Mattes's Musings by KC2GIK

Every year Cape May turns into a winter wonderland, the town really its back it it's roots. All the Victorian-era houses become cooler than usual because they light up for Christmas. From before Thanksgiving until after New Years the Nations Oldest Seaside Resort becomes one of the Oldest Christmas Resorts. The first Friday in December is dedicated to not one but two tree lightings, one at Rotary Park, the other at Congress Hall. I was lucky to catch both, but had better luck with the first lighting because I got close to- the tree. The tree lighting at Congress Hall was even more crowded than the one in Rotary Park so I didn't even try too hard to shoot it. I knew getting shots on the night of the tree lighting would be difficult but  I just wanted to see what I could shoot. Below is a blurry attempt but I promised myself that I wouldn't be disappointed if I didn't get the perfect shot. After all night shooting is a very difficult under perfect conditions. These w

Before I get to the license plate meet itself I must, include a little background. Clark Wothe, who is in charge of ALPCA's eleven different regions has been trying to get to a meet in every region. He lives in Arizona and is always travelling for business and has like a million air miles. Since moving topCape May I have been attempting to invite anybody and everybody down to visit us.  I've have other ALPCA members stop by, even Gary Walker all the way from Australia!! However Clark was different. Every where he travels on business, he sends me a post card, I literally have cards from all over the country, the money he spends. Clark says he's "extreme" a few weekends ago.  I had a chance to  play "tour guide. We started out at where else but the Cape May Lighthouse. While it wasn't open to climb I took Clark on a tour of Cape May State Park Our tour then took us to   Atlantic City to meet Lucy the Elephant.  Oddly enough for all the times I have bee

Well here it is October in Cape May  and this month I'm all over the map, literally I e. Let's step back a few days into September, a lot was going on so there wasn't time to write it all on the blog piece by piece but here it is all together, a end of summer, beginning of fall wrap up. It's also a warm up to a winter of writing, including something coming up the beginning of next year which I'll introduce shortly. First right after Labor Day is the annual firemen's convention in Wi=ldwood ( I was going to say down but Wildwood is north of Cape May). It was a little extra special because Jason, a fellow license pllate collector and fir buff took me to the parade on Saturday. Unfortunately for me the backup camera batteries didn't last but I got some good shots in the mean time and have my spot picked out for next   My mom had another doctor's appointment  in North Jersey, one of her last for awhile. So my dad offered to bring my scooter so I would hav

In all honesty I don't usually watch the National Anthem at the beginning of football games so the kneeling controversy didn't bother me, until now.  First of all people need to stop defending the players' actions need to stop saying "It's their right".  I don't know anybody, including President Trump, denying the players have a right to take a knee. This has been established since day one we get it.  After all if part of the protest is about "freedom of speech" then you have to accept the consequences, including a drop in viewership and risking sponsors , after all that's their right to respond to your protest. You wanted to get their attention well you have it now, what are you going to do? What's your next step? Also nobody is running up to them forcing them to stand. If you saw some of sizes of these guys you wouldn't dare. However it shouldn't automatically be assumed critics of the movement want to take away their rights,

Today marks sixteen years since our nation was attacked and changed forever.  We say we never forget but what does that really mean? Does it mean we only think about those who were killed today and forget about them tomorrow?  How can we balance remembering them without letting our sorrows stand in the way of living our lives? Wives who no longer have husbands, husbands who no longer have wives, children left without parents. Parents left to grieve for their children; However there is one thing we can do, keep the memories alive. When you say "never forget" that does not mean dwell on  this day to the point that you don't allow happiness back into your lives. We all need times to grieve and times to celebrate, it's part of a process, not of healing but of living, which is what the people who died on that day want for all of us. One of the best ways to honor the memories of those who died on 9/11/01 is pause, remember and then move on. The best way to celebrate a perso

Before I begin to even dive into the meat of this post, let me stress I AM NOT defending the Confederates OR the Nazis, they were both evil and needed to be defeated. However I am disturbed by the comparison because ironically they are politically opposites. I cringe when people say they are a like because that tells me people don't understand history at all and not understanding bad history makes it more likely for it to repeat itself. I wanted to break it down for myself so I could understand it better. I am disturbed  by people taking statutes of Confederate soldier down by force When people mention the United States Civil War most say slavery was the only  cause and if the South won they would  still have slaves in 2017. While nobody can tell what it would have been like if the South won, given the technology revolution and the advent of say farm equipment, it's a bet there would be less slaves. Kind of like how there are now more kiosks in fast food joints and even supe

How do I respond to being banned from a Facebook group?  Mock the website that got me kicked out of the group in t he first place. I was going to say boycott at first but then I disobeyed my own boycott. Also I need to look at it in order to mock it. Anyway I read it to get a good chuck every now and then. With the terms "fake news" being thrown all over the internet I decided, BAD NEWS was m ore appropriate for the Daily Voice. Bad news because the stories are basically short misinformed rants with poorly researched material and erros glalore. They get the when and the where correct but that's usually where the facts end Daily Voice is  heavily self-promoting, which is the tell-tale sign of desperation in the business. It would be one thing if they had their own Facebook page and just distrubuted their news on there. However the two main "writers" constantly post their own works on multiple Facebook pages.  On more then a few occasions they have been challeng

I FLY THE F LAG  I fly the flag on the back of my scooter because I stand with the men and women in ALL kinds of uniforms. I fly the flag   because I know even though I am no t always proud of my country, I am still proud t o be in this country I fly the flag in times of sorrow because it is a reassurance that everything will be alright I fly the flag during parades out of respect out of everyone who marches I fly the flag every time someone in the service gives his or her life so I can live mine I fly the flag out of respect for the military  police, fire, medical and other emergency workers who protect me and  people I love I fly the flag to remind myself no matter what comes my way I am blessed to have so many wonderful people who care about me I fly the flag because I pray every day those leading our nation find a way to make the country great for everyone. I fly the flag as a symbol of hope and a promise to never lose hope even in the darkest of times I f

There are too many good Allman  Brother's songs I could write about, my two favorites are  Jessica  written by Dickey Betts and Midnight Rider  by none other then Gregg Allman. The song to me is about a loner weary motorcycle rider and his journey t o a better life. However the longer he rides, eventually he realizes he can't outrun he's problems, hence the phrase "The road goes on forever". It's n ot really a cheery lyric but the hook is a slap of reality everybody needs frome time to time. However the other part of it goes "I'm no t going to let them catch the midnight rider" which to me means  he       won't let all his problems in life ruin his life. They  almost did a few times, but in the end I hope All;man made peace wit h himself. The  "Them" are multiple demons, the murder of his father and losing h is brother, Duane, in a horrific motorcycle accident, drugs, illness you name it, Gregg Allman surviived it Truthfully I don&#

I have been listening to police scanners for over twenty five years,When the fire whistle blew I would grab my scanner and race down to the firehouse often when the trucks were just leaving and kwait until the trucks returned. Over the years I got to know all of them pretty well. I saw folks my age join as juniors at 16 and go through the training firefighters need. At times I tried tor give them some encouragement or just be around them. I went to all of the wetdowns and even showed up at a few calls when I knew I could observe at a safe distance. They all  smile when I show up  at the firehouse I watched kids my  age first become juniour firefighters and then regular firefighters. I wanted to be with them as m uch as I could!! One of my dreams was to make it to the Chief's Dinner at least once, but it was for memberrs, family and special guests like the Mayor. As soon as my parents bought  the house in  Cape May I knew the clock was ticking. It was always thier plan to move dow

Welcome to the slightly new and very improved Mattes Musings! ! I was reading previous entries of the blog and figured I needed a different look, a different feel. This blog started out as Mattes's  Madness , a title with a double meaning, although I am seldom post when I'm angry I have used this blog to vent anger, maybe I should use it more in this capacity. However this blog became a test tube of ideas for poems or even articles.  After first I wrote frequent, short entries about observations I had about my life mixed  in with comments on current news events. Some of the entries I wrote just when I felt like I had not other outlet. While I realize nothing on the Internet is private,  I also didn't actively advertise this blog at the time. The original address of this blog was jaymatt1978.blogspot.com because "jaymatt1978" was attached to all my e-mails and IM screen names. Actually I created "jaymatt1978" at Cittone Institute the instructor wanted

It took me all day and a lot of distractions before I sat down at the k,eyboard. Kind of like what happened 20 years ago tonight,  the night journal was born.   First a few ground rules, I will only use her initials, even though people know her. I was going to include the original entry, I'm still debating this while I type. This is kind of a double anniversary, it's the night I went out on a dinner date, that wasn't the Junior Prom and it's the night I started writing again after about a two year break. To put March 14,1997 into context easily understood, it was what I called "Senior Year Number 1" because I went to Pascack Valley High School for five years.  SG  entered  into my life two years earlier at the start of my sophmore year (her junior year) in high school, we had an art class together it  took a few weeks but a few things became clear. First was a year ahead of me, art classes had people from different grade levels together.  We struck up a fri

I realize writing about a TV show is one step away from going days with out changing out of my pajamas and owning five cats, I hate cats but I'd have puppies that never leave my side.C'all it a part of the winter blues down in Cape May, which is a small price to pay for the wonderful summers down here. Writer's block seems to have kicked into full swing, that and the demise of my one laptop, yes  I'm still on mom's Toshiba.  One night mom and I were surfing Netflix  and came across a Canadian TV show called Heartland about  the Fleming family who owns a horse ranch in Alberta, Canada. The show stars  Amber Marshall who plays Amy Fleming who does am,azing things with injured and mistreated horses. This is a trait inherited from her deceased mother Marion, She lives on the ranch with her grandfather Jack, the patriarch of Heartland, her sister Lou, the business woman who later transforms cabins on the ranch into a semi- dude ranch getaway retreat.  The show begins

Well after about six years, losing about several, keys and numerous screen freezes I decided it was time  to retire my Toshiba. It had been through a lot especially going back and forth down to Cape May before we moved down permanently I admit I haven't been gently with it at times but it has served me well. I used to help me get one the air with PSK,, was  used to view numerous videos, YouTube and other videos. Also I have explored my writing even more with this machine than all others combined. Sadly some of the keys started popping off and when I tried to replace them the keys b roke off. I got to the point were if I wanted to  type an "X" I needed to  find a webpage with an "X" on it, copy it and then past it  where I needed that letter.  Which made writing anything substantial a real pain. Still I held on to it because it  felt like an old  friend. As it was breaking down I knew I needed to back it up. When my folks went up to Sam's Club I

The most offensive this I have read on the Internet about Trump and seen on the Internet is the constant comparison to Adolf Hitler. The dictator of Germany in World War II was set on creating a "master race" and spreading it throughout the world. He wanted to dominate the world, and would have continued to invade Europe if the allies didn't stop him. It really was a world war because he really had this goal of world domination. See Hitler wanted to wipe Jews off the face of the Earth completely, he killed every Jew he could until he was stopped. Hitler would have invaded Europe and killed off anyone who stood in his way of creating the "Master Race" Trumps view of Muslims, agree or disagree, is to have Muslims who don't respect Western values to stay in the Middle East. He's not killing anybody It's not prejudice to put certain conditions on people coming into the country. We're also always preaching about going into things too quickly and no

A lot of anticipation, and some resentment, is swirling around last week about Donald Trump being sworn in as 45 th President of the United states. Although obviously not everyone is so happy. From woman''s groups, to college students to people with disabilities. There are literally "million marches" for all the groups who fear what Trump will do now he occupies the Oval Office. It seems he's already rolled back some of the environmental regulations and is in this process of replacing Obamacare. He nominated some controversial people to his Cabinet and made Democrats very nervous. People against him see all these moves as an attack on democracy but those people praised Obama for doing the same thing eight years ago. The protesters aren't happy, ironically they think the system is indeed "rigged" which is ironically what Donald Trump was saying all throughout the election! Which in my eyes just reinforces the checks and balances are working well.

In stead of falling asleep watching the Golden Globes, I binge-watched The Killing with my folks. I wake up to find the usual Trump-bashing by Jimmy Fallon and others, especially Merryl Streep, who again called out Trump for "mocking" Serge Kovalski, a Washington Time reporter with a disability that prevents him to move his hands easily. In a September speech Trump made reference to an unflattering article Kovalski wrote about him and waved his hand in a spastic motions, to many who didn't want to see Donald Trump be president, this was yet another heavy club to beat Trump over the head. There was just on small problem, Donald Trump never meant to mocked anyone\. He made the hand gestures no t even knowing the reporter had a disability. There's video of Hillary Clinton doing the same thing, but it has been since buried. There's also video of President Obama saying his poor bowling skills made him eligible for the Special Olympics. To be fair Obama did rightfully