Good Sunday morning to all! It's grey skies and flurries for me here today. I hope someone somewhere has sunny skies. It's time for my weekly reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken. Once again, due to a mainly cloudy blah winter kind of week, the photos are far from my best. While we haven't had snow all that often this season, it's still just kind of boring out there -- everything looks dirty and dead. I want spring with something inspiring every day!
My work and personal life seem to be stuck in a winter mood, too. While not particularly dirty and definitely not dead, it's been very routine. The children who treat the upstairs common corridor of my apartment building as a playground have been quiet some evenings, then going until nearly ten at night other nights.
I've enlisted the assistance of three neighbors in my own hallway in complaining. I really wish there was something in the leases which could assess fines for breaking lease policies. About all the landlord can really do is not renew their lease due to all the complaints. It's hard to evict for much other than non-payment.
I just don't understand why parents move in here knowing there's really no place for children to play -- no playground, no safe outdoor space for them, etc. Then those parents don't take the time to enroll their children in after school programs or even take them to the huge lawns of nearby churches where they could run and play without disturbing neighbors.
Why would parents let their very young children out of their sight in the evening hours? While the building is secure as of late, people come and go. Strangers can get inside. Not only is it a disturbance, it's really not a safe place for kids to play at all. I swear I pay more attention to my cat than some of these so-called parents pay to their children.
By the way, there are two apartments with children in my own floor/wing. Neither of those parents send their children out in the hallway to run amok for hours. One of them live under one of the offending upstairs families. She said the kids are up running and jumping most of the night and they're the worst upstairs neighbors she's had in her fifteen years here.
Meanwhile, I'm still under an empty apartment. Jasper and his wife moved out during Sandy and they rehabbed the whole place. I noticed the ad on Craigslist for it was pulled over a week ago and thought I'd have new people. But, no. No one moved in. That's fine with me. I like having no one walking on my ceiling or flooding my bathroom!
You can tell by my extended rant, I've had a boring week, eh? Onto this week's photos ...
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| As the sun rises |
Despite that, once again, we've been mostly in grey clouds for a good part of the week, there was one colorful morning. I took this shot on Roosevelt Avenue on my way to the train station. It was a pink and orange world for just a few minutes. Today I'd have to put on my rose-colored glasses for any real color.
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| My friend Cooper ... hawk |
When I got to the train station on Saturday, I noticed the usual crowds of pigeons were absent. Since folks along North Avenue throw out bread for them, that's unusual. Then I noticed not one, but two hawks circling above the train station. Due to the proximity of Watchung Avenue where I got buzzed twice by a swooping hawk, it's likely that one of the hawks is my "friend." Unfortunately, they wouldn't stay still for a good photo.
**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**
