Featured Post

Charlie Campbell Tribute

  It has been a whirlwind few weeks. One  father's friends from high school passed away earlier and we made an expected trip down to Murrells Inlet for the celebration of life. They have kept in touch over the years. Charlie moved around a lot during his eighty plus year his roots remained n Allendale, NJ! He and his wife Bev were a fixture a t DeeDee and Anth ony's Fourth of July Parties. I   know their kids,John and Annie.Charlie also had to sons from a previous marriage and it was recently discovered he has another daughter. Charlie was the CEO of several companies, like Floor Shine shoes and Munsingwear, a golf clothing company.  The family moved around a lot from  Allendale,NJ to  Connecticut to Minnesota before finally  settling in Murrells Inlet SC, founding the Dead Dog Saloon, a fixture on the Murrells Inlet Marshwalk, he later built the Claw House next door. Ironically Charlie and Bev brought a second house in Cape May which meant I spen...
1 comment

Remembering Allendale

A little while ago I was reminded of a dark memory......the death of my grandfather a few years ago. It seems someone is losing their father the same way, and out of respect I won't mention who, don't ask. However upon hearing this news I remembered how my grandfather suffered throughout the holidays. I remember the last Christmas he spent with us, his spot on the couch was replaced by a medical bed. The pain patches and other medications were placed on the exact spot where "important papers" once occupied a glass table in between the couch and the TV. I vividly remember the way the house "felt" that Christmas. After years of joyous events that went on, weddings, baptisms and numerous holidays within the walls. It was the site where I had visited every Sunday for dinner, the smells only grandma's kitchen couldx make. Or during the summer when grandpa would grill outside while watching us swim.
I remember the basement...the grandkids "office space" my cousins and I went into a pretend business. Of course me being the oldest I was the boss. While I won't go into- details suffice it to say that basement was better than my own basement in a lot of ways. One year my grandparents got me a t oy drum set and my mother insisted it stay in THEIR basement
Now another Christmas Eve is upon us, for years we have had it at our house, even before Grandpa got sick. Although I have to admit sometimes I still go past their street with Sean and wonder about the family living their now. You know what kid have what roooms. If they are enjoying ther pool.. I hope they fill it with the love we did

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

One Contact - Five Lighthouses--W9C

Back in the summer I wrote an entry in here about my Lighthouse phone contact with Bill,N8ET , so now I had to top that with a five lighthouse PSK contact in Wisconsin! I was orginally going to wait until I got the card like my other contacts but I think at this stage of the game you can take my word for it. This contact was with a husband and wife team also known as "Team Cheese"--WI9TC (I love the callsign). Like the contact with Bill, they were in the line of sight of five lighthouses located on the Wisconsin shores of Lake Michigan. As soon as I saw them on the BeaconBot (the e-mail reflector used to notify people of lighthouse activations-) I knew I had to take my best shot. There were tons of stations dying to get a contact. Well after some monitoring of the waterfall and waiting for a break in the QSO's, I dropped my call. Unfortunately I was getting overpowered a lot so I actually wound up waiting for quite awhile. Although I have to admit it was also fun just ...
More Posts to Mattes's Madness

Bob Dylan blows into town

Image
       For a few months there has buzz around Cape May NJ that Bob Dylan was coming to America's Oldest Seaside Resort. No he wasn't playing a concert at Convention Hall. For most of this weeks parts of 2024 Cape May,NJ was transformed into 1965 Newport, RI. A Complete Unknown is a new film about Dylan's conversion from acoustic  to electric guitar starring Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan is in production and the location scouting team decided that  Cape May today looked like Newport back in '65. Bob Dylan debuted  his hit song Like a Rolling Stone   at t he Newport Folk Festival. They even transformed Perry Street  into Belevedere Avenue. Shops along the Washington Mall were temporarily renamed to match shops up in Newport.  The Victorian Motel was baptized then Viking Motel for the film  Days prior I started seeing filming equipment  being transported into town.       Like most o f the town I was hopi...
More Posts to Mattes's Madness

2025 New Year's Note

 WELL here we are folks one quarter of the way into this century!! I have been thinking about writing this email since the beginning of December but of course I am a month late. I am happy to report the Mattes Family is healthy!  Chirs, Natalie, Zander and Quinn are busy as ever! Zander is now a sophomore and studying for his written test to get his driving permit! I have to double check that fact because it's so hard to believe. Quinn is doing well in eighth grade and is on a travelling soccer team which plays in tournaments all over the country. She has one coming up in Florida in  February that dad and I are thinking about going down for a few days to watch her. They BOTH are getting as tall as their uncle Jay which is very hard for him to accept! The family adopted three kittens which as a dog person even I admit they are cute!! We spent Christmas with them and got  to see the new Bob Dylan movie, partly filmed right here in Cape May. Unfortunately, I didn't get ...
More Posts to Mattes's Madness