By: Merle Citron
Some of the readers of "Chit-Chat" may remember the famous Table #9 at Mother’s Restaurant in New Hope.
Different faces, different restaurant, but the need for artists to gather stays the same. Now it’s Table #7 at the Café in Rosemont Sunday mornings.
Among the luminaries assembled any given Sunday, you might find Elaine Daniels, Grace Croteau, Doris Brandes, Stanley Wollner, Jan and Paul Witte, Tony and Gil Kulish and Mary and John Goodyear. Actually, this is a very New Hope/Carversville crowd, except for the Goodyears, who proudly represent Lambertville.
Vee Hackney was certainly right when she said we’ve become an "artsy" community. Artsbridge, an association of hundreds of area artists, is alive and well right here in Lambertville.
Artsbridge member Edie Sharp enthusiastically spoke about her pet project, the opening of a new Artsbridge Gallery, which is located at the historic linseed Building at Prallsville Mills on Route 29 in Stockton.
Edie said, "The gallery is finally a reality, and I hope everyone stops by to see the art." I hope so, too, because the gallery is really beautiful. The grand opening is Oct. 6 from 6 to 9 p.m.
Watch out all of you "wannabe thespians!" Gerry Martin is back in town, offering her wonderful improvisational acting class Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. at Riverrun Gallery.
This class is lots of fun; you get to "shake out the ya-ya’s," and the laughter is not only contagious, it feels good, too.
Sadie Lerman, the beautiful 21 month-old daughter of Anita and Elycia Lerman, Blair Tract residents, was seen singing and "doing" the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song at breakfast the other morning. Too bad Sadie wasn’t as excited about singing as her mothers were. They sang with gusto.
Apparently, Sadie felt the best part of the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" experience was the pouring rain, which she watched with fascination.
Finally, the conundrum concerning the unusual plants blooming in the front of Helen Dennison’s North Union Street home has been solved.
These giant plants with deep, red clusters at the top are known as Elephant Head Amaranth. This past spring, Helen put some of her backyard compost soil in the front flower beds. Lots of strange, unexpected life burst forth because of the compost soil.
And by the way, don’t miss Helen’s new fence. It’s actually a replica of the fence that originally surrounded her home as seen in a 100-year-old John Anderson photograph.
It’s just not possible to walk by the front of The Mercantile on Main Street without noticing John and Mary Williams, owners of the Mercantile, working in their garden.
The beautiful profusion of plants in front is awesome.
Mary proudly said, "Our garden is really homegrown. Everything we’ve planted comes from Lambertville’s own Homestead Market."
The profusion of art is awesome, too. Many of the paintings in the Mercantile and in the Morningstar Gallery in the back, belong to John, who is also a painter. It’s amazing that after all they manage to do, John and Mary have the time to serve food and coffee to customers all day.
Sonya Helgesson lives on Route 518 in Lambertville and has called this area home since the 1960s.
This gal is truly a Renaissance woman, who isn’t satisfied with doing just one job well. Sonya does many jobs well.
Not only is she a massage therapist, but she also works at the Ed Adams Gallery, serves as a communications consultant, and, in her spare time, she designs kitchens!
It was good to see Jeanne and Drew Brady of Clinton Street.
A few months ago, Jeanne fell and broke five ribs. Jeanne is very grateful for the help she received.
"I can’t tell you how wonderful the Lambertville Police and the rescue squad were when I fell. They were great! They’re what makes Lambertville such a wonderful town."
She’s right.
Cifelli’s Sunoco Station has the distinction of being the only service station around that has three generations of Cifellis working together at the same time without killing each other.
Mike Sr., Mike Jr. and Mike III can all be found working at the station. How many other gas stations can make a boast like this one?
John Bisaha of North Union Street loves his new laptop computer.
If you walk into the Artists’ Gallery on Coryell Street when John is gallery sitting, you’ll find him hard at work on his computer. John also has a new "palm" computer that you can aim at your printer and make it print.
He has purchased his new "toys" since he retired from his career as a clinical social worker. His wife, Sharon Bisaha, doesn’t have the time to surf the Internet like John since she is a senior research chemist at Bristol-Myers Squibb.
John and Sharon moved to Lambertville seven years ago from Michigan where they lived in a farmhouse for more than 20 years. According to John, "Moving to Lambertville was intentional and the best move we ever made."
Tom and Andree Larsen have lived on Ferry Street for the past four years.
Andree is a psychological nurse at Friends Hospital, and Tom is a printer who commutes to Philadelphia. This doesn’t leave him with very much time to get to know folks in town. Since Tom is an avid reader, it comes as no surprise that what he loves best about Lambertville is the Phoenix Used Bookstore.
Lisa and Dean Stephens own the Lambertville Trading Co.
Lisa and Dean talked proudly about their son, Jacob, who, at the age of 11, played second base in the Dreams Park Tournament held in Cooperstown, N.Y. Jake received a beautiful Youth Baseball Hall of Fame ring.
Just for the record, this was Jake’s first time away from home, and he did great. After the tournament, Lisa and Dean took Jake and his brother, Gabriel, on a well-earned vacation in Manchester, Maine.
Dean laughed, "Gabriel entertained the entire family with his stand-up comedy routines. The kid thinks he’s the funniest guy on earth."
And his parents think so, too.
Mailman Jim Howarth of Ringoes walks the streets of Lambertville daily, enduring the wind, rain, sleet, hail, humidity, heat, flood, ice, snow and even the sunshine to deliver the mail.
Jim is always chipper and has a cheery "hello" for me and my stalwart companion, Louie. Jim reflected on the summer days that sizzled.
"After work on those very hot days, I’d sit in my air-conditioned home," he explained. "Sometimes I was so tired that I’d have to tell my 2-year old that his daddy has no energy to play."
What do the Village in New York City and Lambertville have in common?
Sylvia and Joe Treceno, who live on North Union Street as well as maintain an apartment in the Village.
Sylvia and Joe are original New Yorkers, who have been in town for three years. Sylvia is a cartoonist, and Joe is an artist.
Sylvia said, "We both love the slower pace of Lambertville. The people are nicer. They say ‘hello.’ "
Yup, that’s the ‘vile for ya.
Phyllis Gill of Main Street used to be a Lambertville crossing guard, but for the past seven years, Phyllis has worked at McDonald’s in New Hope, "flopping the mop."
Because Phyllis doesn’t drive, she walks everywhere, including the walk from her Lambertville home on North Main Street to MacDonald’s.
"I know that walking is great for my health, but it sure can be difficult in bad weather," Phyllis said.
I commiserated with her.
Irv McDowell of George Street surfaced briefly this summer and informed me he’s been very busy scrubbing his bathtub. (Hmmm, what a guy).
At that time, Irv also noted this fall he will be starting a cricket club at Franklin High School in Somerset where he teaches. (Hmmm).
Then Irv said, "If I had my way, I’d say good-bye to every sport except for cricket, soccer and women’s lacrosse." (Hmmm, what a guy).
