Summer Reimagined
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
JULY-AUGUST 2020 FREE NEW JERSEY T OME ATHE BEST OF LIFE HWHERE YOU LIVE Summer reimagined Gathering outdoors: Fewer guests Your home: Little changes Married again: New bliss with better ways to eat and enjoy that make a big difference brings important business 2 AtHomeNJ.com July-August 2020 Christmas in July (and all year through) In his 1843 tale “A Christmas Carol,” Charles Dickens “It’s amazing that so many of the ways we celebrate this wrote that we should “honor Christmas” in our hearts and holiday — Christmas trees, Christmas cards, Christmas car- “keep it all the year.” In that spirit, author Mark Voger brings ols, the prototype for Santa Claus — date back to as early as us “Holly Jolly,” his latest volume on pop-culture history, the 1600s,” Voger says. “The evolution of the Santa character subtitled “Celebrating Christmas Past in is a fascinating journey, mixing reli- Pop Culture.” giosity with folklore.” “Of course, the subtitle is a Dickensian The book covers the religious reference,” says Voger, who conceived the origins of Christmas as well as the profusely illustrated, 192-page hardback cultural notion of the “Christmas to be enjoyed 365 days a year. miracle.” Dickens’ story of Scrooge, “The idea that we should be charitable the miserly curmudgeon who is toward our fellow man all year, not just redeemed by three Christmas spirits, on Dec. 25, is prevalent in Christmas is a running theme throughout. culture, from the ancient carols to ‘The “At heart, I’m a South Jersey Honeymooners’ Christmas episode.” Catholic-school boy,” says the “Holly Jolly” explores movies (“Miracle Camden-born resident of Ocean on 34th Street,” “It’s a Wonderful Life”); Township. “In my childhood home, music (“White Christmas,” “Little St. the Nativity set was never far from Nick”); TV (“Rudolph the Red-Nosed the Santa Claus doll. Reindeer,” “How the Grinch Stole Christ- “I do love Christmas,” adds Voger mas”); books (“Babar,” “Madeline”); decor (who is At Home New Jersey’s design (lights, ornaments, 1950s silver trees); and director). “I left my decorations up comics (super-heroes meet Santa). for two years to stay in the spirit while The book, from TwoMorrows Publish- working on ‘Holly Jolly.’ I have one of ing, presents Voger’s interviews with creators of Christmas those vintage aluminum trees — super-fake, super-sparkly. culture such as Charles M. Schulz (“A Charlie Brown Christ- I’ve grown so accustomed to it, I might leave it up for good.” mas”), Andy Williams (TV’s “Mr. Christmas”), Darlene Love “Holly Jolly” (shipping Nov. 4) can be pre-ordered online Courtesy TwoMorrows Publishing (“Christmas, Baby Please Come Home”), Antony Peters (the and at book stores. Mark Voger’s previous books include Vintage Christmas cards and other holiday ephemera are character designer for TV’s “Rudolph”) and others. “Monster Mash” and “Groovy.” Excerpts at MarkVoger.com. among topics in the forthcoming book “Holly Jolly.” INSANE SHAKES & PANCAKES Come enjoy our outdoor dining area! “Cake Shake 109 North Ave. West, Cranford • (908) 272-7016 Explosion” Updated breakfast, lunch & dinner menus Open daily 8 a.m.-9 p.m. • Delivery via Uber Eats & Grubhub July-August 2020 AtHomeNJ.com 3 NEW JERSEY How the garden recovers Zucchini and zinnia. Two of the easiest, most reliable plants for any gardener. Unless your garden has hungry visitors. Deer actually inhabit my heavily shaded backyard, and I already know the AT HOME futility of planting certain vegetables and flowers there. So we decided to set up a research garden in containers at our design director’s Monmouth County home. THE BEST OF LIFE WHERE YOU LIVE We were testing container gardening as well as the viability of older seeds. The 2017 ‘Spanish Musica’ beans, and seeds for other pole and bush beans, were soaked in warm water overnight and planted. Most sprouted in a day. They grew quickly into a lush, seedling-filled container too lovely to thin out. CONTENTS Zucchini met an early challenge. Chipmunks would dig up and eat the seeds, often leaving an imprint of their small bodies in the soil. The solution: protect the seed trays inside clamshell packages that had previously held a pound of salad greens, and move them to a table with a central base wildlife can’t climb. PETS That worked. The seedlings were planted in a wooden bin, and after a few Brain health 4 weeks, the young garden was photographed. The next day, it was nearly gone. A few plants from HOME the early garden. Happy places 6 GARDEN 9 Plant now 9 HEALTH Breath in 10 FOOD Cooking out 12 Every leaf was devoured from the squash and cucumber plants, the beans and the zinnias. Only the okra seedlings (not shown) and a poblano pepper plant were left untouched. Deer wouldn’t risk jumping a 5-foot wooden fence into a CRAFT small, contained yard. What had dined there so fully? It had happened within a Beach blend 18 three-hour window one afternoon. The heartbreaking destruction was too much for chipmunks or squirrels. A rabbit, maybe? Rabbits had never been seen, but what might have been their squeaking could be heard in the woods beyond. ENTERTAINMENT In response, the larger planters were more closely monitored and protected at Batter up 13 22 night under mesh domes made to keep bugs away from outdoor plates. Surpris- ingly, it took only a few weeks for the fast-growing beans and squash to recover. Then the mystery muncher returned. This time caught in the act, stepping into a noisy ring of clear plastic take-out containers, open and placed around the FAMILY planters as a deterrent. It was more of a crude alarm system, alerting the 11:40 Job worries 23 a.m. presence of a fat groundhog dining merrily on squash leaves. It was perched on top of the same empty container that had protected the seeds from chip- munks. Detected, the groundhog dashed, squeezing its pudgy form beneath an impossibly small opening under the fence. About 30 minutes later, it was back. AT HOME NEW JERSEY This time sitting inside the pot of fragile okra seedlings to chew off their tops. Mail: P.O. Box 193 The plants were now too tall for the plate covers, so we moved them all from Fanwood, NJ 07023 the yard’s sunniest spot to the table, already safekeeping beets and leafy greens. 14 The upside of this story is that the groundhog did the plant thinning I had (908) 656-0385 waited to do. Some of the chomped okra stems have sprouted new leaves. A AtHomeNJ.com chewed cucumber plant has its first yellow flower, and the grazed ‘Royal Burgun- To advertise, call us or email: [email protected] dy’ beans are budding. The zinnias aren’t doing as well, but more seeds will be Prizes are the full responsibility of winners, who in accepting acknowledge that publisher can- planted with visions of fall flowers (see Page 9). The tabletop garden is a pleasure not be held liable for defects or misuse. Every effort is made to ensure accuracy; the publisher to view despite the setbacks, and we’ll have more to share. Happy growing! cannot be held liable for omissions or errors of fact. Consult a competent professional before adopting any suggestion, health-related or otherwise. Articles and advertisements reflect opin- Kimberly L. Jackson, [email protected] ions of the producer and not necessarily those of the publisher. © 2020 All rights reserved. On the cover: Pure water infused with the flavor of watermelon balls and fresh blueberries. To our readers We regret having to forego our Page 3 giveaway, which will resume in September. Congratulations to May-June winners: H. Hylan, Westfield, wins Thank you for telling our advertisers you read about them “1,000 Places to See Before You Die;” S. McGrory, Rahway, wins “Rika’s Modern Japanese.” in At Home New Jersey. You make all the difference! 4 AtHomeNJ.com July-August 2020 Brain health for Pet friendly dogs and man By Elizabeth Head, Ph.D some showed changes in their ability to be “flexible” in changing behaviors. Old dogs may teach us a great deal about This is very similar to people. Not every- aging. As dogs get older, some develop learn- one ages in the same way — some people ing and memory problems, much like we do. remain sharp as tacks well into their older And like people, not all old dogs become im- years. After measuring learning and memory paired. Indeed, some old dogs remain bright changes in dogs, we next studied the brain and able to learn just as well as younger dogs, changes that were most strongly linked to although they may be a little slower in reach- these cognitive losses. ing high levels of performance. We found that senile plaques in the brains When an older dog has cognitive prob- of old dogs were more frequent in the ani- lems, we may see them as changes in behav- mals that had learning and memory prob- ior that can be disruptive to the relationship lems. In our more recent studies, we have between owners and pets. For example, an been seeking ways to improve brain health in old dog with cognitive problems may forget old dogs with the hope that these approaches to signal to go outside, may be up at night can translate to healthy aging in people. and sleep all day, or have trouble recogniz- In several studies of aging in beagles, we ing people or other pets in the family. This is found that a diet rich in antioxidants that similar to a person with Alzheimer’s disease includes vitamins E and C, and importantly, who may have difficulty communicating, fruits and vegetables, can lead to wonderful disrupted sleep/wake cycles and trouble benefits in learning and memory ability that remembering family and friends.