It snows in Jersey too.

1-28-10 SHORT HILLS: Our January warm spell seems to be over. We got about a inch of wet snow this morning clinging to all the branches in the yard and snarling traffic on the roads.

We’re a month and a week past the winter solstice, and the sun has begun its climb up from the southern tropics back to the equator. By February 21 the sun will be halfway back. I recently tried to explain this in an email and will quote myself:

“The sun's geographic position [that spot on the earth directly below the sun] follows a sine wave pattern above and below the equator over the course of the year. From Dec 21 [or so] to Mar 21 the upward movement of the sun is from 23° below the equator to the equator. The first 1/6 of the upward travel is from Dec-Jan, the next 1/3 of the distance from Jan-Feb, and the last 1/2 from Feb-Mar and similarly around the year above and below the equator. If you mentally picture a sine wave, Nov to Jan and May to Jul are the flatish parts near the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, and Feb to Apr and Aug to Oct are the parts with nearly vertical movement at the equator [equinoxes]. The northern and southern hemisphere's temp averages also follow a sine wave pattern, but lag behind the sun's position.”

There, all clear?


Evergreen Hollies, Rhodos, Hemlocks and Yews [from L to R] bend and may break under the weight of the snow.

Deciduous trees are better equipped to deal with snow burden.

Winter Potpourri.

1-24-10 VERMONT: Wow! Over two weeks without an entry. I’m getting as bad as Valerie. You can tell, I guess, it’s winter and not much is happening in the garden.

First things first, the cold spell ended after two weeks. People were saying how cold and harsh it was. I usually replied, “Who would ever have expected that in January?”

Since then it’s been moderate and seasonal, even here in Vermont. We came up a few days ago for a long weekend and had dinner with a certain student and her boyfriend and saw a bunch of other folks. It’s clouding up today, but the last three days have been clear with bluebird skies and starry nights. I have been skiing around the pasture with the dogs every day, and Judy was out on snowshoes once. I tried telemarking down a steep part of the pasture. It felt a bit awkward, to put a charitable face on the performance, but the snow was wet and gummy.

All those storms in California producing beach erosion, mudslides and collapsing houses made me think of El Nino. Check out the website below and see that it has been on for several months and fairly strong. For us it means a warm, short winter, so who cares if California slides into the Pacific.
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/ensostuff/ensoyears.shtml
Will global warming make El Nino more intense? Stay tuned.

As if winter wasn’t depressing enough, Massachusetts sent a GOP porn star to the Senate in EMK’s seat. Talk about rolling over in your grave. I suppose it can be blamed on the economy, the bankers, the terrorists, the health care bill, which nobody likes, the Coakley apathy and the Obama passivity. Wake up, Barack, you’re late for school.

As for the health care bill, when the Massachusetts election results were in, the health care stocks soared. If Wall Street thinks the HMO’s and insurance companies would be hurt by the bill, it must be a good thing. And nothing better is likely to come along any time soon.


Queen of the Snow.


If you throw it, they will go.


Doesn't this one make you think of Rothko?

A Star Is Born!

1-9-10 SHORT HILLS: We saw the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players production of ‘The Mikado’ at City Center last night. It was a breath-taking evening. It was the Broadway debut of a new star of musical comedy! Lucy Rosenberg! She was magnificent. We laughed, we cried, etc. Notables in the audience included: Mary, Alison, Valerie, Maggie. Also, it seemed to me, the horn playing from the orchestra pit was unusually distinct and clear.


More exclusive Pix on the link to the right!

Cold Turkey.

1-5-10 SHORT HILLS: We came south to NJ on the second, driving in snow and slush that dried up as we got into CT. The weather here has been almost as forbidding as VT, cold and windy with an inch or so of crusty snow cover.


We saw the turkey flock again as we were leaving. I am guessing they’re still all there, about fifteen birds.


The pocketful of live oak acorns I brought back from CA has surprised us. I threw them in a flower pot after the November visit to San José, watered them weekly and, four of them, so far, have germinated. The leaves have thorny points like holly tree leaves, but the leaf shape is more like a deciduous red oak. A quick visit to Wikipedia shows that there are 400 or so species in the oak tree genus, Quercus, and dozens that are evergreen [live] oaks. I think this one is California [or Coast] live oak, Quercus agrifolia. Can it over-winter in NJ, zone 6, but becoming zone 7? If the seedlings survive, I’ll move one or two outside in the fall and keep the others in the pot for another year.

The Last, Last Post of the Decade.

Today is rather brisk. The thermometer has been in the single digits all day. The north winds are gusting to the thirties and forties. It's snowing but the wind is moving so much of the snow around, it's hard to tell what's falling from what's drifting. While well swaddled, I walked the dogs to the end of the pasture, we were all glad to come back inside.

Blowing, drifting, swirling, falling snow.

Last Post of the Decade.

12-28-09 VERMONT: Christmas has slipped by with less than the usual number of bruised egos and hurt feelings and disappointed gift recipients. We were all in Short Hills except the West Coasters.

The Wednesday before Xmas Eve, we saw ‘Tales of Hoffmann’ with Anna at the Met. Anna Netrebko was brilliant, the production was very Fellini-esque and ran for almost four hours. We three all loved it.

We been doing our own film festival seeing ‘Sherlock Holmes’, ‘It’s Complicated’, and ‘Up in the Air’. Why is it that the only movies we want to see come out in December? Actually I know the answer—award campaigning.

Judy and I came to VT yesterday on a warm and misty and foggy afternoon. Today it is cooler, and we had about four inches of snow. Tomorrow is predicted to be windy and very cold. There's a dead, frozen fox carcass frozen to the ground under the barn lean-to side.


There's a foxsicle under there.

Dog's best friend.

After the storm.

S is for Saturday, Sunday and Snow.

12-20-09 SHORT HILLS: Frank Rich’s column today really has it right about this country. Think of all the scams, cheats, scammers, scandals, scoundrels, spammers and bubbles of the new century, so far: Enron, Blogojevich, steroid-users in baseball, Bonds, McGuire, A Rod, Clemons and other sports stars, Madoff, AIG, balloon boy, Spitzer, the entire Bush administration, Kerik, Edwards, CDO’s and bankers, pick a Senator, realtor or used car dealer. Is it this country, something in our ethos, or is it just all of them? Should the national mascot be the eagle of the card shark?

We have snow. We got eight inches last night. We had tickets for A Prairie Home Companion last night. Bill and I went to NYC on the train, Judy and Lynn were afraid of being stuck in the city or stuck on the trip home and not able to take care of the dogs. As it turned out the trip back had only minor delays, and the show was great. Dinner was frites, moules and Danish beer with Roger and Leeza.

Before the show Bill and I went up to Rock Center to see the tree. It was packed with others who had the same idea on a snowy and windy night. In fact, people were out all over mid-town enjoying the slush, the subway was packed, Penn Station was full.

Today we shoveled enough to get a car out and spent yard time with the dogs.


Times Square Pedestrian Mall that used to be Broadway.

Rockefeller Center Xmas Tree and Rink in snow and wind.

New Jersey after the storm.