Tag Archives: Navesink River

Focus: Falling for Sun-Drenched River Time

Sunny days and Mondays are a great way to start the week — especially in the fall with some river time in Rumson tossed in.

With river time, along the Navesink River, it’s all about warmth. Soaking up the sun while getting a soothing embrace from the river is the coziest it gets. Always a homecoming.

There’s nothing like the soul taking a dip in the sun-drenched riverfront. Falling for it all on a fall day. Never shaking off an ounce of its healing power. Taking it in, holding it for a lifetime.

There are more sunny fall river days to come this week. Take a look at the forecast from the National Weather Service

Focus: An Eco Rally for the Rivers

They rallied for the rivers in Rumson.

The 4th Annual Rally for the Two Rivers Eco-Fest, hosted by Clean Ocean Action (COA) on Saturday at Victory Park was a success, organizers said. Hosted by Clean Ocean Action (COA) and the Rumson Environmental Commission (Rumson EC), the event designed to raise awareness of waterway mindfulness for a healthy environment had about 200 attendees.

Continue reading Focus: An Eco Rally for the Rivers

Focus: Warming Up to Springtime River Time

Just when you think the sun will shine on river days of spring in the Rumson-Fair Haven area, an inclement chill stifles that exhale of respite warmth.

The tease of sun drenching that’s meant to stay a while becomes a mere reminder of the rite-of-passage river time to come. The reminders bring the light back. They soothe a little. They give us the cue that the sun will eventually drown the chill. The river’s image always reminds us it’s there, the sun coming to sop up the Navesink’s shoreline, those clinging home’s comfort caught in the shadowy drench.

Yes, the chill took the breath out of that exhale tease. With another deep inhale, sunny days promise restore river time springtime warmth. They’re coming soon. Start the inhale. Take a look at the birth of spring on the Fair Haven riverfront.

Take it in along with the promise of warmer days ahead from the National Weather Service … (Click on one image to enlarge, scroll and enjoy! Ahhhhhh!)

Retro RFH Gal Pals’ Springing for Beach Time

A look back at some RFH girls contemplating life on the beach in the 1970s
Photo/George Day

While Rumson-Fair Haven area folks know better than anyone that there’s nothing quite like a good locals’ summer, there are always great days on the beach in any season in this area.

When you grow up nestled between the Shrewsbury and Navesink rivers and the ocean is a short ride, walk or run away, beaching it is never solely a summer seasonal jaunt. It’s a rite of passage, no matter what time of year.

Continue reading Retro RFH Gal Pals’ Springing for Beach Time

Focus: Spring River Time Chill

It’s springtime down by the river; and the livin’ is, well, chilly. Still, things are still always easy when there’s river time in Fair Haven.

After a tease of spring warmth and bloom, the winter sting has pierced through again. A little river time on the Navesink, down by the Fair Haven Dock, always makes things toasty, though, shiver be damned.

River time reflection makes all cozy when cold takes hold. In this stark, frigid niche, all is warm, embracing. It will always take you in when life gives you the boot.

Take in the view and know that warmth is here, at home, where there’s always a friend. (And don’t forget to click on one pic to enlarge and scroll. Enjoy!)

The chill remains, with threats of snow this week. Then, the sun returns. Take a look at this week’s weather outlook for the Rumson-Fair Haven area from the National Weather Service …

Focus: Taking the Dank Away with River Daze

It’s been downright dank lately. But no matter how the dank sticks in your cranky craw, there’s nothing like a little river time to ease the shrill chill from the bones.

Even when it’s clouded, the view of the Navesink always offers a promise of light and the warm embrace of home. It’s pretty ducky for the ducks, no matter what, it seems. They have the right idea. Reveling in every ripple, every lap of low tide, every grain of damp sand is inviting solace — the terminal homecoming.

The scene may vary with time and vantage point, but for a Rumson-Fair Haven kid at heart, the river is that lifetime friend who never ages, whose loyalty never wanes. It’s always there, waving to you from the shore, letting you know that the chill and gray will go away. You are home. Always. Welcomed.

Remember, cozy up to that waving childhood friend, and wait for the sun to shine again.

Relive some river daze and solace by taking a look at this week’s gallery of the Navesink by Barnacle Bill’s and check out when the sun’s coming out in the weekend weather forecast, courtesy of the National Weather Service … (CLICK one photo in the above gallery to enlarge and scroll! Enjoy!)

Focus: Black & White Navesink River Tidings

It’s black-and-white simple, stark. The crackly, cool-hued solace offered by the winter’s Fair Haven Navesink River view is a prelude to all that’s warm. It’s a constant. A reminder that all that’s good is pretty simple.

The tide still rolls in gently over the patches of snowy, broken ice. All is a still, simple move forward, yet keeping all that’s good in its niche. The river is always there. A home anchor. Its shore a welcome mat. The tide gently wipes out all that’s broken, a little bit at a time. All that soothes melds together, soaking up the same goodness in one sliver of Earth. The tide that always comes in saturates the shore and hometown heart with searing sunshine for the soul.

Nothing really changes when it comes to the river view or its wealth of healing power. And all you have to do is take a minute to take it in … rolling ever so gently with its inspiring tide.

Say “Ahhhh” and take in the scenes … (CLICK on one photo to enlarge and scroll. Enjoy! And can you find those ducks?)

Here’s what’s headed this way weatherwise, courtesy of the National Weather Service …

Focus: Fair Haven Dock Winter Blues & Sunshine Hues

If the winter blues have set in after a day or two worth of spring(ish) respite, a little Fair Haven Dock time is a reminder that the blue hued winter sky and crackled icy shore is always a prelude to sunshine.

If not in the sky, in the heart. Through every crack in the icy snow coat on the beach under the dock, sun is seeping in for a peek into the happy place. The melt? Well, we know the cold sting in the air doesn’t stop the softening of the hometown heart with a glimpse back to dock days.

Of course, some of those dock days of the past involved a little mischief and jumping, which we are always asked to remind is prohibited. All the more the melt. But the daydream of one of your miscreant friends taking a plunge into that icy Navesink River water on a dare does crack a grin on the face.

How about the jaunt to a sliver of beach under the dock with a frozen cheesecake and a bottle of Boone’s Farm? Hmmmm … If that kind of memory doesn’t take away the winter blues … Focus back. What scene do you see?

Say “Ahhhhhh” to the serene river scene of blue and daydream the sun and smiling crazy times back. After all, the weather forecast is promising a peek through the icy cracks into spring again …

**Don’t forget to CLICK on one photo to enlarge and scroll! Enjoy!**

— Photos/Elaine Van Develde for R-FH Retro only

Focus: Docked & Chasing the Moon

Sometimes, the basics are the most meaningful. It’s pretty black-and-white. A night view from the Fair Haven Dock always anchors what really matters. It needs no color, no enhancement. Just the simple starkness, sky and moon.

Sometimes what really matters most is just finding the moon, taking in its night magic and chasing those beams. It’s far better than counting elusive sheep. Night time. River time. Best of times and sighs.

A real Goodnight Moon. Gaze and find in our river moon dance gallery.

(Click on one pic to enlarge, find the moon and scroll to the next. Enjoy!)

And while you’re moon gazing and chasing, check out the moody weekend R-FH area weather from the National Weather Service …

Focus: Down By the River 2021

River time is coveted time for Rumson-Fair Haven area people. Stealing away to capture its peace is a time-honored, often daily, tradition.

Here’s our window into what the river view brought us in 2021.

(Click on one photo to enlarge and scroll. Enjoy! Ahhhhh … river time!)

The most popular was the black-and-white “A Leg Up” — a testament to survival with a river view during pandemic times.

— Photos/Elaine Van Develde exclusively for R-FH Retro

Continue reading Focus: Down By the River 2021

Reflection: A Fall for the River Ripple Effect

Call it a fall for reflective river time. The effects are far-reaching, staying with you wherever you go, each ripple always reaching out past the reflection to bring you home.

River reflection. Ripple effect. It’s all about taking a closer look. Noticing the little things. The mirror image. The slightest crimp in the freeze frame that emanates from the wind’s whisper. It’s hushed secret-telling.

But it’s no secret. The pilings are anchored home. Each curl that you can see in the reflection’s blur will eventually reach the shore, bringing with it the focus in that reflective microcosm of change.

It’s what keeps us all studying that one mesmerizing ripple that reached us. The one that always latches onto our toes in the sand. The one that moves back out and in with the tide. The one that brings us back home and keeps us there in the ruffled clarity of what really matters. Where it all came from — the center. Home.

All it takes is one ripple to seek you out and find you, warmed by a crisp fall moment on the banks of the river in Fair Haven.

Take a look at the photo gallery above to remember what brings you back. (And click to enlarge and scroll. Enjoy!)

It’s always river time, but fall river days are dwindling. Here’s what’s in store for the next week’s fall weather from the National Weather Service …

Focus: Benched at the River

Benched. It implies punishment of sorts. Not when you’re parked on a time capsuled bench at the river on the Fair Haven Dock.

And when the daytime sun drenches the seat you pick, all that’s wrong with anyone’s world seems to melt through the cracks, lifting the light in the spirit to meet the one in the sky.

Call it high hopes. The soaring, soothing warmth of it all just doesn’t reach higher heights, as long as benched time is river time … soaking it up. Diving back into time, sopping up the comfort of those feelings linked to the memories down by the river. Not a bad one there. Benched.

(Click on one of the photos above to enlarge and scroll. Remember and enjoy!)

There will be lots of sun to sop up on a riverfront seat this week. Here’s the weather forecast for the Rumson-Fair Haven area from the National Weather Service.