I mentioned Tuesday that the main restaurant for Soul Delicious is on Bergen Street near Mapes Avenue in the Weequahic section, southern Newark. That reminded me that I received an email last Saturday from "the old country" (of the Schoonmaker side of my family), and that I also received a review copy of a new book about the Jews of Weequahic.
I don't have any pix specific to the topics covered in the main text, so offer instead pix of spring flowers in my yard. I showed here April 5th pix of crocuses and some daffodils and hyacinths. Here are some more pix of the daffodils and hyacinths at their height. The greens around the near end of the bulb plants are dandelions, which also have flowers, so I let them grow freely.
One reason I bought a one-family separate house rather a townhouse or apartment is to have room for flowering plants. I have gradually shifted from annuals to perennials — plant once, enjoy for years after. The spring-flowering bulbs I planted bloom after the crocuses that the prior owners of my house planted. First come daffodils and hyacinths. Then, when they have peaked and started to lose their petals, the tulips come out. After the tulips, little star-shaped flowers the prior owners presumably also planted come out. Then the lilies I planted, and on and on thru the entire growing season. There is almost always something flowering somewhere in my yard, an enormous and wonderful change from Manhattan apartment life.
Here's the email from the Netherlands. Hello,
This evening I was surfing on internet and I found your site with a fotojournal about living in Newark, USA.
Having a quick look on that site I at once saw a photo of a streetsign with the name Mapes Avenue. I am very interested to get a digital copy of that photo in a good resolution. Is that possible?
The flowerheads on most of my hyacinths are so heavy
that the spindly stems can't hold them up.
I am living in the Netherlands (Europe), the country where the famous classical book Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates is situated. As you know that famous book is written by Mary Mapes Dodge, once an inhabitant of Newark.
I saw on the Internet somewhere that it was a good idea to place spring-flowering bulbs scattered, near the base of trees, so tried it. Some did OK, because the trees don't have leaves at the same time as the bulbs send up leaves, but I should have been more careful about how soon in the day and for how long the tree trunks cast shadows, because some of the flowers that had less lite are producing only skimpy flowers a couple of years on.
During a number of years I am collecting each edition which I can find from this famous book, which is worldwide known and very popular all over the world, but in fact it is not very popular in the country where the famous story is situated....... In the meantime I gathered some 720 different editions from everywhere in some 28 different languages, which means in Chinese, in Russian, in Japanese, in the Hebrew language, in .... etc. etc.
In this wide view of my front yard from about April 11th, the daffodils, narcissuses, and hyacinths are near prime. Only the leaves of the tulips are up, at the front, at this point. The clumps of green in the middle ground, surrounded by the brown of dead leaves from last autumn that I leave to enrich the soil, look a lot like crocus foliage (grasslike leaves with a lite stripe down the middle). Unlike crocuses, however, which issue cup-shaped flowers just after winter's snows (and sometimes even poke up thru the snow), these plants produce little white flowers after even the tulips have died back. I did not plant them, so don't know what they are. Anyone?
I also collected all kind of details about the author, about her life and career, about her most famous book, about her sources, about the reasons of the popularity all over the world and the non-popularity here in Holland (the Netherlands), and all kind of other themes.
In this foto from two weeks later, the tulips have come into their own and the older flowers have dropped their petals and faded out of prominence. This year, the tulip display was very good, and some of the tulips (mainly the white ones, curiously) seem to have lasted a lot longer than usual.
Slowly I started to give Powerpoint-lectures about these themes for interested people in historical circles, for members of speedskating-clubs, and all kind of other interested people. And then of course it is very nice to dispose about all kind of photos and other types of illustrations which can be used in such Powerpoint-lectures.
Spring bulbs came up even in my extremely narrow northern side yard. I did not plant these, nor did I see them in prior years. It seems that each year, more things bloom.
As we have a son living in the USA we were three times in your country but as he removed from Illinois till California we never had the opportunity to visit your surroundings. But maybe once......
This closeup on the left narcissus shows shoots of something else popping out. I think they are hostas, which I also did not plant, but which throw up a slender, multi-flower spike of purple flowers in the summer.
After this explanation I kindly ask you if I can get a photo of that streetsign of the Mapes Av which you have on your website, for of course I often tell about the father of May Mapes Dodge and his ideas about agriculture in his days. I sure hope that I can get that photo from you.
This closer view, taken very late in the day, of an area on the right of my front yard, shows the only(?) three solid-yellow daffodils that came in the daffodil bulb mix that I bought at the Home Depot. They came up later than the white ones, which are also daffodils, but white with yellow trumpet is more generally called "narcissus". To complicate things even more, "narcissus" is the technical name for all daffodils! I hope to see more completely yellow daffodils in coming years. You can also see the one white hyacinth in my entire yard (for now; I hope the bulb will divide and give me more in future years). The others are blue and pink, so I have a sort of faded patriotic theme going: pink, white, and blue.
Now I don't want to ask too much for this time, but still two other photo-themes could be very interesting for me. I wrote already three or four times mails till a historical Newark-group and to a school, as I ever read that there was a plaque about Mary Mapes Dodge in the Maple Avenie School in Newark (I could find the text of the plaque on internet). But I am very interested to know if that plaque is still there and of course if this is the case I should be very interested to receive a photo of that plaque. But unlucky enough I never got a reply or answer from that school. Do you know further details about it?
Last summer, I inadvertently dug up a few bulbs when planting other things after the spring-flowering bulbs' leaves had died back. Rather than replant the disturbed bulbs in the same spot, where I had lots of bulbs, I moved them to other areas of the yard where there were none. The two yellow tulips here were among 4 bulbs I planted in that area. Three produced flowers this first year. The one on the far left had already dropped most of its petals by the time I took this picture. I thought I had an earlier view showing the two on the right and one on the left, with only the one between having produced only leaves, but I guess I didn't take a picture after all, because I don't find one on either the camera or my computer. Thinking of taking a picture is not the same as taking one.
And of course I would be very interested to have a photo of the buryplace of Mary Mapes Dodge in Hillside, NJ, but I don't know on what way and where I can ask for.
The azaleas didn't do particularly well this year, and I'm not sure why. I have about five in my main side yard (to the south of my house) and four in front. Maybe I have to cut back some tall wildflowers to increase the lite the azaleas get during the rest of the growing season. The azaleas generally grown in this country are evergreen, so even after tender plants die back in late autumn, they can photosynthesize food whenever the temperature rises above about 45 degrees F.
Thanks in advance for your interest in my mail,
HB
Drachten (the Netherlands)
This azalea, the frontmost of those in my side yard, looks to be two bushes but is actually one. I don't know why there's a gap.
I asked Jeffrey Bennett, webmaster of the Newarkology website, if he knew about the plaque and gravesite. He knew nothing about a plaque but figured the Hillside cemetery mentioned must be Evergreen Cemetery, which he knew to be very well maintained, and thought must have a desk where someone could tell me the location of Ms. Dodge's grave, and added that Stephen Crane's grave is there too. He suggested that if I do head down that way, I might want to check out B'nai Jeshurun's cemetery adjoining.
In this foto, a wisteria vine throws up a flower cluster only inches from the ground. By contrast, the main vine near this offshoot has climbed up the supports to my porch and above its roof, and vines in other parts of my yard and intruding into the next climb high into trees.
So I replied to HB:
I checked my records, and am afraid that I don't have a close view of the Mapes Avenue street sign in high resolution. I was on a [Newarkology] walking tour, and didn't have time to cross the street to get a closeup. I attach the original foto, [at higher resolution] .... I don't know when I will get to that area again, but will keep your info on file so that if I do get to the Maple Avenue school or find Ms. Dodge's grave I can send you better pix. ... I did not anticipate that anyone would want a closeup of the street sign.
You just never can know what people will find interesting. Or boring. 
Here's the entire tulip bed from the side. The camera is tilted slitely to get close enuf to keep the flowers dense in view, because they dip toward the front. When I put them in, I dug a trench about 16 inches front to back by 18 feet wide by about 8 inches deep, put leaves and other organic material at the bottom, placed the bulbs, and then covered them all over in one operation, rather than arduously digging individual holes for over 100 bulbs.
I did a little online research and found that: Evergreen Cemetery [was founded] on March 23, 1853. The cemetery located in North Broad Street covers 112 acres of ground on the Hillside, Newark and Elizabeth border. The most famous graves in the cemetery are those of Mary Mapes Dodge and Stephen Crane, authors.
Some of the buds were fat, almost round. Turns out they were for 'double' tulips, which look like roses. Many more of these came up this year than in prior years.
That same source says that Hillside was originally part of Essex County. It could be again, if Newark decides it doesn't want to be hemmed in so closely by suburbs. The State is keen on saving money on municipal services, so should smile upon urban consolidations.
I didn't know the colors of the flowers when I planted the bulbs, because a friend had rescued them from discard by a church in the Gramercy Park area of Manhattan. In fact, some of them turned out not to be tulips at all but other things, like daffodils and paperwhites. The mix of colors, shapes, and types of flower is entirely accidental. But that makes it naturalistic, not regimented.
In checking for an email address for Evergreen Cemetery, I found in Wikipedia that Edward Stratemeyer is also buried there.
Some of the stems grew very long. Here, the fuzzball seedhead of a dandelion sneaks into the picture. I have some dandelions an inch and a half tall and others almost two feet tall. Dandelions are edible, raw and cooked. I haven't tried them yet, tho. Maybe this year, mixed in with the veggies I planted early this month. Edward Stratemeyer (October 4, 1862–May 10, 1930). Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, he was an American publisher and writer of books for children. He wrote 150 books himself, and created the most famous of the series books for juveniles, including the Rover Boys (1899 and after), Bobbsey Twins (1904), Tom Swift (1910), Hardy Boys (1927), and Nancy Drew (1930) series, among others.
Wow. I never read Hans Brinker, but of course knew the legend (entirely fictitious) of the little Dutch boy pushing his thumb in to block a leak in a dike until the townspeople could plug it, to prevent a rush of water from destroying the dike and flooding the countryside. The Dutch reject this American invention, tho the vehemence of the rejection has lessened over time, and there are even now two statues to the Little Dutch Boy, one at Madurodam, a fabulous complex of miniature buildings that is the thing I liked most of my one brief visit to the Netherlands. I pretty much hated Amsterdam, and the flat, flat, flat! countryside, but loved Madurodam.
In this portion of the left side of the yard, you can see some paperwhites mixed in with the tulips. Paperwhites, and other daffodils, have skinny leaves; tulips, wide.
Even tho I never read Hans Brinker, I did read, and love, the Hardy Boys, and bought a bunch of those books when I was a child. Look at that introductory paragraph about Stratemeyer: that New Jerseyan invented the Rover Boys, Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift, Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew, but isn't even mentioned as among the most noted people buried in Evergreen Cemetery! Astounding. Moreover:
The electric police weapon called the Taser was so named after Thomas A. Swift['s] Electric Rifle. The "A" is gratuitous; the character's middle name was never provided.
Did you know that? I actually did, because in my "Simpler Spelling Word of the Day" website I offered "tazer" last December 24th, and had to deliberately ignore the acronymic origin of the word, because it is unphonetic. (compare "eraser").
I also found online the text of the plaque that HB had found. That webpage says Ms. Dodge was born in Newark, but most sources say she was born in New York City. Only with great difficulty did I finally establish that her father moved the family to Newark to found an experimental farm. Maybe I should ask HB about her father's agricultural experiments, since I saw very little info in the research I have done to date.
Mary married the chief financial backer for that farm, but when he suffered financial reverses, he left his family and was found days later drowned (sounds like suicide, tho the sources I found do not assert that). Mapes Dodge then moved back to the family farm,* and that is where she began her writing career, and ended up writing Hans Brinker. In Newark.
The happiest new development in my yard this year is that two of my three rhododendrons bloomed for the first time. I put them in about three years ago and, tho they got buds, they never bloomed until now. This foto of the middle one shows what the others looked like in prior years, with a big bud that appears not to be a flower bud, and leaves whose edges have been eaten by some mystery bug.
The entire Hans Brinker book is available online. It may be a good choice for an Eeze Reeder edition, a series of books I would like to create, comprising standard text on the left page and a context-sensitive Augméntad Fanétik respelling on the right. I thought of doing Swiss Family Robinson, but it may be a bit too antique (1812) in vocabulary. And why not a Newark novel as my first Eeze Reeder edition? 
Having seen that, you can now see why I'm so happy that this year two of them look like this instead.
Jews of Weequahic. Arcadia Publishing produces the "Images of America" series of fotobooks, to which another Newark book has just been added. In 127 pages and over 200 fotos, some with extensive captions, Jews of Weequahic by Linda B. Forgosh (softcover, 6.5" wide by 9.25" tall)** chronicles what life was like for the enormous Jewish community in the South Ward. There is no overarching narrative text, and the book is not organized chronologically but thematically, focusing first on Weequahic Park, then elementary schools, then Weequahic High, shops and eateries, and remaining structures from the vanished population, which fled to the suburbs in and after the Sixties.
Azaleas and rhododendrons are related, azaleas being a subset of the genus Rhododendron. But whereas azalea blooms are small, rhododendron blooms are relatively huge. The bush also tends to be a lot larger, and the two plants that bloomed this year have also thrown out a lot more new growth. In this next foto, indeed, the blooms on the right are partly concealed by new growth.
There is a lot of information in this book, but no index by which to find it. I have not yet had time to go systematically thru it, as to gain ID's of things I have fotograffed, and I can speak only to the quality and interest of the fotos. So I asked Jeffrey Bennett, webmaster of the Newarkology website and walking-tour guide, who has a very good grasp of the history of Jews in Newark, if he would be willing to check the book's history and offer a review here, for which I would give him the book after I had looked thru it.
Remember the little star-shaped flowers I referred to earlier? Here's what they look like up close, in my backyard. The pretty scallop-edged leaves all around are baby rose of sharon plants from mature (12 foot?) roses of sharon that drop thousands of seeds and would produce a forest of roses of sharon if I did not pull most of them up. I'm thinking of offering my neighbors rose of sharon saplings to place at points along the curb where car doors won't swing into them, as to create a distinctive look to the entire block, with deep pink flowers 4 and more inches across. Anybody out there want a rose of sharon? I also regularly have to pull up the oak and (as here) maple trees that self-seed, or my property would become completely wooded.
Jeff said he'd be happy to have the book, but couldn't be fully objective because he knows the author. I thought he might, because I saw reference to the Jewish Historical Society of MetroWest, which I knew Jeff to be affiliated with. But he can surely phrase any criticism in helpful terms. And, who knows, the history may be completely flawless.
Here are the same little flowers, in the front yard. The bare dead leaves that had appeared between the clumps of green in early April have now been covered by exuberant growth of ground-covering and climbing vines, of two varieties, one with solid, lite-green leaves, the other with darker, variegated leaves. Again, I did not plant these, so don't know what they are. They akso bloom, late in the summer, producing hundreds and hundreds of little white flowers all over the areas they cover. But I periodically have to rip away part of their growth because they otherwise overgrow everything and interfere with other plants' lite. One such plant is a mini-rose, a bud of which you can see at the lower right of this picture.
Now, however, I'm starting to regret offering Jeff the book after he has reviewed it, because there are some fotos and info I might like to retain. Ah well, a deal is a deal.
Finally, the foto above shows the tiniest flowers — slitely fuzzy, because my camera couldn't know that it was the tiny purple-and-yellow flowers in particular that I wanted to focus on — alongside the greenery of what will soon be the biggest flowers in my yard, bigger than the rhododendrons, bigger even than a rose of sharon: pink lilies. Stay tuned.
____________________
* The source that gave me the missing information about when the family initially moved to Newark and that the widowed Mrs. Dodge moved back to Newark after her husband's death, was on the horrendously abusive website Novelguide.com, which threw up popup after popup after video/animated ad, as initially froze my machine for several minutes while my popup blocker fought against fastclick .com. Fastclick won, as usual. We need to put fastclick out of business, and imprison its principals for stealing uncountable personhours lost to machine freezes in trying but failing to stop fastclick ads. When I went back later to recheck something, Novelguide.com completely froze my machine, so badly that not even Task Manager (Alt-Ctl-Del) could close offending popups nor even my AOL browser and unfreeze other programs. Instead, I had to hold down the power button, wait a minute, then power-on again. Altogether, I lost
24 minutes to this attack from Novelguide.com. Do not EVER go to Novelguide.com. Such info as it may have is not worth the hassle and risks of freezing your computer.
**
Jews of Weequahic, $19.99, Arcadia Publishing. "Available at local retailers, online bookstores, or through Arcadia Publishing at
www.arcadiapublishing.com or (888) 313-2665."
![['Soul Delicious' location in little triangular building on Springfield Avenue, western Newark, NJ, November 28, 2007]](http://www.resurgencecity.org/Blogpix/SoulDelc.jpg)
