Some Photos From the Most Recent Snowstorm in Northern New Jersey

Hopefully,  I am not overdoing it with these pictures of recent snowfalls in New Jersey. It is just that one of the pleasant things about the snow is just how pretty the world seems to become when blanketed in that pure white snow. 

Yes, I am tired of driving under slippery conditions. And yes, I could go without shoveling any more snow this winter, or clearing off the car off ice, including that harsh and hateful sound of scraping the ice from the windshield. Also, believe me, I could easily go the rest of the year without taking very careful steps in hopes of avoiding a slip and fall, and possible injury. If last year's slip and fall (and the injury to my left shoulder and arm) taught me anything, it is to be extremely careful these days, because the knowledge of just how fast you can sustain a serious injury through a moment's carelessness is no longer merely theoretical. 

Now, winter tends to be more stressful than anything else. It means slippery conditions, both during walks and driving. It means back pain and sore hands after shoveling from significant snowfall, and it means annoyance and stress when, after one storm is done, you have yet another looming in the near future. As if to underscore this, we are now expected to get still more snow on Monday, just on the other side of this weekend. Hell, I even heard somewhere that the chances are something like 90 percent. And possibly more snow even after that, on Friday, as I understand it. So yes, it can get tiresome, and many view it as not much more than a burden.

Indeed, these are the things - mostly inconveniences, admittedly - that I think of as winter approaches every year. That, and perhaps trying to bundle up to stay warm. When I was younger, I used to love winter. Snow was awesome and it was exciting and almost poetic to see the snowfall. And seriously, what can beat the happiness of finding out that school was closed for the day because of snow? It was a serious and often unexpected, but very pleasant, surprise, and it seems that kids these days are more or less being robbed of it, in this age of virtual, online school days. 

But I digress. Yes, I used to love winter, until the winter of 1993-94 came. That was the winter when it seemed to snow every three or four days, at most. And the snow just kept piling up, because it never seemed to get anywhere near warm enough for any of it to melt. In fact, it was so cold, that it turned to ice, and there were seeming mountains of snow around everyone's driveways. I remember really having to launch shovelfuls of snow high over the mountain of snow over our driveway, and some of it inevitably seemed to avalanche back down, making you have to work double for the same snow. And the roads felt like canals bordered by walls of snow, everywhere that you went. 

After that, and the winter of 1995-96 - which saw a record amount of snow that season - cemented my rather new perspective, which is more often than not shared by adults, that winter is mostly a burden. 

These days, I tend to regard the first couple of months of the cold weather as more or less welcome, even charming. It can be nice when it starts to get cold on October evenings and into November, and the cold chill of winter has a certain charm in December, right up into the holiday season. Then, maybe a day or two after the New Year, it starts to become a hassle. Yet, it continues on through January. By the time that February and March come on, it can really feel like it's dragging. That is how most people - again, at least most adults - seem to feel about it right now, as well. Admittedly, I am as ready as anyone else for the springtime, to feel warmer air, to see green again, and to be able to do simple things like go hiking, or even go for a comfortable walk around the neighborhood on sidewalks that are not covered in snow or, worse, ice. Just to be able to return back to normal a bit, or what feels like normal. 

Still, there are moments when you can enjoy it, when the sheer beauty of a winter landscape can take you back to how magical it all felt when you regarded it through a child's eye.

Yesterday, I visited my son in northern New Jersey. The roads were snowy, and it continued to snow until after the daylight ended, even though the forecasters had predicted that it would all end in the early afternoon, at latest. Yes, it was annoying to drive in and have to shovel, and yes, I cleared my car of some snow and ice. 

However, I also stopped to take in the scenery at times, and decided to take still more pictures. Seemed like a good idea to share them, also. Because again, there can be a silver lining in everything. And the silver lining for winter snowstorms, despite the headaches that they can cause, is just how beautiful and pristine and quiet the world seems to get. Some of these pictures feel like they captured that, at least a little bit.

Enjoy!

A solitary gazebo that gives out on a lakefront view in Bloomingdale, New Jersey, very near West Milford. 

The old Toys 'r Us store by Preakness Mall in Wayne, New Jersey. This used to be one of my favorite stores as a kid, but it closed down a few years ago. Still, they have the sign up from the older days, even though the windows clearly indicate that this store is no longer open. Preakness Mall itself seems to be more generally at least halfway to being a ghost town.