Hungarian Restaurant

Not far from our hotel we came across Barbara's  Hungarian Restaurant.
I think I have said before that I am full blooded Hungarian.
I have some great recipes that I make,  from some very old cookbooks.

They have a limited menu.  Ron was not too crazy about it, as he did not recognize anything on the menu.

There was all sorts of memento's on the walls.  Some of the pictures were of places I have been in Budapest.
I thought this was a fun adventure too. 

The Hungarian Flag

I had the goulash, made the true Hungarian way.  It was so good.
The rye bread they served with it was delicious.

Ron, had a pea soup.  He figured he couldn't go too wrong with that.

My cousin Diane, and her son Alex, met us on Monday to go back to the house one more time.
Nothing had changed over the weekend.  Diane and Alex helped get a few more things from the house.
Ron had stayed on the first floor, clearing out an area in the front of the house.  We went up to the third floor. We seemed to have more luck up there finding things.
I found a couple dictionaries and books that had names and dates in it that I can use for my research on our ancestry.
Diane found some old Christmas ornaments that were pretty neat.  I found a box of linens that my Aunts had embroidered. Found a few pieces of china and more pictures. One picture is of my grandmother when she died.  The funeral homes used to have professional photographer's come in and take pictures of the casket.  What was interesting was there was the written order for the tombstone.  We had seen this tombstone at the cemetery and wondered why the spelling of their names was so different from what we knew.  They spelled Mary, as Maria, and the Hungarian spelling for my grandfather's name. Balazc.

As we started to pack up to go home, we are giving thought about going back to Trenton.  If we do, we may take one more trip to the house.  One consideration is to let the city take over the house, or we have found out that there are people that will come in take a look, give a bid and possibly buy it right then and there.

I really was hoping that all would have been good.  We would find the things she had said were valuable, although, we did not know what she had meant by that.  I hoped I would find more photos and information about our family history.
More to come.
Mary

Finishing up in Trenton

On Saturday we decided to take a break. You know I have been collecting the patterns for the Row by Row Experience.  Ron has been a great sport about stopping at quilt shops for me.

Once he gave me our route, I could see which shops were on the way. 

I had said I would like to go down to the sea shore. 

Would you believe there were a couple of shops along the way. 

Olde City Quilts, in Burlington

This was a great one   This shop went on forever.  It actually had three store fronts. Each store front carried different fabrics. One was for the long-arm business. Their row is with the leaves.  I have found that a lot of places make kits for doing just the row, and then a kit to make the row into a table runner.

Here is another.  Love those witches.
from The Village Quilter, in Mt Holly.

Here is the last one for New Jersey.  It is from a quilt shop down by the ocean.
A fitting row. Quilting Possibilities, in Forked River, New Jersey.

Had to stop at Papa's Tomato Pies in Robbinsville,  Oh what a tomato pie.  The taste is so good.
I think we are going to have to go back to New Jersey the end of September.  We will be stopping here again.

One of the towns we drove though had this tree growing out of an old smoke stack.  You just never know what you will see.

We finally go to the ocean.  We had to drive over a causeway to get to Long Beach Island. Talk about bumper to bumper traffic.  Just like I remembered when I was a kid.

We didn't get to spend nearly enough time there.
I miss it.

My feet in the ocean.

It is just so beautiful.

See the traffic on the other side of the road?  That is what we were in on our way to Long Beach.
It was such a gorgeous fun day.

On Sunday, we went to Washington Crossing State Park.
Another gorgeous day.  The park is a lot bigger then I remembered it as a kid.

Here we are.  We could see across the Delaware River.  There were people picnicking, and enjoying the park and the river.

The park even has an open air theater.

One the Pennsylvania side of the park there is this great statue of the crossing.
It was so nice to have a couple days to relax and get it together.
More tomorrow.
Mary

Now on to Trenton, New Jersey and my relatives.

Here we are entering New Jersey.  Part of this trip is so we could take care of some business.
I will be explaining more at the end of this post.

  Don't you just love to see the old fashioned daylilies along the roadside?

One of the fun things I got to do was meet up with some of my cousins.
Sometimes you have a family, that doesn't communicate very well.  You know, the one person that always kept the family together, is no longer there.  Relatives move, life gets in the way.  Unfortunately, that is what has happen with mine.
My grandmother Bagley, was our glue.  I remember the family get togethers at the holidays, the picnics in the summer. We all live kind of near each other.  My parents and sister and I moved to Michigan, when I was in second grade.
My parents saw to it that we got back to visit every summer for at least a week.
On the brighter note, these are my cousins.  Obviously, way younger then me.
I met Diane, the young lady on the far left 4 years ago for the first time.  She is a teacher and has 3 wonderful children.  One of them graduated this year from high school.  Susan the next one, I had met when she was a very little girl.  Now she is all grown up and running for a council seat in the district where she lives.  The third young lady, is the daughter of an older cousin of mine. Sharon has a lovely daughter, who I thought had entered college, and found out she is 15 and in high school.  We all got together on evening for dinner.  We laughed, and talked and had such a wonderful evening.  We have decided we have got to get together again.  I am going to have to come back to Trenton again.  When I do, I want to see if some of our other relatives can join us and make up for lost time. Keep your fingers crossed.

Another row, from the quilt shop in Pennington, New Jersey.

Now for the story of why we came to Trenton.  In May my Father's sister, Mary Agnes passed away.  She had been in a nursing home for several years with Parkinson's disease.  I am co-executor of her estate.  She would have turned 80 on the 20th of June. I knew going into this that she was a possible hoarder.
We had to get into the house and find the valuables she had told me were there.  I was in hopes of recovering old photos and certificates that would be records for our family history from Hungary.
We did have to get a locksmith to change the lock, as none of the keys we had would open the door.
The front windows and door had been boarded up.
This is what we were met with when we finally opened the door.
We knew the utilities had been turned off.  We could not believe what we found.
The whole house had been tossed.  The copper piping had been torn out of the walls.  Furniture had been taken, and if there had been any valuables, they were long gone.
This was a row house in a not great part of town, and was a total disaster.  

This was the scene on the third floor. I have cried and feel so very sad.  How could people do this kind of thing.  We checked with the police, and this was no surprise to them.  We have no idea when this was done.  It was probably several years ago.  They said, that once vandals realize a house has been abandoned, it becomes fair game.  They break in and look for drugs, and of course valuables.  Every box,  cupboard, and drawer had been opened and turned upside down.  

We did spend about 4 hours total, over two days trying to go through the trash.  I was hoping to be able to recover at least some pictures.  We did.  On the third floor we had some luck with finding some pictures, and embroidered linens that my aunts would have done.  After we got home I will take pictures of some of the things we did find..
I am sure my aunt would be horrified if she knew this.  I will let you use your imagination on what other things the person or persons did to the house.  It was not nice to say the least.
I am going to have to come back at some time in the next couple months. I doubt we will be able to sell the house.  May have to let the city take it.  

Ironically, the house is in this "Historic Trenton".  Think someone got their areas mixed up.

Ron is closing the house back up.  While we were there the postman saw up, and asked if we were moving in or out.  When we told him what had happened, he said he was not surprised.  It happens all over where there are deserted homes.  So, I guess this is a lesson.  Don't leave homes vacant.
What was to be an adventure, turned out to be not so.
We still have some things to take care of, so will be here for a few more days.
Talk later,
Mary

Fun purchases

I hand pieced 40 of this little guys while we were on the road. I really need to get this quilt done.  Time to move on it!!

Here is what I bought at the Aurora Sewing Center in East Aurora, New York.

These Christmas fabrics and a couple of fat quarters came from The Carriage Quilt Shoppe.  It too is in East Aurora, New York.  It is a small shop, but packed with a lot of fun things.

Here is my Vidler's haul.  I said it was a 5 and 10.  There is fabric, rubberbands, M & M's, airmail envelopes, bandaids, buttons, magnets, a package for Dummies, Beef on Weck, and measuring spoons for a pinch, dash, and smidge. They have everything under the sun.  I absolutely love to go there.  You never know what kind of good things you will find.

Heartworks Quilts and Fabrics in Fly Creek, New York.  The tied up Christmas fabric is for a cute set of placemats, that are quilt as you go. They showed they for every holiday. Simple and cute.

Last but not least, Pennington Quilt Works, in Pennington, New Jersey.  Ron picked out the two blue fabrics. I picked out the flamingos and pink to make another zipper pouch.  The Little Red Riding Hood, is actually a notebook with plain pages and graph paper.  Then a couple fat quarters, just because.

That is it.  I could have put a lot more pictures but that could get way too long.  I love to take pictures and am always trying for that one great shot!

Have a great day. More later

Mary

Part 3 of on the road, New Jersey

Papa's Tomato Pies.  Ron has never had a tomato pie, so this was our first stop.  We voted it the best.  It is like a pizza, only the crust is way thinner and crispier. Cheese goes on first then the sauce.  It is sooooo good.



Ron enjoying a piece of tomato pie.

Our next night we tried DeLorenzo's.  Now back in the old days this was one of the best places to go. The orginal restaurant is now closed, and they got modern. Tomato Pies and specialty salads are the only thing on the menu. No refills on soda, and you can bring your own wine or beer to drink.  Could not get over that one.  Not as great as I remember it.

The dome of the capital building in Trenton, New Jersey.  Boy have things changed there.  Unfortunately, not for the better. Still, it was good to be able to show Ron where we used to live and for him to meet a couple of my relatives.  My Aunt Nancy and Uncle Steve are still there.  We got to have lunch together, and work on our family tree.  Aunt Nancy had a lot of  information that I can add to our tree.  We also got to visit with my Aunt Mary Agnes, who is my Dad's sister.  It was good to see her, too.  She is in a nursing home and has Parkinsons disease.

On Wednesday as we were leaving Treton I got to stop in Pennington at the "Pennington Quilt Works".  What a fun store.  They have been around for 15 years.
After a couple of other stops, we did finally start for home.  We got through most of Pennsylvania before we stopped for the night.

On Thursday morning we were up bright and early on the road.  It actually was a beautiful sunny morning.  As we drove along the I-80 we would run to areas of fog.  There were pockets of it now and then.  Sometimes it was only on one side of the road, other times right in front of us. It was a great ride home.

I had to share this picture of you.  Here we are just before the wedding on Sunday.  Ron and Andy think this should be our Christmas card this year!

Ok, one more posting of our trip.  The next one is the wonderful things I found on our trip.
Have another wonderful day.

Mary