Photo of the Day: ‘Leonia Moose,’ Erika and David Boyd Sculpture Garden, Leonia NJ

At twilight today, driving a couple of miles from where I live in Bergen County, NJ, I was observing several Christmas displays when this image drew my attention. Given the holiday decor all around me and the growing darkness, my first thought was that it was a representation of a reindeer. Then I saw the title of this work: Leonia Moose.

If any moose has ever been spotted in this town, it was not by me, and not after Leonia became an inner-ring suburb of New York rather than a rural area. Actually, it’s meant not to remind viewers of what is seen now but of what existed here centuries ago, when forests were filled with wildlife.

I couldn’t help but like Alberto Bursztyn’s work, which the Brooklyn artist assembled on site from natural fallen lumber collected in Leonia’s Highwood Hills forest.

This was one of five outdoor works installed during this year’s pandemic by the all-volunteer, non-profit organization Sculpture for Leonia.

Photo of the Day: Reading Garden, Leonia Public Library, NJ

This past weekend, while driving around, I decided to stop at the Leonia Public Library, a mile or so from where I live in Bergen County, NJ. It was a spontaneous act that, like many of this kind, proved ill-advised, as the library’s procedures for opening and checking out materials had changed during the COVID-19 outbreak, so it was not open.

But my trip did not prove a total loss. Sometimes, in the noise and haste of my life, I haven’t stopped to observe my surroundings intently. That certainly holds true over several institutions I love—libraries—since I usually go to them having selected in advance which item I want and I try to limit browsing.

But on this day, I could not go inside. Despite having visited the library a dozen times before over the last decade, I had never noticed this reading garden. I immediately whipped out my iPhone and took this photo.

Reading gardens may not always work in densely populated cities where space is at a premium, but they are welcome amenities in the suburbs. What could be more pleasant than sitting out in the fresh air on a sunny day with a good book?

Photo of the Day: Saturday in the (Empty) Park

This morning, I took the accompanying photo of the park next to the Leonia Public Library, in the next town from me in Bergen County, NJ. Given the unsettled weather at that point in the day, few if any people wanted to risk a downpour sitting outside—or watching their kids play. The loneliness of this scene, though undoubtedly temporary, seemed appropriate for restrictions in the age of COVID-19.

Photo of the Day: ‘Clouds Like Sheep,’ Overpeck Creek, Leonia, NJ

“There is wind where the rose was,

Cold rain where sweet grass was,

And clouds like sheep

Stream o'er the steep

Grey skies where the lark was.”—British poet Walter de la Mare (1873-1956), “Autumn,” in The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century Verse, edited by Philip Larkin (1973)

I took the image accompanying this post three years ago at Overpeck Creek, not far where I live in Bergen County, NJ.

Photo of the Day: Blue, Green and Black

Late Monday afternoon—the same time when I took this other picture—I snapped this shot of Overpeck Creek through a clearing in Overpeck County Park, only a few miles from where I live in Bergen County, N.J.

Photo of the Day: Waving in a Strong Breeze

Last weekend, I took a detour from walking around Overpeck County Park in Bergen County, NJ, to step to the railroad just outside. There, I found this, overgrown and stirring in the breeze. I had the feeling that any minute it would become an unusual life form, like something out of Little Shop of Horrors or Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Photo of the Day: Red, Blue and Green

While making a circuit around Overpeck County Park, nor far from where I live in Bergen County, N.J., I was much taken by the angle and perspective of the groves of trees you see here. But, after seeing my picture of the landscape, I was just as impressed by the rich colors of that sunny day last weekend.

Photo of the Day: Buds of April

Because of the wildly variable weather of the last few weeks, the cherry blossoms at Overpeck County Park in Leonia, NJ, are not yet in full bloom. Nevertheless, the sight of their early buds is enough to give me hope that they will be out, in all their beautiful profusion, soon. I took this image yesterday, on a much-needed afternoon walk around the park, in temperatures that, while still not ideal, were enough to lure me out.