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Prologue: Memory Fades
When I was young my dad used to take me to the Dallenbach farm in Hazlet. There were two, or perhaps
three, brothers who owned the farm, Myron, Bill and, maybe, a third whose name escapes me. My dad would hang
out with the brothers and shoot the shit. They were friends from his youth, from a mythical time before I was
born and before the war even.
As a farm, the Dallenbach farm dissapointed me. I'd always assumed all farms had horses and dairy cows, at least that's
what Modern Farmer taught me. When I was very small I'd get up at five in the morning and watch Modern Farmer on WNBC.
I don't know why WNBC would show short films about farming (the station was based in New York City) but they did.
The Dallenbach farm just had corn and such. The only animal was an elderly dog that hated everyone who wasn't a Dallenbach
or my dad.
The longest stretch of time I spent on that farm was in 1973 when I was 17. Dad was teaching me how to drive so we'd
go up to the farm, dad would talk to Myron and Bill (and perhaps the hypothetical third brother) and I'd drive up and down
the dirt road that went up and down the farm. When I got my license, I never went back there again.
Last year I realized that I had no idea where the farm was anymore. I know the farm was long since gone. In the 70s developers
were buying up all the farms in Hazlet and turning them into suburbs. Myron and Bill were hold outs and were suing several of the
developers for dumping waste on their property. In 2011 the farm is a housing development. But the roads are still there, I could travel
there if only I remembered and take a picture of the site of the farm. But I don't.
Memories fade. Last year I wondered if I could find the places I used to live. So, after a visit to my sister, I went around Keyport
and Keansburg, looking for my former domiciles. I found them all, but just barely. The memories were going. So I came up with the idea
of taking pictures of my old homes and posting them here. I don't know what that will accomplish but it will be fun for me, and as close to a
project as I've done since my retirement. Yes, it's egocentric but there's nothing wrong with a certain egocentricity now and then.
As I said, memories fade. In part, I suspect, because my childhood wasn't overly happy. When I grew up I tried not to think of
being a kid in Keansburg and Keyport. But bad memories as well as good ones have made me the loveable eccentric I am today.
if nothing else, perhaps this little exercise will help me reclaim some stuff from my past.
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