1-23 HE

Proposed boutique hotel would breathe new life into historic site

BY JOE EMANSKI

On Fiddlers Creek Road across the way from the Ted Stiles Preserve at Baldpate Mountain sits a centuries-old farmstead that has, for the first time in a long time, got people talking.

The sign on the drive reads HOLLYS ONE because it’s missing a T. This is Hollystone Manor, and while it wasn’t known by that

name in his day, the site has history that involves Joseph Titus, the namesake of Titusville.

Welcome to Capital Health.

Where many a passerby sees a rambling stone mansion and ivy-choked stone barn in need of some serious TLC, Margot Stern sees something more. She sees a quiet destination for jaded urbanites, a place in the country where people from near and far can spend a few days, or even just a

few hours, recharging their batteries and reconnecting with the land, whether by exploring it, eating the food grown on it, or just breathing in its air.

The Hopewell, Stern calls it, and if she can get the zoning variances she needs, she hopes to turn it into the kind of boutique destination that has become popular up in the Hudson Valley of New See HOTEL, Page 4

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Because you’d go to the ends of the earth for the people you care about. And we do too.

Become a part of it today at CapitalHealth.org

Small World, big dreams

Hopewell teen set for solo art exhibition at noted Princeton coffeehouse

BY JOE EMANSKI

Artist Zarina Morgan fulfilled a lifelong dream last summer when she exhibited some of her paintings at Boro Bean in Hopewell Borough.

The fact that she was not yet a high school senior at the time may have hinted at the possibility that she had more such exhibitions in her future.

And indeed, another one is coming up already. Morgan’s artworks will be on display at Small World Coffee’s Nassau Street location in Princeton from Jan. 4 through Feb. 7.

Nor are those the only venues where her original works have been on view. Over the summer, she created a butterfly mural at the Quarry Swim Club, where she was also working as a lifeguard. And in April, she also had a show at Time restaurant and whiskey bar in Philadelphia.

Then there was that day when she was showing some of her pieces to a friend’s mother, who is an art collector. She recounted the experience during a phone interview from her home attic studio in

the borough.

“She was looking at one piece and she said to me, ‘How much?’ and I said, ‘What do you mean? I’ll just give it to you.’ I had no idea what to say. And she said, ‘No, how much?’ So I ended up selling that piece to her. I signed the back, I titled it — I had never done any of that before. I had just made art in my bedroom for fun. She displayed it in her home, and that’s when I realized people actually might want to buy my art.”

Impressive milestones for any artist, much less one who is still working toward a high school diploma.

Zarina Morgan Cohan — she uses just her first two names as an artist — says she has been making art since she was at least three years old. The Hopewell Valley Central High School senior had attended Hopewell Elementary School, Timberlane Middle School and the Pennington School before settling in at Central, where she says teacher Carolyn McGrath has been instrumental in her development as an artist. She describes her style as modern figurism — or maybe a modern version of surrealism.

“I’m not really sure. It’s modern, especially when I use spray paint. It’s modern especially because of

Margot Stern prepares the dining area for service at The Hopewell on Nov. 5, 2022 for a pop-up dinner with Chef Amanda Shulman of Her Place Supper Club. (Photo by Laura Pedrick.)

Morgan

how far would you go if they were sick?

Hopewell Public Library announces January events

The Hopewell Public Library has announced a series of events scheduled to take place this January.

The Bullet Journal Book Club plans to meet on Tuesday, Jan. 10 from 6-7:30 p.m. In the club’s first meeting of the new year members will set up bullet journals for 2023 and plan for January and February. Ages 18 and older; email redlibrary1914@gmail.com to register.

There will also be a school plannerstyle bullet journaling event for high school and college students taking place on Jan 17, 6-7:30 p.m. (ages 14-21).

The Hopewell Public Library Book Club plans to meet on Tuesday, Jan. 3 from 7-8 p.m. The club will discuss its January book selection, Sonia Purnell’s A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War I.

On Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m., the library will present Sophie Labelle’s Trans Agenda Speaking Tour at the

Hopewell Theater, 5 S. Greenwood Ave., Hopewell. Featured speaker Labelle is a trans cartoonist and novelist.

Hopewell Public Library, 13 E. Broad St., Hopewell. Web: redlibrary.org.

MCMAC helps send a hero

home for the holidays

The Mercer County Military Action Council has donated $2,500 to Send a Hero Home for the Holidays, a program that pays the travel expenses of junior service members who could not otherwise afford to visit their families during holiday leave.

MCMAC partnered with the Rotary Club of Robbinsville Hamilton. The Rotary presented a ceremonial check to MCMACleadership on Dec. 2, Bill Cleave, vice chair of MCMAC, said this is the second year that his organization and the Rotary Club teamed up to support the Send a Hero Home for the Holidays program.. Web: mcmilitaryactioncouncil.org.

HOTEL continued from Page 1 York. A countryside estate like Babington House or The Newt Somerset, in England, a wooded retreat like Inness in the Catskills or Twin Farms in Vermont. Not only a place to stay while you visit someplace nice. But also a place that is itself a place to visit, a retreat, a getaway.

Stern knows that not everyone shares her vision. A website popped up in November encouraging people to sign a petition opposing commercial development of the property.

But Stern truly hopes that she can convince them, one and all, that what she imagines for the future of this deteriorating, historic old property will be not only good for the Hopewell Valley, and good for the site, but good for nature as well. She isn’t looking to knock it all down to build a Courtyard By Marriott. She means it when she says she doesn’t want to create a wedding venue. She wants a cozy, quiet, dignified destination that, in her words, “incorporates the values of the region.”

In the end, though, she doesn’t have to convince every detractor. What she must do is get the members of the Hopewell Township Zoning Board of Adjustment to see what she sees. It won’t be unless and until they grant her the use variance she needs that she will be able to bring her vision to life. * * *

According to the Hopewell Township Historic Preservation Commission, the oldest part of the main house — the dining and living rooms — were built around 1770 by the Titus family. Joseph Titus owned some 293 acres around the current farmstead when he died in 1797. Other sections of the house date back to 1819 and the 1840s, and several additions were made in the 20th century. The barn dates back to the 19th century as well.

The property sits in a Mountain Resource Conservation zone. That particular type of zoning allows only for residential development, so in order to proceed with her plans, Stern must get the proper variance from the zoning board to

allow commercial development.

To add complexity to the matter, the property is encircled by preserved land: Fiddler’s Creek Preserve on one side, and the Ted Stiles Preserve at Baldpate Mountain on the other. In fact, even part of the 24 acres of land that Stern purchased in 2021 is conservationally protected by an easement granted to Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space by the previous owner.

To Stern, though, the surroundings seemed not like an impediment to her vision, but rather a strength. A graduate of the Wharton School of Business’ MBA program, she wrote her masters thesis on agro-tourism and eco-tourism.

A resident and a native of Philadelphia, she has lived in a number of places over the years, including Mexico, where she successfully launched a new hotel, Avenida Baja, in 2020 in spite the coronavirus pandemic. She has been conceptualizing and opening new hotels like this one for a decade now, so she knew that there could be opposition to her ideas, so she commissioned several impact studies,

including traffic, soil, septic and water, so she have that information for the zoning application.

The zoning board’s December meeting was held via Zoom on Dec. 7, and at that meeting, Stern presented the board with her concept for The Hopewell: a 27-room boutique hotel with a clubhouse, spa, workout room, yoga and meditation space, and pool.

She shared her vision of a farm-to-table restaurant, open to the public, ideally with a bar if she can get the license. She says she wants to host cooking classes and guest chefs and highlight local ingredients and seasonal cuisine.

She has pledged not to add any new buildings to the site — and to renovate the buildings that are there, including the ice house and pump house. All of the proposed units would be situated in existing structures — the house, as well as three cottages that sit across the existing parking lot, and four apartments that are attached to the barn.

She says that she will also rebuild the septic system and the well, repair structural damage to the house, integrate renewable energy, remove and replace existing asphalt, replace invasive species with native plants, and improve stormwater management on the site. Parking spaces would increase from 27 to 95.

In her presentation, she cited case studies like The Newt, where guests are invited to forage the grounds for material that could be crafted into decorations or take calligraphy classes. She says that is the vibe she is going for — guided hikes, bird watching, beekeeping.

And she hopes to offer memberships to the clubhouse and spa, which she says is another way to share the renovated property with the community.

She described it to me this way: “I’m envisioning a true clubhouse, where the goal would be, someone has a few hours to kill, comes here, jumps on a Peloton or takes a yoga class or takes a steam, gets a shower, and then goes upstairs and is able to sit in the lounge, get a coffee and bang out some emails.

“What sometimes happens with these hotels is, a developer comes in, says this will be this incredible investment into this place, and then it’s totally closed to the community. What Soho House and some of these types of places have been doing engaging the community through a membership program,” she says.

The zoning meeting was well attended, in part because of the website hollystonemanor.com, started by Fiddlers Creek residents John and Carol Mastrosimone. They created the site to publicize their opposition to the proposed development, and set up a petition on the site where others could also register their objections.

Through the website, they encouraged people to attend the meeting. After her presentation, Stern answered questions from the board and community — so many that the 7 p.m. meeting extended to 10:30 p.m., when chair Eric Hatke ended it, tabling further consideration of the proposed hotel until January.

There never was time in the December meeting for Stern to present the findings from her impact studies. She feels like, if only people would read the reports for themselves, they would be convinced that her professed mission for the site is genuine.

“We weren’t able to make the actual evidence. The ecological and engineering evidence is really unequivocal,” Stern says. “The way that traffic is measured is assuming maximum occupancy of the restaurant and the inn. (In January) we are going to have witnesses who are going to be able to speak to the fact that the ecological impact is going to be negligible and in fact is going to be positive. When they hear the witnesses speak, I hope that will give some of the zoning board members more clarity, so they feel they have taken in the information.”

She says she had hoped that the zoning meeting would be an opportunity to clarify what she believes are misapprehensions about the proposal.

For example, many of the signers who have left comments have expressed that the buildings should be preserved, which is central to Stern’s plan.

“I’ve actually had a few petition signers tell me, ‘When I signed the petition, it sounded really horrible, but now that I know what it is, I want to support it,’” she says.

Some petitioners make it clear that they are opposed to further development of any kind in the township, and another frequent objection is that commercial redevelopment will put a burden on the local ecology.

But Stern stresses that she believes it is essential to her business plan that her project be in harmony with not only nature, but with the character of the community in which it will reside.

“I think this region is so special, and what I’m hearing from the community is ‘I would be so excited to have a sort of gem of a hospitality experience in this region.’ And now there’s an opportunity to showcase that in a way that to me feels grounded. And even the fact that we’re doing adaptive reuse instead of proposing new buildings is intrinsic to the values of the community. It actually feels representative of the types of individuals that are already in this community and a business model that fits in their values,” Stern says. “I feel like this is an asset, this is something to showcase and something

Hollystone Manor, A.K.A. The Hopewell, in fall 2022. (Photo by Laura Pedrick.)

to show what other communities can do with buildings that are abandoned and at risk of being torn down.”

Former mayor Michael Markulec, who lives nearby on Fiddlers Creek Road, is one resident who supports the proposal.

“When the township purchased the Hollystone farm for open space and carved out the area along Fiddlers Creek Road, everyone envisioned this type of use for the farmhouse and outbuildings. Similar projects like the Hopewell Valley Winery and Glenmoore Farms demonstrate how the community benefits from commercial development that is environmentally and historically integrated with our rich agricultural history,” he says. * * *

In 2010, the then-owner of the estate, a well-known local physician, contacted local conservation organizations, including Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space and the D&R Greenway Land Trust, with the goal of ensuring that the property was preserved after his death.

FoHVOS, D&R Greenway, Hopewell Township, Mercer County, and the State of New Jersey worked together to preserve 108 acres at the outer edges of the property, which today are known as Fiddler’s Creek Preserve.

The landowner retained approximately 24 acres at the heart of the estate, grant-

ing FoHVOS a conservation easement on 13.42 of those acres. The remaining 10.4 acres are what Stern proposes to redevelop.

Linda Mead, president and CEO of D&R Greenway, negotiated the preservation with the landowner. “I remember

clearly being in his living room with him in his hospital bed, and working with his wife. The residential area had a lot of small buildings in addition to the main house. They had been used as caretaker or family housing, or perhaps for guests. The proposed use appears to be con-

sistent with the landowner’s intention, which was to allow that area to be reused while conserving the critical conservation areas on the property,” she says.

Lisa Wolff, the executive director of FoHVOS (and a frequent Hopewell Express contributor), says FoHVOS has taken no position regarding the Stern application pending before the township zoning board. “FoHVOS’ interest is limited to the easement it holds on the property, and it will enforce its legal interests to the extent allowable by law. To the extent it responds to the Sterns’ request for guidance on environmental impact and best stewardship practices, FoHVOS’ input is consistent with that which it provides to any township resident or landowner seeking such information,” she says.

Wolff says that FoHVOS is a recognized expert in land stewardship, and would welcome opportunities to promote community conservation initiatives that promote sustainability, native planting, and wildlife conservation.

“The easement connects to important Mercer County properties, and promoting passive recreation such as hiking and birding is in line with the FoHVOS objective to inspire the next generation of conservationists,” she says.

On the web: the-hopewell.com.

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Margot Stern, third from left, shows visitors to The Hopewell the stone barn on the property and explains her vision for its adaptive reuse as a clubhouse and fitness center, Nov. 5, 2022. (Photo by Laura Pedrick.)

the bright colors,” she said. “It’s figurative. I use a lot of eyes, and I use so many made-up creatures in my painting, but there’s not one word to describe it all. That’s what I think makes it special, that I can’t really put it in any kind of group.”

She credits McGrath, CHS’ visual arts teacher, with “creating the turning point” in her artistic career.

“I don’t think I would have had the confidence to even make art at the expressive level that I do if it wasn’t for Ms. McGrath,” she said. “She let me use all her materials, and I had never been in a situation where I was given so much creative freedom. She would let me work on more creative things while there was a different lesson going on. She would let me do whatever art I wanted, whenever I wanted.”

In an email to the Express, McGrath called Morgan “an exceptionally creative and imaginative artist. It has been a pleasure working with her over the last year and a half.”

McGrath said she is impressed by Morgan’s commitment to the artmaking process and her willingness pushing herself into areas of discomfort in the effort to create her work.

“She also has a remarkable drive to share her work with others by putting it out into the world, whether that’s through conventional means, like art shows, or public art projects, like the mural she painted for the Hopewell Quarry,” she said.

* * *

Morgan says the opportunity to make the mural at the recently reopened Quarry Swim Club came about somewhat unexpectedly. It all started after club operations manager Lindsey Young-Lockett, who had just hired her as a summer lifeguard, asked if she had any other hobbies.

After she said that she was an artist, Young-Lockett invited her to decorate one of the bare walls at the swim club with a mural. The only requirement was that the mural had to include two butterflies.

“I went up and completely did my own

thing, the way I wanted to do it,” Morgan says. “And then after it was done, I continued to work on it during my lifeguarding breaks. It was awesome to do something like that without really any experience.”

The opportunity to exhibit her artworks at Time in Philadelphia came about just as suddenly. Her cousin, who is also an artist, was a bartender at the restaurant, and DM’ed Zarina one day to ask if she wanted to display her own work there.

“Obviously, you ahd to be 21, so I just didn’t tell anyone (that I wasn’t) and I just presented my work,” she said. “I was scrambling to figure everything out. I had sold a few pieces, but a show is completely different. I was so stressed out.”

It turned out to be the best day of her life. “It was just amazing, watching people look at my work,” she said. “My work is

very modern and figurative, there’s lots of different creatures, and people were just looking at it going, ‘That’s me, that’s you.’ They were tagging themselves in the art, and it was so empowering and such a good night. Especially since everyone was treating me like I was so much older.”

To satisfy her long-standing desire to exhibit her works at Boro Bean, she took a direct approach.

“One local dream that I’ve constantly been reminded of as I walked into this coffee shop throughout my life was to have my art displayed in Boro Bean,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to have my artwork displayed there. One day, I was in there with my friend, and there were the new owners, and we were joking with them — ‘What would I have to do to get my art in here?’

“They said, ‘Just show us your art and give us your number,’” Morgan said. “I didn’t know these people. This was the same week they moved in. The owner ended up loving my work.”

The show was up from July to September. Morgan wasn’t even totally ready to exhibit a show at the time. “Some pieces were just finished. I was literally drying them with a blow dryer before bringing them in,” she said.

Morgan estimates that she has more than 50 completed works in her studio, and says she has spent 20 to 25 hours a week making art for the past year and a half. She tends not to sketch works out beforehand.

“I get into a space of mind, and after that, I don’t really think about much of anything,” she said. “It’s completely intuitive. It comes completely from wherever my head is at the time.”

She says that any meaning that she finds in an artwork is usually not apparent to her until the work is mostly finished.

“I usually have a loose inspiration, and toward the end, I come up with an interpretation that I like or feel connected to, and I’ll go with that for the rest of the painting,” she said. “I usually dont start with any particular idea, but I always have an idea that i come up with at the end.”

Zarina’s mother, Zora Andrich, is known to some as the winner of the first season of Fox TV’s show Joe Millionaire. Morgan also has two brothers, Hudson, who is in kindergarten, and Blake, who is in 5th grade.

When asked what the future olds, Morgan said she is not sure what she will do, but she is “definitely considering” art school.

“It’s great, because I already have this experience, and my passion for art seems to be ever growing. I just feel like I’m going to keep learning, keep experimenting, and I don’t think I’ll ever not be an artist. I feel like it was just like what I was made to do,” she said. “I’m applying to art schools. I’m not sure if I’ll get in and I’m not sure it will work out.”

McGrath says that she is excited to see Morgan at the start of her journey as an artist, and to see where that path takes her.

“Perhaps it will include art school, or it may look like a less traditional route. Regardless of what the future holds, I have no doubt that Zarina will continue to make amazing art and find ways to share her unique vision with the world,” she said.

Web: zarinasartstudio.com. Instagram: zarinamorgan.art. Small World Coffee: smallworldcoffee.com.

Hopewell Borough artist and Hopewell Valley Central High School senior Zarina Morgan, surrounded by some of her many works of art.

Zarina Morgan’s butterfly mural at the Quarry Swim Club in Hopewell.

Talking Tea with Holsome Teas and Herbs & Tea-For-All

BY REBEKAH SCHROEDER

January has few holidays after the new year, but a lighthearted observance that makes the weight of a dark winter better is the month’s national recognition of hot tea.

Stay snug with a satisfying cup of your own, or, for an experience combining the leisurely with the educational, put that kettle back on—the wisdom of these tea shops is steeped in years of creativity and care.

Holsome Teas and Herbs

The rows of colorful Chinese tea bins lining the walls at Princeton’s Holsome Teas and Herbs shine like hidden gems in this “hole-in-the-wall” establishment, each resembling vibrant jewels with their own origins, flavors and brewing customs.

Holsome, which takes its name from the word “wholesome” minus two letters, is in the rear of the building at 27 Witherspoon Street, reachable either through the brick back alley and egress or by walking straight through the storefront of Junbi, the bubble tea shop that Holsome’s owner, former chemist Paul Shu, rents the space to.

According to Shu, the longtime spot described on its website as “Princeton’s

Holsome’s rear egress at 27 Witherspoon Street in downtown Princeton.

best kept secret” was the first tea store in the downtown Princeton area, opening in 1996 at 20 Nassau Street prior to moving to its permanent home on Witherspoon. The welcoming white interior, accentuated by an emerald seating area of modest tables and a prime outside view, is a window into the scientist’s second dream.

Holsome has successfully tested Shu’s hypothesis, carrying a combination of three aspects—high-quality teas from around the world, Chinese herbal medicine, and nutritional supplements and vitamins—over 26 years of business, long before you could buy bubble tea on every block.

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Shu’s teas, whether traditional or flavored, come from a variety of countries, including China, Taiwan, Sri Lanka and India.

“A tea shop like this can do well because our tea’s so different, it’s really so different. You will come to a tea shop to buy tea; you can actually see it, smell it, and taste it,” Shu said. “But if you go online, that quality and service are not there.”

Shu also mentioned that relying solely on descriptions for reference raises the risk of “disappointment,” a scenario easily avoided by providing a physical, pleasant environment for perusing and purchasing tea.

Holsome is open Monday through Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. Shu’s wife used to help, but he has since encouraged her to do all the paperwork and bookkeeping from home while he oversees the storefront.

Shu is an impressive one-man show, balancing phone calls, brewing tea, and measuring out the leaves waiting to be weighed, which can be purchased for the minimal weight of a quarter pound.

Born in China, Shu moved to Taiwan when he was about 6 years old. In 1965, he came to study in the United States, obtaining a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Notre Dame and his Ph.D. in the same subject from the University of Michigan.

After graduating, Shu completed his postdoc at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, then started as a research scientist with 3M, a manufacturing company based in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

ExxonMobil, then known as the Mobil Oil Corporation, used to have a research and development center based in Hopewell Township that offered Shu a position. He arrived in Mercer County in 1981, worked there for 15 years, and registered an estimated 74 patents in his name.

While he trained as a chemist, Shu rarely stuck with a single passion and “always had more than one job at one time,” leading him to found the Whitewaters Swim Team in 1983. Shu is now the acting director, but before he stepped back to focus full-time on Holsome about three years ago, Whitewaters had “the longest history of one coach and the same head coach” in the area.

In 1995, Mobil exited the area, and Shu accepted what he described as a “package deal” for early retirement from Mobil, which left him wondering about what to do next in his career.

Thinking about his family background, Shu knew that both of his paternal and maternal grandparents were “very knowledgeable in traditional Chinese medicine,” even applying what they knew to serve as healers in their hometown communities. Those who practiced Chinese medicine back then, Shu said, were not often

“formally trained in college or university,” learning instead through “self-study.”

But, “more importantly, because Chinese medicine is very closely linked to our philosophy, our Chinese philosophy tends to be [that] we are more into nature; it’s not artificial, so whatever goes harmoniously with nature, that’s the way they approach.”

Shu observed how a greater number of people in America were taking an interest in this practice so “deeply ingrained” in his culture. The supplement industry was also booming, with health stores in malls like GNC making vitamins more accessible to the general public.

Around the same time, Shu had recently discovered his affinity for tea while revisiting Taiwan, returning to America with some that he eagerly shared with friends. Back in the late ‘90s, he said that because America was such a “fast-moving” country, people tended to gravitate towards soda or coffee, consuming the latter in instant form rather than taking the time to properly prepare their morning java.

Shu envisioned a company that would be informed by both his principles and professional experiences in chemistry. Such expertise, he added, allowed him to “pick up new information”—such as how to run a business without official training—quicker.

Because of Shu’s capacity for analysis, he emphasized the importance of remembering how “nature came first; science is after that.”

“Everything is in nature. It’s already there, and we just don’t know enough. We gradually learn more and more about it, but people think we’re discovering it. You didn’t discover it; it was already there. You bumped into it.”

Shu wanted to improve his clients’ quality of life and health under the belief that he could “fundamentally help people’s overall wellbeing” in an informed, practical manner. Now, he sells organic ingredients such as burdock root, goji berries, rosehips, lavender flowers, and peppermint.

By bringing products and tea to an American audience not nearly as familiar with such a market back at the beginning of the 21st century, Shu capitalized on a niche that has since been embraced in the public sphere.

This change can be visibly seen just in Princeton alone, which is now bustling with various shops to buy, try and enjoy tea. Many of these places also sell bubble tea, a sweet, Taiwanese tea-based drink that typically features boba—chewy balls of tapioca “pearls” with a divisive texture—as well as milk, sweetened red bean, coconut-based flavored jellies, and other additions.

“When I first moved to Princeton, Princeton was a sleepy small town, essentially,” Shu said, remembering a time when the shops were scattered solely from Nassau through Witherspoon, as well as in Palmer Square. One of the only businesses still operating, he added, is Small World Coffee, which he believes was the first coffee spot when it opened three years before Holsome in December 1993.

“I’ve seen so many businesses come and go,” Shu said. “Fortunately, I’m still here,” with the owner attributing that to the fact that his “original formula seems to be working.”

Back then, there were numerous banks and a few restaurants in Princeton, but only one chain: a single Burger King. Similar fare was seen as unbefitting of the town’s atmosphere, so when industry giants like Starbucks came along, “that was a shock at the time,” Shu said.

This attitude of wanting the town to “have its own distinct status and reputation,” Shu continued, has now fallen by the wayside in favor of more chain stores.

Shu was pleased that Holsome had been successful “from day one,” and when Urken Supply Co., a family-owned hardware store on Witherspoon, closed in 2002, Shu’s enterprise had the chance to expand into a larger location.

Once he acquired the building, Shu ran

his tea shop in the front, while a multipurpose space in the back served as an art gallery where, “every two months,” a new, local creative would showcase an exhibit of their works.

When a yoga studio on Spring Street closed, Shu gave the equipment, as well as some of the teachers, a new home at Holsome Teas and Herbs. The “Holsome Yoga”’ program ran for years until instructor Gemma Farrell took over and moved the group, now known as “Gratitude Yoga,” to the second floor of 86 Nassau Street in 2018.

Shu acknowledged that although Holsome was able to incorporate more of a holistic flair, the 2008 financial crisis had a significant impact on the company.

Eventually, Shu made the decision to begin renting out the front of the building, which turned out to be a “very valuable” source of income, as Holsome carried on in the rear. To do so, he redid most of the interior, carving out a corridor and a second egress for additional room.

Shu said that Junbi, which means “preparation” in Japanese, opened in March 2021 with a lineup of matcha-forward drinks, bubble teas, coffees and more. Junbi is “very popular for young people,” he added, with bubble tea frequently serving as “the first step” toward regular tea consumption for these generations. Holsome even sold healthier, “unconventional” bubble tea back when they were in the front area, yet now that Shu is without a kitchen of his own, his recommendation is to take full advantage of Junbi’s menu.

The revamped layout at Holsome is still used for a zen meditation class, but Shu is considering converting the old gallery into a place where people can come to sit, study, and learn while drinking tea.

Shu noted that he is more than “happy here” at Holsome’s spot, gesturing to the wide window, a personal request of his, which fills the room with light as it looks out onto the courtyard area. “This is almost like my own backyard. When you sit here, it’s almost like they let me share their garden,” Shu said with a sincere smile.

Throughout times of uncertainty, Holsome Teas and Herbs has remained true to its roots—and name—by inviting customers to pause and savor the simple things in life. “People just come to talk to me for any health advice. If I know, I’m more than happy to provide it,” Shu explained. “My philosophy here is, I like to provide knowledge.”

Shu insisted that he is not interested in any products with unproven abilities or hypes, and everything he does retail has been vetted in terms of efficacy and safety.

Shu has built trust in his relationship with customers over the years, meaning that if someone asks about a particular problem or product, he will be “very hon-

For the past 26 years, Paul Shu, the owner of Holsome Teas and Herbs, has been running a shop that combines his love of tea with Chinese herbal remedies influenced by his family. background.

est” in letting them know the truth, even going so far as to refuse to sell it to them.

Shu said people he has known for years regularly call him for questions and conversations, becoming like his old friends. Many of them have since moved away, but despite the distance, he arranges for products to be delivered to them wherever they are now.

The owner maintained that because such a feature had always been an integral part of Holsome’s business model from the start, he did not notice a dramatic increase in the sale of “natural alternatives” during the pandemic. The modest storefront, which only accepts in-person or phone orders, does not have an online store.

Just as simply, with green tea being the least oxidized and black tea being the most oxidized, Shu’s favorite tea, oolong, is semioxidized and falls somewhere in the middle. Shu said that depending on how much air the leaves are exposed to in production, the color will fluctuate, giving a “different taste and flavor” to the tea.

His recommendations, however, revolve around each person’s individual tea experiences, as a match must “depend on their interest, state, and appreciation level.”

Everyone “has a different value system,” Shu explained, meaning that there are differences between the palates of beginners and those who have dedicated time to honing their taste preferences. He believes that rather than selecting the most expensive tea, an introduction to tea should begin with sampling and exploring flavor profiles through more affordable options.

Shu equated the experience to that of wine, stating that college students are likely to opt for a cheaper option that works for their roommates at the time. But once they develop a discerning palate, those same people might buy “a particular year or variety” at a higher price.

“Tea drinking is very similar to that,” Shu said. With thousands of years of customs and history behind it, the craft has “evolved continuously” throughout time to the point where drinking tea, according to Holsome’s owner, “is almost like an art” in and of itself.

“You can brew a nice cup of tea your way, [with] your knowledge, and then you can appreciate the result,” he said. Shu explained that although manipulating the climate, and temperature can influence the overall flavor of a tea, the maker has a level of control over the final product that far exceeds that of coffee, where the definitions of a dark or medium roast differ from shop to shop.

“If you understand the tea brewing process,” he said, “a good cup of tea is very easy.” While he referred to tea as “more subtle,” Shu also drinks coffee, brewing it with the same care as his tea. Customers who enter Holsome with a cup of java in hand, though, always seem to apologize

Browse the beautiful displays of teas, left, while taking in the charming courtyard view at Holsome, right.

to the owner as if he would look down on them for their choice; when this happens, he reassures them that there is no need to worry over such a trivial detail.

“Coffee and tea—they all can improve our lives, so what’s the big deal?” Shu said.

Since tea is organic, Shu acknowledged that there is no surefire way to ensure the exact consistency of each tea from batch to batch, but he has long established a rapport with producers that allows him to get as close to the same result as possible every time. Despite coming from “the same tea garden, the same facility, the same teamaking master, every year’s different,” he explained, comparing those variations to the harvest from a vegetable garden.

As shops across Princeton may go about tea in a “different style,” Shu shared, he is glad to see the shift in attitudes about what can be savored as a beautifully understated selection, one that is less ubiquitous in America.

Back when Teavana was in business— the now-defunct tea store and mall staple that was bought out, then dissolved by the Starbucks brand—Shu was still pleased, noting that they provided more ways “to introduce average people to tea drinking” on a larger scale.

“We’re all promoting tea drinking,” Shu said in earnest, adding that to create an art and culture of tea here, others must aid the general mission to “broadcast” the practice. Coffee might have reigned supreme at the beginning of Holsome’s journey, but now that people have a better understanding of tea or are eager to learn, the clientele’s choices have changed accordingly.

“I can see many of our customers are coming with good knowledge and taste in tea, and that’s very encouraging. My original idea is working, but it takes some time,” Shu explained.

He has no interest in moving on or elsewhere, keeping busy with over two decades’ worth of dedication and regulars. If he ever does find a successor, Shu said he would need to ensure that their interest in tea is just as strong as his—someone who can apply his scientific precision, as well as Shu’s peaceful understanding and enduring philosophy, to the business.

Tea-For-All

Tea-For-All is located in the north end of the Trenton Farmers Market at 960 Spruce Street in Lawrence, down the main corridor of permanent and rotating vendors, right by the vegan eatery Savory Leaf Cafe and Out Of Step: Offbeat Boutique & General Store.

Ran by couple Deborah “Debbie” and Michael “Mike” Raab, Tea-For-All has been

in business since 2011, opening in the Trenton Farmers Market eight years later in a spot that comes complete with a tea bar and retail space.

Just four months into this long-awaited storefront, though, the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily closed their physical location, so the Raabs, like true tea entrepreneurs, pivoted to take away teas, porch deliveries and off-hour curbside pickups.

Debbie was used to reinventing her approach as the owner and principal; after retiring from a career in corrections in 2009, she honed her business skills through pop-up markets and partnerships. First, she graduated from Trenton State College, now known as The College of New Jersey, with a bachelor’s in sociology and a minor in psychology, then worked in the field for over 30 years, starting as a state social worker before becoming a program director.

Mike joked that Debbie “was terrible at retirement,” because rather than enjoy her free time, she began studying her second interest in tea whenever and wherever she could, with the thought of starting her own, all-encompassing business.

Instead of just focusing on tea and its corresponding products, Tea-For-All centers on education by coordinating a monthly tea club membership program as well as “about 20 or 30 different lectures” that, for a fee, touch on topics from history to wellness. Tea-For-All is also a regular at places like the West Windsor Community Farmers’ Market, where the company can interact with a broader audience.

For January, Tea-For-All is expecting to host more of these educational classes and private tastings “two or three times a week,” while due to the onset of the cold weather, they have been selling more warm beverages such as tea lattes, hot chocolates and apple ciders.

Tea-For-All is currently open from Wednesdays through Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., as well as on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. While the Trenton Farmers Market is closed on Wednesdays, several shops remain open to the public and can be entered through their respective entrances, including Tea-For-All, Out of Step, Savory Leaf, and the Lady and the Shallot.

Mike, whose background is similar to Shu’s in their shared love of science, spent 25 years in sales, complemented by his

experiences in engineering and marketing. He received his bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics with a minor in engineering from Northrop Institute of Technology, followed by his MBA from the same institution, which closed as Northrop University in 1990.

Growing up with a dad in the Navy, Mike spent his childhood in “every place that God put water” before living in California for roughly 30 years. Once in the chemical industry, he held a number of managerial, liaison, and leadership positions. Mike’s company, the Chemtura Corporation, wanted to move him to the marketing department on the east coast, so he made arrangements for his teenage son, Andrew, to come along with him.

Once in New Jersey, the plans to bring Andrew fell apart, so Mike let off steam by walking the three miles from Lawrence Square Village to the Quaker Bridge Mall. As he passed by the now-closed store called This End Up Furniture Co., Mike decided to look for a desk for Andrew in the hopes that he could still come in the future.

There, he met Debbie, who was working there as a second job. The two chatted for a long time, and Mike promised to come back once given the official go-ahead. When Mike returned a few weeks later, Debbie was not on shift, so Mike—always a salesman at heart—told her coworker that he wanted to ensure she received credit for the purchase, then passed on a note with his contact information.

The two soon became a couple, bonding over their mutual love for outdoor activities, even training all summer for the MS 150 Bike Tour in Woodstock, a cycling fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. But the week before the event, Mike got sick with the flu, while the facility Debbie worked at had just closed.

Both upset and physically weakened on Mike’s end, they canceled. After he recovered, Mike went out looking for condos with Debbie, having just sold his place in California. When the curious realtor asked about their relationship, Mike confessed to him that he was going to propose to Debbie at Woodstock, which unfortunately was not to be. At dinner that night, Debbie

serve “two benefits: one, it’s a revenue generator, and they’re all profitable, but they also are a major part of our promotion and advertising.”

Their new truck with the Tea-For-All name is hard to miss, and Mike is pleased at how the ruby red ride has been able to build brand recognition from just being out on the road.

“One of the, I hope, infectious things is why people do business with us—because I think we treat people the way we want to be treated. We greet everyone that walks in. We don’t overshadow them,” he said, giving patrons the space to move at their own pace while still providing “accurate knowledge” as needed.

In their travels, the Raabs have traveled to regions like China and Taiwan, but also lesser-known areas of the U.S. that produce tea, such as commercial farms in the states of Mississippi—where they picked, plucked and processed black and green tea firsthand—and South Carolina. Mike added that Tea-For-All is “probably one of the only continental US companies that have Hawaiian tea for sale,” with two visits under their belt and another planned in March.

As a “guiding principle,” Mike and Debbie also want to positively impact younger generations by providing them with opportunities for employment and customer interaction.

“We take them on as our own sons and daughters,” he said. This staff includes another family member interested in tea, the couple’s grandson, John Major IV, or “J.” Another addition to the team is the talent of Kathleen Hippeli, the former owner of One Steep at a Thyme, a Jamesburg tearoom that closed during the pandemic. On Saturdays, Hippeli steps in to help, bringing her expertise and freshly baked goods.

This welcoming atmosphere is perfect for customers who want to expand their tea horizons from the familiar to the esoteric.

“Many people just grew up with a cup of Lipton when they were sick, with some honey in it from grandmom. They don’t really know a lot about the different types of tea,” Debbie said, sharing her own example of how tea can capture the comfort of family love, much like she did with her mother, and then cultivate that into a profound appreciation for the drink.

“Whenever possible, if a customer is not sure that they would like a certain tea—as long as we have the ability to do so—we try to give them a taste so that they can experience it and make their own decision,” she added.

“It’s always amazing to me that I love watching the light bulb go off with people, first of all, when they learn that all tea comes from one plant, and secondly, when they taste five different black teas, and it’s just unbelievable to them at the difference in the flavor profiles.”

Debbie explained that British tea does have its own appeal, but she is “just so much more fascinated with the different cultures of tea” across the globe.

Mike said that they do not sell a single tea that he does not like, but Tea-For-All also counts its vendors as a “backup knowledge base” with a focus on quality control that matches the veracity of their claims.

“Left to my own devices, if I were to pull something off the shelf, it would probably be an oolong or a pu’erh,” Debbie said, the latter being “bioactive,” as Mike pointed out, with a host of health benefits.

The couple includes a good green in their winter rotation but prefers tea without flavors or sweeteners all year. Because TeaFor-All has “a marvelous selection and palate of really excellent quality teas,” according to Mike, he admitted that his tastes in tea have matured. Various additions are available based on customer preference, yet Mike does not mean to downplay the importance of flavored teas.

“Nine out of every 10 cups of tea out of this shop, or any of our pop-ups, it’s going to be a flavored tea. It’s going to be a pineapple coconut, or it’s going to be lemon souffle, or it’s going to be any of these, which are wonderful, strong flavors, and that’s much more accessible to a wider audience,” he said.

Green teas, which the Raabs prefer on the higher end, can also be polarizing if prepared improperly, turning matcha, a type of green tea ground into a powder with a vegetal, nutty, and grassy taste, “almost astringently bitter,” as Mike warned. Matcha is usually associated with either the culinary grade, which should only be used for cooking, or overly sweetened versions where any true flavor is lost amid the other ingredients.

Debbie said that if she has the time to make matcha correctly for a customer who has sworn off it after a bad experience, she will prepare both of the two grades that Tea-For-All carries: one is “very close to ceremonial grade,” or what would be utilized in Japanese tea ceremonies and made from younger tea leaves, while the other is just below it in ranking.

“Four out of five times, the person ends up buying the ceremonial,” she continued, with people able to note the differences in taste between them.

Most customers are coming in exclusively for loose teas, according to Mike. There was also a significant uptick in the purchase of caffeine-free herbal teas, or tisanes, as a byproduct of the pandemic, with many people seeking out other ways to alleviate health symptoms or boost their immune systems. One of these herbal teas, the butterfly pea flower, blooms blue and brews a drink of the same color that transforms into purple when exposed to the acidity of a lemon.

Mike said that he regularly directs custom-

ers who come to him with questions about what teas have the most or least caffeine to the herbal shelf, noting that “even decaffeinated tea has some caffeine in it,” providing an alternative for people with allergies or other concerns.

Without a proper chemical analysis, he continued, a seller cannot properly gauge those qualities in a tea, since countless factors are at play that affect the resulting levels.

“In general, certain tea types have less or more caffeine, but green teas are the perfect example. You drink matcha, and it’s probably one of the highest caffeine contents that you can imagine, as opposed to one of the other green teas that, maybe, is a late-season green tea,” Debbie added.

Since customers have been looking for and requesting more herbal options, the Raabs have been continuing their own learning to be certified in courses about this rising

YEARS

ANNIVERSARY

609-584-5252 www.priornami.com

trend in holistic health. Tea-For-All’s selections reflect the diversity of their customer base, harkening back to countless homeopathic remedies passed down through generations.

While the owners hope to better understand the nuances of products such as licorice root or raspberry leaf, Mike said that Tea-For-All lets the medical professionals study and decide what advantages such products might have.

“People should make [tea] part of their healthy diet, but it’s not going to solve people’s medical issues,” Mike said. “We don’t need to make those claims. We’re happy to tell you what we know the benefits are.”

It’s this everlasting meeting of artistry and philanthropy that encouraged Mike to tell the story about the “Texas bowl,” a vessel for both tea and the tale itself that took the

1666 Hamilton Ave. Hamilton, NJ 08629

RWJUH Hamilton

Scoring Top Nursing Honors: Achieveing Magnet Status Recognizes the Highest Quality Care for Patients

Nurses have been called the backbone of healthcare. At Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton (RWJUH Hamilton), an RWJBarnabas Health facility, they provide vital care at the bedside but also promote teamwork, enhance safety, improve patient outcomes, nurture community health, educate staff, provide leadership and more.

As a result of such efforts, RWJUH Hamilton has earned Magnet recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). The designation is the nation’s most prestigious nursing honor—one that only 9 percent of hospitals across the country have achieved. “At RWJUH Hamilton, our nursing team continuously strives to provide excellent care to our patients in an authentic, compassionate way. “We were very excited about being designated for the first time as a Magnet hospital,” says Lisa Breza,

Pieces repaired using Kintsugi, left, and the “Texas bowl,” right.

RN, MSN, NEABC, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at RWJUH Hamilton. “It’s not something you just get by applying. “You need to prove that your nursing is consistently exemplary through data, surveys and outcomes for eight consecutive quarters, or two years,” Breza says.

RWJUH Hamilton’s 400-plus nurses excelled even while facing the peak of an unprecedented pandemic. “I’m so proud of our nurses.” “They all work very hard, and our programs are truly outstanding,” says Richard Freeman, President and Chief Executive Officer at RWJUH Hamilton.

Standards of Excellence.

The ANCC considers a number of key criteria that reflect not only best clinical practices but also organizational factors such as leadership structure, shared decisionmaking and education. “Achieving Magnet designation has been years in the making,” Breza says. “We did an analysis of existing practices and executed plans to make sure we met standards for providing exemplary nursing.”

“These honors testify to the outstanding care and compassion our nurses bring to their patients,”

says Dawn Hutchinson, MSN, RN, PCCN-K, and Assistant Vice President of Nursing at RWJUH Hamilton.

Colleagues in Quality. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton is one of six Magnetrecognized hospitals in RWJBarnabas Health (RWJBH), the state’s largest healthcare system. To learn more about Magnet recognition, visit rwjbh. org/magnet

To discover what awaits you or someone you know in a nursing career at RWJBarnabas Health, including Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, visit rwjbh.org/nursing

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton also recently achieved a Leapfrog ‘A’ Hospital Safety Grade for the 13th time underscoring RWJUH Hamilton’s commitment as a High Reliability Organization (HRO). Through the concerted effort of RWJUH Hamilton’s physicians, nurses, staff, volunteers and leadership, patients and families benefit from the highest level of quality care and the safest hospital experience.

To learn more about Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, visit rwjbh.org/Hamilton or call 609586-7900. See ad, page 13.

couple back to about five or six years ago to a Dallas tea festival. One of the seminars featured students from a nearby school district with two of their tea-loving teachers, who had started an after-school tea club for the children.

During this experience, the students were encouraged to go over to a potter’s table, where the sculptor had created matcha bowls of varying structure and size. “If you notice, this one is not perfectly round,” Mike explained, showing the piece in his hand but refraining to call those aspects “imperfections,” calling them the work of an artist.

“This one little girl picked up this bowl, and she said, ‘You see how it’s murky down here and it’s not clear? That’s the early part of my life. I don’t see that. But it gets up here, closer to the top,’” Mike recalled, visibly moved by the memory of her words that day.

“‘It becomes much more clear, and how much more perfectly rounded it is, and how it had these indentations and imperfections at the bottom, but…’” Mike stopped where he was in the story with tears in his eyes.

“We like to see kids succeed, and needless

to say, I bought her bowl,” he finished with a laugh, just in awe at how the children “developed this marvelous relationship over tea because they could all relate to that.”

This theme was reminiscent of the Japanese concept of “wabi-sabi,” which Debbie defined as about “how life’s not always perfect, but learn to find the beauty in imperfection…people aren’t in our lives forever, but accept that and celebrate them for when they are there.”

When someone accidentally broke a bowl at Tea-For-All, another customer, Steve, took it upon himself to practice kintsugi, a Japanese art that breathes new life into fragments by adhreing them again with a golden line of lacquer. Kintsugi, which translates to “golden joinery,” embraces any perceived flaws as part of an improved, more elegant piece of pottery.

For Mike, this built on his resounding message of “Yes, it’s imperfect, but so what? It’s beautiful.” Just as time might need to pass for a bowl to become its most colorful itera-

tion yet, he conveyed that younger people deserve to be given the proper space to heal and process.

As the Raabs aim to help from the heart, Tea-For-All has also been making strides to be more sustainable, whether that is in their packaging or products. Customers are also encouraged to bring their own cups for a discount or tins for refills, as long as they call ahead for the latter so that the owners can ensure the tea is in stock.

It’s an expensive endeavor to be more environmentally conscious, Debbie acknowledged, but one they prioritize given its match with both their values and the aesthetic of the farmers’ market. Trips to the World Tea Expo and possibly Japan are scheduled for the new year, but each endeavor shares the same resounding mission statement that Tea-For-All has always echoed from the two who know it the best.

“I think ours is a story of adaptation and teamwork,” Mike said. “We treat people the way we want to be treated. We try to always

speak with knowledge and understanding of where the customer is, always willing to share what knowledge we have. We’re also willing to be told we’re wrong, or we need to know more, and we charge a fair price for a cup of tea—and a quality cup of tea.”

“We’re having more and more people that are coming in, too, that are saying, ‘we like to come here and get the tea, because we always get an education with it,’” Debbie said, with that love of endless intellectual exploration forming a mutual bond between owners and customers.

“We continually learn about tea. It’s not an endpoint, it’s a journey; that’s one of the things we pride ourselves on,” Mike added.

Shu and the Raabs continue to cultivate their crafts and curious minds with a ceaseless resolve—retiring has never stopped them before—and there is always more tea to pour, more kettles to fill, and more knowledge to impart with an equal helping of smiles.

But if you take anything in your tea, let it be the lesson that these two businesses in Mercer County are serving up cups of endless enthusiasm to ease the brunt of the cold winter season.

Read the full story online at the CNS website, communitynews.org.

AllCure Spine and Sports Medicine

Helping seniors find the right diagnosis and right treatment

AllCure Spine and Sports Medicine is a multidisciplinary family practice that has been in business for over 10 years. Over the past decade, the senior community has been a big portion of our patient demographic. We hear many different complaints week to week, but one of the biggest complaints we see with our seniors is balance and gait dysfunction. As our bodies get older, degenerative changes take place, which can lead to a host of symptoms taking away from your quality of life. This can lead to loss of balance, decreased range of motion, decreased strength, trouble with gait mechanics, and much more. Here at AllCure, we provide the proper imaging and testing to help us diagnose these common complaints before they become debilitating. We always say that a small problem will remain small if it’s treated early enough. We strive to get ahead of each patient’s chief complaints and provide a comprehensive plan of care.

One of the major issues seniors face is getting a proper diagnosis early enough to find effective treatments. In many cases we see that patients are given a prescription for medication that will only treat the symptoms, but not the root cause.

This will lead to worsening symptoms over time and keep patients from an active and independent lifestyle. We pride ourselves in making tailored treatment plans to fit each patient’s individual needs and impairments. There is no one-size-fits-

all approach to healthcare and each patient should be treated with that mindset.

We strongly feel that a multidisciplinary approach is the best way to get patients the care they need and the relief they deserve in a safe, fast, and efficient manner. Our experienced team of providers consisting of chiropractors, physical therapists and acupuncturists collaborate on each case to get the patient the best plan possible to achieve their goals.

We do accept Medicare! We find that most of our Medicare patients don’t have to pay a dime out of their pocket, rather just commit the time and effort.

Please give us a call today and we would be happy to hold a free 10 minute consultation for you or a family member to make sure that you are comfortable and get the correct information to make an important decision for improving your health and quality of life. We look forward to hearing from you!

AllCure Spine & Sports Medicine, 140 Cabot Drive, Suite A, Hamilton. 609-528-4417. www. allcurespineandsports.com. See ad, page 9.

Brothers Anthony Alfieri, DC, left, and Victor Alfieri, DPT.

Hamilton Dental Associates

New Year, New Smile

Smile, it’s a new year! A time that for many means resolutions, and a renewed commitment to health and improvement. A healthy smile is a big part of that, and now you can care for your and your family’s teeth all in one place. When families come to HDA, they are happy because they can take care of their own dental needs while everyone in their family’s oral health is being looked after at the same time. “It’s a win-win,” commented Dr. Irving Djeng, pediatric dentist, “kids get attentive, gentle treatment by a dedicated, specialist team that works only with kids, while parents and adult patients are cared for by our experienced adult staff right down the hall.” Dr. Lauren Levine, pediatric dentist, also commented, “We go to great lengths to make the children feel comfortable because we know that teaching children good oral hygiene at a very young age prepares them for a lifetime of healthy smiles.”

You may have heard the term 6-Month Dental Recall, but what does that mean? A “recall” or “dental recall” visit is a regularly scheduled checkup appointment to help dentists have an ongoing knowledge of the status of their patients’ oral health. These visits are vital to both practice and patients. The more often a patient can meet with their dentist, the better care that doctor can provide. The frequency of appointments is determined by each dentist and usually coincides with a hygienist visit, usually every 6 months or twice a year. A recurring 6 month recall to your dentist is so important to supporting oral and overall bodily health, that many insurance companies outright cover many of

recall services included in the visit!

The basic components of the preventive dental appointment consist of:

• Review and update medical and dental history

• Blood pressure screening

• Oral cancer examination

•Examination of the teeth and periodontal tissues (i.e. gum tissue and supporting bone). This includes a visual examination for signs of dental caries (cavities), other problems with the teeth (chips, broken fillings, etc.), looking for signs of inflammation and infection, and periodontal probing, which measures the depth of the gum pocket.

• Radiographic exam. The content and timing of dental x-rays can vary and are customized to the needs and disease susceptibility of the patient. The dental team weighs risk vs.

benefits when taking dental x-rays, keeping radiation exposure to a minimum

•An actual prophylaxis (cleaning) to mechanically remove any build up or plaque from tooth surfaces.

•Application of a topical fluoride

agent, when indicated.

Usually at the end of the appointment, the dentist will review all the findings and radiographs, make any necessary diagnoses, and recommend treatment, if indicated.

Hamilton Dental Associates (HDA) has been serving Hamilton and the Greater Central New Jersey area for over 50 years. While HDA’s roots are in pediatric dentistry, they also specialize in adult and cosmetic dentistry, orthodontics, oral surgery, periodontics, and endodontics. Patients are treated by specialists in their field. For example, orthodontic treatment is done by an orthodontic specialist, and patients requiring a root canal will be treated by an endodontist — a dentist who specializes in root canals. It’s all done under one roof which is time saving and eliminates the need for multiple referrals.

Come see what all the smiling is about! To request an appointment, call 609-586-6603 or visit

HamiltonDental.com. Locations are 2929 Klockner Road and 2501 Kuser Road, Hamilton, New Jersey.

Happy New Year! We look forward to seeing your smile! See ad, page 12

Physical Therapy

Nutritional Services

Caruso PTRD offers a unique, patient-centered physical therapy approach that offers patients the chance to work closely with a Doctor of Physical Therapy. Our therapists' main goals are to listen to each of your needs and provide individualized care to treat your condition. We want you to get back to being you; whether it's getting you back on the field, back at the office, or back to running around with your children or grandkids! Treating pain is only the first step!

performance, or weight loss goals through an approach that is anything but “cookie cutter”. Our Nutrition Experts, RDN’s,are the ONLY medical professionals qualified to give you nutrition advice. We don’t believe in quick fixes or the latest craze. We believe in life long change without having to sacrifice ANYTHING that makes your life unique!

Pilates Reformer

The most recognized and effective form of safe and successful exercise. Pilates can be tailored to the specific needs of the client to provide injury prevention, rehabilitation and muscle stability work. We offer Private and Semi Private Sessions.

Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy

ATTENTION ALL AGES: Achieve your body composition, sport's performance, nutrition or weight loss goals through an approach that is anything but "cookie cutter". We take the time to learn about you, any medical conditions you may have and tailor to your individual needs. Our Nutrition Experts, RDN's,are the ONLY medical professionals qualified to give you nutrition advice. We don't believe in quick fixes or the latest craze. We believe in life long change without having to sacrifice ANYTHING that makes your life unique! Relax and unplug in our new Salt Room! Offering numerous health benefits such as; providing relief for respiratory

THERAPY

Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute

Treating Pain with PRP and Stem Cell Therapy

Pain.

It gnaws at you. It drains you. It becomes the focus of your life.

Experiencing a few pain-free moments can be euphoric; it makes you realize how long you’ve been living with aches and pain. You might wonder how you can find a solution to relieve the pain and regain your freedom from discomfort.

Dr. Ronak Patel at Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute wants you to know there are two new revolutionary answers to pain relief.

Both platelet-rich therapy — otherwise known as PRP — and stem cell therapy give patients new hope by using the body’s powerful healing power to accelerate the battle against pain. Dr. Patel has seen incredible success implementing these cuttingedge treatments on hundreds of patients suffering from pain-related issues.

So if you are suffering from any of the ailments below, there’s a lifeline.

• Osteoarthritis

• Rotator cuff tear

• Back pain

• Meniscus tears

• Tennis elbow

• Disc herniations

• Tendonitis

• Neck pain

Here’s the best news: Neither PRP or stem cell therapy involves drug use with side effects or any surgical procedures.

Both PRP and stem cell treatments use the body’s own healing resources to repair diseased or damaged tissue — and the results are quite remarkable.

PRP therapy involves injecting concentrated platelets and growth factors into damaged tissue to

stimulate the faster growth of new healthy cells. Platelets are cells that prevent and stop bleeding. If a blood vessel is damaged, the body sends signals to our platelets to get on the job and start the healing. Some call platelets the body’s natural bandage.

So how does PRP therapy work? It’s basically drawing a one small vial of blood from the patient and then using a centrifuge to turn it into a potent and concentrated form of platelets. It is then injected back into the patient. Think of it as a boost of your own blood — only superpowered.

Recovery time for PRP therapy is far shorter than for surgery. Patients usually experience soreness for a week or so, but the gradual improvement soon begins. Unlike

a steroid shot, which gives you immediate relief and quickly wears off, a PRP patient will see pain symptoms improve over a period of months, and up to 80 percent of patients will see relief for up to two years.

Stem cell therapy can be an even more powerful way to harness the body’s healing power. Stem cells are the building blocks for every cell in our body. These powerful cells can be harvested to produce powerful new cells to fight inflammation and disease.

For those suffering from osteoarthritis, stem cell therapy has proven very effective. That’s because the stem cells may help develop new cartilage cells and suppress inflammation. Stem cells can be harvested through a sample of body fat or bone marrow or be harvested from donated umbilical cord tissue.

And yes, you can even augment PRP therapy with stem cell therapy for an even bigger boost!

Stop wondering if you’ll have to live with your pain forever. Contact Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute today at 609-269-4451 or go to www.njpaindoc.com to book an an appointment and learn more. See ad, page 3

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To book a classified ad in this section, please email your text and any other information to mdurelli@communitynews.org. Classifieds run at 75 cents per word with a $20 minimum per month. For more information, call 609-396-1511, ext. 105.

SERVICES

senior Concierge. Let me be your helper. In the home or on the road. Part-time/ Day or evening. Very good references. Call Mary anne, 609-298-4456.

F,D,Mason Contractor, Over 30 years of experience. Brick, Block, Stone, Concrete. No job too large or small. Fully Insured and Licensed. Free Estimates 908-385-5701 Lic#13VH05475900.

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WANTED TO BUY

Wanted: Baseball, football, basketball, hockey. Cards, autographs, photos, memorabilia. Highest cash prices paid! Licensed corporation, will travel. 4thelovofcards, 908-5960976. allstar115@verizon.net.

HappyHeroes used books looking to buy old Mysteries, science Fiction, Children’s illustrated, kids series books (old Hardy boys-Nancy Drew-Judy Bolton- Dana girls, WITH DUSTJACKETS in good shape), Dell Mapbacks - Good Girl Art PULPS - non-sports cards, good conditioned pre 1975 paperbacks old COLLIER’S. Call 609-619-3480 or email happyheroes@gmail.com

Cash paid for World War ii military items.Helmets, swords, medals, etc. Call 609-581-8290 or email mymilitarytoys@optonline. net

Cash paid for selMer sAXOPHOnes and other vintage models. 609-581-8290 or email mymilitarytoys@optonline. net

WAnteD- QUAlitY CAMerAs AnD PHOtO eQUiPMent, FOUNTAIN PENS AND OLDER WATCHES FAIR PRICES PAID CALL JAY609-689-9651.

COMMERCIAL SPACE space available in the ewing Professional Park. Comfortable suite currently used by mental health professionals. Waiting room, kitchenette and restrooms in suite. Well-lighted parking lot. Available Jan 1st. For more details, email suppsoln27@ yahoo.com or call Supportive Solutions at 609-635-3751.

Doctors Office Suite TurnKey ready in Hamilton, Mercer County nJ approx. 1405+/- SF for lease. Fully furnished. $2,550/mth. DiDonato Realty 609-5862344 Marian Conte BR 609947-4222.

Office Space For Rent: Pennington ground floor office space 32 N Main Street. Share with clinical psychologist and real estate management company. Private entrance, off street

parking. 305-968-7308

Princeton Commercial retail spaces for lease: Various Locations in Town. Please Contact: Weinberg Management. WMC@ collegetown. Text 609-7311630

VACATION RENTALS

Florida Beach rental: Fort Myers Beach 1br vacation condo on the beach, flexible dates available. Call 609-5778244 for further information

BUSINESS FOR SALE salon for sale- excellent opportunity. Priced to sell. Relocating out of state. Large space, great potential. Call 609-462-0188.

CEMETERY PLOTS

For sale double depth cemetery plot. Location Princeton memorial park, Gordon Road, Robbinsville. Call 609-259-7710.

National Classified Health & Fitness

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Miscellaneous

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Free high speed internet

if qualified. Govt. pgm for recipients of select pgms incl. Medicaid, SNAP, Housing Assistance, WIC, Veterans Pension, Survivor Benefits, Lifeline, Tribal. 15 GB internet. Android tablet free w/onetime $20 copay. Free shipping. Call Maxsip Telecom! 1-833758-3892

Caring for an aging loved one? Wondering about options like senior-living communities and in-home care? Caring.com’s Family Advisors help take the guesswork out of senior care for your family. Free, no-obligation consult: 1-855759-1407

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Beltone Hearing Aids. Voted #1 hearing Care retailer. Rechargeable, weather & sweatproof. Easily connect music, audio & calls to your hearing aids. Starting at $799. Call today & get 25% off plus a free cleaning kit with purchase. Expires 3/31/2023. Call 1-866-625-4985

HolidaythAnnualWalk

DIAMOND SNOWFLAKE

SPONSORS($1,000+)

Callaway Henderson Sotheby’s International Realty • Northfield Bank

GOLD SNOWFLAKE ($500)

Blackwell Memorial Home • DeSimone Orthodontics • First Bank • Orion Jewelry Studio LLC

Pennington Quality Market • SAX Wealth Advisors • Susan Thompson, Weidel Real Estate The Bank of Princeton • The Pennington School

SILVER SNOWFLAKE ($250)

Capelli Salon • Creative Media Works • Hopewell Valley YMCA • Knox Grove Financial, LLC Meyer Business Law • Michelle Needham - BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors • Pennington CrossFit Pennington Montessori School • Poppy Boutique • Regent Flooring Kitchen & Bath Stark & Stark • Stellitano Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. • Vito’s Pizza • The Front Porch

BRONZE SNOWFLAKE ($100)

A&E Construction • Alisandra Carnevale, Esq. • Aging Advisors • Ellen Kick & Seung Kwak First Steps Financial • Hopewell Valley Fitness • Jan & Lynette Atienza • Jazzercise, Inc.

Jeremy & Meghan Rhen • Kollevoll & Associates • Mark McDonough, DMD Orthodontist • McCabe Electric Pixie Salon • Pru Thai • Sudi and Michael Southall • The MAX Challenge

Lawrenceville/Pennington

The Patchwork Bear • Twirl Toy Shop • Walsh Senior Solutions INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTOR ($50)

Amber Spa • Chris Murphy & Jon Butler • Carol & John Jackson • Gail T. Butterfoss • Guy & Jane McPhail Jason & Tracy Meyer • Kim Waters, Zoe Graphics • Vida Rose Coaching Solutions

ENTERTAINMENT

Caroling by the Hopewell Valley Girl Scouts and J.E. Voice Studio Carolers

Children’s Musical with Mike Tusay

Hopewell Valley CHS Brass Band

Ice Carver John Goeke

Knecht’s Danceworks

Santa Claus

The Pennington Studio of Dance

FOOD & REFRESHMENTS

Dudes With A Truck

Erwin Harbat

Pennington AG Church

Pennington Bagel

Pennington Presbyterian Church

Pennington Quality Market

Pennington United Methodist Church

Uncle Ed’s Creamery

SPECIAL THANKS TO

Barn Picks & Stuff

Brett Margulis, Pennington Parks and Recreation

Dudes With A Truck

Erwin Harbat

Brian Hartel, Hartel Timber Services

Hopewell Emergency Services

Hopewell Valley YMCA Youth Activity Center

Jack’s Nursery

Pennington Fire Company

Pennington Flower Market

Pennington Library and Wallaby Tales Traveling Zoo

Pennington Police Department

Pennington Public Works

Pretium Property Mgt. LLC/Howe Commons

Santa’s Elf-Tara

Greeters at Santa’s Workshop-Sheila Kron & Reba Holley

Weidel Real Estate

Zoe Graphics—Kim Waters

PB&PA HOLIDAY WALK COMMITTEE: Dawn Berman • Nathalie Cassien Kit Chandler • Erwin Harbat Larissa Kelsey • Alisa McCabe Jason Meyer • Chris Murphy Michelle Needham Jeremy Rhen • Brit West Special Thanks to Snowflake Sponsors, Volunteers and Friends that made this event possible!

Thank you to Saphire + Albarran Architecture LLC, for making 12 North Main Santa’s home for this event.

Winter a busy time for township’s Public Works department

Crews make sure the trucks, deicing equipment, and plows are storm ready.

It’s January, and winter has officially started. Ahead are several months of colder temperatures and the continuing possibility of snow and ice storms.

Many of us, especially if we grew up in this part of the country, remember the excitement of waking up to snow and wondering if school would be delayed or, even better, closed for the day. And for those who do not have to leave in the morning, a snow day may be a good excuse to sit in a warm home and watch the world outside.

One group that cannot stay at home on snowy days is the Hopewell Township Department of Public Works. Public Works is responsible for plowing and deicing 288 lane miles of Township roadways, along with municipal parking lots and walkways.

Preparations for winter start in the fall with planning, training, marking catch basins, stockpiling salt, and ordering plow parts. Plow routes and salt routes are reviewed to optimize resources.

When winter weather is forecast, Public Works is ready to act. Vehicles receive a pre-trip inspection, and a prestorm meeting is held to prepare a plan. Trucks are loaded with salt to facilitate a quick response to icing conditions. Our tandem truck holds twice as much salt as a standard truck, which allows twice the amount of roadway to be treated before returning for more salt. “Studies have shown … that being proactive rather than reactive can reduce costs substantially … and also reduce the total quantity of salt used during a storm by up to a factor of four,” reads The Snowfighter’s Handbook; A Practical Guide for Snow and Ice Control. This is important for both cost and environmental reasons.

Once ice and snow fall, Public Works’ first priority is to facilitate passage for first responders; the police, fire, EMS and electric and gas company vehicles. The second responsibility is to clean the road for drainage. This is especially important in a storm, because melting ice and snow needs a place to go. Otherwise, water will freeze on the roads. And the team works to provide safe travel for

W WILSON APPLE FUNERAL HOME

residents, commuters and commerce.

While Public Works takes great care to avoid causing damage, every now and then the weight and velocity of snow coming off of a plow may knock over a mailbox. This is a good time to ensure mailboxes are secured and any rotten posts replaced. If a mailbox is damaged by a plow, contact Public Works. The team will temporarily repair mailboxes so mail can be received. Once the ground thaws, damaged mailboxes or posts are replaced with standard USPS-approved mailboxes and wooden posts.

After plowing is done, post-storm staff meetings are held to review the storm’s timing, salting routes and plow routes. Public Works is always looking for ways to improve the process and to get the roads cleaned as quickly as possible.

With snow and ice come potholes, which develop in the winter due to freeze/ thaw cycles. The Public Works team uses a scientifically created cold patch to repair potholes in winter, as area asphalt plants close during cold months. Potholes should be reported to Public Works. Christmas trees are collected curbside after the holiday. The last day to place trees out for collection is Jan. 15. Trees

must be completely free of decorations. Many are trucked to the shore to create natural dune protection, while the remainder are recycled into wood chips. In both cases, decorations on the trees interfere. Residents may take recycled wood chips stockpiled behind the skate park between Public Works and the Police Department. Chips are available year-round until the supply is exhausted. A portal is available to make Public Works service requests. Go to Public Works at hopewelltwp.org/PublicWorks, and follow the link to the SDL portal. Residents can report potholes, drainage issues, tree branches, water and sewer problems, and other concerns that need Public Works’ attention. The location can be identified by an address or selected on an interactive map. The portal allows uploads of pictures, letters, and other documents to help Public Works understand the work that is needed. Public Works can also be contacted at (609) 537-0250 and publicworks@ hopewelltwp.org.

Wilson-Apple Funeral Home

Robert A. Wilson, Owner

NJ Lic #2520 609-737-1498

Cromwell Memorial Home

R. Asher Wilson, Manager

NJ Lic # 3823/Pa Lic # FD-000766 609-466-0233

Wilson-Apple Funeral Home

R. Asher Wilson, Manager NJ Lic # 3823/Pa Lic # FD-000766 609-737-1498

Serving Hopewell Township, Hopewell Borough, Lawrenceville, Ewing, Pennington, Titusville, Blawenburg and Princeton.

2560 Pennington Road, Pennington NJ | wilsonapple.com

Michael Ruger is a member of the Hopewell Township Committee. Hopewell Township provided this content.

Michael Ruger FRoM the township

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Brandom Farms meadow a learning experience for all

My email box was completely filled with forwards of the New York Times Dec. 14 article entitled, “They Fought the Lawn. And the Lawn’s Done.” What made the story so compelling was that it had all the elements of a blockbuster film: a simple scenario with a relatable protagonist who overcame significant challenges in her desire to do good.

The Times documented a multiyear struggle that eventually resulted in a happy ending. The feature related the story of Janet Crouch, a Maryland homeowner who planted climate-friendly native wildflowers that attracted beautiful migratory butterflies, birds and bees. As her garden thrived, she repeatedly received threats and lawsuits from an overzealous homeowners association that demanded that she convert her yard back to an ecologically unfriendly turf lawn.

The tenacious Ms. Crouch not only won the contentious lawsuit, but also inspired legislators to change state law. The Maryland General Assembly recently passed low-impact landscaping legislation that codifies rights to maintain an environmentally conscious landscape.

While New Jersey should most definitely consider similar legislation, there’s a good reason why Columbia, Maryland wound up in the news and Hopewell Valley did not.

The Maryland story began in Fall of 2017, when Ms. Crouch received the first letter from the HOA lawyer demanding her wildflower meadow be converted

to lawn. Coincidentally, at the very same time, Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space approached the largest homeowners association in Hopewell Valley —- Brandon Farms Property Owners Association — to ask if they would consider implementing a pilot project to convert their detention basins from lawn to naturalized wildflower meadows.

While both tales include a series of obstacles threatening the success of healthy, ecologically helpful landscape, the sensational Maryland plotline plays far better to the masses than an account of a smart New Jersey POA researching landscape alternatives to help both the environment and its residents.

Not surprisingly, the Maryland HOA and the NJ POA shared common

concerns of promoting an attractive community while bolstering property values. However, to address those concerns, Maryland enforced strict rules documented in HOA bylaws. Conversely, BFPOA leadership planted a wildflower meadow as a proof of concept, that a meadow could look beautiful while gleaning positive environmental benefits and lower upkeep costs due to reduced mowing and watering needs.

Mike Shevlin and Pete Sandford, President and Trustee of BFPOA respectively, worked closely with the FoHVOS team. Their first decision would be to choose a location in the vast Brandon Farms community to host a 10,000-square-foot meadow. They reached out to Steve Wilfing, principal of Stony Brook Elementary School, and suggested placing the meadow on BFPOA land that abuts the school so it would be an easy walk to teach students about biodiverse ecosystems and local wildlife.

Principal Wilfing enthusiastically encouraged the transition and brought together the STEM staff, the PTO, and the local community to plan and implement the new meadow/outdoor classroom. As the project progressed, FoHVOS solicited funding from local leaders Vanessa Sandom and Carl Seiden, and the 5th grade class purchased bird feeders.

Weatherwood Design, a landscape architect, planned the design. Nectars Landscape & Design did a “sod cut” to remove the existing lawn. Community members and HVRSD administration came out and planted 3,000 native plant plugs. FoHVOS augmented the planting with seeds for ground cover and some shrubs to add dimension.

In Spring 2019, the Stony Brook Elementary student body came out to celebrate the meadow and held a ceremony with BFPOA, FoHVOS, and financial sponsors to install a sign that shares details about the benefits of a native wildflower meadow versus lawn. Mike Shevlin said: “The Brandon Farms POA board was excited about the opportunity to be involved in a pilot program to convert an area of unused yet heavily maintained grass into a natural meadow that benefits the entire community and serves as an educational experience for the Stony Brook students.”

The meadow met with some unexpected challenges, and became a learning experience for more than just the students. The original plan was to use “deer resistant” native plants. And it turned out that the Brandon Farms deer had voracious appetites and grazed on many plants thought to be resistant.

In addition, the native Indian grass grew very aggressively. In 2020, a neighborhood master gardener helped remove some Indian grass and in 2021 the Xerces Society provided a grant of 600 native wildflower plugs to fill that space.

Although the meadow is a work in progress with continual learning opportunities for all, it has succeeded in attracting hundreds of pollinators. In spring, watch for colorful flowers and beautiful butterflies, birds and bees. In addition, the planted area has not needed supplemental waterings and stayed green while the surrounding lawn turned brown in the drought.

The overarching positive results have been encouraging. Under its Community Conservation program, FoHVOS has continued to help Hopewell Valley add life-giving native plants to thousands of acres of local landscape.

Unlike the Maryland HOA that battled for years, Brandon Farms POA has taken the journey to an ecologically friendly landscape and enthusiastically continues on the path. This positive attitude towards environmentally friendly landscape will hopefully encourage others to consider their relationship to the land on which they live.

Shevlin noted: “We are now considering possibly expanding our naturalization efforts to some detention basins in the community which could result in less mowing and provide a more sustainable environment for our residents.”

Lisa wolff is the executive director of Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space. Email: lwolff@fohvos.org.

Lisa Wolff

Native flowers in the Brandon Farms-Stony Brook meadow.

On being a cranky old man: A how-to guide

Robin Schore sChoRe to pLeAse

With the advent of the new year, I deem it essential to fulfill my resolution and share the wisdom of my years with the next generations. So here goes.

So many young people come to me desperate for advice: How do you get to be a cranky old man? What steps are required? Is there a training program and, if so, is it expensive?

First of all, to become truly cranky, it’s essential to learn from your earliest experiences and draw upon childhood role models.

I was fortunate enough to grow up in a neighborhood full of cranky old men. Old man Avino had a permanent scowl on his face. He yelled rather than spoke. These key characteristics may have had something to do with persistent misbehavior by neighborhood hoodlums.

On each side of his front stoop sat a cement lion. Sometimes he painted their mouths red. Regularly, the local bad boys would sneak up to his house at night, lift those tremendously heavy lions off their platforms and place them on the sidewalk. The next morning, a seething Mr. Avino had to figure out how to return them to their proper places. He was mad — always.

A few doors down was a ghostly presence whom we never saw. That was because, as he announced to kids innocently playing in the street, “Go away! I work all night, and I sleep in the day.”

Maybe we felt sorry for him. Maybe not.

Further down the block was the furious Aloysius Beakman. He had the sorriest row of diminutive hedges in front of his weed-filled patch of garden. One day, one of those hedges appeared to have been broken.

Mr. Beakman came out red-faced with anger and began screaming at the kids playing outside, announcing that if he caught the kid who broke his shrubbery, he’d make sure that criminal went to jail for 77 years! We were scared, and we wondered why he picked 77 years.

The crankiest of the cranky was Pop Scofield, who lurked at his window with his dog Rusty, just waiting for some kid to violate the space in front of his house.

Once a kid got even slightly close, Pop Scofield would begin yelling, and his dog would begin barking. After tiring from his tirade, Pop Scofield would start hitting the dog with a newspaper while yelling, “Down, Rusty!” Invariably, the dog would bark even louder.

With models such as these, how could one help but be adept at crankiness upon reaching the appropriate age.

But what does it take to perfect one’s snarl, to induce the requisite fury that allows one to be irritable enough to let loose with full-blown crankiness at a moment’s notice?

Concentrating on all the things that inspire irritation are guaranteed to help maintain the ill temper and ready glare so essential to expressing crankiness with optimal speed.

That list of irritants could include: a table of people at a restaurant all of whom are staring at their cell phones, deer eating the azaleas, people coughing without covering their mouths and people who clean up after their dogs and leave the full plastic bag on the sidewalk. Also, anti-vaxxers, Republicans and, of course, he-who-must-not-be-named.

But how, you may ask, do you perfect the trademark cranky-old-man scowl?

Anyone can suck on a lemon, but serious aspirants to crankihood will charge ahead and order a pineapple, anchovy and liver pizza, or even think about ordering a pineapple, anchovy and liver pizza. Or you could try getting stuck

behind a garbage truck that you can’t pass.

The truly intrepid will go to such extremes as getting too close to a construction site port-o-potty or watching Fox News for 30 seconds (the same thing).

When is the best time to unleash your crankiness? While standing in line at the express lane of the supermarket behind someone with way more than 12 items.

When drivers speed up while you are waiting at a crosswalk with a small child. When, once again, you don’t receive any mail except junk mail. And, of course, when encountering other cranky old men.

In conclusion, be comforted that there is no magic involved in achieving perfect crankiness. It’s actually a natural part of the aging process. Just follow the darkest recesses of your heart.

All of the above, begs the question: Is crankiness gender specific? Is there such a thing as cranky old women? Or can there only be crabby old women?

These are the questions to ponder in the Happy New Year.

Robin schore lives in Hopewell Borough.