Rebecca's team plays for national championship

Rebecca and her teammates have made it to the final round of the U.S. Mixed National Curling Championship tournament in Willmar, Minn.

Team Surka will be playing Saturday afternoon (3/23) for the championship.

File photo of Team Surka at the Grand National Curling Club championships in February.

The team came in second during the round-robin portion of the tournament with a 7-2 record. In its semi-final match on Friday, Team Surka came from behind to beat the third-place team 8-7.

Meanwhile, the top-ranked team was upset 9-2 by the fourth-place qualifier, Team Murray from Wisconsin. That sets up Saturday's championship match between Team Surka and Team Murray.

USA Curling posts the scores here, and live video of the match may be available here (if it's working).

Southampton beaches after a rough winter

Dan writes: These are the odd sights I saw when I visited two ocean beaches in Southampton Township on March 16, almost five months after Hurricane Sandy. That storm and others over the winter have removed many tons of sand from the Hampton beaches.

The photo above was taken from the entrance to the beach at the end of Ocean Avenue in Bridgehampton. The tide was fairly low, leaving a tidal pool in what had been the middle of the beach. Protruding from that pool were four wooden pilings that had been covered over for many years but now stood a few feet tall.


A local resident told me that the pilings formerly supported a life guard station. He said he had seen old photographs showing that station -- which was positioned behind what was then the dune line. He said the tips of the pilings emerge occasionally after winter storms, but he has never seen them uncovered to this extent.

(Adding to the odd feeling as I walked around the beach was the fact that it was snowing lightly. I don't ever recall being on a beach during a snowfall.)

At Cameron beach, the views were even stranger. Work was apparently under way to restore at least some of the lost sand, so there were large mounds of sand near the parking lot. I don't know whether that sand was dredged or bulldozed out of Mecox Bay, or trucked in from somewhere else.

It's hard to get a sense of the scene from individual photographs, but here's a panoramic video that shows the narrowed beach, the sand mounds, and some work going on in front of a beachfront home, presumably to bolster the dune at the property line. Notice that on the west side of the beach, the beach in front of the homes along Flying Point Road has essentially disappeared, exposing a huge metal retaining wall.


Here's a closer look at the retaining wall. As I recall, the top of this wall used to stick out of the sand a bit, and water would come close to it at high tide. On this afternoon, the tide seemed to be low, so I'm guessing the waves may now break against the wall at high tide.

Lizzie gets oriented at Elon

Tish writes: Lizzie and I just returned from her orientation at Elon University in Elon, N.C.

We had a wonderful time there learning more about the school and meeting students and parents. It also helped that they arranged for 77 degree temperatures on Saturday!

We also had dinner with Phil -- the son of Owen's cousin Bonnie -- and his fiancee, Rebecca. Phil is an Elon graduate.

The Birch Street Web turns six years old

This family website made its debut on St. Patrick's day weekend in 2007.

The Birch Street Web now contains some 750 entries and many hundreds of photos. It documents big things and small, major events and minor, the milestones and the trivia of six years (and counting) in the lives of our extended family.

Thanks to all of our readers and contributors for helping to build this family archive. Please help keep it going, and growing. Remember - Keep in touch!

Leo joins the family

Kathy has a new addition to her household: Leo, a shih tzu puppy.

Leo was born Jan. 5 in Connecticut. Kathy picked him up from the breeder on Friday night (March 8) and brought him home, where Vivien, Genevieve and John were on hand to welcome him.

It looks like it didn't take long for Leo to feel comfortable in his new surroundings!

Between storms, spring peeks out

Early last week, before another snowstorm hit Cape Cod, Tish spotted a welcome sign of the coming spring, and took the photo below of crocuses emerging in her yard. (The photo now atop the page also was taken by Tish, but in 2010.)

Snow storm meanders up East Coast

The storm system that dropped snow on our family members in Ohio and Virginia on Wednesday hovered off the East Coast through Thursday and then brought snow to the New York-New Jersey area on Friday.


Dan took a few quick shots of the scene outside Birch Street Media headquarters on Friday morning, as the wet snow was falling and clinging to the trees and bushes.


Speaking of snow photos - Kathy took these next two pictures right after another snowfall back in February. The view is up through the branches of a Japanese maple tree in her yard.

Winter brings another blast

Wednesday was a Snow Day for our family members in Ohio and Virginia, while those of us to the north and east waited to see what Thursday would bring.

Brian and Xander teamed up to build...

...this fine snowman outside their apart- ment in Fredericks- burg, Va.

And Cathy sent along the photos at top and bottom from her home in Hilliard, Oh.

An unexpected party

Pat and her daughter, Mary, made a day trip to Yonkers on Sunday to visit Lorraine, Pat's sister, at Sunrise of Crestwood. The impromptu trip proved serendipitous, as Lorraine's son Dan and daughter, Kathy, also happened to visit that afternoon.

Afterward, Dan, Kathy, Pat and Mary went to a local diner for supper. As the next day would be Pat's birthday, a mini-party broke out, featuring a bit of candle-topped cake and a rendition of "Happy Birthday" with other diner patrons singing along.

Patrick's Hopkins track team wins conference title

Patrick (arrow) poses with his victorious team.

Patrick and his Johns Hopkins track & field teammates are celebrating a big achievement.

"We won our conference championship for the first time in school history," writes Patrick, a sophomore pole vaulter.

The Blue Jays came out on top at the Centennial Conference championship meet, held Saturday, Feb. 23, in Collegeville, Pa.

Read more on the team web site.

Rebecca headed to national curling tournament

Rebecca is returning to national-level curling competition. She's on a team that has won a place in the U.S. Mixed National Curling Championship tournament, to be held March 16-23 in Willmar, Minn.

After playing in national competitions at the club level and three times at the junior level, Rebecca was asked this winter to join Team Surka in the adult mixed category. This weekend, the team competed in the Grand National Curling Club's mixed championship tournament, held at the Plainfield Curling Club in New Jersey.

Team Surka came out on top with a 6-0 record and, along with the runner-up, will represent GNCC, the Eastern U.S. regional curling association, in the national event next month.

Here's an album of action photos from the team's sixth win on Saturday night.



A total of ten teams from across the country will take part in the national tournament at the Willmar Civic Center. (Willmar is about 90 miles west of Minneapolis.)

Champions: Derek, Nate, Rebecca and Charrissa

Rebecca last week completed her college studies at Rochester Institute of Technology, finishing one trimester early. She earned a B.S. degree in polymer chemistry.

Big birthday weekend (and not just for presidents!)

This holiday weekend marks two important birthdays - in our family history, that is.

As previously reported here on The Birch Street Web, both Genevieve and Angela were born on Feb. 17.

Our sources tell us that Genevieve celebrated her birthday-eve on Saturday night at Lexington Brass.

The celebrants included her sister, Vivien, and cousin Courtney.

Meanwhile, the buzz is that Angela celebrated with her husband, Gerrit, by taking in a concert by Maroon 5 in Manchester, N.H.

Southern girl enjoying winter wonderland

Courtney flew up from Florida the other day to visit her mom on Shelter Island, and experience some Northeast winter weather. On arrival, she was happy to see that there was some snow still on the ground from last weekend's blizzard...


...although much of it had melted away in the sun, which shines brightly here as Nanette and Courtney squeeze into a picture.


Then came another round of snow last night - producing this winter-wonderland scene this morning. "All I wanted was to see snow this winter," Courtney writes. "I got my wish!"

Winter sun at the beach

This is a photo of sunrise over the Atlantic, taken by Hugh in Ocean City, Md., during the first week of February. Dolores and Hugh were there for four days while Dolores taught a color and design workshop for The Art League of Ocean City.

"The Art League has a brand new building, and Dolores was the first teacher to use the facility," Hugh writes. "The town is really deserted during the winter, but Dolores had a full class made up of year ‘round residents from the area.

"A member of the League gave us the use of her condo. We were the only people in residence in the oceanfront high-rise building. The prior week we were in Rehoboth Beach while Dolores taught two workshops for the Rehoboth Art League."

A walk in the snowy woods

Dan invites you to take a walk with him along the trails of the Watchung Reservation in Mountainside, N.J., the day after a foot of snow fell. The slideshow below also includes some shots at Seeley's Pond dam in Berkeley Heights.

Snow-covered Saturday across the Northeast (Updated 8pm)

Much of our extended family woke up to find a heavy blanket of snow outside their homes - ranging up to nearly two feet in Yonkers. And for those in Massachusetts, the storm continued all day.

Above is the view through a snow-splattered window at Owen & Tish's house in South Dennis on Cape Cod. Below, their cat Carolina watches the storm. (Another photo Tish took of Carolina now appears in the Cape Cod Times' online photo gallery.)

Carolina's first blizzard

High winds overnight and through the day - including some hurricane-force gusts - knocked out electricity to some three-quarters of all the utility customers on the Cape.

"We are lucky to be one of the homes that still has power," Tish reports. "But Gerrit & Angela do not." Massachusetts had a driving ban in effect, but after it was lifted at 4 p.m., Gerrit and Angela made it to Owen and Tish's house for power, heat and company.

Snowfall of as much as 15 inches was reported in parts of Cape Cod by early afternoon.

"Looks like about a foot here, and still snowing," Tish said about 1 p.m. And, at 8:30 p.m.: "It's still snowing. It started at 9:30 yesterday morning!" Radar showed the Cape was getting the storm's last licks as it moved toward Nova Scotia.

Eastern Long Island also had high winds. A foot of snow was reported at Bridgehampton, with higher accumulations along the north shore of the island -- including 28.5 inches at East Setauket.

Snowy morning in Yonkers

The storm moved away from the New York-New Jersey area this morning, but northwest winds of around 25-35 mph continued blowing the fallen snow into the afternoon.

Above is a view from the doorway at Kevin, Kathy, Shanna and Kevin's home in Yonkers.

At right are photos from Kathy's house in Scarsdale. (That's a birdhouse in the center of the top photo.)

National Weather Service spotters reported 23 inches of snow on the ground in Yonkers.

Farther upstate, Saratoga Springs had about 7 inches. Rochester's airport reported 13 inches.

Please keep sending your storm stories and photos to The Birch Street Web!


At Birch Street Media headquarters in New Jersey, Dan measured 9-10 inches on the ground, although the weather service collected reports of 12 inches in the area.

The photos below were taken around Dan & Julie's house today, as was the banner now at the top of this web page.

First look out the front door on Birch Street

Backyard scene

Andy digs in

Got blizzard?

As of 10 p.m., the much-heralded blizzard has been less severe than predicted at Birch Street Media global headquarters in New Jersey. Dan measured about 2 1/2 inches of snow on the ground. After an early-evening lull, the snowfall picked up, but gently, and with moderate wind. More snow was forecast overnight, but the earlier predictions of a foot or more seemed doubtful.

The view on Birch Street, 10 p.m. Friday

The impact of the two storm systems that were combined off the coast was heavier to the north and east. As of early Friday evening, the National Weather Service said about 9 inches of snow had fallen in Rochester -- where Christine reports "it's been flurrying almost constantly for the past two weeks or so."

The weather service reported 7.5 inches in Yonkers. The highest measure so far in the region was 13 inches at East Setauket on Long Island, with similar readings on the Connecticut coastline.

Wind was more of a factor to the east along the coast. South Dennis, Mass., reported winds of 39 mph with gusts to 61. Snowfall on Cape Cod ranged from 3-6 inches as of Friday evening.

Brace yourselves!

Newspaper engraving of a scene in New York's Union Square 
at the height of the blizzard of March 12-14, 1888. 
Via fineartamerica.com

We hope everyone stays safe and warm in the Blizzard of '13. Please let us know how you fare - and share your photos with the Birch Street Web family!