Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - July 16, 2017

Good morning! Since it's a SUNDAY morning, this is my weekly off television topic post taking a look at the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way. This weekly post is done year in, year out. Big Brother, the main draw for so many of you, only lasts about three months -- although sometimes it seems to be a lifetime. If you're here solely for the BB posts, please feel free to skip this post. You can find my latest BB19 posts by using this link.

Some random notes on this past week:

• Yesterday morning at 6:27am, the dude upstairs turned on his stereo. No, not full blast. But it has to be up pretty loud for me to hear it in my apartment. Well, at least the beat. I hear and feel the bass. Then, at 7:05am, the neighbor's landscapers started making all kinds of blower and mower noise. Now, I was already awake, but it's a Saturday morning. Don't normal people sleep in a bit?
• I'll admit I'm not a normal person, mind you. But I don't make all kinds of racket that can annoy others!
• When I came home from work last night, the cylinder on the front building door lock was sideways. Because of that, the key wouldn't work in the lock, just spinning and spinning. I took my back door key which fits in that lock but won't unlock it and turned the cylinder back to its proper position. I then unlocked the door with the right key and entered. Someone was in the hallway and asked how I got the door open. Okay, landlord, you can pay me what you would have paid the locksmith to come fix it.
• As I expected, I returned to chaos and disaster after my staycation from work. I don't want to talk about it. It's bad mojo, I tell you!
• I'm ready for autumn. I'm tired of being sweaty while just existing. Inside my apartment, I'm fine due to air conditioning, my new tower fan and all. But they make me go out in the world just about daily. Gah.
• It's hard to believe it's been 50 years since the Newark and Detroit riots (1967). I was living in Saratoga County in New York at that time. They made the national news. I didn't know that, within the same time period, there was a Plainfield riot -- that didn't make national news at the time. But it was quite the incident here and still affects the city to this day. But Plainfield has made tremendous strides ahead during the last several years. Let's all keep on working together!

Onto the photos I took this past week. No real masterpieces, but a slice of life here in what they call the Greater NYC Metropolitan Area in New Jersey. Sometimes they call it North Jersey; sometimes Central Jersey. It's all Jersey to me ... 

Clicking on an image will open a larger version.

More utility box art

This one is on East 4th Street at the corner of Watchung Avenue by the police station. I don't think it's finished as the other sides only have the green base paint.  I'll watch it to see if more is added than this side. The adjacent town of North Plainfield has shrink-wrapped art on their boxes. I prefer Plainfield's efforts, using actual artists to paint them. We have a lot of talent here in Plainfield and these are great!

Bunny resting in the sun

More on this bunny a bit later in the post.

The Keyboard Man

Summer sounds at the Plainfield Train Station. While I don't care for the regular bums who hang out at the station day and night, this guy really improves the atmosphere there. I've also seen him there playing a trumpet. Sometimes a few others join him with guitars.  Nah, neither he nor they would ever win a talent contest, but it's always good to see and hear him at the station playing away.

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

Abandoned

Or was it the Rapture? Alien abduction? I saw these left behind at the Bridgewater Train Station. Now, to me, they look like they were at that comfortable stage in which they look bad, but feel so good. If they were mine, they'd still be my kick-around shoes! 

Photogenic mushroom

No, not as pretty as a flower. But cool in their own fungi kind of way.

Merry Marigolds

Here and gone

Some of the flower of an hour blossoms have gone to seed. Others are waiting for the hour to come so they can open up.

No two marigolds are identical

Kind of like snowflakes and fingerprints.

Pretty in pink

Don't stick your tongue out at me!

He was feeding on something along the path there. But, here comes the sad part -- it's evident in this photo I took, as well as some others that I'm not posting, that the poor little bunny is infested with ticks. From my photos, I counted at least five engorged ticks on his face and ears. He's just a baby. Sigh. I don't know what may happen and there's nothing I can do to save him. He seems lively enough, hopping away fast when I first approached, then returning to whatever that was he was eating when I backed off. I guess I'll have to check for ticks on me now whenever I pass through that side of the Bridgewater Train Station.

The raincatcher 'shroom

The early morning rain gathered in this mushroom outside the TD Bank Ball Park in Bridgewater.

A rose by any other name

... would still be a rose. Outside the Plainfield Police station.

The hour approaches ...

A single flower of an hour had opened as I passed by. While some of them are definitely gone for the season, they're still abundant.

Vincent

In his own chair for a change! He loves my new desk chair, but I took up too much space in it for him. That, and I told him he had to get off my shoulder for a while. No wonder my right shoulder crackles and grinds every time I move it -- it's the weight of Vincent stressing it! But he's worth it all ..