KGA Wildlife Ambassadors Program

Kingston Greenways Association invites the public to come meet the animal ambassadors from the Mercer County Wildlife Center at the Mapleton Preserve/D&R Canal State Park Headquarters on Sunday, September 16, 2018, at 2 pm. The Mercer County Wildlife Center is a state and federally licensed facility that cares for injured, ill and displaced native wildlife. This program will feature animals from the Center that for various reasons cannot be released back into the wild. These animals travel to schools and community events throughout the year, acting as ambassadors for their wild counterparts.

The Mapleton Preserve/D&R Canal State Park Headquarters is located at 145 Mapleton Road in Kingston. This event is free and open to the public. Please note: If the temperature exceeds 80 degrees, the event will NOT be held. Please visit KGA the night before of the morning of the program to verify that it is taking place, or call 609-750-1821. Learn more about the Wildlife Center at Wildlife Center Friends.

Photo of Barred Owl: Tari Pantaleo

Shikantaza at South Brunswick Jazz Café

The musical trio Shikantaza—Doug Miller on piano, Bernhard Geiger on acoustic bass, Brandon Lewin on percussion—will perform with guests Steve Kaplan on sax and flute and vocalist Ron Orlando at the South Brunswick Jazz Café on Friday, September 7, 2018, at 8 pm. Shikantaza explores the jazz canon and songs from the Great American Songbook. They make familiar works uniquely their own, as well as offering original compositions developed improvisationally. Their music draws inspiration from many genres. The word shikantaza, translated literally as just sitting, refers to a form of Japanese Zen Buddhist meditation. To read more about Shikantaza and to listen their music, click here.

The South Brunswick Jazz Café is located at the Herb Eckert Auditorium in the Senior Center, South Brunswick Municipal Complex, 540 Route 522 in Monmouth Junction. Admission is $6 at the door. Doors open at 7:30 pm. No reservations, no advance ticket sales. This performance is a BYOB event. For more information, call 732-329-4000, ext. 7635, or click here.

John McCain

John McCain

1936 – 2018

"Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history. Farewell, fellow Americans. God bless you, and God bless America."

FPNL Scavenger Hunt in the Mapleton Preserve

Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands, in collaboration with the D&R Canal State Park Naturalist, will host an "old-fashioned scavenger hunt with a modern twist" on Saturday, August 25, 2018, at 10 am. This nature- and history-themed event will take place at the Mapleton Preserve/D&R Canal State Park, 145 Mapleton Road in Kingston. Teams will cooperate to find natural objects and complete fun-filled tasks in a timed event. Digital or cell phone cameras, simple sketches and/or map annotations will be used to record any items that are too big to "collect" (bring your cell phones or cameras if you have them).

Come with your family or form an adult team, meet new friends and get your imagination working while exploring the fields and trails of Mapleton Preserve. Refreshments will be served. The event is free, and participants of all ages are welcome to join in the fun, though children under 10 should be accompanied by an adult.

For more information or to RSVP to this event, call 609-683-0483.

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin

1942 – 2018

Photo: Cecilio Ricardo

Princeton Landing News

We note with satisfaction that FirstService Residential property manager David Greenwald is leaving Princeton Landing.

Trump Got the Time Cover Again . . . Kind of

Le 14 Juillet

Photo by Yann Caradec

If you can't be there, click here to celebrate!

Families Belong Together Rally

Hinds Plaza, Princeton
June 30, 2018

Waiting On Shore

" . . . the dead are not far from us . . . they cling in some

strange way to what is most deep and still within us."

— W.B. Yeats

Waiting On Shore

Sculptor: Niall Bruton

Rosses Point, County Sligo, Ireland

He Got the Time Cover Again

#keepfamiliestogetherbutnotinjailyoumonsterswhatiswrongwithyou

"You Misogynistic Fool"

FPNL Program on Northern Copperheads

On Thursday, June 7, 2018, at 7:30 pm, Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands will hold its annual meeting and program in the Education Building at Mapleton Preserve/D&R Canal State Park, 145 Mapleton Road, Kingston. After a short business meeting, Tyler Christensen will give a presentation on the Northern Copperhead Snake. The event is free. Refreshments will be served and all are welcome. For more information, visit FPNL or call 609-683-0483.

The Northern Copperhead is a reptile of surprising docility, beauty and complexity, despite its reputation for aggression and perniciousness. It is one of two venomous snakes found in New Jersey (the Timber Rattlesnake is the other), both of which are endangered in this state The presentation will highlight an ongoing radio-tracking study of Northern Copperheads taking place in the Sourlands of central New Jersey. Their astonishingly cryptic pattern and behavior render them nearly invisible among the leaf litter on the forest floor, which makes their life histories difficult to study. Radio telemetry allows individual snakes to be traced over multiple seasons, which has revealed a great deal about the state's southernmost population of these remarkable forest vipers.

Tyler Christensen manages a radio-tracking study of the Northern Copperhead through his company, Piedmont Ecological Services, LLC. Tyler is also the director of the non-profit Wild Bird Research Group, Inc., through which he coordinates bird banding research on Nearctic-Neotropical migrants during the winter months in Costa Rica and Northern Saw-whet Owl migration and winter ecology in New Jersey. He is currently a Land Steward for Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space and a board member of the Washington Crossing Audubon Society.

Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands is dedicated to the preservation and protection of the historic, horticultural and natural resources of the former Princeton Nurseries Kingston site. Their goals include promoting restoration, development and interpretation of the site for the education and enjoyment of the public. As part of this overall goal, FPNL sponsors interpretive and educational walks and talks on history, nature and horticulture-related subjects. 

Photos: Tyler Christensen

"The Roebling Legacy" — KHS Spring Program

The Kingston Historical Society will hold its spring meeting and program on Tuesday, June 5, 2018. Historian and author Clifford W. Zink will present "The Roebling Legacy" at 7:30 pm at the Kingston Firehouse.

Spanning 200 years, the story of the Roebling family and their bridge engineering and wire rope business chronicles a legacy of innovation, endurance and exceptional achievement during a time of industrial revolution and technological advancement in America's history. Through landmark achievements like the Brooklyn Bridge—the "universal symbol of New York"—and the great cables on the George Washington and Golden Gate Bridges, the Roeblings and thousands of their employees in Trenton and Roebling, NJ, helped shape modern life, built one of America's best company towns—"a model in every respect"—and created America's first sports car, the Mercer Raceabout.

The free program will take place at the Kingston Firehouse, 8 Heathcote Brook Road (just off Route 27) in Kingston, NJ. All are welcome. For more information, visit KHSNJ or call 609-683-4711.

Happy Birthday, Stevie Nicks

KHS Walking Tour of Kingston Businesses

The Kingston Historical Society will host a walking tour of Kingston businesses tomorrow, Saturday, May 19, 2018, from 2 to 4 pm. The walk will start at the Kingston Presbyterian Church parking lot, 4565 Route 27 (Main Street), Kingston, NJ. It will end at the Kingston Lock area on the D&R Canal State Park, where there will be a display on Kingston businesses and a demonstration of Paul Kayne's models of the lock and former "A" frame bridge in the Locktender's House.

The walk will be led by lifetime Kingston resident George Luck, Jr., who will discuss some of the village's past businesses, their owners and history. These businesses represent a time when Kingston was dependent on local merchants to supply everything from groceries to shoes, to meet the needs of residents, travelers and emerging businesses in the automotive era.

This tour is free and open to the public. Rides will be provided for those not wishing to walk back to the Kingston Presbyterian Church parking lot. For more information, visit KHS or contact Robert von Zumbusch at 609-683-4711 or RLV12@columbia.edu.

Kingston Greenways Earth Day Cleanup

Celebrate Earth Day by tidying up our shared roadsides, neighborhoods and public lands. Join Kingston Greenways Association for their Earth Day Cleanup on Saturday, April 21, 2018. The morning session is from 9 to 11 am. This year KGA will clean up Laurel Avenue and the vicinity of Rockingham Historic Site, from just above the village of Kingston up to Route 518. Meet at the Rockingham parking lot, 84 Laurel Avenue. The afternoon session is from 2 to 4 pm. Cleanup includes trash collection in the Mapleton Preserve, Cook Natural Area, and in areas adjacent to Mapleton Road, Division Street, Heathcote Road, Ridge Road, Greenwood Avenue and Railroad Avenue. Parking for the event is along Railroad Avenue off Ridge Road.

Grabbers, gloves, orange vests and garbage bags will be provided. Wear sturdy boots and clothing. For more information, visit the KGA website or call 609-750-1821.

Barbara Bush

Barbara Pierce Bush

1925 – 2018

"I want to be known as a wife, a mother, a grandmother. That's what I am. And I'd like to be known as someone who really cared about people and worked very, very hard to make America more literate."

Photo: David Valdez

MLK50: Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

To honor the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s death, President Barack Obama and Congressman John Lewis participated in a My Brother's Keeper Alliance roundtable with students from Ron Brown College Preparatory High School in Washington, D.C. Watch as President Obama, Congressman Lewis and the students discuss Dr. King's legacy and how his mission remains relevant in today's world.

Courtesy of The Obama Foundation 

"I've Been to the Mountaintop"

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his last speech on April 3, 1968. The next day, Dr. King was assassinated.

Sinclair, You Make No Sense

"Yeah, nothing says, 'We value independent media,' like dozens of reporters forced to repeat the same message over and over again like members of a brainwashed cult."
                                                          — John Oliver, Last Week Tonight

National Poetry Month

Poetry

I, too, dislike it.

Reading it, however, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers in

it, after all, a place for the genuine.

— Marianne Moore

The 2018 National Poetry Month poster, designed by AIGA Medal and National Design Award-winning designer Paula Scher, celebrates typography and is suggestive of concrete poetry and Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass."

Easter

Giotto di Bondone

Resurrection (Noli me tangere)
Scenes from the Life of Christ, 1304-1306
Arena Chapel, Padua, Italy

Saint Patrick's Day

Saul Church, also known as St. Patrick's Memorial Church, is in the small village of Saul in County Down, two miles outside Downpatrick, in Northern Ireland. The church was built to commemorate the 1500th anniversary of Saint Patrick's first church in Ireland. The foundation stone records that it is on the site given to Saint Patrick in AD 432.
The slideshow below displays the work of a photographer in Northern Ireland, whose beautiful photographs of Saul Church show us what Saint Patrick's Day is really all about.

Photos: Ardfern

Spring Ahead

Remember to move your clocks ahead one hour tonight. Daylight saving time begins at 2:00 am on Sunday, March 11.

International Women's Day & RBG

How fitting that today, International Women's Day, brings the release of the official trailer for the critically acclaimed documentary film RBG about our beloved, iconic and notorious Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The film, directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen, was one of the highlights of  this year's Sundance Film Festival. It covers Justice Ginsburg's life and career and features interviews with her, as well as Gloria Steinem and Nina Totenberg. The film opens nationwide in select theaters on May 4 and will appear on CNN later this year.

Ladies, don't forget to do your planks.

Screening of Bending the Arc

The Pantaleo family is hosting a one-time screening of the documentary Bending the Arc on Monday, February 19, 2018, at 9:30 am. The movie will be shown at the Princeton Garden Theatre at 160 Nassau Street in Princeton. Tickets are $11.00 and can be purchased through Tugg.com, a platform that helps individuals and organizations host screenings in their local theaters. You are also invited to join a discussion and coffee afterwards across the street at the Princeton United Methodist Church. Proceeds of the screening will go to Partners In Health, a four-star charity.

Bending the Arc is a powerful documentary about the extraordinary team of doctors and activists—Paul Farmer, Jim Yong Kim, and Ophelia Dahl—whose work thirty years ago to save lives in a rural Haitian village grew into a global campaign for the right to health for all. Epic yet intimate, the film is a compelling argument for the power of collective and personal vision and will to turn the tide of history.

The New York Times called Bending the Arc "a feel-good documentary that's literally about making people feel good." Salon said it is "one of the most life-affirming, optimistic films you might see this year." Watch the trailer here.

It's Just a Joke

MLK Day of Service in the Mapleton Preserve

Join Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands on Monday, January 15, 2018, for a cleanup in the Mapleton Preserve on the National Day of Service honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. From noon to 3 pm volunteers will be clearing small trees, brush, vines and trash in the historic Mapleton Preserve. You are asked to bring any tools you may have, such as saws, clippers, loppers and rakes. Be sure to dress appropriately for the weather—work gloves, sturdy shoes, warm clothing and hats are a must. For more information, visit the FPNL website or call 609-683-0483. Mapleton Preserve/D&R Canal State Park is located at 145 Mapleton Road in Kingston. (If using a GPS, use 145 Mapleton Road, Princeton 08540 as the address.)

First Day Hike in the Mapleton Preserve

Friends of Princeton Nursery Lands invites everyone to a First Day Hike in the Mapleton Preserve on Monday, January 1, 2018, from noon until 2 pm. For anyone who made a resolution to walk more, this is a great opportunity to start the new year off on the right foot with an easy 1.5 mile loop hike through the Mapleton Preserve. (The walk may be shortened if the weather demands it.)

The walk will start at the Mapleton Preserve/D&R Canal State Park Headquarters at 145 Mapleton Road in Kingston. Hot chocolate and hot cider will be served afterward. Dress for the weather, which may include high winds, so be sure to cover your ears, neck, head and hands. The walk is free and all are welcome.  For more information, call 609-683-0483.

Photo: Crabapple row in the Mapleton Preserve by Tari Pantaleo

Christmas Postcard