Dan and Julie visit Christine, Jamie and Dan in California

Dan and Julie traveled to California in early May and had a wonderful time visiting Christine and Jamie in Los Angeles, and then Dan in Santa Cruz.

This was D&J’s first opportunity to see the apartment where Christine, Jamie and their cats have settled in since their cross-country move in late November. It’s in a quiet residential neighborhood in West LA, close to the Santa Monica city line and just two miles from Jamie’s office at Riot Games.

Over the next couple of days, the quartet visited the Santa Monica beach and pier; Griffith Park, in the Hollywood Hills overlooking the LA sprawl; and a botanical garden on the UCLA campus.

Following their weekend in LA, Dan and Julie took a short flight to San Jose, rented a car and drove to Santa Cruz, meeting the younger Dan at his apartment just a half-block from the beach on Monterrey Bay.

The trio visited the Santa Cruz pier, where they looked down at the sea lions and out over the bay toward the Big Sur mountains in the distance. They paid a brief visit to a small lighthouse just up the coast, where they could see more sea lions sunning on a rock and surfers riding low, long waves.

Then they drove several miles inland and uphill to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, where they walked a loop trail through a forest of towering Coastal Redwood and Douglas Fir trees. 

“Although it was a quick visit, we packed a lot in, and it was great to catch up,” said Dan.

For a full report on the trip - plus albums of photos - click here.

Sings of spring and hope

As we begin a second year of life in a pandemic, there is at least some hope that the ongoing rollout of vaccines will reduce the risk before too long. Hugh and Dolores have received a two-shot course of vaccination through their Oak Crest Senior Living Community, and grandson Chris received his first shot through his employment with the Cecil County, Md., school system. Others of us are still waiting for availability.

Meanwhile, Spring approaches! These crocuses, on a church lawn, were the first to be spotted this year by Dan and Julie during one of their walks around their New Jersey neighborhood. "Our own little patch of crocuses was buried under a big pile of shoveled-up snow and hasn't emerged yet," says Dan. "We're looking forward to seeing them and all the other flowers that fill our neighborhood every Spring. Even more, we're looking forward to being able to travel and visit family again when it is finally safe to do so."

Enjoying late summer on Eastern Long Island

Dan writes: For as long as I can remember, I have spent at least part of every August in Noyac on Eastern Long Island. And even in this very strange year, I was able to keep that tradition going.

Ocean breeze

Julie and I headed out Aug. 26 to the Birch Street cottage that's been in the family for 35 years. The next day I stopped in a lawyers' office to sign the papers selling the property to Genevieve and John (see previous article). Then (as guests of the gracious new landlords) we spent the remainder of August and the very beginning of September enjoying the nearby beaches, parks and villages in very relaxed fashion.

Long Beach

Although limited by the need for social distancing, we were able to spend time visiting Genevieve, John, Bea and Jack, as well as Kathy and Robert, in outdoor settings. And Andy and Wren drove down from Upstate New York to join us for a few days. Fortunately, they were able to adjust their schedule to avoid some rain and enjoy beautiful sunny-and-warm-but-not-hot weather.

Of course, we took the nature walk on Jessup's Neck to feed the chickadees (and, increasingly, other species such as tufted titmouse and nuthatch) and check out the other wildlife.

We happened to be on Long Wharf in Sag Harbor just as the setting sun put on a spectacular show.

Here's hoping we can spend more time, see more family - and do without the masks - next summer.

The natural and unnatural progress of Spring

Dan writes: As May passes into June, the azaleas and cherry blossoms have faded and the first roses are blooming here at Birch Street Web HQ. Julie and I are lucky to live in a neighborhood that's very pleasant for taking walks and watching the progress of everyone else's flowering plants and trees. The early magnolias were followed by the dogwoods, and now rhododenrons are in full bloom. For "sheltering in place," this isn't a bad place.

Some of our family members have decamped to their Noyac houses -- Kathy to hers, Genevieve, John, Bea and Jack to theirs -- where they can continue to work remotely and in somewhat more pleasant isolation.

Shanna, Rick and Lucy are safe at their New Jersey home, where this lovely family portrait was taken.

Likewise, Vivien, CJ and Charlie at their home in the Garden State. And yes, there was Easter this year, if not traditional Easter gatherings.

Dan and Julie have been having weekly get-togethers on Zoom with Julie's parents and a cast of family members that varies from week to week. Christine and Jamie, Andy and Shannon, Cathy, Christopher, Stephanie, Lisa, Elizabeth and Rebecca have all participated from time to time. This shot is from late April.

We hope it won't be too long before we can see each other in person again. But in the meantime, let's all stay safe and well, and keep in touch as best we can.

Shannon and Andy start raising chickens

The house Andy and Shannon bought in January in Middleburgh, N.Y., came with a mostly-empty chicken coop and a handful of adult hens. As part of their long-range plan to increase their self-sufficiency, they outfitted the coop with more roosting bars and nesting boxes and bought a brood of some 60 baby chicks -- enough to be a self-perpetuating flock while providing food.

The chicks are spending the first several weeks in the basement of the house, where Shannon set up an incubator to keep them warm. These photos were taken on March 20, and the chickens have already grown considerably. They'll soon be ready to move to the coop and be able to roam the yard during the day.

Watch brief video clips of the chicks hopping around in the incubator:
Clip One | Clip Two

Late summer vacationing on Long Island

Late August provided a chance for Christine, Andy and Shannon all to join Dan and Julie for a few days on Eastern Long Island, where they hit their favorite spots in Sag Harbor, at the ocean in Bridgehampton and in the nature preserve at Jessup's Neck. Pictured is the traditional Feeding of the Chickadees along the nature trail.

Dan and Julie had picked up Christine at her suburban Boston apartment and, after a brief stop on Cape Cod, ferried over from New London. Andy and Shannon drove out from New Jersey the next day.

A couple of days later, Christine ferried back across the Sound to rejoin her fiancee, James. Meanwhile, Andy and Shannon stayed for another day on the Island.

Shannon's parents, Rich and Liz, came out from their home "up the island" and joined A + S + D + J for a pleasant afternoon checking out some Sag Harbor sights and some ocean waves.

Once the "kids" were gone, D + J had a few days to relax by themselves. They caught a band at the Stephen Talkhouse ... paid a visit to the Hampton Classic horse show ...


... took a driving tour on the North Fork, with a stop at Hortons Point Light ...

... and drove out the South Fork to Montauk.

Labor Day Weekend brought more family members out East, with Kathy, Genevieve, John, Bea and Patrick arriving at various times. Although the weather forecast called for a lot of clouds and some showers, the weekend turned out great - mostly sunny and warm-but-not-hot.

Saturday afternoon found Kathy, Genevieve, Bea, Dan and Julie at Long Beach, along with friends Jim and Rosemary and their daughter Megan.

Here, Genevieve and Bea dig a tidal pool at Long Beach.

Scenes from sunny days on Cape Cod

Chatham lighthouse

As previously posted, Dan, Julie, Christine, Andy and Shannon visited Cape Cod in August, meeting James and his family as well as Owen and Gerrit. Here are some more photos taken by Dan during their three-day stay.

Boats in Provincetown harbor

Sunset over Provincetown

Tourists and shoppers in downtown Provincetown

On the same day as the solar eclipse, the group watched the sun set at Chapin Beach, where low tide exposes a wide expanse of beach that is covered by water at high tide.

Low tide at Chapin Beach

Christine, Jamie, Andy, Shannon hike toward the bay

Posing with the sun

The sun retires after its busy day

The robin family of Birch Street

A pair of robins built a nest atop the front-door light fixture at Birch Street Radio headquarters. Three chicks were born there, and in a little over a week, left the nest for adventures in the wilds of suburbia.

Sometime in mid-May we first noticed a bunch of twigs and scraps of paper and such piled on top of the light fixture. Dan cleared it away, but the next day there was another pile. After three rounds of this, a very well-formed nest appeared and we decided to let it be.

After seeing mama bird perched there off and on for a week or so, we discovered on May 21 that there were three chicks snoozing in the nest (first photo). Less than a week later, they were flexing their muscles and getting ready to leave (second photo, May 27).

That evening, Dan saw one of the chicks hopping across the lawn with one of its parents. By the next morning, all three were gone!

Of birds and blossoms and a beautiful April day

Look closely at this robin and you'll see water droplets on its feathers. This fellow enjoyed hopping in and out of the spray from a lawn sprinkler at Birch Street headquarters on this gorgeous April day.

SPRING has finally really truly broken out here in New Jersey and environs. Dan says: "After a long, snowy winter and a cool, dreary early spring, this wasn't just any sunny-and-70-degrees day. It felt like perfection.

"Hyacinths! Azalea buds! The neighbor's magnolia tree against a spectacular blue sky! On a bicycle ride around the neighborhood I saw high school and Little League baseball games, a full playground, joggers, strollers, gardeners, someone washing a boat in a driveway."

"Over the land is April," added Robert Louis Stevenson. "Hear you the songs of spring?" Yes, Bob, we do.

Snowy Owl on snowy Cape

Tish photographed this Snowy Owl in a snowy marsh near the beach in snowy Cape Cod this weekend.

As previously reported, the arctic birds have appeared on the Cape in extraordinary numbers this winter. It's part of a broad invasion of East Coast and Midwest states that has ornithologists wondering if it's a freak event or the beginning of a new pattern.

Warmth, waves and wildlife on LI

Dan, Julie, Christine and Andy made a quick trip to Noyac last weekend and managed to keep fairly cool despite the heat and humidity. Above, Christine and Andy soaked in Mill Creek on Saturday afternoon while a couple of cormorants hung out nearby.


That evening they watched the sun set and the moon rise at the Ocean Road beach in Bridgehampton. An onshore wind had stirred up the surf and made the air much cooler than it was inland.


On Sunday the foursome visited Jessup's Neck, hiking the nature trail to the beach for a splash and continuing the tradition of hand-feeding the bolder members of the wildlife preserve's population.


Dan reports: "There seemed to be fewer chickadees this year than in the past, or else they just weren't very hungry, but we did feed a few. Meanwhile, another species of bird - tufted titmouse, we think - has apparently learned the trick of landing on an open palm to take sunflower seeds. Christine and Andy each fed at least one of those. And Christine persuaded a chipmunk to snatch some seeds as well."

Here are a few photos of the critter encounters - including a shot that captures one of the birds in mid-flutter.



And just for fun, here's a slideshow of a series of pictures Dan caught as a cormorant took flight over Mill Creek.