Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - May 10, 2015

Good Sunday morning to you! And, my best wishes for a happy Mother's Day to all! You've reached my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken along the way. Be sure to return on Wednesday evening for Survivor and then Friday night for The Amazing Race finale blog parties!

Some rather random thoughts and observations from this past week:

• I think I'm going to have to start wearing one of those surgical masks like many do in Japan. I seem to catch every bug going around the last few years. I had a stomach virus in the beginning of the week. The general public really needs to stop breathing on me!
• Along the lines of health (or lack thereof) -- they're dubbing this season the Pollen Tsunami. Achoo. Sniffle, sniffle.
• A 3,500 pound great white shark named Mary Lee has been swimming along the New Jersey shore. They've had a tracker on her since 2012. She hasn't attacked anyone ... yet. Cue the cello and get a bigger boat!
• Spring and autumn beauty passes way too quickly while winter white and drab lasts forever and summer seems to get stuck in time as well.
• I'm loving the nightly old clips on Letterman. I'm so going to miss him when he retires on May 20. The special this past Monday evening brought back many fond and funny memories. I wonder if he might have Richard Simmons back before the finale?
• My cat Vincent is way too spoiled. Too late to change things now!
• There's a ton of construction going on everywhere this spring -- Plainfield, Bound Brook, Bridgewater. I swear they must have save projects for a few years and then decided to do them all now. In my neighborhood, they redid all of the curb cuts. At work, they redid the entire road, curb cuts and installed a new sidewalk (for the first time). With all this road work going on in Plainfield, they seriously need to address some of the sidewalks.

That's about it. Onto the photos! Clicking on an image will bring up a larger version in a gallery.

There's been a horrible accident

Or ... was it a double flamingocide? Two fallen pink flamingos on a lawn at the corner of Richmond and East Front in Plainfield. Could the survivor be the murderer? I don't know. We should leave it up to the authorities and a jury of his peers.

Pink Azaleas

In the pink azaleas, the anthers boast an almost metallic look. No wonder bees don't seem to be attracted to them as much as some other flowers.

Pretty in purple-blue

Growing in a flower bed contraption outside of a mental health clinic on Roosevelt Street in Plainfield. I'd say flowers are good for mental health.

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

 

Looking up

At the beginning of the week, these blossoms were still gorgeous. I took this shot at the Plainfield Train Station.

Dogwood blossom up close and personal

Pink Stars are falling!

Eep! Pink stars are falling! We're UNDER THE DOME!!! What? They're flowers and not falling? Never mind. Carry on as you were.

Don't fence me in

A dogwood tree grows in the parking lot of the main Post Office in Plainfield.

Flip phone and a cigarette

I edited this photo with Photocat.com, then touched it up more with my GIMP photo editor. I'm kind of glad to see that someone other than me still uses a flip phone, not a smart phone. North Avenue in Plainfield.

Love me some flowers

As seen at the corner of Richmond and East Front in Plainfield.

Nature's debris

Along with the green haze of pollen all over everything, pink petals litter the grounds near the Plainfield Train Station. White petals litter Church Street. I'd rather have them than snow!

Let it be

Let it be, let it be, speaking words of wisdom, let it be. (Thank you, Beatles) While it does kind of apply, it's more like "leaflets three, let them be." Two ants stop for a chat on poison ivy growing along the fence to the cemetery on Church Street in Plainfield.

So pretty

Too bad they're growing in a planter by the ne'er-do-well attracting liquor store parking lot on East Front Street in Plainfield. At least the people paying to live in the luxury condos next door have some entertainment out their windows when there's nothing good on television.

Bench dude

North Avenue in Plainfield.

Spring in da 'hood

Looking up at the dogwood tree

This one is growing on East Third Street in Plainfield.

Get your motor runnin'

Head out on the highway ... born to be wild! (Apologies to Steppenwolf) This safety-vested, safari hat wearing, support socks donning trike driver can be seen daily on Main Street between Bound Brook and Bridgewater. Now that they put a sidewalk in, he no longer creates a huge traffic jam in back of him.

More pink azaleas

I took the azalea shots in Bridgewater, but they're all in bloom in Plainfield as well.

Wild Honeysuckle

I love the scent of these when they come to life! They're growing at the edge of the Field of Geese/Toxic Supersite/Fireworks set off field for the TD Bank Ball Park adjacent to the Bridgewater Train Station.

White Azalea in bloom

I love the different colors of azaleas -- each one brings different aspects of the bloom to light. The pink and purple-ish ones bloom first, then the white. The red ones wait for last. They seem to hang around a bit longer than some of the flowers of spring. The magnolia, cherry and pear tree blossoms sometimes don't last more than a week dependent on weather conditions and the winter before the blooms.

And you woke me up for WHAT?

Oh, mean cat abuser me -- I tried to get Vincent to wake up for a photo session. In this photo you can see his three light light grey stripes near the end of his tail, the only grey other than his over the eyes and between his ears.