There’s nothing quite like a spring swing.
OK, so this may have been summer, as the shorts sort of say it. But the beautiful simplicity of a plain ol’ spring swing just suits the first day of spring perfectly.
Continue reading Retro Swing into Spring 
Duck, duck … goose? Nope. This is more like the “Duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck … kid, kid, kid … and a pond” game. Yeah, that’s it. Whatever way you look at it, it’s a pretty simple concept, just like that old Duck Duck Goose game.
Continue reading Retro ‘Just Ducky’ McCarter Pond Daze 
Our annual St. Patrick’s Day memory reprise, just because … it’s a classic scene that must be revisited …
In the Rumson St. Patrick’s Day Parade’s aftermath, we’re looking back at the luck of the Irish and not-so-Irish at RFH and another parade — the big one. We are remembering a time when the RFH Marching Band, Twirlers and Drill Team not only marched in area St. Patrick’s Day parades, but made it to the big one in New York City. Call it an Irish step dance of sorts — the marching and entertaining sorts.
Continue reading Retro RFH NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade March 
Hail, hail, the gang’s all here — the Rumson Rail Gang, that is. Where’s here? On the fence, of course, in at least one way.
Continue reading Retro RFH Girl Gang On the Fence 
Spring is in the air; and, especially considering the recent indoor track championship, RFHers are on track for good run in the season’s start to outdoor RFH Track & Field.
Continue reading Retro RFH Track & Field Warm-Up 
Well, the sun came out and dried up all the wintry yuck.
And when the sun comes out, it’s always been a rite of passage for RFHers to get outside. No, we’re not talking about cutting class. We’re just saying that when the sun calls after a stretch of yuck, RFH students have always answered with at least a trip to the front, side, or back of the high school — or Piping Rock Park … or the old Campus Luncheonette.
Continue reading Retro RFH Sunny Daze Chat & RideDrum roll, bagpipes and march … in time-step with a now 12-year Rumson tradition — the borough’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Continue reading Retro Rumson St. Patrick’s Day Parading
A reprise originally posted on, no fooling, April 1, 2021, because on a dreary day, sometimes an RFHer just has to get up and dance. Cheers to the leader, the iconic George Giffin …
“OK, pick your dance partners,” RFH’s iconic George Giffin said at a 70s ballroom dance class.
The cool guys scurried to get the most popular girls as the tune countdown ticked away. I was the last girl left. Left footed, Lainey. Yep. Giff chuckled a little, looked at the two boys left as they backed into the wall like frightened wallflower turtles.
Continue reading Retro Getting In Step with an RFH Icon 
A reprise to warm hearts as the sun comes out and spring is on the horizon …
Spring is coming, folks. The weather is warming up. Sort of. People are shedding coats for sweaters and getting out and about a little more each day.
The sun has been peering brightly, albeit with a sting in the air. Call it classic spring fever. Thoughts of sunny, warm, spring-is-almost-in-the-air antics are racing through minds, especially those of high schoolers.
Continue reading Retro RFH Spring Fever Drive 
With the first hint of spring in the air today, you could say that these RFH guys caught the spring bug — and soaked it and its sunny vibe right up!
Continue reading Retro RFH Spring Bug Fever 
The sun has made an appearance or three lately, but not today. And people, like cooped-up RFH students are likely stir crazy and ready to make a break for it and ride out of bleak winter blues and into warm sunsets. Incognito or not.
Continue reading Retro RFH Dank Day Riders in the Commons Our annual reprise honoring the inspiration for R-FH Retro — my mom, Sally Van Develde — on what would have been her 102nd birthday. A birthday wish … Happy Heavenly Birthday, Mom. You remain in the hearts of so many … Besides, I won’t let them forget.
“If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with! Is that right?” ~ Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz
For the love of home and a Fair Haven mom … that’s right.
Sometimes a birthday without her is about lighting the candles, making the wish, sustaining the simple legacy of going home, staying home with my mom, Sally Van Develde.
Today would have been her 102nd birthday. If she had lived to blow out all those candles on her cake, I wondered what she would have done. What her wish would have been.
Continue reading A Birthday Wish: Going Back Home with Mom
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