Sure, the show is starting on time here on the East Coast. Of course, with so many folks on the road returning home from a long Thanksgiving weekend, the viewership is bound to be down a bit. But will that stop us from our blog party? No way!
As the show airs here, I'll update this entry with the major events. However, as always, the real fun will be in the comments area. Come join the party!
Getting only a flag as the next clue, they need to figure out that it's the Netherlands where they need to go. James and Jaymes looked up the flag on the Internet. Trey and Lexi thought it was France. Thankfully, they're in with the Chippendales who steered them right.
Grr. The twinnies found the Fast Forward clue first. The Chippendales aren't that far behind them, but Abbie and Ryan got hung up in Frankfurt missing their connecting flight.
The twins have to eat raw fish on a bus which will go underwater. They finished the task and are heading to the Pit Stop just as the Chippendales arrive at the FF. Of course, the twins win the leg. They also won $5,000 cash each.
The Detour - Back in Time - recreate a Rembrant masterpiece. Organ to Grind - operate huge organ and collect 30 Euro in tips. U-Turn ahead.
James and Jaymes don't want to do anything at the Double U-Turn. But, in the end, they U-Turned Ryan and Abbie. Sigh.
The Roadblock has them pole vaulting over a water-filled ditch. Ho-hum.
James and Jaymes made it second.
As per their previous plan, Trey and Lexi U-Turned the Chippendales, knowing they already were through. That keeps Abbie and Ryan from U-Turning the goat farmers. Those last two teams are traveling together. I sense a break up ahead.
Trey and Lexi are third to the Pit Stop.
Uh-oh. The last two teams just hit the U-Turn. Eep.
Josh and Brent are in 4th place.
Abbie and Ryan came in last, Philiminated. There goes the big two million. They're quite bitter about the Chippendales.
It's Sunday morning. You know what that means! It means that it's time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken.
I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Mine was quiet. Since relatives live too far away and I always have to work the Friday after the holiday, I generally stay home and have a peaceful kind of day. Oh yes, I definitely make up a little feast each year! This year, instead of turkey, I had Trader Joe's rosemary marinated chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, broccoli/cauliflower along with Trader Joe's coffee ice cream for dessert. I was thankful I finally seem to have steady electricity and food in my refrigerator!
That said, Sandy seems like the storm which just wouldn't die ... there's always something there to remind me. From tree limbs and debris, to a new FEMA location on my way to the train station, to the still not right schedule for the trains, to Philly's SEPTA buses by the Plainfield Train Station, to power outages at home which finally seemed to stop earlier this week, to dubious wires still on the ground, to the foliage show we missed out on and to another Halloween which wasn't ...
At least I no longer feel like a hunter/gatherer foraging for daily food. I remembered a few things I had forgotten to mention in my earlier Hurricane Sandy coverage.
- After the power went out on the night of the storm, it was scary creepy. I could hear the winds, stronger than I've ever heard in my life, yet it was total darkness. I couldn't see a thing.
- That is, until transformers started blowing. Then the skies became punctuated with a green glow. The bending trees gave the appearance of being caught in a surreal green strobe light.
- More than one person with kids told me that when they told their children the explosions were just transformers, the kids panicked. They thought they meant Transformers!
- The night after Sandy blew through, all was blackness. Well, until someone a block or so away hit up their illegal supply of fireworks. These were pretty ones, not just ones which go BOOM. Vincent and I sat by the window for over an hour watching them. After all, there was literally nothing good on TV.
At least now I feel I've done my trial run for the Zombie Apocalypse. Are YOU prepared?
Onto this week's photos. Clicking on an image will open it on a Photobucket page, clicking again will make it larger. To return here to the blog, just close out that Photobucket page.
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| Early morning skies |
With the train schedule still a bit off, it's not quite dark still as I head off to the train station. Many mornings have been cloudy and grey. But there was this early morning treasure. Looking over towards East Second Street from East Front Street in Plainfield.
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| Outlined in frost |
It's better to see frost outlining leaves than to wake up with an ice cube nose!
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| It's a Studebaker! |
This old car at the intersection of Berckman and East Front in Plainfield caught my attention. A Studebaker. Cool. It would be cooler if it was fixed up a bit more, but cool nonetheless.
**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**
Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and relatives, near and far! I have a lot to be thankful for this year, especially in view of the recent hurricane. Friends, family and a cat named Vincent helped me get through the storm (which was very unnerving in and of itself) and the days afterward as the road to normality was strewn with several roadblocks. I'm more thankful for heat, hot water, electricity and food in the refrigerator than I have ever been before, too. Odd, that.
I hope you all have a fine holiday filled with great food and love. Oh. And football, if you're into that kind of thing.
Come one, come all! It's the Thanksgiving Eve Survivor show blog party! As the show airs here, I'll update this entry with any major happenings. But, as always, the real fun is in the comments area. Come join the party!
Reward Challenge -- Divided into teams, getting drums face up while the other team is turning them over. The reward is a spa visit followed by a feast. Red - Abi, Carter, Malcolm and Pete. Yellow - Penner, Lisa, Skupin and Denise. Eep. Skupin flipped the wrong drum. Red wins.
Abi gloats and alienates. She also says she will cook no more, but they can cook for her. Malcolm, Skupin, Denise and Lisa make a final four pact.
Immunity Challenge time -- In rounds -- obstacle course getting a buoy to their post. Five make it through. Malcolm, Penner, Denise, Skupin and Carter moving on. Three moving on to the next round. Skupin, Carter and Denise are in the final round. Carter wins immunity!
Tribal goes against dear Abi. Too bad, so sad. She plays her idol. Malcolm doesn't play his.
Abi, Abi, Abi, Pete, Malcolm, Pete, Malcolm, Pete.
Buh-bye, Pete. You should have stayed away from Abi!
The show isn't scheduled to start until 8:30 PM here in the NYC viewing area. I wasn't keeping track, so I don't know if it will start any past that. However, once it does start, I'll update this entry with the major events.
But ... as always, the real fun is in the comments area. Come join us as we watch the show!
8:50 PM ET, and we have a start! We still have last week's unfinished business at hand. James and Abba need to find their passports, two teams are still the synchronized swimming. Josh and Brent ended up getting a four-hour penalty -- they couldn't finish the swimming as the pool closed for the night. The last two teams are still working together.
Abbie and Ryan, Josh and Brent hit the Pit Stop at teams number four and five. Josh and Brent get their four hour penalty. James and Abba don't have their passports yet, but it's a non-Philimination. They're still in it, but still need to get their passports.
They're remaining in Russia for now.
Roadblock -- Who's in the zone? Figuring time in different cities. It's nowhere easy as it sounds.
Detour - Movers or Shakers. Learning a Russian soldier dance or identifying historic Russian leaders at a costume party.
The twins used their Express Pass to get by the map/time zone roadblock.
Pit Stop -
1. James and Jaymes! They won a trip to Costa Rica.
2. Trey and Lexi
3. Natalie and Nadiya
4. Abbie and Ryan
5. Josh and Brent
6. James and Abba ... still don't have their passports ... Philiminated.
