The Gazette of Really Small News

A cloud over Asbury Park Sunday, September 30, has the shape of a creature ready to bite the cloud in front of it.

What could be one of the last monarch butterflies of the season has a feast Sunday, September 30, along the Ocean Grove banks of Wesley Lake.

The half moon as seen from earth Sunday, September 16.

Rooftops along Ocean Avenue in Ocean Grove loom over sand berms constructed on the ocean side of the boardwalk before rough surf and high tides caused by Hurricane Florence and other storms assail the beach. At noon Thursday, Florence was off the Carolinas and expected to make landfall later in the day. Locally, the storm will create high swells and deadly rip currents and rough surf, the National Hurricane Center said.

Violent surf created by distant Hurricane Florence throws foam along the beach in Ocean Grove before noon Thursday, September 13.

Ralph the Ocean Grove Fisherman waits out surf stirred up by Hurricane Florence Thursday morning. The storm, which reportedly has a diameter of around 500 miles, is expected to make landfall in North Carolina later today. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said life-threatening storm surge and catastrophic flash floods are "highly likely" along the coast of North Carolina and South Carolina. Locally, Florence will cause high swells and life-threatening surf and rip currents, the NHC said. Ralph's perch is on the remains of the Ocean Grove fishing pier, which was destroyed by Superstorm Sandy in October, 2012.

Somebody had fun with a street sign in Ocean Grove.

Clouds sneak up on Ocean Grove two hours before the arrival of a cold front on Thursday, September 6.

The blank sign, the closed doors, and the lack of crowds denote the end of the summer in Neptune Township's historic seaside district. The scene was captured the before sunset Thursday, September 6.

A massive cloud forms over south Asbury Park before a cold moves in on the evening of Thursday September 6.

The cold front moving southeast covers Ocean Grove at sunset Thursday, September 6.

1929: In Finland, 136 people die when the Kuru capsizes on Lake Nasijarvi. 1943: Fifty-five people die in a fire at the Gulf Hotel in Houston, Texas. 1978: In London,   Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov is assassinated by way of a ricin pellet fired from a specially designed umbrella. 2017: More than 60 people die in an earthquake centered in Chiapas, Mexico.

A shelf cloud moved into Ocean Grove ahead of a cold front on at sunset Thursday, September 6.

Pigeons congregate on an Ocean Grove rooftop at sunrise Wednesday, September 5.

The boats of Asbury Park Pedal Boats sppear upside-down beneath a footbridge over Wesley Lake at dawn Wednesday, September 5.

1793:  In France, the revolutionary government authorizes the Reign of Terror to rid the country of counterrevolutionaries that include aristocrats and clergy. 1887: In Exeter, England, 186 people die in a fire at the Theatre Royal. 1996: Twenty-seven people die when Hurricane Fran comes ashore at Cape Fear, North Carolina.

A lone sandcastle guards an empty Ocean Grove beach at dawn Tuesday, September 4. Ocean Grove beaches closed on Labor Day. Hot, humid weather this week is sure to draw locals to the water's edge for "local summer."

The Asbury Park carousel building (left) and the boardwalk steam plant seem to rise from a Wesley Lake footbridge gainst during pink daybreak on Tuesday, September 4.

The sun appears to rise menacingly behind the pleasure boat in this extreme closeup of sunrise on the horizon off Ocean Grove on Tuesday, September 4.

1870: In France, emperor Napoleon III is deposed in favor of what will be named the Third French Republic. 1963: in Switzerland, 80 people die in the crash of Swissair Flight 306.

A child's stroller was seen left behind in the tall grass on the Ocean Grove side of  Fletcher Lake. 

Occupants of a planter on the Ocean Grove boardwalk droop in the early Labor Day mist, signaling the end of  their season. 

Two in lifeguard stand No. 2 were on the Ocean Grove beach in time for dawn but had a long wait for sunrise as Labor Day began with overcast skies and mist along the coast. The National Weather Service is calling for a high today of 85 and partial sunshine.

 A new video highlights some of our favorite images of clouds. The photos were taken around Asbury Park and Ocean Grove. Enjoy!

1878: More than 640 people die when the pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the freighter Bywell Castle on the River Thames.

Maybe that's how tales of dragons began: with clouds around the sun seeming to breathe fire. This dragoncloud is from the September 2 "Daily Dawn," which was posted earlier today.

Wesley Lake at dawn Sunday, September 2. Asbury Park is on the left; Ocean Grove, the right. The vista ends at the Asbury Park boardwalk and the  landmark Asbury Park steam plant, which was built in 1930 to supply power to buildings on the boardwalk.

A lone boat passes beneath sunrise off Ocean Grove Sunday, September 2.

31 B.C.E.: Mark Antony and Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt lose the battle of Actium to the future Augustus Caesar. 1666: The Great Fire of London begins. More than 10,000 buildings will be destroyed. 1998: All 229 people aboard Swissair Flight 111 die when the plane crashes near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia.

It's September 1. Labor Day is the day after tomorrow, Halloween is knocking on the social calendar's door, and the year is in its inexorable decline. But Halloween was always closer than you thought. The Gazette's newest video shows why.  Enjoy!

1894: More than 400 people die in a forest fire in Hinckley, Minnesota. 1914: Martha, the last known passenger pigeon, dies at her home in the Cincinnati Zoo. The species is now extinct.