Maybe clearing a sidewalk isn’t a test of character but then again, maybe it is.
During the fall, I met Steve out in front of the Art Yard’s Residency clearing leaves not only from the yard and sidewalk but also from the gutter along the street. No one else does that.
Come the snows of February and I find Steve applying the same level of thoroughness. Instead of just digging a narrow footpath, he clears the entire sidewalk including the curb and edge of the lawn. (Some of the places in town don’t even clear a footpath through the snow).
I told him what I thought about his work and he thanked me for the critique. I replied that it wasn’t a critique, but admiration. I should be so thorough.…
Plow it, push it, heave it, and blow away. One thing about snow is that after it falls its journey isn’t done.
Imagine being a flake being created high in the sky by the weather gods and given wings to gently float to earth.
You float down and eventually settle gently with your snowflake buddies, resting after your journey. Then your world is upended as you are churned up and cast back up into the sky or maybe brutally smashed into a pile. It ain’t easy being a flake.…
It is amazing what some people can do with a chainsaw and a chisel. The best I can do is make wood chips (if I can even get my chainsaw started.)
Greg’s spends a lot of time outside, making wood chips, at Studio On 12 just outside of Frenchtown, NJ. The front yard is full of awesome carvings left over after the wood chips are removed. This one still has a lot of wood attached but the carving, a Samurai warrior, is quickly emerging.…
Here is a salute to parking lot cowboys, who chase down the strays and drive the herds. It’s 365 day-a-year job. No matter what the weather is, those carts are always on the move and need wrangling.
Sometimes they get away and get lost, wandering into the retention basin or rolling out onto the street. It isn’t unusual for find a stray cart, far from herd in the woods or down by a stream. They must have an instinct to head to water. It’s the wranglers’ job to keep them safe and in service.
Then there are cart thieves who will grab one and use it for thrill seeking. Many a cart has met a tragic end careening down a city street at 40-50 miles per hour (not to mention the impact on the rider). The best of the best, the looniest of the loon may even seek glory at the Idiotarod (not to be confused with the Iditarod in Alaska.)
The street sweeper/ash collector caused a bit of a stir one day when it was put out with the trash. The ragged, depressed figure looked all too real upon first glance and neighbors complained about the homeless man.
It is just a decoration, a Dickens thing, but it makes you wonder about the things we use to decorate.…
February can be mild or cold year to year but the sun is always at the same angle. Low in the sky but rising. The guitar player was strumming comfortably in his sleeveless shirt one mid-February Day in 2019. I half expected to see him wearing sandals, too.
It was a lovely, balmy day. Perfect for getting outside.
Fast forward two years to February 15th 2021.
Same spot. Same day of the year, but nobody outside making music. In fact, nobody outside at all.
It is a marked difference in temperature and setting but interestingly, the light is the same. Cloudy winter light is cloudy winter light. I’ll have to visit this spot some summer cloudy day and see if the light is different.…
How many NJ towns have their own bagpiper?
I don’t know. Maybe a lot. Makes sense for here, though right? “Frenchtown,” “bagpipes” It’s a natural combination.
Nick McCallister is the official Frenchtown Bagpiper. He has his own Facebook page and everything. The local chamber brings him in when it gets to be kilt weather, to skirl up and down the main street. Now we need a drummer with a kilt.…
It was a foggy, late fall morning. The sun creating beams of light through the thin veil. I turn to see a woman out for a morning run and heard men talking. Where were those voices coming from? Was she listening to talk radio? Couldn’t be, who carries speaker when they run? Then emerging form the fog came a small peloton of riders chatting away as if they were hanging around drinking coffee. …
For some reason (maybe because it is just too much fun) people with unlicensed four wheelers take to the public roads whenever it snows. Makes sense. No cops around and even if there were they couldn’t chase you.
If we get a good snow, they take it to the next level and our roads become their playgrounds. No cars allowed.…
Cool blue and warm amber. The magic moment comes each morning and evening when the warm brightness of building lights matches the cool brightness of the ambient light. It makes being inside looks comfy.…