Last Vestiges of Winter

It is late March in Northern New Jersey, and dirty piles of leftover snow have just about melted away.  Along back trails of the Ramapo Mountains, streams are flowing again creating interesting shapes and patterns in their melting ice. Sandy, our faithful hiking companion back then, was exhausted after this particular late March day ….in 2006.

Thanks for Viewing. Comments are always welcome, and zooooooom in for a closer look!  M 🙂

Escaping the Wrong Way from New Jersey in WINTER

Newark Airport – Terminal ‘C.’     Early morning, quite a few years ago. “Florida?”  “Hawaii?” …I could only dream!  

Retired now, but a glimpse back to years of employment often revealed necessary travel. How nice!  But mid-winter?  It meant up early in the cold, managing the slippery roads to the airport, and shuffle off to …Buffalo, or Detroit, or some other frozen landascape.Renting a car was the norm. Bringing it back in one piece was the expectation.

Yeah, there was work to be done, and yes, often pretty landscapes in between.

But, at the end of some of those days, there was always a little nervous anticipation, often by the windows of the waiting room, pretending to read “USA Today” while supressing the notion of helplessly skidding or sliding down the runway in that plane out there. I would maybe think: Is this the fun part yet?

Thanks for viewing, and comments are always welcome. Zoom in for a closer look.

M 🙂

 

 

 

 

In Quest of Punxsutawney Phil

         February 2nd is Groundhog Day here in the United States (and Canada.) Although the tradition begs for a relatively large imagination, lore has it that this particular rodent, Phil, who lives just outside town, can forecast the weather. As it was my wife’s birthday, we added this somewhat iconic town, Punxsutawney,  to our weekend road trip through parts of Pennsylvania. So, despite some issues with snow, we did join the throngs of Phil worshippers, and made it back home by nightfall.  Oh, and he did NOT see his shadow, indicating an early spring!

Thanks for viewing. Zoom in for a closer look. Comments are always welcome. M :-)

 

 

Wind Chill, and Snow – A Retrospective.

         Not too much snow this season in New Jersey. So here is a look-back to Western New York State, seventeen years ago – January 15, 2003.  

         Above (and the next two pictures) …were taken just north of Hornel, NY

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It was about 10° F (-12° C) with 20 mph (32 kph) wind, with me freezing outside!

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The next day, below, I was in Hamburg, NY, just south of Buffalo, where “Lake Effect” snows can bury cars …like MINE!

Thanks for viewing. Comments are always welcome, and zoom in for a closer look.    M 🙂

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A Snowy Trek to see Lucy

          Lucy Kaplansky, a Greenwich Village honed musician and singer-songwriter with pitch perfect vocals and acoustic guitar mastery, has impressed us during a number of local performances over the years. This past Saturday, as snow fell on the city and suburbs, my city savvy son and I made the trek, first by car in N.W. Bergen County, NJ, to the local train station. The end of the line is Hoboken, just steps away from the ferry terminal where we waited a few minutes for the frigid ride across the Hudson River to the “Battery” terminal (WTC area.) A cold half mile walk thru accumulating snow and partly along the water front, brought us to the pleasantly impressive “City Vineyard” restaurant on Pier 26.

         Preceded by an excellent dinner, Lucy would perform flawlessly with her music and stories, right there on the Hudson River, and practically in the shadow of One World Trade Center.

This  is  how  we  got  there…

          The last image above is through the window next to our high top table while watching the show, – overlooking the summer deck and Jersey City beyond. 

   City Vineyard is marked near the upper right on the map above.

        After the show, with my son leading the way, we would take a cab uptown to Penn Station, where the trains would bring us back under the river and eventually to the car (via Secaucus Jct.) and the final slippery road home. 

Note that these are i-phone images.

Thanks for viewing and comments are always welcome. M 🙂