Photos from January

I've been really busy and have been missing blogging mojo - I'd say more about these photos that were taken late December and early January but I've got to scoot... Hope to post more soon.

A cherry tree in bloom in January - a warms spell got it royally confused!

The aftermath of Super Storm Sanday (2012) linger on...

Santa waves from the porch in a house that was recently raised.

Beautiful Dolphin sculpture.

Another house being raised. This one is actually sitting in the street while they dig the new foundation.

Winter Beach - my favorite time down the shore.

My Dad's dog Zoey makes herself at home.

The place down the shore. I need to do some exterior painting.

The Morris Arboretum was brown and dull - It has exploded with Spring flowering now. I got to get there and take some photos of the blooming trees.

My older brother and his family spent a week in Myrtle Beach.

A South Carolina snowman.

The Myrtle Beach lighthouse.

While he was on the beach in South Carolina, I was on the beach in New Jersey.

New Jersey beach.

My family memories at the beach photo collage. Over 110 individual photos are mounted in the "room divider".

Barnaget Lighthouse - Sunset Cruise

I know I've not posted anything lately. I don't know where my blogging mojo went. Recently, I went on a sunset cruise off Barnegat Light, Long Beach Island, on the "Miss Barnegat Light." I took lots of photos - it was a beautiful evening. The water was warm(ish) at 73F and the breeze kept things cool.

The boat left from the "Viking Fishing Village."

Barnegat Lighthouse, was built by George Meade, a Civil War General for the north. Barnegat Light was commissioned on January 1, 1859.

Later, all the little kids (and me) would get to drive the boat!

But first we motored out of the bay, past the lighthouse.

The other "aid to navigation," the town water tower, probably doesn't aid navigation nearly as much as the lighthouse!

A cooling breeze helped the "blow boat" stay abreast of us.

Ah... relaxation in a New York minute.

Taking the turn into the inlet to head out into the ocean.

We saw a pod of Porpoise and a big school of bait fish being chased by ... something in the deep. I had "Charlie-Problems" and couldn't get a good shot of the porpoise. I have 6 photos of the empty sea where these swimming mammals ... eluded me. The sunset wasn't much to get excited about - but...

...recently, they re-lit the old lighthouse, and seeing the light was a thrill!

Weekend at the Beach

This past weekend, I got down to the beach for a couple days. I took some longer walks up and down the blocks to see what work had been done and what still needs to be down in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. There are still, even a year and a half later, ample signs of the costly damage the storm caused, and how capricious and seemingly at random the "hits" from Mother Nature were.

Down on the bayside, I saw this Great Black-backed Gull is the largest gull in the world, with a powerful build and a domineering attitude. They harry other birds to steal their food and even hunt adult birds such as grebes and puffins. It likely was resting before heading further north.

During the off-season, dogs are permitted on the beach and my dad likes to take his German Shepard, Zoey, down there to let her run. She does love the beach! She tears back and forth like a maniac and attacks the incoming waves.

Saturday night, there was a magnificent sunset. The pink sky glowed for hours. Some of the light show might have been caused by smoke in the air from a number of wildfires burning in the central New Jersey pine barrens.

Whatever the source, I admired the show for nearly an hour.