Jersey Shore Insider

OCEAN COUNTY - Treat yourself and the ones you love to some quality time in LBI this winter. Begin by downloading the themed reading and movie list, created by the local branches of the Ocean County Library. In addition to reading and movies suggestions, the library branches invite visitors and residents to stop in and register for their planned activities that correspond with Chocolate Week, February 11-20, a Destination Marketing Initiative in partnership with the Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce and sponsor the New Jersey Division of Travel and Tourism.

This year is packed with activities for families, couples and own personal appetites such as free environmental events such as The Long Beach Island Foundation February Science Saturday. They will give a tribute to the local ecosystem with a Chocolate Turtle hand out. Enjoy a Blissful Massage featuring a Mayan Gold Chocolate antioxidant drink with the area’s top spas. Stay overnight and take in the Minerva Bed & Breakfast Chocolate Cooking Class, Magnolia House’s Romantic Getaway or Daddy O's decadent dinners. Looking to get away for more than a weekend? 

MONMOUTH - It might be cold outside but the Monmouth County Park System is just getting warmed up! With plenty to do inside and outside, winter might just be the best time of year to discover everything the parks have to offer.  Here are a few things to do this winter:

Sign up for a Park System class or trip! Ever go on a Moonlight Hike?  Tried your hand at Archery? Wanted to be Stronger for Longer? Then check out the latest issue of the Directory for these and other Park System sports, nature, hikes and exercise classes. Information and registration available online at www.monmouthcountyparks.com.

LOVELADIES - For the sixth consecutive winter, the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences (LBIF) will host “Science Saturdays,” free, interactive lectures which tackle todays’ most pressing and interesting environmental and sustainability issues. Presented in an easy-to understand format, talks by experts in their fields are scheduled from 11:00 am to 12 noon at the LBIF’s main building in Loveladies, NJ, at 120 Long Beach Boulevard. These lectures are scheduled each Saturday through April 7 at the LBIF with several of the lectures being repeated again later in the afternoon at a location at the other end of the Island.

On Saturday, January 28, County Marine Agent Gef Flimlin will speak about his Perspective on the Christie 10 Point Plan for Barnegat Bay. Flimlin works with all aspects of the Bay including environmental groups and recreational and commercial fisherman. His unique position provides a perspective that exposes both problems and promise in the plan. Attendees will learn about the plan, what it can provide and how it may or may not improve the Bay in this give and take session.

LONG BRANCH - “Bakersfield Mist,” a National New Play Network world premiere comedy by Stephen Sachs which opened on October 13, has been extended at the New Jersey Repertory Company, 179 Broadway in Long Branch through February 5. The play began its triumphant run in Los Angeles here it was held over month after month for six months before coming to Long Branch where it once again played to sold-out audiences.

The unlikely heroine of “Bakersfield Mist” is Maude Gutman (Linda S. Nelson), an unemployed, Jack Daniels swigging bartender, who lives in a trailer park in the seamy part of town. Events are set off when she purchases a painting at a thrift shop for three bucks, but then learns that it may be a Jackson Pollock worth tens of millions. Maude convinces the foundation that authenticates Pollock’s work to send their straight-laced expert, Lionel Percy (John FitzGibbon), to pass judgment on the work, and that’s when the sparks begin to fly.

MANAHAWKIN – The Friends of the Stafford branch of the Ocean County Library are hosting the program “How to Paint a Lighthouse in Thirty Minutes” on Thursday, February 2nd, at 10:30 AM.  Artist June Merrifield will demonstrate how she accomplishes this while inspiring others to relax and paint. She will point out various watercolor techniques while encouraging the audience to “pick up a brush and see where it takes you.” Art in its many forms is recognized as significantly benefiting the body, mind and spirit through its creative process. The painting will be matted, framed and raffled off.   This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Stafford Branch of the Ocean County Library.

The Stafford branch is located at 129 N. Main St. in Manahawkin. This program is free and open to the public. If you have questions, feel free to call the library. Please register either in person, call the branch at (609) 597-3381, or visit our website at www.theoceancountylibrary.org

TOMS RIVER – The Ocean County Library will present an exhibit of rock star portraits by local artist Patti Shouldice in its Second Floor Gallery this January. “80’s Rock Show” features colored pencil illustrations depicting seminal figures in punk, New Wave, and rock music.  Portraits of Iggy Pop, Siouxsie Sioux, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and other music icons will be included.

Born in Germany, Shouldice relocated to the United States during the height of the New Wave music movement.  She has studied graphic art and participated in numerous juried shows throughout the Garden State.