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!

Sisters who rock: Heart in concert

Dan and Julie had a bit of a 70s flashback recently when they saw Heart perform at the Bergen County Arts Center in Englewood.

Ann Wilson (center) still has the powerful voice that propelled hits like "Barracuda" and "Crazy On You." She and her sister Nancy (left on guitar) and a strong backing band played many of their best-known songs and a few new ones, and finished up with a fun cover of Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog." 

In memory of Joan

We are sorry to report the passing of Joan, maternal grandmother of Marie, Danny and Ozzie and great-grandmother of Xander. She is also survived by her daughter Anne Marie, five sons, 12 other grandchildren and 11 other great-grandchildren.

A Philadelphia native, Joan lived most recently in Whiting, N.J., where she had many friends and was involved in many church and community activities. Our condolences to all her family.

Marie shares this photo and writes: "This beautiful Philly girl taught me how to play cards and bake a cake. I love you, Grandma."

Snow day! Winter takes hold in the East

A couple of inches of snow fell in Fredericksburg, Va., on Tuesday night, enough to cancel school on Wednesday. Xander, a kindergarten student at Hugh Mercer Elementary School near his home, bundled up to get outside and enjoy the snow day.

A bit more snow is expected late Friday in Fredericksburg - and on up the East Coast, which has been in the grip of bitter cold temperatures this week.

Earlier this month, Tish took this photo near her Cape Cod home after a light snowfall.

Got snow? Got pictures? Please share them!

'Summertime' in winter, with Lizzie on flute

The Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School Concert Band performed George Gershwin's "Summertime," among other numbers, in the school's winter concert Jan. 17.

Lizzie, a senior, plays flute in the band. Her mom, Tish, sent us a link to this video, taken by another member of the audience.

The music starts about one minute into the video. Lizzie is seen to the right of the conductor, at the beginning of the number and from about the 2:43 mark to the end.

C'mon, give us some news!

Beatles press conference, 1964

The Birch Street Web is approaching its sixth anniversary and now proudly boasts more than 725 posts. But Webmaster Dan needs help with this labor of love. To keep this site vibrant, PLEASE be a "content contributor" as well as a reader.

Short notes, long stories, tidbits of information that Dan can write up -- all are welcome. Photos, videos or links to the same are great.

It's easy: Just e-mail birchstreetweb@gmail.com.

Don't be shy! Keep in touch! Help the Birch Street Web live on! Thanks!

Christine steps up from Teens to Twenties

Former Teenager Christine

Dan and Julie announced today that Christine has moved on from her post as senior Teenager in their household after seven successful years.

Effective today, Christine enters the ranks of Twentysomethings, joining her cousins Genevieve, Vivien, Shanna, Kevin, Liz and Rebecca. She is continuing her studies as a sophomore at Rochester Institute of Technology's College of Imaging Arts and Sciences.

"Parents could hardly ask for a better Teenager than Christine," her mom and dad said in a statement. "We wish her well in her new position, and are confident she will accomplish great things in the coming years."

Christine has turned over full responsibility for Teenager duties in her immediate family to her brother, Andy, who is approaching the half-way mark of his seven-year term.

"On the 12th day of Christmas..."

12 members of the drumline of the SPFHS Marching Band.
File photo from Oct. 1,2011.
Andy is 3rd from left.

A brisk start to the new year

This Facebook photo appears to show a rather chilly Mary and her admiring daughter Shannon after Mary took part in the annual Polar Plunge into Lake George on New Year's morning.

Times-Union photo

The Saratogian reported that "more than 1,200 zany revelers ... raced into Lake George’s wind-whipped, bone-chilling waters Tuesday for this year’s Polar Plunge, held at Million Dollar Beach. ... Three waves of people — the first two had 500 each — ushered in 2013 with the spine-tingling ritual. A frigid north wind howled down the white-capped lake, making the 25-degree air temperature feel more like zero. Snow covered the beach as Polar Bears danced in bare feet to get warm. The water was a “balmy” 35, not quite cold enough to make ice."

Why do they do it? As far as we know, the answer is: Why not?

Holiday week's (mostly) wintry scenes

There was a good bit of white around Christmas this year from the Midwest to the Northeast. As usual, it's hard to beat the accumulation found at Deep Creek Lake, Md.

Dolores and Hugh arrived at their lakeside condo on Thursday (Dec. 27) and found 18-20 inches of snow on the ground. "Over the weekend, we had another 10 inches," Dolores writes. "Just thought you would like to know that we are still above the piles.

"Note the lump on the left in one photo. That is our grill. Not a good day to cook out! Just a normal day in Garrett County."


In the New York area Christmas Eve brought a dusting of snow quite appropriate to the occasion.

Floridian Courtney enjoyed the gentle snowfall while visiting her mom, Nanette, on Shelter Island.

The image at right is captured from a little video clip Courtney posted on Facebook.
A more significant snowfall came Saturday the 29th, when Dan took this photo of Birch Street Media headquarters just before heading to the Yonkers gathering that day.

By contrast...

Owen, Tish and Lizzie missed any snow on Cape Cod over the holidays as they spent 10 days in Charleston, S.C. Tish took these very warm-looking photos of a colorful Charleston sunset.