Sunday, April 20, 2014

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014

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Happy Easter Sunday morning to all! If you celebrate the holiday, I hope it's a fantastic day for you. Heck, even if you don't celebrate the day, I still hope it's fantastic! Since it is indeed Sunday, this is my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken along the way.

Tonight, despite the holiday, there is a new episode of The Amazing Race airing. At approximately 8om EDT, I'll have the blog party post up for it.

This week took us from summer to winter and then back to spring here in the Greater NYC Metropolitan area. Right now we're back to spring here. Hopefully that will stay for a while now!

As this post is quite photo-heavy, I'm going to get onto those right now. Some of you will be happy to know I don't have any snake photos this week!

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It's the Easter Bunny!

Yes! I found the REAL Easter Bunny yesterday morning on my walk to the train station! He was hiding eggs on the grounds of the Presbyterian Church on East Front Street in Plainfield. I was surprised that the Easter Bunny was hiding his ears under a retro-Afro!

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Yes, tulips

Folks on Berckman Street in Plainfield placed a couple of planters of gorgeous tulips out on their porch. I think they must have brought them in at night when we had the freeze warnings as they held up so well through our wintry temperatures this past week.

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After sunset last night

The skies looked as pretty as Easter egg pastels last night as I was arriving home from work. This shot looks down Watchung Avenue from the intersection with East Fourth Street in Plainfield.

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Has he found an Easter egg?

Nope, but he has an acorn! East Front Street, Plainfield.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**


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Spring is busting out all over

True, the pollen levels are rough, but I love this nonetheless. The light greens of spring turn darker over time and, by summer's end, the greens are nowhere near as attractive. That is, until they burst out into fall colors.

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The local apple blossoms took to beauty this week. Every year Church Street in Plainfield is transformed into a spring wonderland with these trees lining its short span. Unfortunately, some of the trees and many of the larger branches were destroyed during Hurricane Sandy. Yet, enough remain for magical beauty. When I started out the week, only buds were evident. Then they blossomed on the non-fruit bearing trees. The following set of photos are from Church Street this past week --

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Monday

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Also Monday

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Tuesday

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Thursday

The sunrise was touching the tree tops in the background

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More Thursday

Again in this photo, the sunrise was kissing the tree tops.

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Friday

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Saturday

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Oh my

The construction crews working on the old Romond's Garage site have taken down most of the upper floor of the building. If memory serves, apartments will be in the rehabbed building (if they leave any of it up!). East Second Street, Plainfield. The link for the garage above takes you to a photo I took of the building sometime back. It was abandoned then, but intact.

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Forsythia

The forsythia is providing us with bright yellows throughout the area. Church Street, Plainfield.

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Dandelion, tell no lies

Judging from the eyes, that's some kind of fly on the dandelion. I promised no snakes, not no bugs!

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I see dead people (continued)

People still haven't learned not to sleep on my train with me nearby! This one was quite odd. My early morning train is usually all working folks heading in, perhaps some heading home from a night of work. Occasionally, we'll have the bridge and tunnel folks coming home from a night of partying in NYC, having missed the last train out of town. What this guy was/is, I don't know.

He had on such huge baggy denim shorts that I thought on first glance that he was wearing a flowing skirt. Under the skirt er, shorts, he had on long flannel brightly designed yet incredibly dirty pajama bottoms and sneakers which didn't match. To top it all off ... he was in MY regular seat! Grr. Raritan Valley Line, NJ Transit.

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Plainfield Train Station

Caught in the sunrise one morning this week.

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No longer a Blood Moon

Due to overcast skies, the Blood Moon eclipse couldn't be seen here early in the week. This is the waning moon early Tuesday morning as I headed to the train station.

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Magnolias in the 'hood

The local magnolia blossoms, usually a very short-lived phenomenon, suffered in the freezing temperatures this week. East Front Street, Plainfield.

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Outside in ground tulips


As opposed to the porch tulips in planters earlier in this post. These have survived the cold temperatures, but haven't fully blossomed yet. These are also on Berckman Street, but at a different house.

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White daffodil

Most of the daffodils are already passing. Berckman Street.

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The promise of beauty to come

This coming week, the tree sporting these will blossom with its stunning canopy of reds, whites and pinks. Bridgewater Train Station.

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Forsythia rules

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Still forsythia

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And even more forsythia!

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Coming to life

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Vincent in a box

I bought a new pair of sneakers this week and gave Vincent the box. Now, NORMAL cats curl up and sleep in shoe boxes. Not Vincent! I'm surprised he sat in the box long enough for me to take the photo. He thinks he needs to bite off hunks of cardboard and spit them all over the floor. Vincent is a nut!

3 comments:

Laurie said...

Oh Jackie! I've been drooling over your beautiful spring pictures. I can only imagine how much you are enjoying this spring after such a long miserable winter.
Thanks for taking daily pics of the tree. That was just amazing!

Lorraine said...

Love the pictures of all the flowers and the blooming trees. A welcome sight after all that snow. You are a great photographer. Thanks.

Jackie S. said...

Thank you!