A midsummer night's sky-gazing

On a warm July evening in New Jersey, Dan and Julie headed to a spot on the shore of Raritan Bay that offered a northwest view over water. They thought Bayshore Waterfront Park might be a good spot to watch the sun set and the stars come out - and, perhaps, spot a comet.


They were in luck. There was just enough thin cloud that evening (Sunday, July 19) to create a spectacularly colorful sunset. Then, after the sun went down, the clouds mostly dissipated as the sky darkened and stars began to emerge.

Now, a warm, humid evening in the metropolitan area will never be ideal for stargazing, but the air was clear enough to easily see such bright lights as Vega, Arcturus and the Big Dipper - as well as Jupiter and Saturn rising in the east.

Guided by a couple of articles and illustrations indicating that Comet C/2020 F3, a.k.a. Neowise, would appear between the Big Dipper and the Northwest horizon, Dan and Julie searched that area with binoculars as, gradually, more stars became visible. It was a good hour or so after sunset when they spotted what looked like a little white smudge, or a brushstroke, close to two small stars they later determined were Talitha and Talitha Australis, in the front paw of Ursa Major.

Although it was faint and blurry, Dan and Julie felt pretty confident they had found the comet, with its tail pointing away from the sun as comet tails do. They were further convinced when, the following evening, they were able to spot it again from just outside their house - in a slightly different position, now between Ursa Major's paws, just where the charts said it would be.


The comet was much too dim for Dan to make a photo. But along with the stars, Bayfront Waterfront Park also afforded a view across the bay and New York Harbor to another light show, the Manhattan skyline.

Any other skywatchers out there? This image from Earthsky.org shows where the comet is expected to be on the night of its closest approach to earth, this Thursday, July 23 - with an added mark showing where Dan and Julie spotted it on Sunday night.

Josie, Nolan celebrate big birthdays

With their birthdays just two days apart, it makes sense for Josie and Nolan to combine their celebrations, right?

Brother and sister marked important birthdays this week - Josie's first (July 19) and Nolan's fifth (July 21)!

Jack celebrates first birthday

Jack celebrated his first birthday with Mom (Genevieve) Dad (John) and big sister (Beatrice) at their summer home in Noyac on July 16.

A few days earlier, Uncle Dan and Aunt Julie made a quick weekend trip to Noyac, and were able to spend a little time seeing Jack, Bea, Genevieve and Kathy at Long Beach - while keeping several feet of "social distancing" between them.

A quick visit to 'the island' for Dan & Julie

Dan and Julie got their first taste of Long Island Summer on the weekend of July 11-12. With concessions to the ongoing health crisis - avoiding crowds, getting takeout dinner - they were able to enjoy a bit of beaching and visiting family.

The previous day saw a tropical storm pass by, so they checked out the waves at the ocean beach in Bridgehampton, where a couple of young guys were attempting to ride the surf.

They arrived on their luxury yacht checked out the luxury yachts docked in Sag Harbor and strolled along Main Street - which was less crowded than on a summer weekend in normal, non-pandemic times, but still active. They and many other people (though not all) were wearing masks. Dan and Julie stayed outdoors except for a brief stop for tradition's sake at the Wharf Shop.

They later met Kathy, Genevieve, Bea and Jack at Long Beach - carefully maintaining social distance but managing to converse and enjoy the beautiful day together. The water was warm and the breeze was just right to be cooling but not chilling.

Genevieve, John and their children have been living full-time at their summer house, and Kathy at hers, and working remotely since the pandemic hit the New York area in the spring.

Building a life in the country

In their first summer at their new Upstate New York home, this young couple has been making good progress in their efforts to create a productive small farm.

Andy and Shannon - who is adopting the name Wren - have planted more than a dozen rows of crops, as seen above, and are raising a flock of chickens. They put in many hours of hard work putting up fencing around the crops to protect them from the chickens, and a much bigger fence around their property to protect the chickens from other animals. The importance of that project became clear when a dog killed a few of the chickens before the fence was completed.

They also outfitted the coop where the previous owners had kept a handful of chickens to accommodate the flock of more than 50 birds they acquired as chicks in March (see previous article). The birds are growing quickly, the roosters are starting to crow, and in a couple of months the hens should begin to lay eggs.

Dan and Julie drove up to visit on Independence Day weekend. Since the pandemic hit the U.S. in March, both couples have been keeping mostly isolated and taking precautions to avoid any significant contact with other people - so a weekend visit at the country house seemed reasonably safe.

It was a very enjoyable visit. Andy and Wren were fine hosts, providing delicious meals (although not home-grown yet; maybe next time). The weather turned beautiful, and the property has a wonderful view of wooded hills - with great sunsets.

The four also took an afternoon drive to revisit Thacher State Park and survey the Albany valley from the Helderberg Escarpment, which they'd seen on a previous trip last summer.

Dolores and Hugh sell Deep Creek Lake condo

The time came to say farewell to the site of many happy memories for Hugh, Dolores, their children and grandchildren - their condo on Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland. As it had been getting less use in recent years, the couple decided to sell the property.


Years of accumulated belongings were packed up and the house looked as good as new when it was listed for sale - and quickly snapped up. Here's hoping the new owners enjoy it as much as we did.

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.

The very strange spring of 2020

Dan writes: Azaleas are in bloom at Birch Street Web Headquarters. Magnolias, pear and cherry trees, forsythia, daffodils, tulips and hyacinths are blooming around the neighborhood. Julie and I enjoy seeing them as we take walks around the nearby blocks to get out of the house where we have been ensconced for the past four weeks. What we don't see: Kids in the playgrounds, Little League and soccer games in the parks, students walking home from school in the afternoon.

Amid the Coronavirus Crisis of 2020, we know we are lucky - we have a comfortable home, continuing income, sufficient provisions, and each other's company. So far, we've avoided illness. We're happy to report that our children's households have also remained clear of the virus to date.

Since March 12, I have been working at home, fortunate to have a speedy internet connection and a job that can be done remotely. Julie has continued her activities with Rotary, Girl Scouts and other groups via online meetings. She has made occasional trips out of the house -- with gloves and a respirator mask -- to transport excess bread from stores to soup kitchens. I accompanied her on another outing, a Mobile Meals delivery run on March 25 -- the last before that effort shut down for the duration. This photo shows us and other volunteers keeping our distance while waiting for the food packages to be ready.

We're fortunate to have a pair of respirator masks that I found in the basement, left over from an attic-insulation project I did a dozen or so years ago. We've also used them for a couple of trips to stock up on groceries.

Julie is also one of several members of her Rotary club who are sewing fabric face masks and distributing them to home-health aides, a local assisted-living center and other organizations that can put them to good use.

"I'm clearing out my leftover fabric stash for a good cause," Julie said.

The Fanwood-Scotch Plains Rotary Club's effort - organized by a member who is a sewing teacher - was reported on this week by Channel 9's nightly news show.

Andy & Shannon's move in late January from their apartment near Albany to the house they bought in Middleburgh, N.Y., proved to be smart and very well-timed. Andy continues his web-programming work from home while they work to make their property at least partly self-sustaining, by planting vegetables -- and raising chickens (more on that in an upcoming post).

Christine & Jamie also moved, in mid-March, from their apartment near Boston to Jamie's father's house in Nashua, N.H. The move was planned to save rent money toward eventually buying their own place. Jamie and her dad, Paul, are both working remotely as well. And Paul, who does a lot of his own home-improvement projects, also has some respirator masks, which they've been using for grocery trips.

Marie, Brian and Xander are faring well at their home in Virginia. Marie began stocking up on food and other supplies during February, before the extent of the pandemic became clear, and that has kept their grocery needs to a minimum. Xander's school went from spring break into online-learning mode in mid-March. Brian's job as a conductor on the Virginia Railway Express has him making a couple of runs per week into Washington, a reduced schedule for those essential workers still commuting. Ticket collection has been suspended, so he doesn't walk through the cars interacting with passengers.

In California, Dan is hard at work providing a very essential service. He's a manager at a supermarket, working long hours to provide groceries to its customers. The six counties of the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley were among the first areas to go into lockdown, back on March 17. "It's stressful, depressing, scary," Dan writes. "But I also still have a job, easy access to supplies, and the company is taking good care of us."

With a little free time on this Easter weekend, I'm working to update The Birch Street Web and catch up on recent family events. Look for more posts coming soon - and please send along any photos and news you'd like to share. Missing the ability to get together, let's do our best to Keep In Touch!

Vivien, CJ and Charlie preparing for new arrival

Vivien writes: "We have some exciting news - Charlie is going to be a big brother! We are expecting a baby boy at the end of September. We are very excited!"

Pop goes the confetti	Hooray!

Vivien used a blue confetti popper to give the news to Charlie that a boy is on the way (click either image to see the video). The "gender reveal" might have had a bigger audience if not for the current social-distancing restrictions, and 19-month-old Charlie seemed puzzled, but seemed to catch on that it was a happy occasion.

Lucy celebrates 1st birthday

Lucy turned one year old on March 26 and enjoyed digging into her cake on the back porch of her home with Mom and Dad.

Shanna and Rick had planned a family celebration the following weekend - but unfortunately, that was one of the gatherings that had to be canceled due to social-distancing restrictions.

Earlier in March, Lucy celebrated St. Patrick's Day in proper style, even as the traditional parades (and Uncle Brien's annual parade-watch party in Yonkers) were canceled.

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

Andy and Shannon's house in the country

Andy and Shannon are moving into their new home -- a house on six-plus acres in Middleburgh, N.Y. They closed on the purchase this week, promptly rented a truck and began moving their furniture and belongings.

The three-bedroom house has a partly finished basement, a large deck - and an amazing view of state forest land and the northern reaches of the Catskill Mountains. The photo below was taken last summer from the back of the house for the real estate listing.

The property also came with an outbuilding used mostly as garage and storage space, with a portion devoted to a chicken coop. Shannon and Andy intend to grow vegetables and other plants, and were considering getting chickens as well. As it happened, Shannon writes, "The previous owner had some chickens and decided that she didn't want to take them with her to her next place -- so she offered them to us!"

The house is in the Town of Middleburgh, in Schoharie County, about three miles from the Main Street shopping district of Middleburgh Village -- seen here in a Google street-view image from September 2018.