WWC-June-July-August-2019

PAGE 58 THE WARREN-WATCHUNG CONNECTION JUNE/JULY/AUGUST 2019 WARREN TOWNSHIP ANIMAL HOSPITAL Serving Warren for 28 Years 8 North Road, Warren Township, NJ 07059 (near Bardy Farms) 732-868-1818 warrentwpanimalhospital.com Dr. Anna Marie Gallo, DVM Your Pet Deserves a Caring Vet! Personalized Service Routine Care Preventive Health Care Small Animal Medicine Dentistry • Surgery Ultrasonography and Client Education mel@newautocreationz.com www.newautocreationz.com HOURS: Monday - Friday 9:30am-7:30pm, Saturday 9:30am-6:30pm, Closed Sunday • TOP BRAND CAR AUDIO/VIDEO • REMOTE CAR STARTERS AND SECURITY • WHEEL AND TIRE PACKAGES • CAR AND TRUCK ACCESSORIES • PROFESSIONAL WINDOW TINTING • VINYL STICKERS & ROCK PROTECTION FILM • HIGH-PERFORMANCE PARTS/SUSPENSIONS • HIGH END AUTOMOTIVE LIGHTING AUDIO • ELECTRONICS • HIGH PERFORMANCE 908.429.8878 Mehul Patel Manager 908-903-1799 email: Connectionsnj@gmail.com www.theconnectionsnj.com THECONNECTIONMAGAZINES Next Exciting Issue SEPTEMBER 2019 ADVERTISING DEADLINE July 29, 2019 In my early teens, I played in a monthly poker game with five f riends. Our high stakes betting con- sisted of chips worth pennies, nick- els, and dimes. All of us, except our f riend David, would start the evening by opening our wallets, retrieving t wo or three one-dollar bills and exchanging them for chips. David, however, stored his poker money in a beautiful, handmade, lac- quer puzzle box, like the one pic- tured. Opening the box was the puz- zle. It required a precise set of steps, moving slim panels, embedded in the ends of the box, to the left or right or up or down. As best as I recall, David made well over 20 moves to get his box open. Closing the box required executing the steps exactly in reverse. Since graduating high school, I’ve seen David once, at a high school reunion. David has lived in California for many years, working as an ani- mator at Disney Studios. About five years ago we exchanged emails, as I was looking for help from his broth- er, a filmmaker, in researching my family tree, as we had a possible branch in Hollywood (but that’s another story). This past March, my wife, Abby, and I visited Japan on a vacation. It is an amazing country, which I didn’t fully appreciate when I visited on business a few times many years ago. One leg of our trip took us into the mountains near Hakone, about 75 miles from Tokyo. During our stay there, our guide, Yoshie-san, took us to a shop, Hamamatsuya, where a 7th generation craftsman, about 60 years old, showed us the method he uses to layer different types and col- ors of wooden strips. He uses them to create parquet patterns from which he makes an assortment of artistic and functional pieces. After the demonstration, Abby and I browsed his shop. Among the items for sale were a variety of puzzle boxes requiring anywhere from 4 to 72 steps to unlock. I remarked to Abby that my friend David had such a box when we were growing up. When we got back to our hotel that afternoon, Abby posted some scenic pictures on Facebook in which she commented about Japan and tagged me, which caused her postings to be visible to my Facebook friends as well. Later that day, David, who is my Facebook friend, made a one-word comment, “Tokyo?” I wondered if it was the father or grandfather of the artisan Abby and I met, that made his poker puzzle box 50 years ago. CLOSING A BOX OPENED 50 YEARS AGO By: Dan Rosenberg www.theconnectionsnj.com