“Waiters at Day and Brothers Ice Cream Saloon,” 1880, Ocean Grove, New Jersey, by William H. Stauffer, via Robert Dennis Collection of Stereoscopic Views, The New York Public Library.
The image is not very clear, but it looks like a fun place. The same company still exists at the location shown above as Day’s Ice Cream. It is Ocean Grove‘s oldest continuously operating business.
“Two boys sitting in a garden,” Orange, New Jersey, ca. 1860, cropped from a stereoscopic view, via Robert Dennis Collection of the New York Public Library.
The boys look a little as if they were sharing a secret joke.
They may have just been working in a garden plot of their own; there’s a cultivated space with a low rustic border on the lower right side. The boy on the right — with lilacs in his hat — is sitting in a small wheelbarrow, and there’s a child-size shovel or spade beside him. The other boy has a bunch of lilacs in his hand.
Lilacs, . . .
You are brighter than apples,
Sweeter than tulips,
You are the great flood of our souls
Bursting above the leaf-shapes of our hearts,
You are the smell of all Summers,
The love of wives and children,
The recollection of gardens of little children . . .— Amy Lowell, from “Lilacs“
Akasaka, Tokyo, ca. 1890s, photographer unknown. The image is part of “The Album of Photographs of Japan,” via The New York Public Library* Commons on flickr.
Cherry blossoms (sakura) in Tokyo are expected to open on March 30 this year, with the peak bloom being about April 6 to 15.
In Washington, D.C., The National Cherry Blossom Festival will begin on Thursday, March 20, and continue through April 13. Click here and here for more information on events and local accommodations.
The Washington Post has predicted this year’s peak bloom to be about April 9.
*Photography Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs.
Dainichido Garden at Nikko, Japan, by Kimbei Kusakabe, late 1800s, from the photography collection of The New York Public Library, via The Commons, flickr.
Have a very merry Christmas!
enclos*ure 