Five-Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History | Book Review
Five-Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History by Helene Stapinski Original Publication Date: 2001 Genres: Crime, Memoir, Non-Fiction Source: I purchased this book Goodreads With deadpan humor and obvious affection, Five-Finger Discount recounts the story of an unforgettable New Jersey family of swindlers, bookies, embezzlers, and mobster-wannabes. In the memoir Mary Karr calls “a page-turner,” Helene Stapinski ingeniously weaves the checkered history of her hometown of Jersey City—a place known for its political corruption and industrial blight—with the tales that have swirled around her relatives for decades. Navigating a childhood of toxic waste and tough love, Stapinski tells an extraordinary tale at once heartbreaking and hysterically funny. Five-Finger Discount Is About…
Cheaper by the Dozen | Book Review
Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr., Ernestine Gilbreth Carey Original Publication Date: 1948 Genres: Memoir Source: I purchased this book Goodreads What do you get when you put twelve lively kids together with a father—a famous efficiency expert—who believes families can run like factories, and a mother who is his partner in everything except discipline? You get a hilarious tale of growing up that has made generations of kids and adults alike laugh along with the Gilbreths in Cheaper by the Dozen. Translated into more than fifty-three languages and made into numerous films over the years — including a classic 1950 film starring Myrna Loy and a…
Verona Park | Verona, New Jersey
Verona Park In New Jersey The park is 54.32 acres with a 13-acre lake. It was designed by the Olmsted Brothers, who also designed the magnificent Central Park in New York, and Branch Brook Park in New Jersey (see my April 29th post). The park has paddle boats (including swans!), a boathouse, a lake stocked with trout, bocce courts, tennis courts, a gazebo, playgrounds, softball fields, and many other attractions. You can read about the park HERE and HERE. Please check out Leap Day 2020!
Cherry Blossoms in Branch Brook Park!
The Cherry Blossoms Are Back In Bloom Branch Brook Park is a beautiful 360-acre county park that is located in both Newark and Belleville, New Jersey. Branch Brook Park has the LARGEST collection of cherry trees in the United States. That’s right, larger than Washington, DC.! There are over 5000 trees in the park. The park was designed by the Olmsted brothers, as was New York’s Central Park. Check out Verona Park! If you love nature, please check out my post on Environmental Mindfulness!
Modern Crossword Puzzles Turn 100!
The Modern Crossword Puzzle Is Invented This weekend the Google Doodle is devoted to the crossword puzzle. On December 21, 1913, the first modern puzzle, created by Arthur Wynne, was published in The New York World, one of many newspapers in New York City at that time. Wynne called it a “word-cross”, but the name was eventually changed because of a typesetting error. Wynne was living in Cedar Grove, New Jersey when he invented this very specific puzzle form. The puzzle was based on earlier forms of puzzles and was diamond-shaped. These puzzles were successful almost from the beginning, and eventually became the famous square puzzles we love today. You…
