The Wedding

I almost never do this, but a friend sent me this and this is worth a serious look:

Water everywhere

Here in the Trenton area in the wake of Hurricane Irene, the water is worse than the wind.

 OK, I did see one big tree uprooted on Rt 130 in East Windsor.

 Further down Rt 130, the highway was covered in both directions leaving stranded vehicles.

 Downtown Hightstown was under water, from Peddie Lake overflowing the waterfall.

From the I-295 overpass, this is Rt 1. Trust me it's under the lake there.

The rest of my pictures from the day, along with many others, are on the Trenton Times photo blog site:

http://photos.nj.com/the-times/index.html

Base ball

Two Sundays ago, I photographed Derek Jeter playing baseball with the Trenton Thunder on a rehab assignment and one week later (yesterday) I had an 1864 "base ball" match played at the historic Brearly House in Lawrence Township, New Jersey. What's Derek smiling at? It better not be the funny uniforms!

Inside a balloon

It was a hot air balloon partially filled with cool air and it didn't ascend into the sky but it was still plenty of grounded fun for a bunch of preschoolers from the Greater Trenton New Jersey YMCA. The Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning and PNC  brought the giant retired-from-flight 75-ft tall balloon to Cadwalader Park to promote PNC's "Grow Up Great" school readiness program.

If you want to see more red, the rest of the photos are here at nj.com

Jon Herington Band at Havana in New Hope

If you don't know the name, maybe you've heard of Steely Dan. Jon's played guitar for them for the past eleven years in addition to being an active working NY musician for many years. I wrote an article for The Times of Trenton about his band's appearance in New Hope. The link to the story appears below after the photographs I took at this most enjoyable show by three consummate professionals.

Dennis Espantman on bass

Frank Pagano on drums

Soundman Matt Marvin breaks down after the show... I mean he breaks down the equipment ;)

Here's the story previewing the show :

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2011/06/jon_herington_steely_dan.html

Trenton Thunder score walk-off win

I had the assignment to photograph the Trenton Thunder play the Binghamton Mets on an overcast Sunday afternoon and the game was going slow. So slow, this is what I did to keep involved. Can you believe the technique this pitcher has? Nearly identical form on two separate throws.

I thought I had my picture and I could go home late in the game with this tag at the plate, but there were only a couple more innings left and the skies were threatening rain (possible good pictures) so I resolved to stay until the bitter end.

But it instead of bitter, this ending became sweet when Austin Krum, in the bottom of the ninth, with two outs, hit a line drive triple to right field which drove in two runs and earned his team the come-from-behind win, walk-off style. His teammates were pleased. Me, too!

Garden of Reflection in Yardley, PA

Mark Seibert, 10, of Yardley. PA finishes making the sign of the cross after pausing with his mother, Teri Siebert, left at the entrance to Garden of Reflection, Pennsylvania's official memorial to the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack, early in the afternoon on Monday, May 2, 2011. An anonymous person had just had balloons delivered and The Seibert's including hisband and father Glenn, not pictured, assisted in placing the balloons at the entrance. Michael Mancuso/The Times

Students from a social studies class at Council Rock High School pay a visit to the Garden of Reflection, Pennsylvania's official memorial to the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. Michael Mancuso/The Times

Grace Godshalk affixes flowers to the memorial marker for her son, William Godshalk, and hugs a well-wisher (below) late in the afternoon of Monday, May 2, 2011. Michael Mancuso/The Times

Visitor Eric Swanson pauses at the piece of steel from the site, positioned to point in the direction of lower Manhattan. For Swanson, who attended Rider University and lived in Piscataway at the time of the attack, it was his first visit to the memorial. Michael Mancuso/The Times

A spontaneous memorial features a newspaper headline which proclaims the death of Osama Bin Laden with a hand-written inscription "They got him!!! RIP USAF" at the edge of the fountain at the Garden of Reflection. Michael Mancuso/The Times

The Thunder is back!

It was a dark and stormy night - not! It was a beautiful early Spring evening, the setting sunlight skimming the top of the stadium for the home opener of the Trenton Thunder, the double A affiliate of the New York Yankees.

Jason Fagans, 4, of Pemberton Township, New Jersey, yells those immortal words "Play ball!"

The pitcher with the least seniority, in this case, Naoya Okamoto, gets to carry around a Princess Dreams backpack.

One month

It's been just over thirty days since I added anything to my blog and last night I heard about it from my friend at my band's show at the Cactus Grill last night so thanks to Marita, here's a flashback:

Trenton Devils try to score on the Elmira Jackals as viewed from a high-up catwalk where no one can hear you scream ;)

Rising waters of the Delaware River spill onto River Road in Yardley, PA.

Princeton (home of Albert Einstein) celebrates Pi Day with pie throwing and one victim grabs a snack.

Film director Jeff Stewart in Downtown Trenton gets the "edgy" treatment in this portrait.

Princeton University wants to develop Alexander Street into a more suitable "gateway into Princeton." The trees bordering the golf course can stay but they want something different than those buildings on the other side of the street.

Ned Hector — Free Black Colonial Soldier, Wagoneer, Respected Patriot, Hero

Ned Hector, a black revolutionary soldier from the Battle of Brandywine (portrayed by Noah Lewis) "charges" a British canon-firing unit (people from the audience) during a program at the Hickory Corner Branch of the Mercer County Library. The program was sposored by the Friends of the Library. Michael Mancuso/The Times

Black history and American history are intertwined and part of our same shared history, if I may paraphrase just a little of what I learned from Noah Lewis' presentation.

A few other interesting items:

People of color fought on the British side as well as American.

All blacks were not poor and enslaved.

The US military would never be as integrated as it was during the American Revolution again until July 26, 1948, when President Truman issued a then controversial executive order that called for equality of treatment for all persons in the armed services, without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.

visit http://www.nedhector.com/ for more

Snow pictures? Snow problem!

I've been with The Times for over a quarter century and every time it snows, I know my job is to get snow pictures. After the latest deposit in the snow bank from Mother Nature, I managed to find two things I'd never photographed before. I went to Waterfront Park to see how things looked at the baseball stadium where NY Yankees Double-A affiliate Trenton Thunder play. While the receptionist, Susanna, was trying to reach public relations director Bill Cook on the phone, he came walking out, camera in hand to make some snow pictures of his own for the Thunder's facebook page. That made my day because it's always nice to have a person in a weather picture. Bill went to work and so did I.

After that, I spotted a really big crew working on clearing the snow around Trenton's War Memorial, home of Patriots Theatre. I never photographed that many people shoveling at once before.

Sad Day in Bordentown

Saturday, January 22, 2011 was the day of the funeral for Army Pfc. Benjamin Moore, who grew up in Bordentown City and graduated Bordentown Regional High School. The young soldier, who was also a volunteer firefighter and certified EMT at Hope Hose Humane Co. #1 in Bordentown, was killed in combat in Ghanzi Province on Jan. 12, in an IED attack. Funeral services were held at Trinity Methodist Church.

Bordentown's Mayor James Lynch greets mourners following services. Benjamin Moore was posthumously named chief of Hope Hose Fire Co. and according to Lynch, he will be officially named honorary mayor of the city at the next meeting of the city commission.

The End of the Road (to vic-to-ry).

This is a picture of air. Two men jumping in the air and the air going out of the Eagles' sails. The momentum was building. The comeback was set. After a game of Packer domination, the Eagles had the ball, a little time and momentum. Riley Cooper was supposed to catch this ball in the end zone and give the over-achieving Eagles the first-round playoff win, but the interception blew all that and left the crowd gasping for air.

Before the game started, the crowd wanted to be happy.

Michael Vick was sacked early and too often.

The Eagles did do some flying.

Or apparent levitation, at least.

I had a feeling Asante Samuel was going to make an interception on this play, so I was ready. He wasn't quite.

At the end, Jeremy Maclin walks off while Packers celebrate.