I recieved the following email. I always looked forward to heading to scope out the selection every year. I guess I'll need to start looking into some of the other unusual plant sales and swaps. Due to the passing of Mr. Tine last year, Mrs. Tine has decided to retire, and sadly, the NJ Botanical Gardens Plant Shop will not be open this year. On April 7th, 8th, and 9th. (this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday) from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM we will be liquidating all of the greenhouses and their contents. This is not a plant sale. There are rooms of tools, machinery, scrap metal, furnaces, fans and loads more. This is an extraordinary sale. You may purchase a quanset house, a furnace, and a fan (we have several) and grow your own plants. In addition to this, we are liquidating the estate. There are antiques and collectibles, mahogany dining room, bedrooms, tables and chairs. Loads of bric-a-brac, linens, china, old papers, books, and photos. There are rugs, quilts, household items, costume jewelry and more. We would like to thank all of you for your many years of dedication to our unique business. Mr. Tine always loved to grow unusual varieties of plants. He reaped as much joy as the customers as he watched them delight over the terrific of plants that he always strove to provide. Thank you again for your support.

Melody, Have you ever been to WildWood before?? The hotels off the beach are usually very reasonable. If your kids are young, shoot for staying in either "North WildWood" or "WildWood Crest". Downtown Wildwood is more of a "party" area and can get rowdie (In a Mardi Gras kinda way) I can highly recommend a place in North WildWood called "The Acropolis". Its located at 3rd and JFK and there is a bandstand closeby so you can sit out at night and listen to music. If you want to stay in the "Crest" I can recommend a place called "Madrid". My family stays in a place called "The Summer Sands" and they like it a lot. We used to go to WildWood every summer, but we are not big on the bar scene. A few years ago we started going to Cape May because its more quiet and relaxing, It all depends on your preferance. I hope you and your family have a great time!! Cheers! Susie Here is a link that might be useful: WildWood NJ

Your home is gorgeous! I spent a year renovating a 1939 petite colonial (1700 sf). In my case, I had to add a kitchen as the old one was tiny had badly renovated in the 1990s. A few workflow tips in your newer post with the kitchen. I'd put the prep sink at the range end of your island, instead of at the dining room entrance end. Think about it -- you chop, then have to carry the food to the range. Please rethink that desk in your kitchen. I've had "work/message centers" as built-ins in previous homes, but here in my new old house, I'm using a piece of furniture -- a drop-front secretary where I can close up the mess when guests arrive, but sit there and work (printer in the bottom). You can put the secretary in any room. Where your desk is located, it's not a drop station for bringing in the mail, schoolbooks, etc. For aesthetics, please try to make the kitchen fit the spirit of the house. White cabinets would likely fit it better than stained wood. Consider having at least a few glass-front upper cabinets. If you turned that desk space into storage, you wouldn't need to line the walls with upper cabinets. It's amazing what you can fit into a "hutch" look that would fit the aesthetics of your home. I had hutches flanking my farmsink in my previous home. One for pantry items, the other for dishes. My current 1939 home new renovation -- hutches -- the one of the left of my paneled fridge is for dishes and the one one the right side is filled with food items stored in canisters and containers. My kitchen is only 12x12 as the dimensions are in keeping with the original room sizes. The dining room is 12x12 and the living room is 12 x 21.

I think that original came from ancestry... or not! I did all sorts of things to it so I could read it. This bunch of papers were really good compared to the next guy. Reading these all the time makes it easier, too. I should have looked at an old map but I was in a hurry to put the name in there. No excuse. I know better. I do think you are right; that's a q on the end and that's how it was pronounced therefor that's how it was spelled. My 2018 goal is to sort ALL the Ward stuff I have. Try to define an area to concentrate on rather than New England. The Loyalists left from New York and I couldn't wrap my head around how they got from their homes everywhere to Long Island to get on boats to go north. Try to find a link to Prince Edward Island other than the one link I have through Digby, NS and the Loyalist papers. You would not believe how many Ebenezer Wards there are. Sometimes, but not always, a family name that shows up in every family in every generation producing half a dozen of them born roughly the same time. So far this hasn't turned into multiple spouses with his, hers, theirs children. But maybe that's why I'm stumped; maybe that will be the story. I need more DNA testers. It doesn't seem like my branch of Wards is very interested in genealogy. I know of 2 others my age who work on it, otherwise, zilch in good family trees anywhere on line. Mine is the most fleshed out and I'm against the brick wall. The Canadian web sites are really improving in every way. I found the images of things I had transcripts for. Always good to see the original. I found new things that weren't on line before or at least I hadn't found them. All the genealogical societies have been very helpful and often send me more than I ask for when they find stuff. And kudos to American states that are hosting their old town records. It's getting easier every year to research from my chair and I'm getting those brick walls knocked down. By rights, I shouldn't expect to solve this for at least 18/24 more months. My average is just over 2 years per brick wall. Doing this family history stuff this far back has shown me what a shallow person I am. My Mayflower ancestors led a very hard life both before and after getting here. Some of them turned out to be people I'm not proud of. Most of them were not as religious as we think. And the Loyalists. All I knew was what I read in the history book in school. Even the American history class I took in jr. college didn't begin to touch on the real story. It brings to mind the phrase that the person who counts the ballots decides who wins. But would I have the guts to leave everything behind and move to a new country for my beliefs? I dabbled in Canada/Nova Scotia/PEI house hunting last year but when it came down to it, didn't know how I could take my animals with me and even though there is nothing to keep me here, I stay. Partly because Canada doesn't want an old retired woman!