Sunday, October 31, 2010

Off Topic - That Was the Week It Was - October 31, 2010

It's Sunday morning, time for my weekly off-television topic reflection on the week gone by in words and photographs I've taken in my daily travels. It's Halloween. BOO! (Scared you, didn't I?) And, if you're reading this, Happy Birthday Russ!

Where I spent the majority of my pre-adult life, the leaves were already gone come Halloween. Here, they're peaking. Some trees are still green while others have barren branches ... and yet others are brilliant yellows and reds. Autumn is my favorite time of year as the weather is usually pleasant, not too hot nor too cold, and the foliage can be breathtaking.

Daylight Savings Time is coming late this year. I expected it last weekend or perhaps this one. Nope! It's not until next week. Who decides these things? Is there a way they could strive for consistency from year to year? What's up with that? I want my extra hour of sleep!

Our weird weather continues. In the early part of the week it was warm and even a bit muggy. Then we went down to freezing Saturday morning. I'm actually a fan of brisk weather -- I like temperatures in the low 50s in the morning, perhaps to 70 in the afternoon. I guess we won't see many days like that for a while.

Things are pretty much same old-same old around here. So, it's onto the photos from the week. Clicking on an image will open it larger in a new window.


Vincent, look! Mice!

There were mice on my NJ Transit train last night, as well as Grim Reapers, vampires, (fake) ladies of the evening, clowns, you name it. These two girls are two of the Three Blind Mice. The other one was in the seat facing them as they were in a four-seater. Accompanying them was Wendy from Wendy's (don't ask me, I don't get the connection), but he wasn't wearing his wig.

All were heading into the city (NYC) for parties. With Halloween on a Sunday evening, lots of parties were held Saturday. The big Greenwich Village parade is tonight and the train will be costumed once again. I won't be on it. I'll be home, yes!


BOO!

A store window on East Front Street in Plainfield. Note the police car in the reflection. It was weird. I would stop, sometimes sit on a bench, take some shots and he'd park. I'd move along, he'd creep along. Then if I stopped again, he'd stop and park until I moved again. I don't think I look suspicious. Maybe they're just not used to people walking along taking photos downtown.


The Value Man

This building is really cool. I wonder what it housed in its early days. East Front Street, Plainfield.


I'd like some ETC, please

Got to love the mix of Spanish and English in neon. Envios is shipping and tarjetas are cards. Don't ask me what's included in etc. But I want one! The corner of East Front Street and Park Avenue, Plainfield. Edited to leave the neon in color.


Does anybody really know what time it is?
Does anybody really care?
- Chicago - "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?"

No, it's not 11:36 (and a half). This is more like the clock in the old Mamas and Papas song "Twelve-Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)" -

I used to live in New York City;
Everything there was dark and dirty.
Outside my window was a steeple
With a clock that always said twelve-thirty.

But this is Plainfield. We march to our own beat, keep our own time. And that time is always 11:36 (and a half). Park Avenue, but there no longer is a Park Jewelers there.


Reflections Part Deux

I guess I'm just a sucker for reflections in windows. Here, the businesses across the street are reflected in the Park Madison Office Building. Park Avenue in Plainfield. When I first moved here there was no building there. It was an odd park with benches all around the edges and perhaps two sidewalks to the middle ... lots of grass and signs to stay off the grass.


Too windy for chess

The chess tables sit empty as the temperatures drop and the winds pick up. Park Avenue and East Front Street, Plainfield. And what time is it?


Old, new and a change of seasons

The old PNC bank pillars, the Park Madison Office Building and colorful leaves. Park Avenue, Plainfield.


I'd like to make an apartment in there

This building has been vacant for more than a few years. Its windows are so cool! These are actually the second and third floors. Supposedly there are all kinds of plans for this and the PNC bank ... including some apartments. Seeing how slow some things are done (cough:::The Monarch:::cough) around here, I better not count on 'em. Park Avenue, Plainfield.


Standing in the railway station
Got a ticket for my destination
-- "Homeward Bound" by Simon and Garfunkel

Okay, he had it as sitting. I took creative liberties! Plainfield Train Station


C-c-c-an't bloom!

The weeds came to life in the warm weather, then the cold made them refuse to come to full bloom.


Storm clouds move in

Plainfield Train Station Tuesday just around sunset.


Pretty colors

Bridgewater Promenade Shopping Center, Bridgewater, NJ.


Sunrise by the ball park

The boys of summer are gone from the TD Ballpark in Bridgewater (by the train station).


Jus' chillaxin'

Ready to face another day. Plainfield Train Station.


Police activity!

Hey, this is outside MY window! (Hence the camera focusing on the screen as it was still in the "heat wave.") There was some kind of parking kerfuffle but nothing which warranted police. But then the riff raff neighbor whose tires were slashed the night before was screaming that the cops need to lock up so-and-so who slashed her tires. I just want the riff raff neighbor to move. No one else in the building has people honking horns and screaming up at their windows at all hours.


We're talking pea soup

One morning the fog was outright ridiculous. The dark line in this photo is a pole right near me. You can barely see the sun. Some of you will recognize the sign -- it's the one ripped apart by a storm earlier this year. But what you can't see is all the parked cars in the Bridgewater Train Station parking lot!


It wasn't as foggy when I left Plainfield that morning

This was before I hit the bad fog. Plainfield Train Station.


The train! The train!


Autumn Leaves

At the Plainfield Train Station


Watchung Avenue in the pre-dawn

Yep, it's all lighted up. As an ex-neighbor in my building referred to our parking lot lights ... those are RUDE lights.


Are you comfortable, Vincent?

His overbite shows.

How was your week?

Don't forget to stop back for the blog party during The Amazing Race!

9 comments:

RiseandShine said...

Good Morning!
Maybe the policeman was acting as your personal bodyguard.
I was up early on the morning of the ridiculous fog. I had a difficult time seeing the houses across the street. I stared into it in all directions, trying to make out the familiar. Spooky how isolating it feels not to see what you expect.
My elementary years were spent not too far away, on Long Island. I distinctly remember ALL the leaves were off the trees by Halloween. I can remember crunching through them on sidewalks and on front walkways going to ring doorbells.
I think it's evolved because each year it seems to be taking longer to get to bare tree time.
I love The Value Man building. It has a beautiful facade. I imagine it would make for a light-filled apartment.
Vincent does an excellent job grooming, he's the whitest white cat I've ever seen.
Have a good week!
-RyzandShyn, who figured out her Google Account finally again

lynn1 said...

Jackie,
Thanks for sharing the beautiful fall colors. We don't get them down here in the swamps! LOL
I saw a show on the Biography channel about ghost stories and one of the fetured places was a"Gentlemen's Club" called Liquid Assets in South Plainfield,NJ which is supposedly haunted. Although I am sure you don't go there and may not even know where it is I thought that is near Plainfield where Jackie lives.
Hope everyone has a happy Halloween.
We will be going to the Saints vs Steelers game tonight. I will miss seeing all the cute kids trick or treating which I regret. Also we won't get to see TAR tonight.
On an interesting note the Saints have ask that all the fans coming to the game to wear costumes. They have invited a representative from the Guiness Book of World Records to verify that this evenings game and pregame party has the most people assembled under one roof in Halloween costumes. There should be around 60,000 people participating.

Jackie S. said...

Lynn1 - Liquid Assets GO-GO is about two miles from my apartment. North, South and plain old Plainfield go in a row (from north to south or vice versa, of course). I recall reading about that ghost story in the local paper, but have never been in there myself. The ghost's name is Vincent, eh? Mad Dog? The link I posted has the BIO video on it.

Have fun at the game!

RyzandShyn - The cop was definitely watching me. Why, I don't know. If I looked at him, he looked away. So I watched him watch me in window reflections.

If I use the flash taking Vincent shots, he's just blinding white. He is a clean cat ... who likes to make a mess ripping apart bags and boxes with his teeth.

joyn said...

Jackie, hope that police officer didn't think you were scouting future bomb sites. With the recent bomb scares (heading to Chicago) maybe the cops are antsy. Even in Plainfield. LOL.

Your fall pix are enchanting. How beautiful the colors are this year.

I'll say this again, Vincent looks like one happy, content feline. It's so wonderful you found each other.

Sally said...

So you were under surveillance by one of Plainfield's finest? That must have been a bit unnerving, as well as very puzzling. Maybe the cop just found it really unusual that someone was actually taking time to admire architecture, appreciate nature, notice idiosyncracies, smell the roses, etc.

That's an impressive fog photo. Must have been just about impossible to drive in that. I love the rich colors of fall in your photos and I like the term "rude lights." An accurate description.

Daylight Saving Time has been ending on the first Sunday in November the last few years, and starting again on the second Sunday in March. I think some governmental body changed the dates, but I don't remember the specifics of who, when or why. And I don't know if the dates are the same across the country, as some areas don't have DST.

I can identify with the messes Vincent creats ripping bags and boxes with his teeth. My first cat liked to tear photographs, magazine covers and boxes. She died several years ago, but I still occasionally find bits of her cardboard in the basement.

Laurie said...

I'm pretty sure the cop was checking you out for suspicious behavior in light of the recent activities. I mean why would you be taking all those pictures?? It would have been interesting if he had spoken to you about it and you could tell him about all the people who enjoy your Sunday morning Plainfield report!

I personally want to thank you for the autumn leaves pictures, especially the closeup of the leaves still on the tree. I see so much action in that still photo. It's an award winner in my book!

Love to you and Vincent.

Becky said...

Hey, Jackie. Wonderful pictures. I wish we had a change of seasons in the fall. Our trees go from green to dead leaves.

See you tonight.... unless I have to go get my DH. He went with our sons and grandsons to Dallas for the World Series game yesterday and to the Cowboy football game today. I haven't heard when they will bring him back. (We drove halfway to SA and then our grandson met us and took him back with him).

Pat in Plainfield said...

Jackie: Congress sets dates for the time changes. The candy-makers' lobby fought to have the fall back date always after Halloween, claiming the hour more darkness would discourage trick-or-treating.

SueGee said...

Great shots of the fall colors. Get just a little of that around here. One place you do see color is up in Napa/Sonoma/Mendocino where the grape vines actually turn colors before falling.

Will try and stop by during TAR, but the World Series beckons...

Sue on the Left Coast (who is counting the minutes until the political ads are gone gone gone!)