Every spring I read the three Celery Farm books to Mrs. Jones' class at the Temple Hill Academy  and give  each of them a signed copy of their favorite. 

The most popular, by a narrow margin, was "Swan Babies." Go figure.

Great group. Thanks, Mrs. Jones' class!

A big thank you to the Allendale Police Department for placing the Turtles Crossing sign on Franklin Turnpike by the Celery Farm.

The sign helps raise awareness that turtles of all sorts might be crossing our highways this time of year to lay eggs -- and not just Snapping Turtles. 

Eastern Box Turtles, for example, have been seen near the roadway, and they are a species of special concern because their population is dwindling.

Ken Wiegand took this photo of an Eastern Box Turtle earlier this month not far from the sign.

As I finish my 10th year of "Bird Watcher" columns for The Record, I thought it was time I wrote about the Celery Farm Natural Area (instead of just mentioning it frequently).

As I wrote the column, I thought about the reasons that make it special.

Those same reasons no doubt apply to other nature lovers'  cherished locale.

(Hint: It's not just the birds, like the Great Blue on the right that I photographed last week.)

The column is on Page B-3 of the Better Living Section today, complete with three photos and a sidebar on my new free ebook featuring 50 of my favorite columns over the past 10 years.  (see right-hand column of this blog for details.)

Took a relaxing hike on the Red Trail at High Mountain yesterday, which parallels a stream that flows down part of the mountain.

I call the waterfall above Schrabisch Falls, in honor of the Paterson archaeologist who discovered so much about High Mountain and the Northeast more than a century ago.

The water was flowing just enough to provide some soothing sounds, from small waterfall to barely babbling brook.