Funny video from the industrious folks at the Cape May County Herald, via Jen Miller's downtheshorewithJen blog. What can we say, there's a lot of down time around here this time of year. Nice job, guys. Stay with it until the end.

Wildwood pretzel sees his shadow

Previously, snowy low tide beach pictures from this morning...

The snowstorm did not, as teased, leave the shore with more snow than inland. Just a couple of inches fell in beach towns. I went out to the beach this morning and assumed I'd see pretty much the same snow covered landscape as last week, when a few inches fell and covered the beach. But the thing about the beach and the ocean, is they always surprise you. And a look at the beach in Ventnor this morning makes it clear that the snow stopped falling just about the same time as high tide: 1:46 a.m. This morning, just before low tide, you could see clearly how the ocean was covering up most of the beach during the snowfall. So rather than snow covered beaches, it was a band of snow and then a band of sand. A unique landscape of snow and sand and a rising sun greeted the runner in this photo.

Snowy beaches are definitely one of the lovelier parts of living at the beach all year round. Here's a view with the masts from a couple of hobies still on the beach in the snow, back by the dunes. After all, you never know when the wind will be just right for a sail.

Even Lucy got a little coating of jaunty winter white.

Dec. 25, 2008. 4:41 p.m. Ventnor. That's Zeus, not Marley.

Lifeguard boat, that is.

Pulled, of course, by a Ventnor City Beach Patrol truck.

Ventnor Holiday Parade, 2008.

Back before he cut his swath through Philly alternative media circles and Philly politics, Brian Hickey was the kind of reporter in Atlantic City you loved seeing on a story, but just didn't want to go up against. As a Press of A.C. reporter back in the late 90s into 2000, Hickey outwrote and outreported the pack time and time again. Hickey's stories just kept going, fueled by the best reporter instincts and intensity, finding the elusive witness, the grieving relative, the best quotes, the twist in the story. He was the ultimate house end reporter, as we say in the biz, always getting the story from the people closest to it, the highest compliment for a reporter, in my book. He was so good I tried to help get him hired at the Philly Daily News, which seemed like a great fit for a kick-a-- reporter like Hickey. Ultimately, he made his own way onto the Philly scene, becoming managing editor of the City Paper and then campaign manager for electricians union boss John Dougherty's run for state Senate. Recently, Hickey has been doing freelance video for Philly.com, including on Election Day, and working on a new publication, Boardwalk Journal, proving once again that once a shore reporter, always a shore reporter. As has been widely reported, Hickey was critically injured Friday night after being struck by a car that fled the scene three blocks from the PATCO station in Collingswood. He's in Cooper Medical Center in tough shape with head trauma and other injuries. I know all his old friends at the Press and the motley collection of people who comprise the Atlantic City press corps, past and present, are pulling for him in a big way. The police are asking anyone with information about the hit-and-run accident to call 856-854-1901, Ext. 223. A fund-raiser is also being planned, details here.

So yesterday, in a federal courtroom in Philadelphia, at the opening of a trial of South Philly mogul pol Pa. State Sen. Vince Fumo, naturally, much of the discussion centered around Ventnor and Margate, the center of all universes. (I keep driving to Philly for stories, and then it's all about the Jersey shore. Last time, I drove to Haverford to meet with John McCain Philly best pal Connie Cunningham Bookbinder, and it turns out, she's up there reading the Atlantic City Press, a Margate girl whose dad used to be DIrector of Public Relations for the city of Atlantic City, back in the day when that position was like being Sectretary of State. But I digress.)

Anyway, at opening statements yesterday, we learned that prosecutors think Fumo used his staff and non-profit organization improperly to do things like, go down the shore in a minivan to fix the hot tub, scrub the deck, buy tiki torches and bubbler hoses, and go to Sam's Club in Pleasantville to buy hamburger buns, toilet paper, turkey sausage and ravioli (hey, I have that same oversized bag of frozen ravioli still in my freezer from Sam's too!), and pick up the trash to bring back to Philly (thanks!). We learned Vince had a little Fumo fender-bender with a cement truck as he backed out of his driveway on Kenyon Ave. in Margate in his supposedly tricked-up Chrysler Town and Country Minivan paid for by his Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods non-profit (which prosecutors say paid for the Sam's Club bill as well). The minivan was Vince's go-to shore vehicle, though he had a Jeep at his disposal too. Citizens' Alliance also sunk $70,000 into a failed effort to block the Army Corp from building a big dune that Philly people with beach houses feared would block their views. (There's Vince's view, above, from in front of his three story house in the middle of the beach block on Kenyon Ave.) At the time, those fighting for the dune grumbled about how Fumo was behind the opposition. And there you go. Anyway, the effort failed, and the dune was built in Ventnor, though not in Margate. (And, contrary to attorney Ed Jacobs' assertion that the dune was washed away in the first storm, only MOST of it has been washed away. Some of it, toward the Atlantic CIty end of town, has held up nicely, actually. But most views have been preserved).
Another time, prosecutors said, when Fumo was mad at Ed Rendell, he sent one of his trusty helpers to try to dig up some dirt on Rendell's Ocean City property.
Anyway, Fumo's people also liked to hang out at his condo on Monmouth Avenue in Ventnor, with a nice view of the bay. When I got back from Philly last night at dusk, I went looking for the condo and wondered if I'd be able to find where Fumo liked to park his Town and Country. Turns out, it wasn't hard to find:

As defense attorney Dennis Cogan asserted, there is much that is done with transparency in the life and times of Sen. Fumo.

Inquirer Staff Photo by Michael Wirtz
See, the ocean was just toying with us, what with throwing that frigid water out through July, coughing up a little medical waste in August, stubborn land breezes keeping things a little tense. But then, on Labor Day weekend, things were, well, rather lovely. Saturday maybe a little humid, but Sunday and Monday, a nice ocean breeze kicked up, the ocean was warm, the waves were kicking, the tide was low, perfect for contemplating the implications of Bristol and Sarah Palin's pregnancies as you dozed in a chair. People seemed ready for the season to end, shortened as it was by the calendar. I noticed a lot of multigenerational families this year, posing for a last season group pictures. Grandparents really are the heroes of the shore, aren't they? They were in the surf all summer chasing after the little ones, stocking the fridge, setting up the big shade canopy, letting their their kids hang back for a little reading or digging the big holes. There's a lot of love splashing all over those sands. The crowd at the beach also seemed a little less homogenous this summer, a little bit more like real life, gathering in from all over. As it should be.

UPDATE on Wednesday...I really love this picture from last year's airshow, complete with man, beach and fighter jets. If anyone gets any similar pictures from this year's air show today and wants to email them to me at arosenberg@phillynews.com, and I'll be glad to post them on the blog. Although I have contacts who will be floating out in the ocean on a hobie cat off the coast of Ventnor to watch the action, I'll be in Sea Isle, a safe distance away...

It's Air Show week at the Jersey Shore, and that means, lots of seemingly close calls at the beach beginning yesterday, resuming this morning with a vengeance (I've been startled a dozen times already today by the noise of the practicing jets circling over my house, reflexibly ducking). The first year they did this, people were terrified by the unexpected practice runs that started on the Sunday before. I swear, those jets flew so low I think they clipped the basketball net on my garage. It's not really my cup of tea, this fighter-jet-for-show thing. But, I've learned, people love this stuff, people near and dear to me, even, and hundreds of thousands will no doubt pack the beaches and boats around Atlantic City on Wednesday as they've done the last few years. As for me, and my nervous pooches, we just huddle inside, where it appears to be safe. More information is here. Photo credit and more photos are here.

Organizers were hoping for a few clouds to lure people from the beach to the screen this weekend, as the first annual Downbeach Film Festival, the baby of veteran shore reporter William Sokolic, kicks off with an impressive lineup. Well, looks pretty sunny until Sunday, but on the cool side. So check out their updated schedule information here, my story on the festival is here. Red carpet arrivals (seriously) begin at 7 p.m. at the Margate Performing Arts Center, 7804 Amherst Avenue, tonight followed by The Man From Earth, and an after party at nearby Sofia's. I'm thinking Phoebe in Wonderland at 4 p.m., Saturday, with cool cats Patricia Clarkson, Felicity Huffman and Bill Pullman, and Stuck at 8:30 p.m. Kevin Smith is receiving an award Saturday night at Resorts. Some of the actors, directors and producers will be in town or on the beach, but probably all ending up at Tomatoes for the after-after party. Or maybe Maynards?

Previously, on Downashore:

A warm ocean, at last, lifeguard races tonight, and another Howarth tears it up