By: Merle Citron
Congratulations to Valorie Johnson, Lambertville jeweler and formerly an independent single woman, who has gone off and gotten married to an old flame, Craig Randolph.
When she returned from her honeymoon last week, her friends surprised her with a wedding gown on a mannequin placed on the front porch of her shop, B. Adorned. A sign on the mannequin read, "B. Brided." Another good woman bites the dust.
Tony Kulish, photographer and Carversville’s "man-about-town," celebrates his birthday for three days every July. His birthday revels are July 21, the date listed by the hospital; July 22, the date listed by the state, and July 30, the date listed on his baptismal certificate.
It must be exhausting and expensive for his poor wife and artist, Gil Kulish, to buy all these birthday gifts every year, not to mention all the cake, party favors and noisemakers.
Another Carversvillian with a long history in the area is the well-known artist, Joe Crilley.
Joe paints the world around him. In the last 10 years, his world has included not only Bucks County and environs, but Nova Scotia and Italy as well.
"My paintings will be shown at the Philadelphia Sketch Club from Nov. 4 to Feb. 24t" Joe told me.
By the way, did you know that the Philadelphia Sketch Club is the nation’s oldest art club in continuous operation? Joe will be at the opening reception Nov. 4 from 2 to 5 p.m. to meet and greet.
Speaking of artists, Gretchen Ney Laugier, artist and political activist from New Hope, is certainly a busy person.
Recently she was among the anti-death penalty supporters, who protested at the Republican National Convention. Then, Nov. 1, Gretchen will have a one-day retrospective of her art at Riverrun Gallery.
After that she plans to move to Wycomb/Ivyland, Pa. And, just to keep things in motion, in a few months, she will be in the audience in Havana, Cuba, enjoying the International Jazz Festival. Whew!
Robin Bower of New Hope and bead stringer/salesperson at Sojourner on Bridge Street, has lived in the area for many years.
Robin enjoys her work at Sojourner and spoke about how she is continually delighted by the friendliness and helpfulness of the locals. But, then again, folks are friendly and helpful because that’s the way Robin is.
Other people have mentioned this same Lambertville asset, its people.
John Danaher of Carversville talked about it. He comes to Lambertville every morning for coffee and TLC at the LTC.
John is the kind of person who does it all. He plays the acoustic guitar in a band called the "Acoustic Merge," and they’re making a CD.
He does barn and historic restorations, works for New York State Youth Services and volunteers with a group called "Rock and Wrap It Up," an international food rescue operation. This group rescues the backstage food from rock concerts and donates it to food banks and shelters.
"We’ve rescued tons of food," John said with pride.
Edie and Dave Sharp, owners of New Hope Natural Foods, are very proud of their daughter, Stephanie Sharp, who is loving her freshman year at Cornell.
Stephanie is their only child so the house is feeling a bit empty. Luckily, Edie can turn her formidable energies to her painting and her work with Artsbridge while Dave manages the store and advises all of us about how to live healthily.
It was nice to see Lorraine and Harold Orland of Ewing.
Many of you will remember that Lorraine and Harold used to own Harold’s Clothing Store in town. When it snows, I still wear my Harold’s steel-toe rubber boots.
Lorraine said that she reads The Beacon every week and is pleased to see Chit-Chat back in the paper. She said to tell everyone Margo Orland is living in Washington, D.C., and that Joel runs Orland’s Funeral Home in Ewing.
"Woody" Pullen and his wife, Diane, have lived in town for more than 30 years.
Both of them grew up in the area. You can find Woody’s cheerful face ready to wait on you at Finkle’s, and Diane’s smile will greet you from behind the deli counter at Clemens.
Ginger and Kenny Nanni have lived on Elm Street forever.
Kenny runs his own construction business, and you’ll see his truck around town. Ginger has a new job that she really likes. She works for Mair and David LaTouche at Benchmark, located at Cane Farm in Rosemont.
"Benchmark designs mountings for museum displays and does work for national as well as international museums," Ginger told me. "I really like working with Mair and Dave. They’re great; the job is great, and the location is beautiful." Ginger smiled.
Craig and Rabbi Sandy Parian and their two daughters, Mahra and Rhea, know how to take interesting vacations to very exotic places.
This season’s sojourn took them to the island of Granada, located 17 degrees north of the equator off the coast of Venezuela. Craig and Sandy enjoyed the island culture, especially the three-day celebration of Festival, where the streets fill with dancing people and a pounding reggae/rasta beat.
Craig loved the island fruits like mango and papaya. Rabbi Sandy preferred the taste of the freshly caught fish they ate.
She recalled, "On this vacation, the four of us just slowed down, spent time getting to know the islanders, swam, snorkeled, sat in the shade on the beautiful beaches, read and enjoyed the food. It made me think about what it would be like to live there, full-time."
Anna Monaghan owns Toe-Joe, an acrobatic clown toy, bought at Kline’s more than 40 years ago.
Carl Kooker, one of George Kline’s best friends, bought it for Patrick Monaghan, Anna’s son and Carl’s godchild.
Anna and George have spent many decades watching Lambertville grow and change. Though the changes aren’t all positive, this hasn’t dampened their enjoyment of just sitting, talking and reminiscing together.
Nora Hendricks Marley grew up on the corner of Delaware and Main Streets.
Now Nora and Dan Marley and their three kids live on South Union Street. Her children keep her very busy so she is no longer a full-time art teacher at South Hunterdon although she does teach art at St. John’s and free-lances.
Nora and her sister-in-law, Joan Marley, will show their paintings at the Morningstar Gallery at the end of November. Nora works primarily in oils and acrylics while Joan is a watercolorist.
Nora talked about Chit-Chat, "I’ve lived here my whole life, and I don’t recognize the names of any of the people in Chit-Chat."
Oh, I bet you do, Nora.
Jeffery and Valerie Greene live in Solebury and own Greene and Greene Gallery on Bridge Street.
Valerie manages the store, which she has filled with elegant, handmade works of art. This is especially true of Jeffrey’s award-winning furniture, which graces the center of the gallery. Not only is Jeff a talented woodworker, but he is also a fine painter.
If that’s not enough, now he’s diligently practicing his guitar, playing and honing his song-writing skills. Jeff has organized a band and hopes to cut a CD in the near future.
This just goes to prove that, in the case of Jeffery Greene, creativity knows no bounds.
