She came out of nowhere. I asked my young nurse (during my brief hospital stay) where she was from: she said, “Bricktown, New Jersey.” I immediately asked her if that was near Lakewood. And then asked her a flurry of questions.
She knew about Winwood Beach. It was a vacation spot on the Manasquan River we often rented a bungalow for the weekend. It could have been forty years the last time I was there. I assumed the owner sold it a long time ago and the land was built on. I was thrilled to find out it now was a park.
I used to love getting up in the morning to flush the cottontails. There were the barn swallows who inhabited a garage there who would dive bomb every time I would go there near there. I also picked wild blue berries in South Jersey every year.
Winwood Beach was the place where I used to throw rocks at the blackbirds perched at the barbed wire and once I hit one breaking his wing. That was the last time I ever threw a rock at a bird. The Beach was also not too far from The Atlantic Ocean.
She was familiar with Ocean County Park. My Dad loved that park. We lived two hours away but we often went there for the day. My father upon entering that park would make sure the car windows were down so the smell of the virgin pines tree needles could drift in.
I also asked her about the park on the lake on route nine in Lakewood where we often went. One memory I had of that place was my sister on a bamboo pole catching the largest yellow perch I had ever seen at the mouth of a stream there.
More of my childhood memories buried came back when I talked to this young nurse. The conversation, unfortunately, was too brief. I wanted to continue it but I did not have another opportunity. I owed my father a big debt for introducing me to nature by all our trips to South Jersey.
Tags: Atlantic ocean, barn swallows, birds, blackbirds, Bricktown NJ, cottontails, fish, fishing, Lakewood, Manasquan River, memories, my Dad, nature, nurse, Ocean County Park, South Jersey, vacation spot, virgin pine tree needles, wild blue berries, Winwood Beach, yellow perch
Posted in birds, children, life, nature, relationships, time |
