Jack's Park

The Sandy Ground Project has made a commitment to build a park for each of the children killed in Newtown, CT. Areas destroyed by Hurricane Sandy have been chosen.

My neighbor town Union Beach, NJ was devastated by Sandy. A small town of working class people Union Beach lost more than a quarter of the homes and nearly every resident was impacted. The waterfront is slowly being restored.

Along with the RAINE Foundation and volunteers from all over the country a park in honor of Jack Pinto was dedicated this spring.

I chose a rainy day to go take some shots so that I didn't interrupt any children at play.

As you can see from the last photo, people from all over the country come to visit Jack's park.

You can see all the other parks built so far at the Sandy Project site. The RAINE foundation site lists the efforts underway to rebuild Union Beach and other towns in the county.

It Takes a Village

Since the morning after Hurricane Sandy struck volunteers have been at all the area parks and waterfront sites throughout my area - and all along the Jersey Shore. Many are residents, many more come from all over - just to help.

It was really really cold this particular day but through the eyes of the fences I thought I'd share a bit of the area with you. Hopefully I'll get some photos of the workers when the weather is warmer.

All of the fencing was donated and put up by volunteers

Friday Fences

Survivor

"She's beautiful isn't she?" the elderly woman asks me as her dog plops down on my foot. "I think she survived because she's short" she continues with a chuckle. I ask her if her home is OK and she tells me it is - "just some water in the basement and my son pumped it out right away." 

"Let me see the pictures you took." I pull up my first shot of the morning and hand her the camera. She studies each one, nodding and smiling. "I like this one the best" she tells me handing the camera back with this photo on the screen. "You should show that one to people, there's still beauty around here - it's not all heartache." I tell her I will and give her a hug. 

Longest TimeOut Ever!

That's what my granddaughter Hope called it when Siren and Isadora were restricted to "their room".

Whenever there are a lot of people in the house or if the doors are opened and closed often it's safer for the cats to be contained. Siren is anxious about everything and Isadora brings a whole new meaning to curiosity.

During Hurricane Sandy they spent more time in there than usual since it was dark and there were generator cords everywhere.

Hope was concerned. They would paw at the door and cry to her. She sang to them and told them stories.

She would mumble as I passed - "this is the longest timeout ever!"

The screen door was originally installed when Siren came to us with all his wild aggressive behavior. It's a great way to keep animals restricted to an area while allowing them to feel part of the scene.

CAMERA CRITTERS

All I Want Is A Place Somewhere

During the wind of Sandy and the cold of being without power I put lots of comforters and blankets out all over the house so that Siren and Isadora could have plenty of spots to be warm and feel secure.

Siren likes to show off his tail.