Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - November 20, 2016

Good morning! Since it's Sunday, it's time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way. This is a regular Sunday part of this blog in addition to the television posts. Right now I'm covering Big Brother: Over the Top daily -- you can find those posts at this link. I'm also live blogging Survivor episodes as they air on Wednesday evenings. Come join the blog parties!

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving will be upon us in just a few days! Around here, we've had more warm days than cold so far. Of course, Thanksgiving is early this year, so there's that. I wouldn't mind temperatures in the 50s all through the winter season, though! But it's already changed. They don't expect temperatures to get out of the forties starting today and remaining for the rest of the week. They predicted snow not far north of here and flurries for here overnight leading into today. I saw no flurries.

With the exception of a Red-Tailed Hawk sitting atop the Chotola Apartment Building on North Avenue (across from the Plainfield Train Station) one morning as I headed to work, it wasn't a great photo week. But I certainly took advantage of the hawk sighting! One of the best things about digital photography is the ability to shoot and shoot ... and shoot. I think I took a total of about fifty shots of him before he flew away!

I found out that the Trader Joe's in Westfield will be reopening in about two weeks. I'm SO looking forward to that! I'm still going through Trader Joe's withdrawal pains since their roof collapsed in a blizzard last January. I have a Peapod grocery order set for Wednesday. But, since it's the day before Thanksgiving, I doubt all items will be in stock. I just know I'll be way busy at work from Friday on, have to work weird hours Monday and Tuesday ... Wednesday is my only day to get groceries other than today. I don't want to go out there today! After making the mistake of going into a food store the day before Thanksgiving in the past, I also refuse to madhouse once again. I figure if Peapod is out of the turkey breast I ordered, they will have the Porterhouse steak and I'll have a good meal on the holiday no matter what.  

Today I'm making up a big batch of beef stew in my crock pot. That will last me through Wednesday for my main meals. When you're me and live with a cat, you don't mind living off of leftovers for three days! I only cook things I like because I have no one to please with my cooking but myself. Often I'll make a big dish on a day off to have for a few days so I don't have to cook on workdays. When you only have one day off at a time and no "weekend" to speak of, it makes life easier. 

Anyway ... onto the photos. Clicking on an image will bring up a larger version.
  

Artsy Red-Tailed Hawk

I edited this shot to highlight the hawk. Deadly to some, yet a magnificent bit of nature.

Morning moon and the hawk

I was so happy to see the hawk sit in place for so long! It's hard to capture them in flight.

The original Hawkeye

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

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - August 19, 2012

Good Sunday morning to you! It's time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way. If you're looking for Big Brother content, you can pull up all of those posts with this label link and might want to skip over this particular post. Don't worry, my feelings won't be hurt. But, for those who remain ...

This coming week will break the pattern of hot, humid and stormy. It will keep the stormy part now and again, but the temperatures will be slightly below normal. I'm more than ready for the temperatures to ease. I was probably ready before it ever got hot!

Vincent has fared fine through the hot weather as, in the worst of it, I've left the air conditioner on low for him. However, I'd rather just have the windows open with a gentle breeze wafting in and a lower electric bill. Unfortunately, I have to go out back and forth to work as I am not a spoiled cat. 

Let's see ... I seem a bit discombobulated this morning. So, maybe I should just send out random thoughts on the week in my BB live feeds reporting style. Yeah, that's easier than paragraphs! Here we go!

• I hurt a finger at my workplace. It's making typing a bit hard. I think it might be sprained.
• I saw a whole bunch of bats in the skies downtown last night as I returned home from work. Cool.
• The days are getting shorter. Last week it was too rainy, but would have been too light for the bats on my Saturday later return home.
• I did not win the big Powerball lottery drawing. I bought one ticket. Never gamble more than you wish to throw away.
• I have been contacted with an intriguing offer to work for a start-up on the Internet which (hopefully) might become another social networking way of life. I'll know more next week after I talk to them on the phone.
• But, of course, I'll keep my day job. Internet income is so up and down.
• Right now it's way down.
• No one stole the cameras at my apartment building. For some reason, the landlord took them down, every one but the front door.
• I don't use the front door.
• Even the one in the laundry room is gone.
• I don't know what's up with that.
• And now, the front door which had been red, has been painted black.
• Enough of this, onto the photos! 

Clicking on an image will open it in a new window. Clicking again will make it larger. Closing the window will bring you right back here.  

A weed flower

Yes, even a weed can be pretty.

A paler shade of bee

I messed with the saturation in this photo. I don't know why, but I like it in paler pastels. East Front Street, Plainfield.

Red sky in the morning

Sailors take warning. And sure enough, it rained later that day. This is the Plainfield Train Station as I waited for my train about 6:30 AM one day.

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

Off Topic - That Was the Week It Was - May 13, 2012

It's Sunday morning, time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken. 

First, I'd like to wish all of the mothers out there a happy Mothers Day! May you be pampered, fussed over and fed all day long! Well, all day until the Survivor: One World season finale, that is. Yep, 8pm EDT I expect many of you right here for the big blog party!

Since I touched on television, I might as well run with it for the moment. Guess what? TNT sent me the first four episodes of Falling Skies (season premiere June 17) for review purposes. Woohoo! Now, I just need time to watch them! I'm looking forward to the return of that show. Once I get them watched, I'll post about them. (Yay!)

They also sent me seven hours of the new Dallas series, also premiering in June. Unfortunately, I just cannot watch seven hours of Dallas -- I never got into the original series. I gave them to a friend who's a huge fan of the show. He's going to report back to me.

On the home front, life in my apartment, building, and neighborhood is just fine. I do feel safe here, even at night. I have good neighbors and all is well. That said, just beyond my immediate neighborhood, on a route I walk daily ... there was a murder. It happened at about 4:15am, an hour when I might be up but I'm not walking to the train station! I generally leave a couple of hours later to catch the first westbound train. 

Nonetheless, this latest murder is unsettling. It doesn't seem to be gang or drug related. It was a hard working Hispanic man a few years younger than me just waiting for his ride to work. It appears to have been a robbery from the reports I read. 4:15am is not a time to be on the streets here. There's hardly anyone out and about at that hour. When I go through, there are several folks I see each day. A robbery isn't likely then. I hope someone saw something or knows something and comes forward. 

The police were still arriving to the scene as I passed through that morning. Thankfully, the body was covered and I didn't see any signs of blood, etc. Had there not been all the police around, I might not have even realized there was a body under the covering. As I passed by, I first thought it was a pedestrian struck as the body was adjacent to the crosswalk. I'm so leery of people running lights early in the mornings! But all the NYC news helicopters and the tons of Plainfield and Union County police seemed to indicate more than a hit and run accident. A victim of gunfire. Sigh.

Anyway ... onto this week's photos. Clicking on an image will open it in a new window, clicking again will make it larger. Closing the new window will land you right back here on the blog.    

Squirrel on duty

This squirrel was kind enough to pose for me Saturday morning in the sunshine. It rained and/or was windy for most of the week. East Front Street, Plainfield.

Help me! Help me!

Oh no! The fly (left) is stuck on the azalea! Bridgewater.

Damselfly on poison ivy

I had my first damselfly sighting Friday afternoon on my commute home. Yes, that was when the sun broke through! Like the squirrel, he was kind enough to pose for me. They are so hard to photograph with detail as they're not much larger than a big sewing needle ... in flight, they're impossible.

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