Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - June 5, 2016

Good morning! Since it's a Sunday morning, that means it's time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken along the way. As for television -- you might want to keep tuned here or on my Big Brother on Jackie's TV Blog Facebook page as I watch for news on the upcoming season of Big Brother 18! I will be posting here during the upcoming week and already have a few tidbits posted on Facebook.

While I only had a four-day work week due to the Memorial Day holiday, it was four chaotic and hectic work days. I'm glad to put the week behind me. I'm getting too old for this kind of stuff on an ongoing basis. I want to retire and work in a puppy play camp or something. You know ... something FUN and not stressful. Although I'm more of a cat person, puppies are fun. I could deal with that. If I could make a living at that, I'd go for it in a minute! Unfortunately, I have to pay for this roof over my head and other various things of life.

Our weather this week went from heat wave to rainy to muggy and today it's supposed to be very stormy later on. That's okay. I'm not planning on going anywhere today. It's good to be home. I only request that my power, cable and Internet remain working.

I finished reading The Girl on the Train earlier this week. Now, a lot of people recommended it to me because they think I'm "the girl on the train." Of course, it's also a bestseller. I enjoyed the book. It had an Alfred Hitchcock Rear Window (my all-time favorite movie) quality about it. Plus, it did hit home a bit as far as commuting via walking, bus and train for so many years. No, I don't drink on the train. Nor have I gotten involved in any murder investigations.

For years, I've seen the same faces and the same places day after day. And, yes, I do think about them a bit and, though I don't assign them names like the protagonist in the book did, I assign them descriptors and sometimes think up stories of what their lives may be. For example:

• The Pool Guy. At a home in Dunellen by the tracks, there's a home with a pool. In the summer, I sometimes see him floating on an inflatable raft in the pool. In the winter, he has a fire pit and I only see one track of footprints in the snow leading to the one chair by it. I have seen him with small children, but never a woman. In my mind, he's a widower with young grandchildren. In reality, he probably has a wife in that house who doesn't care for the outside so much!
• The James Whitmore Eyebrows Man. Always walking with his newspaper under arm. I picture him to live in senior citizen housing but having little to do with bridge games or the other social events they hold there. He's too busy shaking his head at life and reading the paper while his bushy eyebrows accentuate the news stories as he reads them.
• The Wood Harris Dude. Looking much like the actor who played Avon Barksdale on The Wire, this guy comes across as slick and street-savvy. I've actually talked to him, though. He's very nice and I would have doubts that he's involved in any drug empire going on around here. While he definitely seems of the city streets, he's quite pleasant. But he still looks like Avon Barksdale!
• The Crawl Around the Train Station Guy. He's a rather new one at the Plainfield Train Station. Wearing clothes and filth from weeks on end, he comes up to the train station platform shelters and crawls around. At first I thought he was looking for abandoned cigarette butts to gather. But he crawls way too long for that and never seems to pick up anything. He always walks away smiling and chuckling to himself. I've never seen him panhandle or even talk to anyone. Maybe he's conversing with bugs. I just don't know.

Oh, there are plenty more characters I see all the time. And, some who I've seen yet they've vanished over the years.

Anyway ... onto this week's photos. Clicking on an image will bring it up in a larger version.

Undergoing renovation

In my mind, I used to think of this house on East Second Street in Plainfield as "The Junk House." The lawn was always neglected with grass and weeds growing nearly thigh-high. Litter was scattered throughout the lawn and front porch while random dudes hung around it drinking beer. Last fall it was vacated and boarded up.

Now someone has gutted the inside, torn most of the blue cheap aged shingles off the outside, as well as the porch railings. And the lawn is even being mowed in between renovations! I've noticed at least three other homes on the stretch of East Second I often travel also being renovated without a cause such as fire. Sure, for a several years now the mansions in other parts of town have been bought, renovated and probably flipped. But I think it's even a better sign for Plainfield that folks are buying the more affordable homes and fixing them up! Note the flowers growing next to the stairs are even happy about this!

Yep, they're happy!

Get my best side, please!

I talked a young pigeon into a photo shoot at the Bridgewater Train Station. This is an adolescent, born perhaps five or six weeks ago. The cacophony of young birds in the nests under the bridges there has lessened as more of the youngsters are able to get around on their own. It's not just pigeons nesting there -- also sparrows, starlings and even squirrels! However, the squirrels were very quiet, unlike the birds.

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Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - June 15, 2014

Happy Father's Day to everyone out there! My own father passed away young, decades ago. Yet I think of him almost every day.

Since it is Sunday, it's time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken along the way. By the end of this week, all the quietness on the blog will go kerflooey as my coverage of the Big Brother live feeds and shows commence. I'll still post this weekly off topic post, but there will be multiple daily content spoilers and such for the show. It's our summer guilty pleasure! Also, Under the Dome and Falling Skies return!

The weather here this past week was similar to the week before -- rain during the weekdays, nice weekends. You would think, with all the technology in the world, instead of spending money on wars, mankind could focus its attention on doing things like harnessing the weather -- redirecting rainfall to areas of drought and such. I'm sure the money spent by all nations for wars could handle that, as well as research into cures for diseases. But, nah. Mankind would rather just kill each other off, I guess.

I realized this past week that I've apparently become allergic to mosquito bites. To those who saw the photo of a bite I posted on Facebook, the bite is okay. Yeah, still obvious and all, but no longer inflamed. If a mosquito bites me on the nose, I'm going to have to hide from all society.

I don't have much more for you right now. Look for BB posts and announcements by the end of the week! If you click on any of the photos, you'll be brought to that image on my Photobucket page. You can make the image larger and really larger from there. Have a great week!

My train arrives

Yes, it's MY train. I'm getting tired of all the strangers and tourists aboard. How dare TD Ball Park in Bridgewater have a Saturday daytime game coinciding with my work commute! Is there a reason that parents and children don't understand that the phrase "inside voice" applies to train travel? Sheesh. I'm seriously frightened that the large percentage of children these days who are never taught how to behave in public places are going to make it an even more ill-mannered society in the future. Sure, children will be children. However, if parents don't address unacceptable behavior at a young age, the kids aren't going to listen to them at all later on. On the other hand, I compliment both child and parent whenever I see good manners and well-behaved children. It makes both the child and parent feel good!                                                      

Approaching storm

I thought Friday's storm was going to miss us as I straddled the line between storm and sun. It was hot and humid with the air so thick that breathing didn't really come easy. To the north and west, dark clouds made the skies look like night was coming. To the south and east, the sun was shining brightly. On the new electronic sign by Plainfield's Municipal Court, the temperature hit over 100 degrees. Of course, the temperature is still whacked on that -- it's still over ten degrees off. It wasn't THAT hot. It was only in the high eighties with severe humidity. The storm hit hard about ten minutes after I got in the door at home. Lightning, thunder, wind and hail. Oh my.

Coming up next!

After the jump (if you're reading from the main blog page, not the individual post link), you'll find this week's flowers slideshow.

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Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - May 19, 2013

Good Sunday morning, world! As it is Sunday, that means it's time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken along the way. I'm taking a bit of a television rest as finales have aired and summer shows have yet to start up. However, during this week I do plan on posting about Falling Skies and possibly a few other shows.

Our weather here where I live in New Jersey is still a bit off. We had cold temps early in the week with some overnight lows sending up freeze alerts. By the end of the week we had springlike day temperatures at least. Oh, but then yesterday was grey and we're expecting some rain almost every day for the next seven days. It better get it out of its system as I have a staycation coming up the following week!

I've had a relatively uneventful week. I bought two tickets to the big Powerball drawing. And, let me be the first to announce it right here on the blog ... I got the Powerball! Yes! Yes! Yes, I did. Um, well. I got the Powerball number and no others. I guess I'll have to cancel the order for the Lamborghini.

Let's see ... what else? Oh, I know. There's been a real creepy guy on the train for the last few weeks. He seems to be drunk, even on the first train out in the morning. He's on the train already when I get on it, then gets off where I get off.

The first day he talked to me, he complained about how unfriendly the woman conductor is. "It's Monday morning. You're supposed to be happy. She didn't even say hello or smile!" Well, she always says hi and is friendly to ME. Maybe she just figured you're a creep, I thought but did not say. Plus, in what world are people bouncy and friendly on Monday mornings? Are we supposed to be happy on Monday mornings as we head to work on the early train? I don't think so! (Especially to dudes who creep us out.)

As we left the train, he proceeded to tell me that he should be getting his license back in two weeks. Good. As I continued to basically nod my head and ignore him hoping he'd go away, all of a sudden he stopped in front of me, lifting his shirt. "I got shot here and here. I got stabbed here," as he pointed out scars on his beer belly. Eww! Eww! Ever since that day, I dawdle and let him get WAY ahead of me so I don't have to deal with him. He really creeps me out.

So, last night, there I was lurking by the annex for the Plainfield Police Department Narcotics and Gang Unit waiting for the bus after getting off the train. (The bus to take me a block from home is free with my monthly train pass.) Out of the door comes my buddy ex-narcotics detective who was promoted to sergeant a few months back. He was in his (still crisp) sergeant uniform. I hadn't seen him since the day he got promoted. So we exchanged a big hug and talked for a bit.

It turns out he's been assigned to the Union County Homicide Task Force. It's a very good career thing for him, plus he's learning a lot which, in the long run, will be good for the Plainfield Police Department. He was involved in investigating that bizarre Kai, the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker murder case of a lawyer in the area this past week. While he said he can't give details, I said the whole case seemed weird from what I've read. He emphatically agreed to weird.

After a goodbye hug, he left to go back across the street to the police station. And then, who comes along? Mr. Creepy from the train! Ack! Thankfully he saw the police uniform and the hug. He seemed drunk once again. Or still.

"Was that your husband?" he asked.
"Yes," I said without skipping a beat. Heck, I don't care that the cop in question is probably more than twenty years younger than me and married. For that moment, he's my husband. Yes, indeed. Mr. Creepy staggered away without another word.

Good.

Onto this week's photos ...  

Azalea up close and personal

Bridgewater, NJ.

Colorful iris

Growing on Berckman Street across the street from the photo below.

Allium and azaleas

The big ball allium is incredibly cool. This photo was taken on Berckman Street in Plainfield.

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Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - April 28, 2013

Good Sunday morning to you! Since it's Sunday, it's time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken along the way. Later tonight, the blog party post for The Amazing Race will be up and running, albeit not quite racing around the world. We will remain in our respective homes watching the scenery! If you watch the show and would like to discuss the happenings as it airs with a group of friends, here's your place!

Tonight will be the 60 Minutes interview with serial killer Charles Cullen. That's the man who admitted to killing 13 people in the very same hospital where I had my knee replacements. Although he was caught at "my" hospital (Somerset Medical Center), it sounds like they dropped the ball as much as the other hospitals he worked for did. He admitted to killing around 45 people, but it's estimated that he may have killed up to a few hundred. My friend who was working there at the time Cullen was doing his stuff said he would see him where he wasn't really needed just kind of lurking and that Cullen didn't really make eye contact with people. He creeped him out. Cullen is the first serial killer to appear on 60 Minutes in its 45-year history.

The weather has been actually spring-like this week with some beautiful daytime temperatures, yet still down around freezing or in the 40s in the overnight hours. I'm not too keen on wearing a light jacket in the morning, then having to carry it home. But I'll take it. On the other hand, the pollen in the air has been making this a bit miserable. Congestion, eyes watering, sneezing ... yup, that's me! I'd still rather this, massive pollen levels included, over the 90+ degree high humidity days of the summer.

On the home front, I still haven't seen my new upstairs neighbor who moved in at the beginning of March. He's still the best neighbor up there yet although he does sing loud enough for me to hear it at times.

Also on the home front, the not really new any longer landlord -- it's been about a year now -- ripped out the front and side doors of the building and replaced them with very nice quality slightly tinted thermal glass and metal doors. We all received new keys. Some idiot already lost the key and stuck up notices with some sort of odd black gum-like stuff on the new glass. Sigh.

Even though the doors were supposed to be done by Monday, work was still going on when my Peapod grocery order came in on Wednesday. The poor delivery guy had to lug them down three steps, then up seven steps, wheel them all the way to elevator on a hand truck. Then a second trip with two cases of water and some other bags taking the back stairs. Oy. I helped carry up some bags on the second trip. Yeah, I can do stairs. It doesn't mean I like them, though.

On the other hand, the main superintendent for the landlord, not really quartered in this building and I haven't really seen him since last summer -- went on and on about how beautiful Vincent is. Vincent purred all over him and would have jumped on his shoulder if I hadn't stopped him.

Other than that, work consumed a good part of my life this past week as it always does. I have a staycation planned for the last week of May, then my July vacation with a trip to upstate NY for my high school reunion, the first one I've ever attended. My old high school friends found me on Facebook and, apparently, I wasn't as much of a outsider as I thought I was there. In school I tended to have just a small group of friends, got my A's, was put on independent study (so I didn't go to classes so much, did papers and projects) in many courses and left after my junior year to go to college. I really wasn't comfortable in high school although it was better than junior high with the bullying. No, not me doing the bullying ... getting bullied. College, I liked and even felt comfortable. We'll see how the reunion goes this summer.

Onto the photos for this week --    

Beetle on new poison ivy

I like how the grey in the background turned out in this shot. What it is is that this sprig (whatever) of poison ivy was growing on vines on the concrete overpass by the Bridgewater Train Station. It's actually the street in the background and from above. With the camera focused on the poison ivy and beetle, it makes the street almost look like some kind of backdrop. That said, the beetle is kind of cool. It's about the size of a ladybug.

Pink in the planter

This is one of the flowers growing in that huge orange planter by the U-Haul building at East Front and Roosevelt in Plainfield. I also solved the planter mystery ... kind of sort of.

First azaleas of the season

As is the standard custom, the pink azaleas by the TD Ball Park (adjacent to the Bridgewater Train Station), came to life first. Next should be the white, then the red. Only a few of the plants have blossoms right now. I should get better shots in the weeks ahead.

Yet another huge orange planter

Oh my. When I saw the one by U-Haul, I thought it was tied in with the orange of U-Haul. This one is about a block away on East Front Street. They're really over-sized and way too bright orange. I hope the city of Plainfield got a good deal on them because they're very garish. Bright orange? Who thought of that one?

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