7 minute read
JENNIFER CORR
jcorr@antonmediagroup.com
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Harriman State Park
I have been itching to get out there and hike up a mountain since the weather started getting just a little bit warmer.
And on April 2, I just did that. The great part about living on Long Island is that you have so many great attractions that can take you away from your everyday life that can be seen with just a day trip. So on that Sunday, my boyfriend and I, joined by his sister, got up early and headed out to Rockland County, NY to visit Harriman State Park, which was less than two hours away. I’ve personally never been there before.
Once we got there, we realized we would have to park on the side of the road, but there was plenty of distance between the left of the car and traffic. I had downloaded the Long Path, Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail trail map on the app AllTrails, which made the whole experience so much easier. It keeps you on track and acts like a GPS, even if there’s very little internet.
Throughout the moderate hike, we faced some steep incline, had to climb up or down some boulders, crossed streams by hopping on rocks and we saw some beautiful sites. It was also interesting to see all the cell phone towers that were there, as well as the underground fiber optic cables. We had been out there for about six hours, gained 1,171 feet in elevation and walked about nine miles.
We celebrated the day by going to Golden Corral in The Bronx, NY. I would only recommend this on a week day afternoon, as it was extremely busy.
Jeff Salt Cave
On March 30, I was coming off of a mild cold, but was feeling a lot of tension in my eyes, so I looked into some solutions online on how to relieve this tension, and a salt cave was recommended.
The closest one to me was in
Port Jefferson, so I decided to book it for $45, which gave me a 40-minute session.
I went there having no idea what to expect. But once you’re there, the staff takes you through the process. I took off my shoes and my jacket and walked in. The ground is covered in Himalayan salt. Once I sat down in the gravity chair provided, I realized there was pink salt all around me. There was one other woman in the room with me on the other side of the room, and I was given a blanket to keep me warm.
After the both of us picked a meditation to listen to, which played on a loud speaker, a staff member brought us some crystals to hold.
Overall it was a nice way to pass the time, and the meditation was very relaxing. The other woman even fell asleep.
It’s certainly something I would do again! And I’d say it even helped relieve some of that tension and I felt pretty good afterwards.
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Ever since my husband retired, we have found ourselves seeking new adventures on the daily. Whether we take a drive to the East End or explore a new hiking trail, these excursions have brought new life to the doldrums that can easily make one feel as though they are in a “rut”.
During our treks through nature, we’ve been blessed to find interesting articles of yesteryear. Several years ago, I found an old bottle of “Minck” that was buried beneath the leaves. The journalist in me loves a good investigation, and so I proceeded to research my subject.
As it turned out, Minck Brothers was a mineral water manufacturer who bottled beverages that were considered better than what was on the market from the 1870s through the 1950s. They were located on Beaver Street in good old Brooklyn, NY. The bottle, sadly, was cracked on the top and would have injured whoever carried it back to the car. We buried it to prevent forest wildlife from injury.
We have collected beach glass, also known as “Mermaid Tears” or “sea glass” for decades. Over the years, our finds became jewelry created by our daughter, a hobby that was short lived thanks, in part, to the cost of creating. She continues to search with her fiancé along the shore and places her finds into the window above her kitchen sink where they glint and gleam in the sunlight.
Hubby and I continued to search for glass and challenged each other to find the most unique specimen to bring home and clean up before it was placed in a vase in the window. Sometimes we found beautiful cobalt and other times we found the frosted remnants of old Coca-Cola bottles that were smoothed by years of natural tumbling along the ocean floor. We collected enough glass to fill two small vases for our daughter, two
Fun Finds Along The Shore
of a green bottle with the word “Duraglas” etched into the bottom. Duraglas was a style of glass that was manufactured in the 1940s and 1950s and was touted as being stronger than the average glass bottle.
See You Around The Town
medium vases for ourselves, and even more glass that is currently scattered upon my dining room table. We have discovered red, orange, cobalt, teal, cerulean, bright lime and even frosted white pieces that can be found along the shore. We’re always grateful for a good find and we’re amazed by the amount that continues to wash up along the shores of Long Island. Recently, Hubby and I opted to hike along the northern shores of Western Suffolk County, where we saw a gray seal as he sunned himself upon a large rock formation in the surf. We strolled along the shoreline as we enjoyed the sound of surf, sea birds and the occasional sound of a buoy clanging in the changing tide. As the tide was quite low, we decided to walk out further to search for seashells and other treasures that may have been stuck in the mud.
Lo and behold, Hubby found a broken piece of milk glass. Our reading glasses weren’t strong enough to read the print in the bright sunlight, so we brought it back to the car for further inspection. As luck would have it, Hubby had stumbled upon a large chunk of a milk glass container from MacLaren’s Imperial Cheese, which was manufactured between 1893 and 1920. Hubby pulled a few more pieces from his pockets and proudly showed me the base
Hubby also found a piece of “Trademark Lightning” glass made by the Putnam Glass company, which had been made to hold jarred fruits. Manufacturing of the Trademark Lightning glassware began in 1882; most jars were created in the early 1900s as well. The color of the glass almost appeared to be iridescent as it shone in the light.
Finally, I showed him my find. It was a piece of pottery with the word “warranted” on the back, along with a unicorn on his hind legs and a small black star beneath him. I did a little research and consulted an expert, who advised me that the pottery was a piece of ironstone that was made by the William Brunt Pottery Company, which dated circa 1880s or 1890s. It was made in East Liverpool, Ohio. It was a “Royal Warranted” item, which meant that it was created for use by the royal family. Most of the experts on ironstone advised me that the piece was either from a shipwreck or “dumping along the shore”. Either way, they told me that it was a lucky find and it would be nice to go back and look for an intact piece of ironstone. Sadly, the tide rose, and we were unable to complete our search. For those who are unfamiliar with ironstone, it is a glaze-covered piece of earthenware. Most ironstone was manufactured in England, France and the United States.
A friend of mine advised me that there is a television show on BBC known as “Mudlarkers”. Mud larking is a pastime in England, where folks of all ages head out to the mud flats and shorelines at low tide to search for “buried treasure”. It has recently seen popularity in the US, and some mud larkers have found items that are worth anywhere from several hundred to several thousands of dollars. My friend called me her “little mud larker” and hoped I would find something of value in my escapades. I was only too happy with my little broken piece of pottery. Hubby still wants to collect “Mermaid Tears”, and that is just fine with me. I’m not out there to possess the greatest collection, nor do I want a trip to the shore to be just about looking for something, because the joy of being in the moment would truly be lost. We continue to search for sea glass because Hubby plans to create something special with the finds. There is something so special about searching through the sand to find that perfect piece of frosted treasure that feels smooth and cool against the skin and winks in the bright sunshine. While we have even trekked into the water to obtain larger pieces, the thrill is truly in the hunt. I’m not sure what we will find next, but I’ll be sure to share it here. For those of you who also feel the thrill when finding something rare, unique and beautiful, I wish you all the joy of the search!