Mother and Son

Pieta
Holy Rosary Church
Jersey City, New Jersey

A section of a restored statue of the Pieta. A beautiful restoration by the artist Nancy Forte.

Wood and Green

Wood and Green
Brookdale Park
Montclair, New Jersey

Interesting tree with small evergreen in the background. Reminds me of a Andrew Wyeth painting.

Snow Twister

Snow Twister
Brookdale Park
Montclair, New Jersey

After the snowstorm that lasted last evening into this morning, the wind really whipped up - creating these beautiful twisters on the snow. God's magic!

Vermont Cow

Vermont Cow
Manchester Vermont
November 2010

On the way to my daughter's wedding.

The Beetle

The Beetle

Brookdale Park
New Jersey

Roses

It’s time you learned something.
Halfway outdoors
he pauses, the flat dark fury of
his jaw, one eye, a shoulder in torn
blue cloth, the pruning shears
a mammoth claw resting
between meals.

I scramble
up, terrified and down
the drive, the gravel’s
brittle froth
and stand completely
helpless as he parts
a thousand pinkish eyelids
to find the beetles nested
at the root, teeming
disease.

They came from Japan, 1961.
They were nothing like the locusts
we hadn’t noticed until they
were gone, the husks
sheer tuxedos
snagged on bark, the rafters,
the dying bayberry.

It’s easy—
pop them between your nails.
In the tool shed’s populous
shadows, I hold the Mason jar instead
with both hands as he shakes
the flowers above
the kerosene which is shivering now
like the ocean I have never seen…

and I bear on a tray indoors
the inculpable, blushing prize.

Poem by Rita Dove 2006

Dead Tree at Mills

Mills Reservation
Cedar Grove
New Jersey

Awful hot and sticky day today at the Mills Reservation. The forest was quiet and peaceful.

Almonds

Almond Stand
Arts Fair
Brookdale Park

Last Sunday, my wife and I spent the afternoon in Brookdale Park enjoying the Arts Fair. If it was only for the almonds, the 90*F heat was all worth it!