Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - October 12, 2014

Good morning! It's Sunday, time for my weekly off television topic reflection of the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way. My next post will be all about television, I swear!

Not much has been going on here this past week. Work, work and more work. The temperatures are turning fall-like and we've had some rain, too. I guess we need the rain. But I do wish it would confine itself to the overnight so I don't have to walk in it. However, it's not so bad unless it's pouring and the wind is blowing. Thankfully that kind of weather happened in the overnight hours this past week.

I really don't have a lot to say this week. So, I guess it's onto the photos ...

Home at last

After a long day at work, being home is always welcome. Not that I live at the Plainfield Train Station, mind you.

It's a marvelous night for a moondance

The day after the Hunter Moon, the skies were lit up through the clouds as I walked to the train station. This scenario set up one of the most beautiful sunrises I've seen in years.

Just before sunrise

The same morning of the Hunter Moon, the skies looked like this when I arrived at my destination. This shot and other sunrise shots from the very same day and earlier in the week are in the slideshow below. It's amazing how fleeting the beauty is -- just a few minutes and it's gone. Clicking on the diagonal at the bottom of the slideshow will make it full screen.



My second slideshow this week is of the flowers and fall foliage. We're still a few weeks from peak foliage, but we have bright colors popping here and there.

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

The Amazing Race 25 Blog Party - October 10, 2014

So ... how are you guys liking the new Friday night time slot for this season? I'm still having to remind myself it's on tonight. But, I'll get used to it! It's so much better than playing the waiting game due to sports delays on Sundays!

As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll update this entry with the major happenings. Refresh the page to get the latest news! As you all know, the real party is in the comments area. Come join in on the fun!

The latest standings on the blog pool from the Marvelous Margo:

Adam & Bethany - chrob61, Kathy in Brooklyn, Kelsey NY, Zoetawny
Brooke & Robbie - Caela, Sharon, Sharon N, Willie J
Keith & Whitney - Jean, Jennasmom, Nana in NW, PDXGranny
Kym & Alli - Brenda, meb, Nicklepeed, Rochelle, Terry in TX
Maya & Amy - Ed in OH, Karen in CA, Lynn1, Margo
Michael & Scott - Donna in FL, Glenn, Jackie, Marlo
Misti & Jim - Cheryl in NC, Laurie, ML, OrkMommy
Shelly & Nici - Buzzmaam, Merrilee, Rbennie, SueGee
Tim & Te Jay - Babs, Brent McKee, Dusty, Monty924,

Sorry you have been PHILIMINATED
Lisa & Michelle - Becky, Delee, dla, Donna in AL
Dennis & Isabelle - Auntie Leigh, Brian, David, Donna NY, sanra

Ready to race from our comfy chairs?

Nine teams will be heading from Oxford, England via train, driving and a ferry to the Shetland Islands. That's Shetland like ponies! Yikes! Michael fell and hurt his ankle. There's a six-hour wait for the train. Kim and Alli decided to find a pub.

Once on the island, they have to find a puppet to get their next clue. They're off to Scallaway (sp?) castle for a Detour.

Detour: Pony Up has them cutting peat, working with a Shetland pony, deliver it. Light My Fire has them building a Viking Torch. 

Sigh. Misti and Jim are first to move on after dealing with their possessed pony. Brooke and Robbie are having lots of trouble with the torch building. They're currently in last place. Tim and Te Jay get through the torch detour first.

Roadblock: Get Your Sheep Together. They're herding sheep. The sheep herding is hilarious. They hop! And run well, too.

Misti and Jim make it through the sheep first and get the clue to the Pit Stop.

Pit Stop --
1. Jim and Misti (I don't like him.) They won a trip to Dubai
2. Adam and Bethany (I like them!)
3. Keith and Whitney
4. Shelley and Nici
5. Kym and Alli
6. Brooke and Robbie
7. Maya and Amy
8. Tim and Te Jay
9. Michael and Scott

Philiminated. Sigh. I liked them and they were my blog pool pick. However, they're not in great shape and now the one really wrecked up his ankle. I don't think they would have had many legs left in them anyway.

Survivor: San Juan Del Sur Blood vs. Water Blog Party - October 8

From the promos, it looks like John Rocker might be in for some rocky times this week! As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll update this entry with the major happenings. Refresh the page to get the latest! As always, you know where the real party is! I hope to see you in the comments area!

But first ... an update on the blog pool from Lifeguard Laurie:

Coyopa
Alec = Karen in Case, Merrilee
Baylor = Glenn, maquinn78, Sharon S
Dale = Brian, Margo
Jaclyn = CYW Coleman, rbennie
John R = Cheryl NC, MikesGirl, Terry in TX
Josh = crob61, Rochelle, Jackie
Wes = Buzzmaam, ORKMommy, sanra

Hunahpu
Drew = Delee, Petals, SueGee
Jeremy = Becky, Nana in the NW
Jon M = Donna in Alabama, Laurie
Julie = Donna NY, meb
Keith = Donna in FL, PDX Granny
Kelley = Babs Dud, ML, Russ
Missy = Ed in Ohio, Monty924, Sharon N
Natalie = Jennasmom, Kelsey NY
Reed = David, Kathy, Lynn1

Out: Nadiya
Val = Brenda, Nickelpeed

Survivor fans ready?

Josh has some mistrust in John R., but will remain an ally for now. On the other tribe, Drew is the lazy one.

Uh-oh, Jeremy knows that Val got voted out as they meet up for the rewards challenge. Jeremy tells the women on Coyopa to band together. Rocker admits to all that he tried to get Val to stay. For the challenge they have to walk across a suspended beam balancing a paddle with objects on it, then stacking them. The reward is a choice of the fishing gear not given last week in lieu of flint or comfort items (bedding).

Wes won Reward for Coyopa over his dad, Keith.

Wes sends Josh to Exile with Keith. He selects fishing gear.

Julie is crying because everyone is mad at John. Oh, boohoo.

On Exile Island, Keith got the clue and shared. They ate snails and got along just fine.

Back at camp, Rocker is catching fish apparently to win friends and influence people. Yet the girls want to push for him to go.

Immunity Challenge time! Tethered in pairs, race through obstacle course to retrieve their ball, first tribe to three points in a basket wins.

Hunahpu wins Immunity again. Natalie starts going on about his racist comments in the past and how they need to vote them out. It's not pretty. John said if she were a man, he'd knock her teeth out.

In camp, Rocker knows the girls are after him. He tries to sway them to vote out Dale. Then he tells the guys that they need to vote out Baylor. Now Josh is even more suspicious of John when John tells him he has an idol. Josh starts a movement to get John out. Alex isn't too keen on the idea even when told John has an idol. John meanwhile makes the wise decision to bring his idol with him to Tribal Council.

Let's see if John wisely decides to use the idol to save his butt. Enough was said to Jeff at Tribal to make him cautious, I think.

The tally: He does NOT play the idol -- Baylor, John, Baylor, John, John, John.

Rocker is OUT with an idol in his pocket!

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - October 5, 2014

Welcome to my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken along the way. I promise you the next post I make will be about television!

This week as has been a bit blah for me -- I've had a stomach bug accompanied by a headache on and off since Tuesday. No, it's not Ebola! I actually think the headache is more sinuses than anything else. But I've generally felt icky. A lot of people around here are sick. They must have breathed on me. Ew!

I still haven't met the latest new upstairs neighbor living overhead my apartment. I think it's a he rather than a she. I also think it's a he with weekend custody of a child. While it's nowhere near as annoying as when a toddler lived up there full time, I hear child running on the weekends. Not horrible, mind you. Unlike the toddler who was all over the place all the time on hardwood floors in shoes walking/running on his heels, this is just now and then and a quieter running. Shoes seem to be off and it's not rattling my walls or windows, plus it ends by 8 or 9pm. I can deal with that. But I do notice it starts on every Friday night, ends on Sunday night. Thus, my deduction of weekend father.

I'm going to reprint something I posted on Facebook earlier this week called Monday's Tales of New Jersey. If you saw it there, head onto the photos. If you're not on Facebook, go for reading it:

1. This morning while walking to the train station, I saw either a 113S or 114 NJ Transit bus go by. Instead of the lighted bus number, this message was flashing: "Emergency! Call Police!" The interior was lighted and there were only a few passengers. I didn't see an emergency, but I went ahead and called. At least if the cops stop the bus, they'll turn that message off!

2. Then, coming home, I decided to wait for the NJ Transit 59 bus nearby the train station (my train pass gets me on the bus for free and it saves me a long walk). As I waited with a bunch of folks, a young man with a Jamaican accent came along. He started pacing back and forth shouting, "Jesus is coming! I will pray for you! Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow! Jesus is coming!" He kept it up for the ten minutes or so until the bus came. The odd thing is that as he paced he kicked one foot out kind of like the Elaine dance on Seinfeld. At one point, I mentioned to the other folks waiting that perhaps we should ask him when the 59 bus was coming since he obviously knows when Jesus is coming! They all laughed. He thought we were laughing at him, glowered a minute, then started his Elaine Kick Jesus Shouting once again.

The darkest hour is before the dawn

My early morning walk to the train station is in the darkest of night these days. It won't be until November that the time will change. One morning a huge dude passed me and told me to be careful. He didn't see me roll my eyes. Although dark, it's a very safe time of day. There are working folks out and about at that hour although this photo doesn't show that. It's always the same people. The denizens of the night are long gone, too. It's much more safe than a few hours earlier or probably even the evening hours. East Front Street, Plainfield.

Autumn is here!

Most of the trees are still green right now, but we have some pretty colors working their way in. Our peak foliage in this area isn't usually until late October. Where I grew up, the trees were barren of leaves before Halloween. Not so much here ... we still (usually) have some nice color going on around then. I took this shot near the Bridgewater Train Station.

Instead of just flowers, this week's slideshow is Flowers and Foliage. There are also some berries -- nightshade and Kousa Dogwood berries from the Plainfield Train Station (see, Bernice ... I remembered!). The sunflowers were growing on East Second Street in Plainfield; the mums are from both Plainfield and Bridgewater as is the foliage. The "veiny" foliage shots are poison ivy leaves in Bridgewater. Although my apartment building has little or no yard (paved parking lot) -- the pink morning glories, late season honeysuckle and the nightshade have taken over the back chain link fence.

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

The Amazing Race 25 Blog Party - October 3

I have to get used to this Friday night slot for the show. While I think it's SO much better than the Sunday slot that was delayed more often than not due to one sport or another ... I almost forgot tonight was the night! Eep!

As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll update this entry with the major happenings. Refresh the page to get the latest! As always, the real party is in the comments area -- everyone is welcome to join in on the fun!

Before we get started, an update on the blog pool is needed. Although we barely got to know them, the real estate sisters were Philiminated last week. They rubbed me wrong when they grabbed the pen out of the firefighter's hand as he was signing up for the seaplane. Although I don't condone guys pushing their way through smaller women (or anyone, for that matter), the firefighters probably wouldn't have done it had the girls not started off the ruckus by stealing the pen and the seaplane spot.

Here's the blog pool from the Magnificent Margo (and Mom) as it currently stands:
Adam & Bethany - chrob61, Kathy in Brooklyn, Kelsey NY, Zoetawny
Brooke & Robbie - Caela, Sharon, Sharon N, Willie J
Dennis & Isabelle - Auntie Leigh, Brian, David, Donna NY, sanra
Keith & Whitney - Jean, Jennasmom, Nana in NW, PDXGranny
Kym & Alli - Brenda, meb, Nicklepeed, Rochelle, Terry in TX
Maya & Amy - Ed in OH, Karen in CA, Lynn1, Margo
Michael & Scott - Donna in FL, Glenn, Jackie, Marlo
Misti & Jim - Cheryl in NC, Laurie, ML, OrkMommy
Shelly & Nici - Buzzmaam, Merrilee, Rbennie, SueGee
Tim & Te Jay - Babs, Brent McKee, Dusty, Monty924,

Sorry you have been PHILIMINATED
Lisa & Michelle - Becky, Delee, dla, Donna in AL

Who's ready to take off from this Pit Stop?

Onto London they go, six teams on the first flight.

Aw, Bethany lost a shoe on the last leg and Amy gave her a pair.

Detour - About Face or Pancake Race. The first is taking part in the changing of the guard (Buckingham Palace type). The latter has them making pancakes and run a lap while flipping said pancake without dropping it.

Bethany and Adam made it through the pancake challenge like it was child's play. They now have to take a train to Oxford.

Drop and punt ... once in Oxford, teams must row (not sure if that's the right terminology) a punting boat one lap. Bethany and Adam remain in first place. Brooke and Robbie are having trouble with About Face while the firefighters keep dropping their pancakes.

Woot! The dentists did the punting from the wrong end of their punting boat -- one stands while the other uses a stick to propel them. They have to do it over.

Adam and Bethany are first to the next clue at Christ Church College. They have a clue for the Express Pass. They go for that rather than the first place finish. Yes! They have it and they're on the way to the Pit Stop!

1. Adam and Bethany! They won a trip to Sweden and have the Express Pass, too!
2. Misti and Jim
3. Kym and Alli
4. Tim and Te Jay
 Brooke and Robbie
 Keith and Whitney
 Maya and Amy
 Michael and Scott
9. Shelley and Nici
10. Dennis and Isabelle

Dennis and Isabelle were Philiminated. The four without numbers above all pretty much came in about the same time and I'm not sure of the order.