Thanks, Everyone

4-7-07 SHORT HILLS: Thanks to everyone for their calls, cards, presents and visits. Judy and I are grateful for the many expressions of sympathy.
The weather has been freezing, literally, with occasional snow flurries. All the plants are on hold, but the forsythia have managed to get open.

New Blooms: forsythia, spice bush.

Here is a pic from Rte. 23 in Newfoundland, NJ. These folds are in Paleozoic sandstones and mudstones that were created from sediments eroded from ancient mountains at a time when North America was in the tropics. This spot was then ocean bottom, near the beach. The sand and mud deposits were eventually compressed by the overlying volume of additional sediments to become horizontal beds of stone. Fish ruled the world, and little or nothing lived on land. A bit later these beds were folded and elevated when Africa and Europe collided with North America. The frogs were then in charge. Later still, the Atlantic Ocean opened up sending Europe and Africa away, but the folds remained. Erosion of overlying rock brought them to the surface, and road building cut them into sections letting us see the structure.

Looking east across Rt. 23.