “authentic and unvarnished.” Past paintings of farm life had idealized and romanticized farmers, not as individuals, but as generic “men of the soil.”

The Marvins, in contrast, were real people, and Chapin used their names as titles of the paintings. The portraits reveal the special relationship between artist and subject and show Chapin’s understanding, respect, and admiration. The Marvins’ trust in the artist is palpable despite their stern expressions.

The Marvin family paintings represent only a thin slice

of the artist’s vast body of work. They were the starting point, however, of what became Chapin’s artistic mission. He was attracted to subjects he viewed as misunderstood or as missing from the canon of American art. His ever-growing body of work depicted ordinary Americans, including lumbermen, road workers, baseball players, musicians, fishermen, and actresses.

While still living on the Marvin farm, he began to create portraits of prominent African Americans and earned a reputation among Black art critics for his profound, sensitive portrayals. In Ruby Green Singing (1928), Chapin captures a deeply spiritual moment during a performance by a nineteen-year-old contralto. Ruby Green went on to perform on Broadway and to work with leading musical stars of the day. Today, her portrait appears in school textbooks, and the painting itself hangs in the Norton Museum of Art in Florida.

Life Beyond Sussex County

The years Chapin spent on the Marvin farm transformed his artistic style and launched his career, but by early 1929, he sought new inspiration. Months before the Wall Street Crash in October, he left Middleville to spend time living and painting in a laundry truck, driving up and down the New England coast in search of new subjects. When he returned to New York, he lived in Greenwich Village, expanding his diverse repertoire of American portraits during a time in history that left many unemployed and impoverished.

Ironically, amid the suffering of this period, Chapin’s career exploded. In 1932 alone, he had eight solo exhibitions, and during the 1930s, he took part in group shows at more than 20 museums. His works were bought by celebrities such as George Gershwin and John D. Rockefeller.

The Marvin family, with their look of unrelenting determination, gave Americans hope in the future. They symbolized resilience against adversity and the inevitable triumph of the American spirit.

At the peak of his career, in 1940, Chapin was given a Retrospective Exhibition by the Associated American Artists of New York City. Grant Wood, painter of the iconic American Gothic, had become a good friend and wrote the introduction for Chapin’s exhibition. Wood pointed to the “infinite human sympathy” that came across in all of Chapin’s portraits, describing the paintings of the Marvin family as “the best thing in American art, strong and solid as boulders.”

Family Time on the Chapin Farm

Success brought new opportunities. During the 1930s, James Chapin was invited to teach portraiture at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, and he accepted a summer teaching job at Claremont College in California. It was there that he met Mary Fischer who

became his second wife. They bought a pre-Revolutionary farmhouse in Hunterdon County in New Jersey and settled into a domestic lifestyle.

Their first son, Elliott, was born in 1942, and his brother Jed arrived two years later. Their birthdates matched those of Chapin’s first two grandchildren, Harry and Tom, making the four boys a well-matched gang for shared adventures. They met up on the Chapin farm every vacation.

Tom Chapin, now 70, remembers spending summers in New Jersey from the age of 8. In a recent interview, he shared his memories of visiting his grandfather.

“I thought he was magic,” the musician explained, remembering the awe he felt while watching him paint,

faces slowly emerging on the canvas. “He painted all the time,” Tom emphasized, but he didn’t mind when the four little boys stopped their games to visit him in his barn studio. The artist would pause and chat briefly with them before turning back to his work. The boys would then sit in silence for a while, waiting to see what would appear on the canvas.

“Big Jim” was what everyone in the family called him since he was the father of the younger Jim Chapin. Tom adored his grandfather. He describes him as “gentle and soft-spoken. Every time I saw him it was a lovely surprise.”

Big Jim was also a fine tennis player who taught all the Chapin children to play on their homemade clay court on the farm. Tom remembers sitting in the back of his

Continued on next page

grandfather’s car on the way home from the U.S. National tennis tournament in Forest Hills, NY. Then a choir boy in a Brooklyn church, little Tom unexpectedly broke into song, as small children are apt to do. His grandfather’s joy and amazement at this spontaneous and passionate performance remains fresh in Tom’s memory, seventy years later.

“He was the most positive male in my life,” Tom puts it simply, “the one who encouraged me and gave me pride.”

Commercial Break

Meanwhile, the Marvin paintings had won the attention of the commercial world that recognized the power of Chapin’s depictions of ordinary people. He was offered lucrative commissions, which brought financial security for his growing family. In the 1940s, he painted promotional images for John Ford’s film The Long Journey Home and designed advertisements for coffee and tobacco, creating down-to-earth characters to endorse the products.

The artist returned to portraiture in the 1950s when TIME magazine commissioned him to design a series of covers featuring the most important political and cultural figures of the day. These included Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, baseball star Birdie Tebbetts, and writer Boris Pasternak (Dr. Zhivago). Some critics thought these portraits represented Chapin’s best work, with their favorite being a depiction of artist Edward Hopper. The two artists, both loners, developed a true

friendship cultivated by conversations shared during the many hours of sitting required by Chapin.

Final Reunion with the Marvins

James Chapin’s countless paintings clearly illustrate the artist’s need to present a new perspective on members of society who are unrecognized, misunderstood, or exploited. He also viewed war from this angle and denounced it as an arena of social injustice that preyed upon the poor. Throughout the 1960s, Chapin openly opposed the war in Vietnam. He voiced his position through a series of deeply disturbing paintings that depicted the inequities and horrors of war and condemned those with decision-making power. In 1969 he moved to Toronto, Canada, and became a Canadian citizen five years later. He died in Toronto in 1975, at the age of 88, and is buried there.

The year before the artist passed away, the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton presented an exhibition of 55 paintings entitled “James Chapin: A Retrospective.” Prominent among the works were the five portraits of the Marvin family, which for decades had been in the collections of four different museums. It was a rare family reunion after many years of separation.

On the occasion of the retrospective, Chapin donated the six-foot-tall painting Marvin Family to the New Jersey State Museum. After the exhibition, the four other Marvin portraits went their separate ways. The paintings Chapin deemed his “masterworks” now reside in the company of masterpieces by leading artists from around the world.

Ella, Emmett, and George Marvin represented the last generation to farm the plot in Middleville. By 1964, they had all passed, and their descendants had left the county. The property was sold in the 1970s and is unrecognizable today; the hundred-some acres have been broken up into a puzzle of small residential lots.

James Chapin knew he had entered a vanishing world when he painted the Marvins. With artistic virtuosity and human affection, he captured a way of life that might have disappeared unnoticed. The solemn, proud faces of the Marvins have been preserved for posterity and enshrined in some of the greatest museums in America.

Special thanks for research materials: Sherman Reed Anderson, Rosette (Stires) Inscho

All photos used in article have copyright permission courtesy of the James Cox Gallery at Woodstock, representing the estate of James Ormsbee Chapin.

Michelle Vosper is a writer who lives in Middleville, New Jersey, and does volunteer work with the Stillwater Historical Society. Michelle lives less than a mile away from the old Marvin farm.

James Chapin in his studio, 1940.

Robert Schluter Archive

Gardens To Grow

Five Easy Pieces

The flowers have filled in the landscape with their colorful blooms, and I know it’s time to get ready for the wonderful season of outdoor living. This is my signal to spring into action.

With a light heart, I sweep the deck of residual leaves and other vestiges of winter. I wipe off the outdoor furniture and resurrect the cushions from storage. Most importantly, I open up the grill, check the gas tank levels, and set the heat on high to burn off and scrape away all the traces of old dirt.

I look forward to grilling season, a time when my living space doubles without any construction, a time when I gain an extra dining room, lounge area, and kitchen, without extra cleaning. My inside kitchen stays tidy for longer. Outside, the hose serves as an efficient substitute for vacuuming and dusting. The small tabletop herb garden delights me. The herbs season my food, discourage bugs, and smell heavenly. I feel energized as I mentally review my summer recipes.

got to relax on the patio enjoying a glass of iced tea while my father tended the sizzling meat. Her work was done.

When I was growing up, a “cook out,” as my family called it, was a frequent, albeit simple, affair. While my father heated up the coals on the grill, we kids set the wooden picnic table and carried the food out from the kitchen. What I remember most, besides the meat, was corn on the cob. The side dishes, like potato salad, macaroni salad, and coleslaw, were eaten as part of the meal but without much enthusiasm.

Watermelon, on the other hand, was devoured with gusto, juice dribbling down our faces and arms. We were admonished by the grownups not to swallow the seeds or we would grow watermelons in our stomachs. After we rinsed off our sticky selves under the hose, we were released to play outside until bedtime.

Somehow, dinner was made in the amount of time it took to heat the coals. Or so it seemed to me. One minute we were picking up our towels at the beach, and the next—poof!—dinner appeared, as if by magic.

There was magic at work, and the magician was my mother. Even if we made a stop for fresh corn or hot dog rolls on the ride home, my mother had already prepared the other less important (to us kids) parts of the meal, like vegetables. She had probably made these dishes the night before or tossed them together with practiced ease while we weren’t looking. Because of her forethought, Mom

I follow her example and have in my collection of summer recipes many tasty and easy dishes that complement a range of grilling options. I endeavor to create a colorful array of side dishes to make a rainbow on our dinner plates: from red tomatoes and orange carrots, to yellow corn and all sort of greens and also purple cabbage.

I am grateful to eat so well and so healthily at the same time. And while salads and sides are considered by many to play supporting roles compared to what’s cooking on the grill, these recipes definitely have main character energy.

Some of these recipes are written down, but many are improvised and thrown together depending on what’s ripe. Some dishes are tried and true, and some are new discoveries. Still, they all share a few commonalities. The recipes all require little in the way of forethought or special ingredients. They are made from sturdy vegetables, elevated by easy-to-find condiments and other staple ingredients. More importantly, the dishes can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the fridge. I love this, as it gives me the space to be spontaneous while still enjoying time relaxing on the deck.

Here are five salads that have recurring spots at my dinner table.

One family favorite is something I call fiesta salad. I invented this by accident when my kids were old enough to clamor for Mexican food and young enough to accept what I served them as an authentic dish. I mix one can of niblets corn, drained, and one can of black beans, rinsed

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and drained, in a bowl. I add a couple spoonfuls of salsa, some chopped cilantro and scallions, and finish with a squeeze of lime juice. Ole!

Over the years, I have varied the basic recipe with the addition of things such as shredded lettuce, diced red and green peppers, jalapeños, chopped tomatoes, and shredded cotija cheese. This is a crowd pleaser and goes well with anything grilled.

Back in the 1970s, my mother made a cauliflower-tomato salad that everyone loved. It was simple: a cooked head of cauliflower broken into florets, mixed with tomato slices and grated onion. The secret ingredients? A generous spoonful of mayonnaise. And, in a bold move for that era, a liberal shake of Lawry’s seasoned salt and pepper.

Sadly, this recipe has not stood the test of time. I couldn’t even find Lawry’s seasoned salt in the grocery store, and the overwhelming blandness of mayonnaise was a little off-putting. Still, cauliflower and tomato do work well together. The firm texture of the cauliflower counterbalances the sweet sun-kissed goodness of summer tomatoes.

To update the recipe, I dialed back the mayo drastically and then introduced other flavors. Now I sometimes use Tony Chachere’s creole seasoning and salt to kick up the spice level a notch, and other times, I add horseradish to introduce cool sharp notes. Both variations are back in the rotation.

Cabbage is a plentiful, inexpensive, and healthy vegetable that is enjoying a moment of recognition in the culinary world right now. Recently, my friend Robin threw together a three ingredient mixture that acts as a perfect foil for smoked meats and pork. It’s brilliant and fast. Simply chop up a cabbage into small pieces and put in a bowl. Grate in a little onion if you want. Toss it with a few tablespoons of mirin, a subtly sweet Japanese rice wine, and add salt to taste.

Mirin is the magic ingredient here. It’s a little sweet, surprisingly complex, and adds interesting layers of flavor to an otherwise plain-Jane vegetable. I now keep a bottle of mirin in my pantry.

With all the cruciferous vegetables so well represented, it’s fun to turn to a more exotic, yet still easy-to-make, side dish—namely, hearts of palm salad. Hearts of palm are so refreshing and elegant. They have a cooling effect on a hot summer day. This salad is great on its own and also enhances the flavors of grilled fish and chicken. It can be stretched easily with the addition of salad greens and makes a great lunch served with a scoop of tuna or chicken salad on a bed of lettuce. This is my personal favorite. I stash a can of hearts of palm in my refrigerator to enjoy a chilled treat on a whim.

To round off this cast of supporting side dishes, I offer a humble carrot salad. Carrots are tasty, long-lived, and often overlooked! This salad provides a colorful addition to any and every meal. When I make it, I double the dressing recipe, so it’s on hand for the next time. All I need to do is shred the carrots and I am good to go.

Grilling is the undisputed star on the stage of outdoor entertaining. From juicy burgers to beefy mushroom steaks, from slow-cooked ribs to seared tuna, nothing can compete with the tantalizing aromas and sizzle that emanate from the grill. Salads and side dishes, with their varied colors, textures, and flavors, however, do provide strong supporting roles and enhance every dining experience. I enjoy whipping up these easy, make-ahead dishes because, secretly, I think they might just steal the show.

Recipes

Hearts of Palm Salad

2 cans hearts of palm, sliced into ⅛” disks

1 large cucumber, peeled, sliced longways, and then sliced into thin half-moons

3 ripe avocados, scooped out of their peels and sliced

½ red onion, sliced very thin

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Fresh lime juice

Salt and pepper to taste

• Combine all the ingredients in a glass bowl.

• Can be refrigerated overnight. Adjust seasoning before serving.

• Serves 4.

Carrot Salad

1 pound carrots, peeled

1 tablespoon chopped shallots

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon fresh orange juice

1 tablespoon avocado or neutral oil

2 tablespoons best quality olive oil

2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup

2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley

1 teaspoon fresh thyme, crumbled

Salt and pepper to taste

• Using a food processor or box shredder, shred the carrots and place in a salad bowl.

• Combine the mustard, citrus juices, oils, sweetener, herbs, salt and pepper. Shake well, pour over the carrots, and toss.

• Can be refrigerated overnight. Adjust seasoning before serving.

• Serves 4.

Local Music Legend FredAmericaWaring’s

Pioneer band and choral leader Fred Waring is buried in the Shawnee Presbyterian Church Cemetery less than one block from the Gate House, which he had transformed with his own architectural designs before he resided there, at Shawnee on Delaware, PA.

Young people may have never heard of Waring, although he spent 69 years touring the country in a bus and traveled over 40,000 miles on the road. He is now considered America’s rock star of his time and the man who “Taught America How to Sing.”

“During my early career, as a college student, I worked as a museum assistant at the Monroe County Historical Association,” recounts Amy Leiser, now Executive Director. “I had the opportunity to work on a museum exhibit that showcased items from our collection associated with Fred Waring. Although I had never heard of him, I quickly learned about his significant impact on our local community and the nation. The exhibit included his shoes, a jacket, a golf club, photographs, and, of course, the Waring Blendor.”

Waring was known as a musical guru, before the term was widely known. His life was filled with firsts: he was the first to use megaphones to project songs; the first conductor to use vocalists with an orchestra; the first to make an electronic recording of a song, “The Collegiate”; leader of the first vocal orchestra to have a coast-to-coast radio show; and leader of the first orchestra to have its own television show.

His first record, “Sleep,” a waltz-paced tune, sold 40,000 copies on the day the Victor Talking Machine Company released it in 1923.

His career began before the Big Band Era and ended during the days of Rock and Roll. The last song he performed was “My America” at a choral workshop in State College, PA, a day before he died of a stroke in 1984, at age 84.

Beginning in Show Biz

Waring’s exposure to entertainment began early. The entire Waring family was active in the Methodist Church choir, and at age five, his father arranged Fred’s stage debut at the Tyrone Opera House. At twelve, Fred organized a Boy Scout fife, drum, and bugle corp.

Fred Waring’s start in professional entertainment began when his 15-year-old pianist brother, Tom, started a band called Banjazattra in Tyrone, PA, together with Tom’s childhood drummer friend, Poley McClintock. The two asked banjo players Fred Buck and Fred Waring to join their group, then called the Waring McClintock Snap Orchestra, which initially played at college clubs and fraternities. In college, the quartet’s name became Waring’s Banjo Orchestra.

Fred soon became the organizer, director, and business manager of the group, which changed its name to Waring’s Collegians By 1922, the group grew to 10 musicians, none of whom, surprisingly, could read music.

While studying architecture at Penn State, Fred tried out for the Glee Club. Ironically, this man—who would become a master showman and is credited as the person who popularized choral music by taking it out of churches and into the mainstream—was not selected. However, Fred became conductor of his group, soon known as Waring’s Pennsylvanians, and their growing popularity enabled them to make their first radio appearance in Detroit.

Radio, Theatre, and Television

Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians were already known in the entertainment world when a new era of radio, musical recording, and television was emerging. After a successful tour in Paris, France, the band returned to the United States and had a six-month Broadway run at the Roxy Theatre in 1928, followed by the making of the first all-musical film, Syncopation, in 1929.

By the 1930s, Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians had become a 55-piece orchestra. They recorded over 25,000 songs and more than 100 albums, including many wellknown patriotic songs and college pep songs. They also wrote 95 alma mater songs. Labels that they worked with included Victor, Decca, and Capital. The Pennsylvanians recorded their well-known interpretation of “Battle Hymn of the Republic” in 1944.

It was not easy for Fred to convince the radio heads to host a glee club orchestra show, but after 32 auditions, he finally succeeded. In 1934, the Ford Motor Company became the sponsor of the Pennsylvanians’ radio variety show, known as “The Fred Waring Show.”

In the late 1930s, Les Paul was asked to play on Waring’s radio show. Les Paul, the “Wizard of Waukesha,” was the famous guitarist, songwriter, and luthier who is known for developing the solid-bodied electric guitar, the “Log,” a prototype for the Gibson Les Paul. Waring knew that most of the listening public had never heard the electric guitar sound, and he wanted Paul on his show so that his band would stand apart from the radio shows of other bands.

Fred had become known for his colorful jackets, so making a segue into television in 1949, on the General Electric-sponsored TV variety show, was a natural for him. He and his orchestra would play on TV’s “The Fred Waring Show” through 1954.

Shawnee on Delaware

In 1943, Waring, a golf enthusiast, purchased the Buckwood Inn in Monroe County, PA, with two partners and renamed it the Shawnee Inn. Already a well-known golf course, it had previously hosted the US Women’s Amateur in 1919 and the PGA championship in 1938 and had hosted dignitaries such as John David Rockefeller in 1920.

Under Waring’s ownership and marketing, the Shawnee Inn became known as the “Golf Capitol of the East.” In naming the 150 yard markers for the 27-hole course, the Red Nine sported flowering red crab-apple trees; the White Nine, white birches; and the Blue Nine, blue spruce trees.

Due to Waring’s name and his collection of well-known stars, the Shawnee Inn grew in fame. Vacationing stars included Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and Ed Sullivan. Jackie Gleason used the Shawnee resort as his summer residence. An avid collector of cartoons, Waring would also host the National Cartoonists Society conference there from 1948 to 1973.

Fame and Equality

No strangers to the White House, the Pennsylvanians entertained eleven presidents and performed at the inauguration of Dwight David Eisenhower and Richard Milhous Nixon. In 1983, Fred Waring received the Congressional Gold Medal, America’s highest civilian honor, from President Ronald Reagan.

Waring, the man, was ahead of his times with respect to commonly held ideas on health, segregation, and sex discrimination. He warned of the dangers of secondhand smoke and restricted use of tobacco in his work areas. During a time of racial inequality, Fred was among the

Photos courtesy

of the Monroe County Historical Association, Stroudsburg, PA

first to hire a black singer, Frank Davis, and he demanded that all of his entourage eat and sleep in the same hotels. He also saw fit to pay women more than other entertainers did.

Music Workshop

Waring was a great educator. Many choral directors asked Fred how to improve their practice, which is why he started the Fred Waring Music Workshop. Teachers and vacationers would stay in the dormitories and attend workshops in the study rooms and rehearsal studios at Delaware Water Gap, PA, with hopes of enriching their choral techniques and various aspects of showmanship, such as program planning, lighting, and staging.

Originally held at Shawnee on the Delaware, the school outgrew the available facilities adjacent to the inn, so in 1952 Fred purchased the former Castle Inn and Music Hall in Delaware Water Gap to hold the ensuing workshops and run his musical empire, which included the Shawnee Press, a publisher of choral music.

The last grand hotel to be built in Delaware Water Gap in 1906, the Castle Inn had included historic performances from Henrico Caruso and John Philip Sousa. Over a decade ago, the Castle Inn became the sound recording studio for owner/producer/engineer Don Sternecker’s Mix-O-Lydian, whose list of recording artists include Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithful, Peter Gabriel, Stewart Copeland, and Railroad Earth.

In 1979, the Choral Workshop moved to Penn State University where Fred was a distinguished alumnus and trustee. Waring’s connections to Penn State go back to his great-grandfather who as an architectural engineer and as the first superintendent of the college cleared the land and erected the buildings on the campus.

Fred Waring’s Legacy

Fred donated his entire musical inventory of archives and memorabilia to Penn State. The Fred Waring America Collection contains a music library with 6,000 titles, 25,000 recordings in various formats, 75 scrap books, 33,000 photos and slides, 650 original cartoons, business and personal correspondence, musical instruments, golf paraphernalia, and personal items.

Amy Leiser concludes, “Over the years, I have had the privilege of meeting many residents who worked for Mr. Waring or sang with him. All spoke about the positive influence he had on their lives and career. Fred Waring was a legendary figure in the music industry and undoubtedly inspired generations of artists and musicians.”

Bob Chernow is a geologist who recently retired from teaching and enjoys gardening and spending time outdoors in Swartswood Lake, NJ.

WARING BLENDOR

Waring’s name is also attached to the Waring Blendor. Waring was interested in the machine to aid a family friend who could no longer eat solid food; he purchased the Miracle Mixer Corp from Frederick Jacob Osius in 1937 for $25,000 and changed the name of the appliance.

The Waring Blendor still has many applications in mixing food and drink and cosmetic colors. Jonas Salk credited the Waring Blendor as valuable in his research to develop the polio vaccine. The Waring family has sold the company, and the blender is no longer spelled blendor.

The original Royal Bopsters. Left to right: Dylan Pramuck, Holli Ross, Amy London, and Darmon Meader.

Photos courtesy of Amy London

Jazz, Milford, and Amy London

Pollyanna? Mary Tyler Moore? Amy London? A little of all three and lots more. When I interviewed Amy London, accomplished jazz singer and Milford, PA, resident, I had already heard her lovely, nuanced soprano voice singing some of the best of the American Songbook and jazz standards at the Columns Museum and at Grey Towers National Historic Site last year.

What I didn’t realize was that Ms. London sings jazz and big band and teaches voice around the world to hundreds of aspiring jazz singers.

“I grew up in a typical suburban neighborhood in Cincinnati,” Amy recalls fondly. “From a young age, being surrounded by a saxophonist uncle and a radio-drama actress mother, I knew show business was my future.”

With a passion for musical theater that emerged at a young age, Amy started taking voice and piano lessons in the third grade. She was delighted by, and inspired by, singers such as Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald, Laura Nyro, and the great Girl Groups of the ’60s. She went to high school with Fred Hersch, later also a Milford resident, who is an internationally renowned jazz pianist and multiple Grammy nominee, and she later recorded with him.

“Jazz and the big band sound bit me like a bug,” Amy explains. In college, she studied theater, voice, and psychology, and was operatically trained, which she says is an excellent foundation for any singing style.

“My teacher tried to turn me into an opera singer, but I was having none of that, so this little Pollyanna from Ohio decided to get herself to New York City, the center of it all. I literally did Mary Tyler Moore’s Mary Richards routine by throwing my hat into the air in Times Square when I first arrived.”

Unlike those fictional characters, Amy describes herself as ambitious as a young adult in New York. She bought music trade publications such as Back Stage and The Village Voice, auditioned wherever she could, and sang in the choir at Trinity Church on lower Broadway. At that time, she asserts, it wasn’t too difficult to break into the jazz world. She’d haunt every club in the city and drop off her demo cassette, 8x10 glossy, and resume, landing her first gig at the Angry Squire jazz club.

Amy prep cooked at a restaurant to pay the rent and always stayed focused on landing gigs at jazz clubs, but

her passion was still musical theater, so she regularly hit open-call auditions. “I’d be auditioner #835 out of 3,000 hopefuls and get the same response after waiting all day to sing my eight bars—‘Nice voice…next!’ ”

Then suddenly, she got a phone call out of the blue in the summer of 1989 about an audition for a role in the upcoming new Broadway musical, City of Angels. The producers needed a soprano in a vocal jazz quartet for the show and someone who could play multiple roles in various wigs. That’s how she landed her first Broadway role, a gig that lasted three years in a show that garnered six Tony Awards and was nominated for a Grammy.

It was pure pleasure for her, she says, and she got to meet and work with many famous people who became her friends, including composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist Cy Coleman and M*A*S*H writer Larry Gelbart.

Her subsequent musical theater career never quite matched that early experience, but she did get lots of breaks in jazz clubs around the city. She formed a big band group called the Royal Bopsters, with whom she has performed throughout the U.S. and Europe and at the Newport Jazz Festival. The Bopsters recently won a Bistro Award, which celebrates New York cabaret and jazz. “It was such an honor,” she says, “and I was thrilled again when my long-time friend and confidante Ronny Whyte received a Bistro Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023.”

Amy has appeared in jazz venues as diverse as Birdland, Dizzy’s, Blue Note, and Pangea, and she appears weekly on Tuesday evenings at Swing 46 on Restaurant Row in Manhattan. She is an adjunct voice and jazz instructor at the New School and Hofstra University and has released seven CDs, some featuring the Royal Bopsters.

So what brought her to Milford? Living full-time in Harlem (“and getting worn out by the non-stop street drilling behind my apartment building”), performing regularly, and touring as a voice instructor for internationals at jazz camps around the world, including Venetto Jazz Festival in Italy for eleven summers, she wanted to balance her hectic life with a more serene environment and lifestyle. For years, she had been visiting the Milford area and staying with a variety of friends who had moved to Milford full-time or as weekenders.

One of those weekenders was Ronny Whyte. “I fell in love with Ronny’s artistry as a singer and pianist and

loved his storytelling ability on stage. I envied his lifestyle as a city dweller who got away many weekends to this stunningly beautiful area in Northeastern Pennsylvania.” A lover of lakes, canoeing, and hiking, Amy purchased her own weekend getaway in the area four years ago.

“The town of Milford is so welcoming. I love all that it has to offer culturally with its artists and the variety of music, film, dance, and literary festivals. Last summer, after a performance at Grey Towers, we began to envision yet another festival, one dedicated to jazz. I discovered that what is now Milford Presents’ Milford Music Fest started with jazz in its early days.

“We have had the good fortune of partnering with Steve Rosado, Beth O’Neil, and others at the Milford Hospitality Group to launch the jazz festival this summer, the weekend of July 12th to the 14th. They have been incredibly supportive.”

“We hope that the new Milford Jazz Festival complements all the musicians that Milford Presents brings to this great town,” adds Mr. Rosado.

In a relatively short period of time, Amy, her friends, and her colleagues at Milford Hospitality Group have put together an impressive line-up for the festival with venues all over town, including the Milford Theatre (where local film historian and author John DiLeo will host Pete Kelly’s Blues, a 1955 Hollywood film about jazz and gangsters featuring Jack Webb and the voices

of Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald); Forest Hall (big band dancing); Hotel Fauchere and the Tom Quick Inn (featuring jazz brunches).

The focus of the Milford Jazz Festival will be on a wide variety of regional jazz artists and styles. Many performers will come up from New York City for the weekend, and others will hail from Stroudsburg, PA, Callicoon, NY, and other locales.

The performers are all accomplished jazz singers and instrumentalists. The list is long and includes the Royal Bopsters with guest Ronny Whyte; Barry Bryson and Swing Street with Amy and vocalist Jeanne O’Connor; fiery young pianist Esteban Castro’s trio; Stroudsburg jazzers Nancy and Spencer Reed, Skip Wilkins, and Butch Campbell; and many more.

“It’s sure to be a fantastic weekend, whether you’re a jazz aficionado or not. We hope indeed that ‘this will be the start of something big,’ ” she says with a big smile.

To learn more about Amy and her music, visit amylondon sings.com.

For a complete schedule of the Milford Jazz Festival, visit milfordhospitalitygroup.com/milford-jazz-festival-2024.

Will Voelkel is a regular contributor to The Journal and a big fan of the Milford arts and cultural scene. He also enjoys investing in the area by renovating and selling weekend and full-time residences.

Top left: Royal Bopsters performing at the Newport Jazz Festival. Photo © Lazarski.

Bottom left: Mark Murphy and Amy London. At right: Amy London

When Dave Neal of Lake Hopatcong, NJ, bought his first electric boat, he enjoyed taking friends and family out on the lake. People asked him, “What is that? Is it electric?”

It’s been a year since he began renting and selling electric boats as NJeBoats, and word is out. People are coming from around the tri-state area, realizing that they don’t have to sit in long, tedious traffic lines to get to the New Jersey Shore, but they can relax and have fun on Lake Hopatcong.

“Our boats, which are charged overnight, go five to seven miles per hour, so you can enjoy the birds (lots of herons) and turtles. You can cruise by private islands and pass by older homes that were celebrity-owned.

the Sparta Annex, and both restaurants will deliver food right to your boat. Order from their website for bakery items, cold sandwiches, fried chicken, or a delicious meal. This summer, they’ve added charcuterie boards for a nice happy hour, although the captain is held to the same rules as driving a car, when it comes to alcohol.

“We call them picnic boats, so it’s all about bringing food and drink. Boats hold ten to twelve people, depending on the model, and everyone can sit around the table on soft, cushiony seats and enjoy snacks or a meal with no loud motor noise or gas fumes to ruin it. You can actually hear the water lapping on the side of the boat.”

Neal charges rentals by the hour, and they’re open until 9 p.m. He recommends a sunset dinner cruise. He has partnered with John Clark, owner of Little Nicki’s and

“My initial interest was in solar energy, which stemmed from my son’s science project,” said Neal. “I learned the scientific principle behind it. I had one of the first homes on the lake to have solar shingles. This allows me to charge the boats using solar power. My Tesla car has a hook up to tow boats to NJ from the manufacturer, Vision Marine Technologies in Montreal.

“New Jersey has strict rules for boating on a lake. Even if renting, you need to take an eight-hour boat safety course and have an endorsement on your driver’s license. But because our boats are under 10 horsepower (a lot slower, and thus safer than gas-powered), I have approval by the state to give a thirty-minute class before a rental with instructions on how to operate the boat, which is as easy to drive as a golf cart. After a class, I tell everyone to ‘put your captain hats on, because you’ve earned it!’ ”

By Bill Kibildis

Fishing and Golfing

Life’s Simple Pleasures

Though most kids in my generation played baseball, and some would dabble in hunting and/or trapping, fishing and golfing were the ultimate leisure activities of choice. I use the word “choice” because most chose either fishing or golf and specialized in one or the other with the intent of becoming a master in their selected endeavor.

When I was growing up, most people did not think about pursuing both sports as a leisure activity for a lifetime. It was one or the other, you simply were a fisherman or a golfer. However, that did not deter me from the pursuit of both and my occasional enjoyment when a temporary success in either was achieved.

Still, in my case, as an avid fisherman and an avid golfer, trying to be very good at both has escaped me because of the accompanying frustration that my mediocrity engenders. But I have had some triumphal moments.

It seems to me that when I was young, both fishing and golfing were a lot simpler. I actually began fishing at a very early age with a bamboo pole, some string, a hook, and some worms. I quickly graduated to the spinning rod kit, which had everything you needed to begin fishing at a very affordable price. Anyone who wanted could acquire the simple equipment needed.

Living in the country provided, in most cases, fairly easy access to many of the “fishing holes” in the rivers, lakes, ponds, and streams within walking distance. With the acquisition of a spinning rod and reel set, some monofilament line, a few hooks, the major purchase of a jitterbug or hula popper lure (or if you were fortunate both), a couple of dobbers, and an endless supply of worms and night crawlers in the backyard, one was set for a lifetime.

Today, there are magazines and blogs, which include all of the how-tos of successful fishing: tackle selection and how to use it, locating a certain species, establishing patterns, effects of weather, the hottest new lures, structure fishing, the best lakes and rivers, tournament reports, etc.

As I glance through the myriad of fishing catalogs available, I see a vast assortment of fishing equipment, which must certainly infringe upon the intended simplicity of the sport—from graphite fishing rods, specialized coated and weighted fishing lines, to professional spinning, casting, and fly reels, and hundreds of colorful

artificial flies and lures, each having its own purpose. Even fancy clothing is available nowadays, which includes insect-repellent shirts and pants.

Donning outfits for a specific leisure time activity seems to be the modus operandi today. Dressed in my own fishing outfit (black and brown muddy and holey sneakers with my gray wool socks draped over the tops; white paint-stained, muddied black pants held up by a raggedy old tattered brown belt; a torn red flannel shirt missing half of its buttons; and a well-worn, flop-brimmed grayish hat with a dirty fishing hook and tattered BASS patch attached), I would certainly not make it on the golf courses of today.

I can imagine being quickly whisked away by club security with my golf club extricated from my hand and replaced with a fishing pole. I would then be dropped off at the nearest fishing hole and wished good luck.

If I were dressed for a golf game in my polished twotoned black and white, rubber-spiked waterproof golf shoes; impeccably cleaned and pressed, white Izod golf pants with a bright blue belt; a bright yellow golf shirt with collar and a blue Polo logo; and a bright blue visor to match my belt and shirt logo, I would most likely either end up in the drink or be totally abandoned in disdain by the concerted efforts of any fishermen who witnessed my arrival at the fishing hole.

As a youngster, purchasing a set of golf clubs and balls and the appropriate attire and getting access to a golf course, whether public or private, with its green fees and other costs, could be prohibitive to many who wanted to take up golf as a sport.

Some friends figured out ways to work around these limitations. With a little effort, they could find two or three used clubs with their wooden shafts. Golf balls could be found by visiting the woods or water sections of any local course, and broken tees worked just fine. Play could be had by sneaking onto the holes furthest away from the local clubhouse in late afternoon.

Many of my boyhood friends overcame cost obstacles by becoming caddies, hauling around the golf bags and clubs of adult golfers and, at that time, earning a pretty penny for their efforts. In so doing, they acquired an appreciation for the game and, as their financial situations improved, had continued access to the sport, ei-

ther on public courses or in private clubs. Some lucky ones even got a professional golf lesson or two, which, by the way, was not necessary or even available for a fisherman who usually learned by trial and error.

Nowadays, the many golfing catalogs rival their fishing counterparts offering assorted degrees of flexible graphite shaft clubs, hybrid heads with various degrees of lofts, different-sized tees, specialized golf balls for distance and accuracy, range yardage instruments, and a vast array of golf clothing that even includes waterproof, rubber spiked golfing shoes. Some golfers today take lessons and have their clubs custom-made to improve their game.

There are literally thousands of books written on fishing and golf, and many are “how-to” instructional guides that are actively sought after by dedicated enthusiasts as they strive for perfection in their sport. Other books have wonderful stories, either real life or fictional adventures— for example, Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea—which enthrall their readers with exciting narratives that they can identify with as a participant in their sport.

The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton is a classic British work written in the mid-15th century on fish and fishing that includes the art of angling for freshwater fish, advice

on watercraft, pisciculture, and country lore. Probably not apropos reading for today’s average fisherman, but I find it quite enjoyable.

Golf and the Spirit: Lessons for the Journey by M. Scott Peck should be required reading for all golfers. One of the many gems of wisdom to approaching the game of golf and its sometimes most passionate and frustrating nature for the beleaguered player is noted by Peck in his “Closure” chapter:

“Hard though it may be for golfers to grasp, score is not the real point of the game. There are many points to golf, of which I believe soul learning and growth are the greatest, and score the least.”

Looking back with nostalgia, I still prefer the simpler approach to both these sports, which most probably accounts for my self-satisfying, but mediocre, skill level.

In today’s highly competitive environment, with the technological advances made in fishing and golfing, they can become more complicated and expensive than they really need be. Regardless of the participant’s skill level, both leisure-time activities can provide endless enjoyment, and both embody the soul and spirit of this life.

Aries (March 20-April 19) – There are opportunities to re-evaluate and reconsider what you’ve experienced the past two months, events surrounding the April 8 total solar eclipse will stand as a permanent feature of your psychic landscape around which you can develop a sense of perspective. Those developments represented a point of departure, a before-and-after moment, or a crease through the center of your existence. Treat yourself gently and remember that understanding will come in different ways at different times.

Taurus (April 19-May 20) – Benefits of the extraordinary astrology of the past are starting to arrive, timed beautifully with Venus in your birth sign. Yet receiving them is calling on you to do something that’s usually challenging for you, which is to be a different person every day. Going with the flow and scaling back your expectations are helpful approaches, though they tend to make you nervous. The illusion of control is the problem you’re grappling with.

Gemini (May 20-June 21) – Jupiter is entering your birth sign or rising sign, and that is not so subtle. You’re being bestowed with one glorious year to experience your significance and presence in the world in a whole new way. A year to expand your awareness into the greater world around you. A year to feel your attractive power, and to have your best personal traits (and your uniquely distinct flaws) magnified to the point where you can learn more about yourself than ever before.

Cancer (June 21-July 22) – You must never let success go to your head. Mars lining up with Neptune is cautionary of any method of skirting what you know are crucial matters of growth. You have so much going for you right now. Take care of what matters; attend to the personal details of life and love. Do this as a matter of self-respect and let that extend to others who will benefit from your openness and your example and commitment to truth.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) – Though you may not realize it, certain limits on your success have been eliminated, and your options are wide open. Yet going forward, it would help if you see success as something other than vertical. The state of the world now requires a highly social approach to all matters of business, profession and community affairs. You are in possession of tremendous potential, and you won’t get to express it without plenty of kindness, love and support coming toward you. Remember that.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) – You may have the feeling that you’ve seen it all before. That is your invitation to ‘see again’, an idea which has entered our language in the word ‘respect’. We live in the age of diss and dismiss, but those who take that approach are revealing how they treat themselves. How you handle your circumstances, how you perceive people, and what you say to them, are all expressions of how you feel about yourself.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) – The dust is still settling on the events of April. It will be for a while, though you can now look at those developments from a new angle. I suggest, in any event, that you get the message you’re sending yourself; that you take on board the thing you’re trying to learn. When you look at the world, notice what you’re seeing, and notice how you react. If you loosen up a little, you can start to see how influential are your responses — especially to you.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) – The most important thing that the fixed sign Scorpio needs to learn is how not to be so fixed. Mostly, this manifests in your idea of who you are. Your choices and your actions are all expressions of your core idea of your own existence. The problem with flexibility is that it opens up many possibilities, which also means the matter of choice. You seem to plug holes by limiting your own options, or rather, your perception of them. Yet they are knocking on your various doors and windows. Your potential is calling you.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) – The greatest challenge you face involves your personal confidence — not in any task, but on a deep emotional level. Nearly every person on Earth is in the same situation, yet few people rise to the occasion of doing something about it. You must be honest with yourself, and also not blame yourself for what anyone else did to you. Many of us come from backgrounds where our parents were mild to extreme narcissists. Hand this back to the universe. Take possession of your gifts and take responsibility for your happiness.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) – The purpose of life is to do something with it, especially something you’ve never done before. Something that qualifies is trying to get your attention — and you will recognize this ‘something’ by its appeal, its beauty and by your sense that it may be a little too much fun. Let no one, nor anything, nor any institution, nor any idea, or any fear, suck from you the privilege of living your life with passion and sincerity. If you want to be a revolutionary, live with gusto.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) – There is, deep in your psyche, the fear of retribution if you prosper and thrive. This sets a self-limiting condition on not just your success but your appreciation of what you have: if you don’t appreciate it, maybe it won’t count. You now have an opportunity to work this out, on a deep level. Every day, do something for yourself, and remind yourself that you have what you need. There is a bottom-line question that you can use throughout your process: are your values and priorities in order?

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) – You’ve been through a series of personal revolutions, and you may be feeling the results in the form of reduced anxiety and a more relaxed mind. The changes that your chart describes have granted you resources: awareness of your assets, a sense of new possibilities, and the desire to thrive. It’s easy for these qualities to be hosed down by the persistent negativity of the world, so you will need to not only guard them, but exercise them as if it’s your cosmically bestowed privilege.

A Self Guided Tour For Newly Engaged Couples

JULY 13, 2024

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