These boards were made for walkin’

Despite Ocean Grove being denied FEMA funding for rebuilding its boardwalk, the construction continues anyway. The Ocean Grove beach offices/ restrooms/ base of the fishing pier is one of the lucky sections to get a revamped boardwalk out of the deal.

Apparently this new boardwalk is a composite material. (Whether to use wood or composite for the new boardwalks has been the source of controversy in other shore towns [most notably Belmar].)

 

They’ve done a lot of construction since January:

January 2013: Ocean Grove boardwalk, rebuilding near the beach offices

 

Which is all great progress from what Sandy wrought:

October 31, 2012: Near the Ocean Grove beach offices immediately after Sandy

October 31, 2012: Base of the OG fishing pier immediately after Sandy

Goats

Of all the amazing images I’ve ever captured… this is not one of them. But who doesn’t like looking at goats in a bucolic field? Rhetorical question, don’t answer that.

Monochrome

This is where I’d write something about this photo, if I had anything to say about it, but I don’t.

Sand

Eh. Just a beach.

Snowpile

I have no idea why there is a giant heap of snow in Grove Park. Do you? Maybe some kids were playing? Maybe the goal was to build the largest possible mound of snow? I dunno.

Horseshoe Cove (back in the day)

This is an old photo— from 2007— and the fact that it’s only 56kb scares me a little— but I think it looks okay…? No major artifacting?

Anyway.

It’s Horseshoe Cove, on Sandy Hook (New Jersey)— which is all but inaccessible at the moment, and probably doesn’t look quite like this anymore. But it’s still a nice scene to think about.

Navesink River, 6:39AM

I dunno, clouds are pretty sometimes.

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.”

Groynes

My mother tells me those rocky things on the beach that we’ve always called “jetties” are technically called “groynes.”

“Jetties” are found in pairs, while “groynes” can function individually. (I’m sure it’s much more complicated than that.)

But sheez Louise, when you talk about groins on the beach, rock structures aren’t what come to MY mind… but hey, to each his own.

Ponies in fog

Something about the line “ponies in fog” reminds me of Flight of the Conchords’ “Bowie’s in Space.” And I s’pose it also carries hints of “Snakes on a Plane.” All very straightforward titles, yet somehow creative in their uncreativity, no? Well maybe not “ponies in fog,” that one’s just a cop-out.

Regardless, here are some ponies in fog. (Or probably horses in fog, actually.)