A visual chronicle of suburban NJ
Nothing speaks to the holidays like a brass band! Well, I don’t know how true that is, but brass bands are pretty great any way you slice it.
I found these guys (Chatham Brass) packing up after a gig at the Livingston Mall. I’m mad that I missed the concert, but they were still a friendly bunch of people, happy to answer all my questions. What more can you ask?
Morristown has hung these ball-things all over its downtown. They’re very festive, but I’m not sure what exactly to call them. ‘Cos really, aren’t “Christmas balls” those shiny metallic ornaments that end up in holiday centerpieces? If those are “Christmas balls,” then what are these? “Light balls?”
I suppose a quick Amazon product search would yield some solid answers, but I kind of enjoy the mystery.
To celebrate the upcoming holidays, Morristown has a festive little electric train that runs in circles around the Morristown Green on weekends. Isn’t that cute?
The kids think it’s pretty cool, too.
When I was driving my friend Kyle home after a somewhat disappointing hike, I nearly ran over some wild turkeys.
“WHAT!” I cried.
“They’re turkeys,” said Kyle.
I stopped the car in the middle of the road and grabbed my camera from the backseat.
“Are you serious,” Kyle deadpanned.
“They’re WILD TURKEYS!!! I’ve seen wild turkeys like three times!”
“Dude, they live in the woods. They’re as common as sparrows.”
“Not to me!”
Kyle sat there in patient disbelief as I kept shooting pictures of these stupid birds.
“…In the spring, they have babies, and they’re kind of cute,” he conceded.
Anyway— Happy Thanksgiving, if you’re in the U.S. and you celebrate. 
I like fireworks!!!
Don’t you?!
Of course you do.
In the United States, we celebrate our country’s Independence Day (on July fourth) by setting off fireworks!
They’re ESPECIALLY fun when you have front-row seats.
Well, technically, there weren’t really any rows or even seats at New Providence’s July 3rd show, per se. Just folks with lawn chairs set up along the town’s main drag, which was closed to traffic for the event.
There was a beautiful empty area of a parking lot where nobody was sitting, so I set up my tripod and laid down and snapped photos to my little heart’s content.
That’s a photo of my forehead. See the little black dots, especially above my eyebrow? That’s firework ash. THAT’S HOW CLOSE I WAS. I shielded my eyes for most of the show, after I felt the first couple ash flakes on my face.
Yeah. SUPER FUN TIMES! I always forget how much I enjoy fireworks.
Remember how I said that most towns have their own parade? Chatham doesn’t! So the Chatham fire department came across the river and tagged along with us New Providincians.
During the closing ceremony, though, they got a call, and had to run— literally.
After the parade, there was a closing memorial ceremony in front of the New Providence Memorial Library. (They also paused to say a few words in front of the Methodist Church [plus its cemetery] and Presbyterian Church [plus ITS cemetery] along the parade route.)
Police were keeping an eye on things. Cars kept driving through the middle of this ceremony, since the end of the parade wasn’t well-marked, and the cars needed to go SOMEWHERE.
Being a former band geek myself, I appreciate marching bands. Even when they don’t start playing until they’ve marched 100 feet past where I’m standing. (I’m not bitter. AT ALL.)
It’s interesting to see what the norm is for different marching bands. This band only fastened the top button of their jackets, and let the back zipper hang open, unzipped. (It seemed a little sloppy, but they were all wearing matching maroon t-shirts underneath, so I guess it was planned. But why not forgo the jacket entirely, and just wear the matching maroon t-shirts?) Plus, a lot of them carried their own little knapsacks/ mini backpacks through the parade. I wish we’d been allowed to do that when I was in band. (sulk sulk sulk)
I know this is obvious for most of you, but today is Memorial Day in the United States. A lot of us have the day off from work so we can celebrate the memory of those who died in wars.
One of the ways we celebrate is… parades!
Every town has its own local parade, mostly. So I watched New Providence’s! It’s sponsored by our local American Legion chapter.
The guard, shown in the top photo, was much less busy before the parade started:
I’ve never photographed a parade before. It’s hard to get good photos of a parade! I’ll need to figure out some better techniques for next time.
