Photo of the Day: Late Winter Sunday Afternoon, Hackensack River, NJ

I took the attached image late this past Sunday afternoon. I had just finished walking on the west side of the Hackensack River, a few miles from where I live in Bergen County, NJ, before crossing the William Ryan Bridge over to Olsen Park in Bogota. Looking west off in the distance into Hackensack, you can get a bit of a sense of the development going on this capital of the county.

Unless something unusual happens in the next 24 hours, before the spring equinox, I see the time when I took this picture as, in effect, the last stand of winter.

We had had, in the last few days, some wild swings of 40 degrees, and last Sunday was no exception. Nobody wanted to be out for a walk or jog. The ground was brown and the sky green, and while I tried to get some last-minute walking in, a snow squall blew up, making me hurry towards my car.

I can’t say that the weather won’t cause me more concern going forward; some days over the last few weeks have been unseasonably warm, making me dread when the worst summer days hit. I was about to write that I won’t miss days like this past Sunday. But in this time of dread and death, any day alive is a day to be savored. Breathe in the air and take in the sky.