Good morning! Welcome to my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I took along the way. If you're here for Survivor -- you can find any Survivor posts I make at this link right here. You can find any posts I make about TAR at this link -- The Amazing Race.
Another week in the life down. We've gone into a chilly time weather-wise as well as plenty of rain. One day (Thursday) we had nearly three inches of rain! I know that come August we'll be praying for rain. But, sheesh. Enough already. The saying is APRIL showers, not MAY downpours!
I thought it was storming late one night when my apartment building actually shook. I mistook it for thunder. Nope. Just Trump's entourage flying extremely low heading to Bedminster. His golf course is in the next county over, not all that far from my workplace. I know he'll never show up in Plainfield!
Last night when I got home from work, I noticed the yellow caution tapes were lining Watchung Avenue in anticipation of today's New Jersey State Bicycle Championship Race today in downtown Plainfield. If I felt better, I'd go take some photos of the action. This is the second year in a row that we've had the privilege of hosting the race. (And the second year I've missed it.) The weather is a bit chilly and skies are overcast but not really expecting rain. I'd say it's probably perfect weather for it.
Some of the hall kids have already started again -- not really the ones from the overcrowded apartment in my hallway. I've got some names now -- Brian and Kevin from the third floor, Nigel from the first floor -- and will be calling the landlord's office tomorrow. Last night they were running back and forth (and back and forth) for almost two hours in the third floor hallway. You can hear that all the way down on the first floor when they run back and forth (and back and forth). Plus, when I came home from work one day I caught the three of them with a POGO STICK on the first floor! A pogo stick! That is SO not an indoor toy! I sent them outside with that. I notice that whatever parent(s) had to pay for the broken security glass in the back first floor door to the staircase must have paid for it. There's new glass.
I have just a three day work week ahead of me (yay!). It's not all fun and games, though. On Friday I have to go to the vascular surgeon for the first phase of healing my out of control varicose veins. I don't care about pretty. My legs are too scarred up from knee replacements and more to be "pretty." I just want to feel better! It's more of a treatment than a surgery, per se. I'll be getting Varithena foam shot into my great saphenous vein on my lower right leg. It will fill the vein, then collapse it. It sounds a lot easier to deal with than the old-fashioned vein stripping remedy! I'll be bandaged and wearing a thigh-high compression stocking for 48 hours afterward. I don't know if I'll be able to bend the leg much, but I guess I'll find out. I do have a three day weekend next weekend. So, if I feel okay, I might do something other than nap it away.
Onto this week's photos ... clicking on an image will open it in a larger format.
 |
| I said DON'T ruffle my feathers! |
See! See! This is what happens! A starling at the Plainfield Train Station.
 |
| The prettiest time of the year |
Okay ... autumn is very pretty with its brilliant foliage. Winter is pretty when the world is white and quiet. Summer, not so much as things around here tend to dry out and lawns turn brown, especially in the late summer. But spring is a renewal -- flowers are blossoming and the array of greens is amazing to behold. Yes, it wreaks havoc with my sinuses, but I still love the spring sneezes aside.
 |
| Uniquely marked pigeon in Plainfield |
All pigeons do not look alike! This pigeon hangs out on North Avenue in the vicinity of the Plainfield Train Station.
 |
| Coral-colored azaleas |
As seen on Berckman Street in Plainfield
 |
| Here I am, but the action is behind me! |
As I waited for my train home in Bridgewater last night, a baseball game was in full swing at the adjacent TD Bank Ball Park (home of the Somerset Patriots minor league baseball). Although sunset hadn't hit yet, all of the stadium lights were lit and ready for the dark. I saw a big hawk fly over me and didn't get my camera out in time to catch him in flight. But I saw where he landed -- right on one of the stadium lights stanchions! You'd think he'd be looking for prey and would shun the cheers, music and other noise at the ball park. Nope. He eventually went to the top of the lights and appeared to be watching the game in progress. Now, the crowds there for games usually measure in the thousands and, unless he plans to grab the ball, I can't see why a Red Tailed Hawk would watch the game. He is probably trying to figure out humans, I guess. (More on the hawk after the jump!)
**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**
 |
| I need to get a better view of the game |
 |
| Much better! |
 |
| Whoa! He hit that one out of the park! |
 |
| Dandy dandelions |
 |
| All gone now |
Spring beauty is fleeting. Plainfield Train Station.
 |
| Early in the week ... |
A sparrow posed on a tree branch with blossoming flowers. By the end of the week, the flowers were all but petals in the wind.
 |
| Put your best foot forward |
A pigeon at the Plainfield Train Station.
 |
| Ginkgo under gloomy skies |
 |
| Azaleas by flash |
 |
| Little wildflowers |
A lawn on Berckman Street is sporting these and they're growing like crazy. Alas, I'm sure the next time I walk by, the lawn will have been mowed and all traces of these will be gone.
 |
| That pigeon |
This is a full-body shot of that "uniquely marked pigeon" from the start of the photos. Very interesting markings.
 |
| Gotta love them! |
 |
| Flowers never bend with the rainfall? |
White azaleas near the Bridgewater Train Station.
 |
| Red azaleas after the rains |
 |
| Even more azaleas |
 |
| No, eat that bread crumb first ... |
... then I'll give you more. Normally I toss out the bread heels from loaves. But lately I've decided to bring them with me to feed the birds I see in my travels.
 |
| Yes, you're getting a ticket |
Will people ever learn to pay the meters on North Avenue on Saturday mornings? Heck, if the Plainfield Parking Bureau has a quota for its workers, this guy could just hang out on this one block all shift and make it.
 |
| The azaleas are in full bloom |
Outside the TD Bank Ball Park adjacent to the Bridgewater Train Station.
 |
| Pansy Power |
 |
| Kousa dogwoods are now blossoming |
Plainfield Train Station
 |
| The Invincible Vincent |
No, not INVISIBLE. InVINCIBLE ... kind of like Iron Man. But in feline form.
4 comments:
Wow! Lovely flower photos--and birds, too. Good luck with the vascular surgeon!
The little wildflowers are White Star of Bethlehem. They grow from little bulbs and only bloom in Spring. Before they bloom, the leaves look like grass and may get mowed or weed-whacked, as happened in my yard. The bulbs multiply and you can dig them up and spread them around for next year.
Thank you for another amazing week of beautiful pictures. I loved each and every one of them - and the comments too. Has Vincent murderdered any more mice? Are you sure he isn't God, rather a catfather?
Thank you for the kind comments on the photos! Bernice -- I knew I had seen you post about those small white flowers. Alas, it's a lawn on Berckman Street. They probably wouldn't take too kindly to me digging their yard up. I walked by it today and it was mowed. Sigh.
Post a Comment