"The Charbor Chronicles": Winter Storm in New Jersey, March 2013

For many people, winter is something to simply get over with. They approach it with trepidation as the hot days of summer melt into the warm days and cool nights of that earlier part of autumn, which is one of the most pleasant times of the year. There is a burst of fall colors, and the weather feels very pleasant. But those cool nights, which sometimes feel like they have the first trace of winter's bite in them, are a reminder of the approach of that season of discontent.

Late fall turns overcast, and the trees lose their color, and then lose their leaves. The days may hold some warmth to them, but more often, they start to become chilly as well. The nights are outright cold, and we begin to see that first, light coat of frost in the mornings. Before too long, it is hard to tell when autumn has ended, and winter has begun.

Yet, the cold weather holds a certain charm, particularly early on. That first snowfall, when children forget that they are in a classroom and, wide-eyes, all gather by the window to watch, before the inevitable questions about going home early begin. The cool to cold weather is a Thanksgiving tradition, and by the holidays of December, cold weather has become the norm. But with the image of the shelter from the cold inside of a warm, family atmosphere to banish the inhospitable chill of the outdoors, there is still a pleasant feel about it all.

As the holiday season yields to the everyday grind again, shortly after New Year's, the winter can become cumbersome. It becomes a hassle whenever we hear the forecast and see that a winter storm is approaching. Everyone listens, crestfallen, to find out how many inches, how big this storm will get. This is the part of winter that most people dread the most. It means long lines in the stores, as everyone tries to stock up in order to wait out the storm. It means sore hands and back from shoveling and clearing off the car. It often means driving with white knuckles in inclimate conditions, and feeling your heart stop when you hit black ice, and the vehicle is no longer fully under your control. That can get particularly bad during the worst that winter has to offer - ice storms and hail. The worst part about those are that they aren't snow, and while the roadways might not look bad, may in fact look pretty clear, and many overconfident drivers are fooled into thinking everything is normal, and that this is just normal rain, conditions are actually at their worst. This is when there are the most accidents.

This is really when people are tired of the winter, and just ready for it to be over already. Whatever charm it might have had early on, it has now lost. You long for the first signs of spring. The first robin bird, the first singing among birds in the tree. That first truly warm day and, an even more important and telling sign, that first warm night. The days are growing longer, and people are talking more about their plans for the upcoming summer.

Early spring is a charming time, with signs of new life all over the place. The trees show buds, and the buds quickly become leaves, although they are young leaves at first. The shade of green is brighter, somehow. Now as full-sized as they will get later on. Like the early autumn, spring is one of the most charming times of the year. You hear the sounds of baby birds in their nests, with the parents busily flying to and fro, looking for food for their young. You see the chicks of ducks and geese lining up behind their much bigger parents. They look very different, at least at first. They are yellow and seemingly furry, and they are so much smaller and quicker, that if you did not know any better, you might at first assume that they are a different creature altogether. People allow themselves to banish the thoughts of the winter, since it seems the next one is now far away. It is not, of course. It will be back before you know it.

Perhaps we can forget about winter as soon as the spring arrives, and the moaning and groaning whenever there is a snowstorm late in the year ("I thought we were done with this already!" or "why can't winter just end!"). But there can be real beauty to be had, if you get past that kind of dismissiveness and winter fatigue. Fact is, spring is around the corner and, usually, the snow that does fall will melt away quickly enough. Often times, the snow does not even strongly effect driving conditions, and so simply adds a measure of beauty to our day.

Such was the case with yesterday's storm. Perhaps there were areas harder hit than where I am. But the storm simply made everything look beautiful, serene! So, I decided to do something that I had not done in a few years.

We had a very nasty winter back in 1995-96. I remember it well. Record snow fall, and just a lot of nasty days and nights during a winter that never wanted to end. Living in West Milford, which is a a generally higher altitude then much of the rest of New Jersey, the weather often is more severe. You would be amazed the difference not just between a few towns or miles, but sometimes, much less than that. We live near this one hill, and I have seen it go from rain on the bottom of that hill, to snow, and measurable snow at that, by the point that you reach the top. We in West Milford got pounded with measurable snow that winter. There were such storms as early as October of 1995, and as late as April, 1996. More than half of a year, and believe me, it felt like it on that winter.

The last snow that we really saw came on April 11th. I remember that day well. That was the day that I saw the great Chicago Bulls team, as they blazed their way to a championship season by compiling a 72-10 regular season mark. They are still the only team in history to have won 70 games or more during the regular season.

It was memorable for another reason completely, however. I was supposed to go to school later that day, but had a few hours beforehand. It had snowed that night, and into the morning. It was beautiful, and I decided to bring the camera and take some pictures. The snow had fallen, but had largely been restricted to the grass and trees. It looked like a winter wonderland, yet it did not seem to affect the roads or driving conditions. It had snowed, and made the world beautiful, yet, I am not sure it would even have measured even an inch. It was gone by the afternoon, but before the wind blew the snow off the tree, or it all melted, I made a point of taking some pictures. If I say so myself, there were some awesome pictures taken that day. It also marked the first time that I did something like that. From that point on, I always wanted to do something like that again, and even managed, to some extent, on certain occasions. Those pictures still exist, and I really would love to make copies someday. But I have to find them and, more importantly, I would have to find the

Some years ago, it must have been either 2009 or 2010, we again got some early snowfall in October. No, I'm not talking about the two foot snowstorm from October 29th of 2011, which was the only major snowfall that we had during a record mild winter for 2011-12. This one was just enough to coat the grass and leaves, which were still showed their bright fall colors. I drove around with my son in the afternoon, taking pictures on my cell phone - the only camera of any sort that I owned at that point. I have not been able to transfer those online, or get them developed on their own, or any such thing. The only time that I can see them is on that particular phone, and it is a tiny screen. Obviously, I wanted another shot at it.

So yesterday, after leaving from work (I work overnights), I was a bit worried about driving conditions as my shift was ending. But another thought popped into my head: perhaps this would be a good day to take some pictures. True, the camera I was using was not professional, or even close. In fact, it's the Kindle that my girlfriend got me for Christmas. I really want to get a better camera, believe me. Taking pictures with that was annoying, as you can only take them while the monitor is facing you. So, most of the pictures, I could not even really see while taking them. Only afterwards, could I "see" them, once they were already taken. Then, I had to choose if it was satisfactory or not. So, to say it was limited would be an understatement.

That said, I went ahead with it anyway. I mean, you can't always choose the circumstances, right? But it was a beautiful day. Some people here in New Jersey might crucify me for saying that about a cold, dreary day in March, which served as a reminder that while spring is very close, right around the corner, it is still officially, and realistically, winter - at least for the time being.

But a beautiful day it was. The roads were not all that bad, actually, and my worries began to dissipate. I drove along 1 & 9, and stayed close to the right. There was a park, Roosevelt Park, that I thought might be pretty. Turned out, it was even prettier than I had imagined! There was a road in the middle of it, and a lot of people were driving, busily going from home, presumably, to their jobs, or whatever other destination they might be headed. I was the only one that was stopped, pulled to the side, and doing some strange activity with my Kindle. Quite a few curious people slowed down to look at me, and seemed perplexed. But some of the nicest shots that I took were there.

I was feeling good, but still had a long way to go. I merged onto I-287, and got off on Exit 12, turned left towards home, towards Hillsborough. But the road runs next to a canal, and at some point, it looked so beautiful, that I stopped and, once again, snapped some pictures. The very first picture of this blog, the one at the very top, was among these.

Next, came a bend in the road, with some woods and a bridge overlooking that same canal, only a different part of it. Last spring, Basia and I would walk along the long, gravel walkway, and enjoy watching turtles sunbathing. The difference between that trail that basked in the sun, and the snow-draped winter wonderland that it had become yesterday, was amazing! Really, really beautiful! I also took some pictures of some farm fields nearby. New Jersey is infamous for being the most densely populated state in the country, and has a reputation for being ugly, dirty, and smelly. But I lived much of my life in a different part of the state, in the northwestern section, which is a landscape of wooded foothills (the Kittatinny Range) and sparkling lakes and streams. Hillsborough is a different part of the state, but this area has some very nice things, as well. The pictures I took yesterday showed a different side of New Jersey than most people think of.

I went to Colonial Park, and got some nice shots there of a lake, as well as some surrounding trees. There were some wooded scenes that I snapped pictures of, as well as a nice, charming house set in a winter scene. Basia always point that house out, and tells me how much she loves it. It looked especially pretty in the snow yesterday, so I went ahead and took some pictures.

Then, off to Hillsborough, to what would be my final stop. There is what I can only imagine to be an old mill factory, or some such thing, right off the side of a stream. It kind of has a gothic look and feel to it, and looks a bit like an old stone castle or fortress. You can see some of the pictures of it down below. I have been wanting to take pictures of it for a while now, and this snow gave me the excuse to make yesterday the day to finally do it (at least for the first time).

I was parked off the side of the road, though. While I was gone, some town worked drove by, and noticed the car. Evidently, I was parked illegally, and they thought that the owner of the car was in some kind of trouble. He went looking for me, but I spotted him approaching, and went to meet him. He told me that the town had been preparing to tow the car. Mind you, I had been gone for maybe ten minutes. But I took this as a sign.

My fingers were feeling numb, and my toes were cold. The battery on the Kindle was getting low, and it would not last much longer before it died altogether. Plus, I had gotten some good shots, more than I had expected when the thought first crossed my mind to go ahead and take some pictures. It began to feel like it was time to get home. A full shift at work, followed by hours taking pictures with a device that was not meant to take photographs (at least, it certainly was not the main function of the device) meant that the day was done.

But I felt I had done well, especially under the conditions. Of course, now, that's for you, the reader and the viewer, to judge.

As I write this, the snow is already starting to be more of a memory than anything else. I stepped outside a short while ago, and it is, once again, warm. Positively spring-like, in fact! Yesterday afternoon, the snow had already either been blown off the trees, or melted. A few hours ago, much of the lawn was cleared of the snow, melted off. You might never know that there had been a fairly significant snowfall yesterday. The traces are diminishing quickly.

Spring is almost here. But for one day, we revisited winter. Or, rather, it revisited us, reminding us that it's hour is not yet done. I know a lot of people are sick and tired of it, fed up. They just want the spring to get here already.

But for one morning, it felt like time almost stood still. I was taking pictures, with people all around me hustling and bustling, doing whatever they normally did during their busy days. I was alone, but is was a pleasant solitude. Some might scoff at my saying this, but I felt truly blessed to have been able to enjoy such a beautiful, pristine, snowy day!

The dreamlike quality is done, though. It took longer than expected to download the pictures, and the computer crapped out on me, and did not allow me to download all the pictures, or even the majority of them. My intention is to download them later, and to post them on this particular blog, to add them where I feel they belong.

But for now, these pictures should testify to some of the natural beauty that I was graced with, and had the pleasure to capture a moment of, and share here with you. Professional grade camera it was certainly not, yet some of these came out surprisingly nicely! Enjoy!