Falling ice

Brrrrr! The weather’s gotten cold again.

(Which is not surprise, seeing as it’s February and all.)

(But the days are getting longer! It’ll be spring before you know it!)

Frozen pond

After a week of above-freezing weather, it’s almost guaranteed that Seeley’s Pond is no longer frozen solid like this.

But after last week’s run of nothing above 25°F, it was sure frozen last week.

I saw some kids running on it, which blew my mind a little. Encouraged, I cautiously tested it for myself, and: yup, totally frozen, totally walkable.

Even geese were like “yeahhh, check ME out, crossin’ this pond without swimming, aw yeah.”

Ice on a spillway

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: ICE ON A SPILLWAY. Because this is a spillway, and that is ice.

(It’s a little creek near Seeley’s Pond, right on the tri-border of Berkeley Heights, Scotch Plains, and Watchung.)

Seeley’s Falls (again)

A different angle on the same view I showed you Monday.

…And I think I can get away with a cheap trick like that? The nerve!

…But I mean, you don’t really mind looking at similar pretty photos on different days, do you? DO YOU?

Seeley’s Falls… in the fall

As I was driving through this part of the Watchung Reservation yesterday, I noticed that it’s at peak autumn colors. What! When did that happen!

Since the road through this part of the Watchung Reservation is very curvy, with no shoulder, and filled with trucks going 50mph, I did my best to keep my eyes on the road. Yeesh.

I decided to come back and revisit Seeley’s Falls safely on foot. The falls are pretty pathetic at the moment, but the spillway is still pretty. And the leaves! Man. I might just assault you guys all week with autumn photos of Seeley’s Falls.

Italian Festival 7 – Grab bag of leftover photos

Exactly what it says. I had some leftover shots, and I couldn’t let them rot on my hard drive. Above are the bumper cars.

 

And then we have the Rockin’ Tug…

…which unfortunately broke. The operator had to physically push it back into place, let all the passengers out, and give them their tickets back. The ride was fixed 10 minutes later.

 

And then there’s the Wipeout…

 

And then we’ve got an overall summary of the festival.

 

Totally done with this carnival business, I swear! ’til next time.

Italian Festival 6 – The Balloons

The rides at the Scotch Plains Italian Festival, which were provided by Majestic Midways, mostly featured small fiberglass sculpted cars— bees, and dune buggies, and puppies, and teacups, and so forth. This one— “Up, Up, and Away”— was the only one of these sculpted-fiberglass rides that ALSO included lights that looked cool at night. (Most of the fiberglass rides don’t offer many lights.) So of course, I took a picture. I coulda done without the fence in the way, but so it goes. NEXT TIME.

Italian Festival 5 – Carousel

More Scotch Plains Italian Festival.

Man, if they’d had crazy sea dragons on carousels when I was a kid, maybe I’d've been more excited to ride them. It seems like hardly any carousels are horses-only these days! Have you noticed that?

Italian Festival 4 – Sky Diver

I couldn’t do anything about the moiré patterns, but if you click the image, you can see a larger version of the photo that is hopefully a little bit cleaner.

Anyway. This is the Sky Diver!

It’s like a Ferris Wheel on acid. The capsules, which are anchored to the wheel by axles at the front and back, flip over and around as the wheel turns. Whee!

Italian Festival 3 – Band time

I wouldn’t exactly call them a “marching band,” since they weren’t exactly marching, but this mobile band wandered around the Scotch Plains Italian Festival, playing Italian tunes like the Tarantella.

Sure, there was a rock band on the main stage, and I guess guitars and drum kits are nice and all, but I’m a sucker for wind instruments. Aren’t you?