Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - July 27, 2014

Good morning! Welcome to my weekly off television topic photo post! If you're looking for my Big Brother coverage, you can find those posts right here at this link. This particular post is one I do each Sunday morning throughout the year, BB or not! I reflect on the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken along the way.

Alas, I didn't have a great photography week. It seemed like I was always rushing or conditions just weren't right. Oh well, there will be many more photos to take in my life.

I'm going to go once again with some random thoughts from the week:

• Last night as I arrived home to my New Jersey 'hood, I had to hear two competing Mexican Polka Bands. Ack! One was at a house near the corner of my block -- they were having a huge child's birthday party with a bouncy-house and all set up in the front lawn. As I walked by, they sang Happy Birthday, then WHAM into Mexican Polka! The second band was at the usual suspect house in back of my apartment. Even with my windows closed, a fan and the AC on, I could hear the thump-thump of the music. It lasted until nearly midnight.
• Two very young misbehaving children on the NJ Transit train were yelling and carrying on without any effort on the part of the parents to control them. When the piped announcement said, "Watch out for the gap when exiting." -- the girl cried out, "Cat? Where's a cat?" (I'll admit that was cute.) Her mother told her, "Gap. Watch out for the gap." The girl asked, "What's a gap?" I almost said, "A gap is a monster that swallows children who don't behave." I bit my tongue.
• There's an abundance of lightning bugs around here this year. If I were several decades younger, I'd be all over that!
• My cable and power were out on separate days this week, each for about six hours, neither due to a storm. Of course, my cable could have also been out while my power was out. I have no way of knowing.
• I panicked a bit when I saw Vincent pursuing a long dark quick bug along the floor into the kitchen. Ah. A carpenter ant. Not that I want those in my apartment, but it must have somehow strayed in from outside. As I predicted, I have had no influx of bugs by refusing to have my apartment fogged with poisonous junk.
• Oh. And Vincent killed the carpenter ant and then wondered why it wouldn't play with him anymore.

Onto this week's photos --

Early morning sun

Although the days are getting shorter, it's not to the point that I'm seeing the sunrise on my walk to the train station. We have been lucky in that we haven't seen many actual heat waves so far this summer (temps over 90 for three days or more). But we've had a lot of humid days and it's been a summer for lots of thunderstorms. I took this shot on Church Street in Plainfield.

Cool old car!

I have no clue exactly what make and model this is, but it sure is cool. There was an older man driving it. While he'd be too young to be the original owner, he seemed appropriate for the car. Watchung Avenue, Plainfield.

Looking up!

This Eastern Swallowtail Butterfly flew over my head at the Bridgewater Train Station. I was delighted to see I actually captured a halfway decent photo of him.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK FOR THE WEEKLY FLOWER SLIDESHOW AND THE REST OF THE PHOTOS!**

I like this little flower

I don't know what it is. It's growing in a planter on East Front Street in Plainfield. I'm letting it serve as a preview for the following flower slideshow. Unfortunately, like the rest of the week, my flower photo-taking wasn't all that great. A weed or two ... ahem, wildflower, flowers growing on lawns, flowers in planters in both Plainfield and Bridgewater. You can go full screen with it by clicking on the diagonal arrow on the lower right.

Oh my

I'm not quite sure if this qualifies as a sinkhole or what. The hole is in the pedestrian bridge overpass at the Bridgewater Train Station. You can see down about two feet to structure work of the bridge itself. It's an accident waiting to happen if someone falls into it -- it's big enough to get your foot stuck, but too small to swallow a small child. Hey, NJ Transit! You going to get this fixed?

The big mushrooms return

These grow to be GIANT! Okay, not quite giant, but very big indeed. I first saw them sprouting up at the Bridgewater Train Station a few years back. And, now they return once they feel we've had enough rain.

'shroom close-up

This isn't the same mushroom as above, but the same type and in the same location.

The tree stump mushroom

It's there, it's gone. It's there, it's gone. A small almost translucent mushroom appears after each rainy night in a tree stump on East Front Street in Plainfield. Then it's gone. Then it's there again.

Am I ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille?

The yellow jacket wasps are still inhabiting the light pole box at the Bridgewater Train Station. I'm very leery, yet feel the need to shoot them (with my camera).

Do you HAVE to go to work?

This is what I have to deal with each day as I get ready for work. I let Vincent drape over my shoulder as I have my morning coffee. But once I let him think it's his decision to get down, he throws himself on the floor watching me get ready to go to work with a sad expression on his little cat face. Nothing like a guilt trip to start off my day!