Tag Archives: river

Local Life

Focus: River Time Front-Row Seat

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Sometimes the best front-row seat is the one that cradles your river time.

Wherever it is, front-row Rumson Barnacle Bill’s or docked, it’s that seat that offers a hometown view with heart. Even in the haze, the the clarity of what matters most is caught like an opening night bouquet tossed into the audience’s lap from the Navesink River’s scenic stage.

It’s a show without a ticket or playbill. Curtain’s always up, even if the lights are dim and no one’s in the house. That’s because it’s always your own show with a take-away that stays like pressed flowers from the best of times.

That front-row seat to river time always calls, offering river time its own sitting ovation — always bowing in, not out.

That’s the show that holds down by the river. Always. Take a look at the above photo gallery for a glimpse from the seat ... (CLICK on one photo to enlarge and scroll. Enjoy!)

— Photos/Elaine Van Develde

The weekend weather …

Continue reading Focus: River Time Front-Row Seat →
Local Life

Focus: Solstice River Walk Solace

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It doesn’t have to be the longest day of the year to get the most out of the warmth of river time before the sun sets, calling it a day — a first summer day.

The day may be over, but the river time feeling is forever docked in the mind. The fair haven on the Navesink always calls. Rain never drowns the call. The lap. The lull. The gentle tide reaches out and tugs at our hearts to stay. And we do.

Any day is the longest day down by the river, because it’s an endless river walk in our Fair Haven.

Rain never washes away the footprint of time wrapped in home’s swaddling river tide.

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

And there will be lots of rain this week, drenching the area, according to the National Weather Service. It continues through the weekend and into next week …

Local Life

Focus: Branching Out with River Time Buds

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There’s nothing quite like branching out to a budding riverfront perspective — down by the Navesink at the Fair Haven Dock, of course.

Yes, spring has sprung. The buds are budding. And when it comes to seeing the river for the trees, the view is always the most flattering panoramic close-up of sunshine on an old friend.

It always smiles back and reaches out to hold with a tight hug. The buds on the trees branch out pulling you in to a new season, new day down by the river.

Happy budding river time 2023! (CLICK on one of the photos in the above gallery to enlarge and scroll. Enjoy!)

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

Here’s what’s in store for the end-of-the-week into weekend weather forecast …

Local Life

Focus: Sunset River Walk Reflection

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As the sun sets over the Navesink River, a walk on the Fair Haven Dock sheds light on river time that saw its season, its sunshine — river time that stays within and keeps us warm with a vivid picture of where we were, where we are.

And when you’re lucky enough to go back in river time with a first childhood friend, the winter walk gets warmer with each step. Each step forward brings you back to the same place, together, half a century later, where the sun shines bright, searing the power of one place into your forever inner child’s mind. The sear is an intricate lightning caress. A tidy, stinging storm of light.

It hits hard, bloated with love, and courses through all that you are, all that you were. It knows the two are the same deep inside. The searing light pens the picture pristine, the detail intricate, embeds it in each smile line on your face. It etches, never turning the picture to ash, only refining it.

You can see it all … in that river walk back with that childhood friend. It’s clear — so clear that you can hear it. You can hear the splash as you turn to the girl who dared to jump with the cool kids all those years ago. She smiles at the girl who stood and watched, still anchored, never wanting loose her footing on that piece of home. She’s docked there, forever reminding her friend that she is, too.

They pluck oyster shells from the shore to mark the splash made, the picture emblazoned. The sun sinks into the horizon. Its light stays within. The shells once held a pearl. The river remembers it all. It holds on tight as the friends walk away … clasping their pearly shells.

— Elaine Van Develde

Any time is river walk time. The sun is another story for the rest of this week and through the weekend. Here’s the forecast from the National Weather Service …

Local Life

Focus: New Year River Daze Imprint

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Shrewsbury River in Rumson
Photo/Doug Borden

Sometimes it seems as if a river view is a window to heaven … on Earth.

And as the sunny late December view ushers in a new year, it offers clarity. The clarity of the beauty of home — where you can feel infinite peace emanating from a living Rumson landscape. A landscape that breathes a sigh of contentment. A landscape that beckons you at low tide into its rising tide of tranquility. The comfort of quiet solitude in its good company.

It’s always good company — the river, its inlets and marshland. It’s where all the gentlest elements meet for a nurturing hug and reflection. This time it’s the sun, the blue sky, traveled clouds mirroring in a small looking glass pool of water. The way it all looks back, casting the most golden of glows on wet sand that holds each mark of where many walks of life have been, gone and settled.

It’s a new year. Time to set out to leave more footprints, make your marks — marks of walking toward the satiety of that clear, peaceful view in your own back yard. Marks that stay. Marks emblazoned, emboldened by the sun. Marks in that sand that go out with the tide to wash up on another’s shore, leaving the grains of goodness that were once imprints.

Happy New Year.

River inlet view in Rumson
Photo/Doug Borden

Warmer days are ahead for the first week of 2023, albeit with a bit of dampness …

**Thanks to RFH alum Doug Borden for these spectacular river views!**

Local Life

Scene Around: Clamming Down in Rumson

Clam down! Dig it! A new year is coming!

In so many puns, that’s what’s going on with at least one family of Rumsonites and Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School grads. They’ve been clamming down for some time now. But, the sun came out the other day and RFH Class of ’78 grad Doug Borden and daughter Devon, also an RFH grad … were at it again. This has become a family affair habit of the bivalve kind. This father-daughter duo hit the sand by the river and dug themselves up some more clams yesterday. There have been other Borden duo digs recently, too, involving the other kids.

No, they haven’t considered the profession, which can be quite lucrative, yet arduous, raking away in the sea with a high capsizing risk on a bad day. Still, their new pastime rakes in a lot of clams.

They’re sticking with the river banks. They family clam diggity diggers have done it before and, well, gotten quite clammy over the whole idea. Dig that. And they did. They just hit the sand and dig. Dinner. River bank to table.

No doubt, the scenery is great, but the bivalves are fresh and homegrown — perfect for the holiday palate. Nothing like dinner from the back yard, especially when it’s down by the river.

Dig that, clammy! Clam down on it!

Local Life

Focus: Fall for a River Anchor of Warmth

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Whatever anchors your heart and floats your boat — like a crisp, sun-kissed fall day down by the river in Fair Haven.

Doesn’t matter if the boat floats. The heart fits. And it’s always anchored at the river for the soul of a Rumson-Fair Haven area kid. No matter what, when the sun’s rays warm the chill in the fall air, it’s always a reminder of what berths and soothes while cradling the heart in the warm embrace of a lapping tide down by the river.

It’s a toasty harbor, whether or not the sails are set. The boat, the heart, knows where home is — and it snuggles in, as the cold disappears with a memory and a dream of what there is “no place like.”

The sun is due to cast its rays this week, shining on the best of pre-winter moments …

Here’s the weather forecast for this week, courtesy of the National Weather Service:

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Local Life

Focus: Falling for Sun-Drenched River Time

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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 …

Local Life

Focus: Setting Sail from the Fair Haven Dock

The weather outside is a lot less frightful. Looks like we’re setting sail for a little summer cruise into more comfortable days in the Rumson-Fair Haven area.

And there’s nothing to soothe the soul better than some smooth sailing river time.

Sails up. Sail on. And exhale …

Be sure to click on one photo to enlarge, scroll and enjoy the view!

Here’s the better outlook weather forecast from the National Weather Service heading into the weekend for the Rumson-Fair Haven area …

Schools Scene

Scene Around: Rumson River Rats & Oyster Lessons Learned

Gulp? They say that oysters come in their own little spoons, ready to serve up their own nuggets of goodness from their deep water beds. But, as far as some Rumson kids are concerned, the looks on their faces while slurping what some call raw culinary delights tells a horror story that needs to be chased with a spoon full of sugar to make that river medicine go down.

Continue reading Scene Around: Rumson River Rats & Oyster Lessons Learned →