One usually doesn’t think of the rain as being dangerous. As a parent, one often says to kids: “What? Are you going to melt?”

Sadly, the storm this past weekend in New Jersey and in New York ended in tragedy. The winds were ferocious, and some areas were harder hit than others. Numerous people died from being hit by falling trees, including two men (who leave behind mourning families) who were walking home from synagogue late Saturday afternoon in Teaneck, New Jersey.

In Highland Park we were fortunate to suffer only property damage: below is the remains tree that fell on a house near my own. Others had car windows smashed by trees or a fence downed by the wind. Compared to losing one’s life, it is mostly a discussion of who has insurance coverage.

And here you can see where it cut into the house it fell upon:

I decided to do a little research and discovered that one can study nearby trees to detect if they are unhealthy. Last year friend had noted that a tree overhanging our backyard had leaves on one side but not on the other; this is a sign of the tree’s ill health. My husband and I are happy that we informed our neighbors who own the tree, and they took care of the situation.

Some links for more information on hazardous trees:

• Underlying Causes the Can Lead to Down or Damaged Trees
• How to Spot a Dangerous Tree
• What is a Hazard Tree?
• Homeowner’s Tree Checkup Guide

Again the cut tree trunk, photo taken in the early evening when I showed it to two of my kids:

For more Nature Notes, visit Rambling Woods:

Patrick, the racer in my son’s four part film series, reaches Ruin Rui in this final episode. To see episodes I, II, and III, visit YouTube. This was one of the films featured in the Highland Park Teen Film Festival in early February. He also wrote a film that was produced by an eighth grader (my son is a seventh grader) with various teen actors and one librarian actress, but it is not (yet) online.

I’ve been spending a lot of time uploading videos; last week I set up a video for a client on a site not yet public, and today I uploaded two teen films to the Highland Park Public Library Teen Film page (Ite’s Adventure and Baby Troubles). There are a lot of details with converting films to the proper web format then getting them online without errors, especially if they are large files, which films often are.

My son tells me in this final episode the bowling pins are attacking Patrick the racer, but in the end he prevails. The scene takes place right next to my herb garden, which is currently still covered in snow, but the snow is melting.

This was my favorite dance at my daughter’s ballet recital (not counting the ballet, tap and jazz dances she performed, of course). It seemed like a fitting ballet for this time of year; on Sunday Jews around the world celebrate the holiday of Purim, and dressing up in costume is part of the tradition.

For more photos in sepia, visit Sepia Scenes:

My daughter’s dance rehearsal and show was last week. Lots of girls from ages 3 to teenagers performed ballet, tap and jazz. I love the costumes – they make the performances all the more fun. These girls, a group younger than my daughter, had polka dot outfits.

For more shots Straight Out Of the Camera, visit:

Corner of South Park and Eighth Avenues in Highland Park after December 31, 2009 snowfall. I loved the bright green against the white and gray.

Thursday Challenge theme is WINTER (Ice, Icicles, Snow, Tobogganing, Skating, Frost, Winter Clothing,…). And next week is MESSY.

Windows on a shed in a backyard in Highland Park and far window on a house – can you guess what time of day it is?

For more window views, visit: