Photo of the Day: St. Anthony Orthodox Church, Bergenfield NJ

St. Anthony Orthodox Church, a longtime mainstay of Bergen County, NJ, where I live, was dedicated in 1964.

I took this photo in the middle of last month, while walking along the crossroads of Bergenfield, Englewood and Tenafly.

Photo of the Day: Calvary Lutheran Church, Bergenfield, NJ

A few days ago, while stopping at the Bergenfield Public Library, I was struck by the sight of this church, and decided to photograph it.

Photo of the Day: Creche, St. John’s, Bergenfield NJ

I was driving around this afternoon, heading from one late-Christmas store purchase to another, when my eye was caught by the display you see here. This crèche scene was facing Washington Avenue, outside St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church, in Bergenfield, not far from where I live in Bergen County, NJ.

The sight pulled me up short, reminding me that this time of year should not be about the purchases but about a baby—but not just any baby—brought into a very dark world to light it with love, and to reunite the worlds of man and nature into a harmonious whole.

Photo of the Day: Coopers’ Pond II

Another photo (taken on the same day as this earlier post) of Coopers Pond Park, in Bergenfield, N.J., a few miles from where I live.

Photo of the Day: Sunday Reflections

Have you ever seen a photo or painting and sensed that you’ve beheld the setting before, but can’t quite place it? I had that not-quite realization this past Saturday, when, on my way into my local Starbucks, I passed a painting showing a familiar park. Unfortunately, the talented local personality who painted this was otherwise occupied, so I couldn’t ask him where it was.

The next day, however, I knew—and also realized why I had previously sensed the source as being local without being able to identify it concretely. Many a time, I’d passed Coopers Pond Park in Bergenfield, NJ, a few miles from my home. I had wanted to stop, but was always in a hurry to get someplace else. This past Sunday, however, a friend’s brief Facebook mention of power walking led me to look around for local parks where I could perambulate. As I did so, I spotted the now-familiar gazebo and the reflections in the pond, and had to pull over.

Before long, I was snapping picture after picture. The rain had abated long enough for me to feel comfortable as I took in the setting. Visitors to the park also seemed comfortable, leaning over the railing in the gazebo to fish for bass and carp.

The height of fall seemed right at the brink of my consciousness, just as, not so long ago, the identity of a lovely little park in a painting lay in the same realm.