Photo of the Day: South-Flowing Brook, Englewood NJ

Longtime residents of my hometown, Englewood, NJ—as well as visitors to that city’s Winton White Stadium who have walked across the street—might recognize this scene of the brook running south from Durie Avenue. I’ve passed it innumerable times over time, but only after using my camera more intensively these last few years did I begin to notice the reflections on the water, the conic perspective, the branches forming a canopy over the creek, or the colorful interplay among the blue garage, the flaming bushes, the brown trees and the white snow.

I took this photo on Sunday, when temperatures soared—before Mother Nature, deciding that a good thing shouldn’t last long lest we no longer appreciated it, dumped two more helpings of snow on this area in quick succession.

Well, Henry David Thoreau viewed the season benignly in Walden: "Many of the phenomena of Winter are suggestive of an inexpressible tenderness and fragile delicacy. We are accustomed to hear this king described as a rude and boisterous tyrant; but with the gentleness of a lover he adorns the tresses of Summer." For me, anyway, what joy exists in this season lies in the quiet pauses that winter permits once in a while so we can appreciate its beauty.