KUSER FARM: MY CHAPEL IN THE WOODS (

As Father Time adds wrinkle after wrinkle on little Tommy Glover, so too hasFather time  taken his toll on the the Kuser Farm of my youth. As seen in the photo above, a very young Tommy poses in the sumptuous Kuser Farm Grape arbor. It was from these vines that a bountiful harvest of Concord Grapes made their way to the Kuser and Glover kitchen as Mom Glover made grape jelly, jam, and juice. Click on the link to read about the Kuser Farm I remember as a boy. Today, the vines are untended and will be gone completely within a few years.

2015: HAMILTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY MAY MEETING CANCELLED

"The best laid plans of mice and men:" We are moving our May meeting of the Hamilton Township Historical Society HAMILTON HIGH on screen program to June 1st, same time, same place. The Township of Hamilton will be re-surfacing and re-lining the entire parking area over the weekend of May 1, 3 and 4.

1934: CENTER CITY TRENTON, 81 YEARS AGO

Were it not for the incredible tweaking features available in Adobe's "PhotoShop" I would never be able to make light areas darker and dark areas lighter, sharpen the focus, change from sepia to gray scale and countless other "tweaks" that result in an historic R.C. Maxwell photo showing the old Hotel Windsor, Woolworth's, and for the real old timers, I will see how many can identify that huge arched architectural gem on the immediate left in the photo, across the street from Trenton's beautiful First Presbyterian Church. Hint: "TSFS."

2015: "IT'S SO NICE TO HAVE A MAN AROUND THE HOUSE

"It's so nice to have a man around the house" was a popular song telling of a lady's observation that it is indeed a nice thing to have a guy around. So too, as I pile on the years do I find it's nice to have a man around the house who can lighten the load for me when it comes to household chores. One of those chores was the annual preparation of that beautiful Sycamore tree that reposes on my front lawn as it has since the late 1930's when it was planted by the Atlantic Avenue developer named Slack. I can still manipulate those HEAVE Belgian blocks, but anyone familiar with them will agree that they are very heavy. As I age they seem to get heavier every year. Along comes my son Ken who has given me a welcome respite from the drudgery of setting up that flower bed for my 62nd spring season. Above is a photo vignette showing Ken's craftsmanship. In prior years, I had tended to that location with only a skim of top soil and mulch which quickly eroded during a very heavy rain. Ken has inherited the Glover-Britton music talents as can be seen in the photo where he skilfully plays his guitar. (Self taught). His musical group "Just One More" is very popular down in Medford NJ at Ott's Restaurant. He also inherited his grandmother's talent as the neighborhood "green thumb" with the beautiful array of flowers that was the hallmark at our 131 Hartley Avenue home back when I was a boy. Thanks to his gardening, horticulture, landscaping, talents, Ken set about constructing the terraced top soil filled foundation shown in the photo above which will soon be filled with a gorgeous flower bed with flowers I depend on him to choose. Right about now, my dear wife is smiling down on this beautiful view, happy in the knowledge that life goes on and despite the emotional crisis that exists with the husband and family she left behind as she passed on to be with the Lord. Mom Glover told us we should never plant those spring annual until after Mothers Day and Ken abides by that rule. When Ken's flower bed is completed, I will be re-posting the photo. Watch for that post!

2015: ANOTHER LOVELY SPRING FLOWER DOES A LOT TO TAKE AWAY MY SAD MEMORIES

This is my lovely granddaughter Abigail Saiia. She is an art student at Monmouth University and as an early on dabbler in pastels and pen and ink art, when I see her incredible artistic output I am completely overwhelmed buy her outstanding talent with canvas, paper, ceramics and other tools of the trade. Abby turns 20 today, just a week or so before her sister Jessica graduates from Rider University summa cum laude.

APRIL 24, 1954 - APRIL 24 2015 AN ANNIVERSARY BEING CELEBRATED IN HEAVEN

Today is a landmark day for me as I celebrate my 61st anniversary without my dear Judy who went to be with the Lord on December 17, 2014. (Merry Christmas, Tom!). Without my faith, my family and COUNTLESS friends,  this journey would be worse than trying to climb the rock of Gibraltar in dress shoes. That faith was given to me by three people during my young years: Judy Britton, then Father Leonard Toomey, and my best buddy of all time, Don Slabicki who surprisingly invited me to a St. Anthony Holy Name Society meeting many, many years ago. This summer, as I embark on my 9th season of music concerts at Kuser Park, my new singing partner Jack Pyrah and I will be concentrating on songs of Faith, Inspiration, Love, and Mirth as we sing uplifting songs that encourage those who attend this free volunteer community program to dance or sing along. I sent the above graphic heavenward to Judy this morning. I know is smiling as she recalls our happy years together

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 Let me tell you about that music that Jack and I will be singing this year at the Kuser Gazebo:

There is a remarkable musical concept known in the industry as "MIDI." "Musical Instrumental Digital Interface." I could never go into detail explaining this heavenly gift, but I can tell you it has changed my life and has given me the ability to pray in song, (He who sings prays twice.") Indeed, the advent of the computer has proven to be a most incredible "life changers" for me since I got into computing in the middle of the1980's. Along with  this very successful website which will soon achieve 900,000 visits to my 8000-plus pages of local history, ephemera and nostalgia, I have received a very special computer "bonus" which allows me to pick out any or all instruments, grab one of the hundreds of "midi" songs in my computer, push the midi player's "Play" button, and sing along. This remarkable computer program is perfect for those of us who have the ability to sing, but never had the talent to play an instrument with which to sing along.  Thanks to the availability of thousands of "midi files," I can pick from the thousands of songs, adjust the tempo, and find the appropriate key for my baritone voice; truly a digital gift from above!.

1954-2015 SIXTY ONE YEARS

As you might imagine, this coming week is going to put me on an emotional rollercoaster as April 24th arrives and my reach our 61st anniversary. The photo at the top is the latest bouquet of cut flowers that I have set up in my living room, along with appropriate graphics as seen below. It ain't no fun to live alone and miss that special someone. However, one of the prices one must pay for a happy marriage is one must be left behind. I won that lottery.

1943: NO WONDER WE WON THE WAR WITH THESE PATRIOTS!

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2015: WOW, DO I REALLY HAVE ALL THAT TALENT? NO!

I must admit that I am not very proficient when it comes to understanding the social networking website, "Linked-in." The graphic above is an extracted segment of what appears to be folks who over the years have credited me with numerous talents that I never knew I had. For instance: I have absolutely no experience with "Grant Writing." Indeed, I have been contacted by Mercer County with an occasional email advising of a grant writing opportunity. My exposure to that subject was intimidating to me and at each opportunity to write a grant request, I "chickened out." The other skill with which I have been credited is "Teaching." Hey! My education was Kuser Grammar School and Hamilton High School 1951, followed by the school of hard knocks in the U.S. Army, and living happily with my dear wife of 60 years. I never went to college, nor did my mom and dad have the $900 tuition required when I told them I would like to go to Trenton State Teachers College and become a history major. As to the other "skills" listed, I guess my 81 years of living with the talents God has given to me are reflected in the very generous table above. However, I would change "Museums" to "Library," or some other definition of my historical repository. As to the other "Skills," I would hope so, after 60 of my 81 years have been spent on those lifetime goals.

1927: WEST FROM SOUTHARD STREET EASWARD TO HAMILTON TOWNSHIP

I am also posting this interesting 1927 map from Fitzgerald's Trenton City Directory on Facebook but in order to see it Facebookers will have to see it fully on www.glover320.blogspot.com. Unfortunately maps are a challenge even here in the blogosphere as their mere size intimidates even the larger computer monitors. How I would love to have a computer and monitor that would present an entire newspaper page with clarity. This 20 inch monitor on mine does a reasonable job, but as you can see there are areas on all 4 sides of the map that are too big for current technology. My 11 x 17 tabloid scanner does a fine job, but I still end up with clipping. HOWEVER, you will find that the area scanned on this map is quite complete from the Southard Street area over to Cedar Lawn, Homedell, and nort the the Greenwood cemetery. Enjoy!

2015: 70 CAME TO OUR HISTORICAL SOCIETY "NOSTALGIA" NIGHT"

I was completely overwhelmed with the number of local citizens who attended our Monday night, April 6th meeting of the Hamilton Township Historical Society. Putting these programs together is a daunting and time consuming task, but thanks to all of you who attended, the time and effort is well worth the time. Our May meeting will feature the first 50 years of Hamilton High School; Hamilton's first. Details will follow in the near future.

2015: A HAPPY AND HOLY EASTER AND PASSOVER TO ALL!

1912: PENNINGTON IS GROWING

This is one of the towns I would love to have called home after I married back in 1954 but unfortunately the real estate was geared to the more affluent in our community and Judy and I certainly weren't in that category. Here's a very interesting graphic showing the "movers and shakers" that were responsible for making "Pennytown" the delightful and bucolic town we have today.