I’m hoping you’re now all familiar with my friend, Eric Leefe. If not, search “Leefe” in the search box that’s down by Comments. It’s a great story.

We keep in regular touch via the telephone, but I hadn’t seen Eric in about a year-and-a-half (and not at all in his previous digs in Toms River, NJ), so it was imperative that I find a free day with nice weather (tough to do lately in the NY/NJ summer), but it finally happened on July 22 – a gorgeous day with almost no humidity.

Having never been up that way before, I DID make one wrong turn, but that only delayed me by about 10 minutes, thanks to some lovely ladies who were walking by and helped me out.

 

I found his abode, met his roomies and finally got to have a good, in-person talk with him.

After that, he said he wanted to go on a walk/roll with Guess Who pushing. Good – it’ll be nice to have something positive to tell my cardiologist.

There’s almost nothing to see and nowhere to go, except for a HUGE, empty field with a long road that goes around it. He had been on part of it once, but that’s it.

We’re going to do the whole better-part-of-a-mile circumference on this poorly-paved road.

 

There wasn’t much to shoot, so I had to come up with something good, using only the very few available things………….like this red metal marker that I thought belonged just over his head.

Mind you, I’m only using an old iPhone and none of my other equipment.

 

I don’t know if the sun was in his eyes or maybe he blinked, so it’s just a silly shot with a red metal thing over his head:

(like his socks?)

 

 

WAY in the distance, we saw a building that looked like it may have once been an old high school. He had never been that far on this road before, so – of course – we had to go check it out.

When we finally got there, this was the only sign around, but it really didn’t tell us much, so we just took this photo at the only angle in which the sun could illuminate one of Eric’s teeth:

That made us both smile.

 

Whatever this “Career Campus” was, it ain’t no mo’.

 

This just in: I found an old picture of what this entrance used to look like (click to enlarge):

The sign remains the same.

 

Quick side note: just to let you know where we are: we’re in the northeasternmost corner of New Jersey, just a couple of blocks from Rockland County, NY and close to the Hudson River:

 

You should also note that Eric lives very close to a famous observatory: the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (part of Columbia University):

 

Here is a YouTube video about Lamont-Doherty:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3ga5n5yonw

I’m hoping that the people in charge of Eric’s residence would make good use of this facility to the benefit of their residents, since it’s so close to them.

 

Back to our show……….

The road we were on continued to more of the Career Campus’ campus. There appeared to be a fenced-in parking lot at the end of whatever’s left of the building.

As we got a little closer to that lot, we could see an excavator in that lot. I thought it might be fun to pose Eric with that machine.

But as we got closer, we could see that there was a man doing some drilling on the nearby wall. That must be his excavator……there was no one else around.

But his back was turned to us and his drill was noisy, so I boldly pushed Eric and his chair-iot onto the lot, rolled him around and behind the excavator and pushed him under the machine’s inverted V (the sun side). I then backed up and took the picture:

What I should have done at that point was back up a little further and shoot Eric with the whole unit and then back up even more and get the excavator, Eric and the oblivious guy who was still drilling into the wall with his back to us all in one shot, but I didn’t want to press our luck and just wheeled Eric out of the lot.

The guy never saw us! And we were right there where he and his excavator were! We laughed about this the rest of the day – a funny memory.

 

By now, we were about halfway around the huge field and starting to head back. But then I noticed a bunch low-hanging branches. Eric had no idea why I started to wheel him into the middle of them.

“You’re the only Leefe on ALL of these branches!”

He thought that was funny…………until his sock got caught on one of the branches. I think they wanted to keep their Leefe.

 

After progressing through a wide expanse of nothingness, I was getting kind of winded, so I parked myself near a large tree with yellow rocks……..

 

…………while Eric enforced another sign’s refusal to let anyone on the road to civilization:

 

But rather than take that road, we made a long, curved right turn that took us back to our starting point. But before we got there, Eric parked inappropriately and laughed about it – a fitting ending:

 

 

The Fourth of July is my favorite “shooting from home” night of the year. I don’t have to go anywhere – everything is right outside my living room window.

This year – once again – Hackensack’s pyrotechnics were straight out that window. Bergen County’s show in Leonia was right behind them, about 5 miles away. Could I GET any lazier?

 

For practice, I shot some of Maywood, NJ’s show on July 3. It wasn’t great. but it let me get my settings straightened out for the 4th:

 

I decided to document the evening, beginning with the pre-show setup on the picture window ledge:

 

As I sit in a chair waiting for things to start, two cameras on tripods are ready to go – videos on the left and stills on the right.

I’m just waiting for a sign – any old si…………and there it is!

 

Important lesson – never hit the shutter while you’re getting up from your chair:

 

While I still have my iPhone in my hand, I might as well take a few shots before I switch over to the mighty Canon:

 

Canon-time………..(is that like “Hammer-time”?). This first shot shows both the Hackensack fireworks and the Bergen County July 4th Festival ones in Leonia:

 

Followed by 7 more Hackensack shots:

That last shot actually looks like a show-ending curtain being brought down.

 

Thank you, Hackensack!

 

 

But we’re not quite done…………

 

There used to be an added bonus on the Fourth. Every year, the Macy’s fireworks are shot off in either the Hudson River or the more distant East River (which is where this year’s show took place). They’re well south of me, about 10-15 miles away.

I haven’t seen much of them lately, due to construction of a large residential building that blocks out most of that show.

But on this night, I happened to notice something that looked vaguely familiar: Parts or most of four simultaneous, semi-circular explosions in the distant south. These could only come from the four barges in the East River near the Brooklyn Bridge:

 

 

You’ll also notice the blocking residential structure that’s “Now Leasing”. It’s called “Ora”. I don’t know if that’s a misspelling of “Aura” or if the builder grew up two towns north in Oradell, but I hope this plug earns me a one-day lease on a top floor, south-facing unit on subsequent July 4s (Hey – they took away my cherished view……….it’s the least they could do).

 

Here’s the best I could do this year despite being Ora-blocked:

 

So the Fourth is over, but the celebration isn’t. At 12:17am on July 5th, I heard more fireworks going off nearby. I located the building and – of course – as soon as I got my camera aimed and focused, they stopped.

Fortunately, they started up again. With my camera already set to go, I shot a video (you might wanna crank up the sound a bit):

 

A belated-Happy 4th (and 5th) to you!!

 

 

 

 

As usual, chronology rules.

 

JUNE 2

You may recall that I mentioned last month that I already had my highlight for this month on June 2, Fortunately, nothing surpassed it the rest of the month, so here we go……..

June 1 was a Sunday, so nothing to shoot. The next day, I saw this guy acting weird while straddling a property fence and some rebar……….like he needed to use the Port-O-John or something, but I guess he didn’t want his co-workers to know.

 

Somehow, he slipped around the back of the units and into one of them.

He thought he was undetected, but you can see some mischievous smiles as those “friends” slip something onto that unit:

 

I think he knew he was in trouble when they started shaking the box:

 

Next thing he knew, he was flying through the air……………but he couldn’t see anything:

 

The last I saw of him, he was stopped at a red light at Main and Passaic streets (click to enlarge):

When was the last time you saw an occupied flying toilet?

 

(Well, it could have happened………….)

 

 

JUNE 4

I don’t know where that crane came from , but it appears to be about half the length of Manhattan:

 

Here’s our biggie in various poses (click to enlarge):

 

The green concrete pumper’s grill-like receptacle awaits a cement mixer………..and the mixer arrives (click to enlarge):

 

Afterward, the mixer gets hosed down (click to enlarge):

 

 

JUNE 6

This was moving quickly from left to right, so I had to shoot two quickies:

 

JUNE 9

Same deal with this load (click to enlarge):

 

This stuff was in the NW corner of the property:

 

Nothing special – just a shot I wanted to take:

 

JUNE 11

Busy guy! (click to enlarge………..twice!)

 

More slo-mo moving stills………(click to enlarge)

 

Not your usual climbing wall………(click to enlarge twice)

 

Comin’ at you from the opposite direction (click to enlarge twice):

 

JUNE 12

Another slo-mo placement (click to enlarge):

 

 

JUNE 16

Tearin’ down the brown:

Doesn’t it look nice and clean with all white walls?

 

 

JUNE 17

Fill ‘er up!

 

 

JUNE 18

A couple of cellphone shots while walking the perimeter:

That second one looks like an iron anaconda (click to enlarge).

 

 

June 20

Parked on State St early AM – looks like a busy day:

 

The pumper gets to work:

 

Another delivery:

 

More equipment comes in:

 

I don’t know what’s in that basket, but that last image looks like it’s delivering some form of toilet paper to one of the Port-O-Sans (click to enlarge):

 

 

JUNE 21

Lots of stuff flying through the air today (click both to enlarge):

 

And on the ground………

 

FINALLY! Time to go home…………..

 

 

JUNE 23

NO PARKING when the toilets are snow-covered!

 

 

JUNE 25

More stuff and some rebar (click first one to enlarge):

 

 

JUNE 27

Rebar reception:

 

 

JUNE 30

Last delivery of the month:

 

 

That’s it…………….and there’s been no Highlight of July yet, so stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

 

………………………………..

 

As you may know, I take on various, self-imposed, neighborhood photo projects. Sometimes, they’re directly outside my living room window, which is pretty convenient.

One such project is the other end of a demolition of a small bank and drive-thru last year that happened a block away from me. Currently on that space is the construction of a 6-story apartment building.

So now I can be just as lazy as I was last year and cover most of the activity without leaving home, save for an occasional walk around the perimeter to photograph some things that aren’t visible from my living room. This also lets me say a quiet “yes” when my cardiologist asks if I’ve gotten in any good-for-the-heart walking.

What I’m starting off with here is a picture I took from home on June 4, 2025, which shows a portion of the construction site and a tall cement pumper (NOTE: THIS IS NOT A POST ABOUT CONSTRUCTION!). The photo also shows the trees east of me in full bloom, PLUS two small sections of flat (and distant) Foschini Park (separated by a tree) in Hackensack:

Fairly boring.

 

Twelve days later (June 16), as I was following another construction crane from my living room, I noticed something very different in those small park sections that I had never seen before in my 37 years here and zoomed in:

What the heck is all that?

 

I did a “Foschini Park” search and found this on a Hackensack PD Facebook page:

 

I max-zoomed in on those two park sections on June 18:

The first one was kind of “eh”, but that massive guitar neck and headstock sure got my attention! (as did the five tuning pegs).

One thing (project) leads to another…….that’s also the name of a good song by the Fixx, who I photographed at the Meadowlands Arena in 1983, opening up for Supertramp (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHYIGy1dyd8&list=RDJHYIGy1dyd8&start_radio=1 if you wanna hear the song).

 

The carnival was going to open that night (June 18), but I wanted to shoot what’s there closeup in daylight, sans crowds, so I headed on over.

Fencing was EVERYWHERE! I could not park close and did a LOT of walking to get to the actual site…………..but I could not enter the site because of lots more fencing……and there was no one in authority to talk to to get in.

FINALLY, a gentleman driving a L.E.A.D. pickup truck pulled in near me. I got his attention, explained who I was, why I was there and what I wanted to do (shoot the scene without crowds)………….and he said, “Sure!”

I followed him in and he turned me loose.

 

(NOTE: a LOT of these pictures are panoramic. Be sure to click on each one to see if it enlarges. Some may need a second click to fully-enlarge)

The first thing I saw was a row of 6 modern, blue Port-O-Johns…………..or so I thought from a distance:

Oops! This is where you paid to get in. Some were for cash payments and some were for credit.

 

Here’s my initial, widest-I-could-get PANO:

BTW – the gentleman who let me in is shown walking toward a table of co-workers (I’m guessing).

 

Various and sundry rides and attractions………………

 

Get on the Sky Race and be the first to fly over to the turkey legs stand:

 

This site was not hurting for food and drink options:

 

 

As cute as the bumblebees were, I only saw one mother and child ride them when I came back on Saturday:

 

You’ll see one young girl getting face-painted on Saturday at a different location:

 

Steering wheels in the back seat?

 

I think I see something familiar over on the right:

 

Yep – it’s the Zipper, which I shot at the Holy Trinity Carnival last month (and for many years before that):

 

And here’s its friendly neighbor, the Fun Slide – also seen at Holy Trinity:

 

And here are 3 rides/attractions I know nothing about:

 

This is where that girl got face-painted three nights later:

I don’t know what the “Circus” aspect was about:

 

Other angles:

 

The few games of chance I saw opened on Wednesday afternoon featured a lot of animalistic prizes:

 

This is one huge ride that I didn’t get to see in use either day:

(almost looks like another “Fun Slide”)

 

The Wednesday/opening day (night) only – fireworks (as shot from my living room):

 

All the smoke from the finale heads south (taken right after the fireworks ended)

If you look closely, you can see the Empire State Building.

 

Here are the final 4 minutes of the fireworks, including the finale:

(as with my photographs, my videos are equally copyright-protected, so imagine a ©Bob Leafe on each of them)

 

On Thursday, the 19th, I took a couple more shots from home:

VERY sharp, considering the distance……

 

Rather dull……..

 

I’m surprised that I can make out 4 people on the guitar “body” from here.

 

 

On Friday evening (June 20), I wanted to see what kind of shots I could get from the site’s perimeter (fence), because I didn’t want to pay to get in (as I would have to do on Saturday).

Pickin’s were indeed slim and only this shot passed muster:

 

 

The Saturday night shoot

Paid my 5 bucks entry fee because I knew it was going to be worth it (PLUS, it’s for a very good cause!)

 

Here’s that girl getting face-painted:

 

This can be a fun (and loud) ride if you can get those seats filled:

 

Water pistols, stuffed animals, photo booth and the Zipper (fun times 4):

 

Speaking of the Big Z:

 

These poor people……..they had SO much stuff, but they were stuck in a “second row” behind other vendors with tons of stuff and the public never seemed to make it to Row 2:

Powers That Be: Please put them in Row 1 next time.

 

It’s not easy getting the whole “guitar” in a close pic when it’s moving:

Then it dawned on me that another interesting angle might be from the Rock Star’s front seats during a ride.

I didn’t know how much it cost (you have to get tickets from machines in another location). So I walked over to that location, but still couldn’t tell from what I saw what the price was.

Then a very nice young lady who worked there tried to help, but she spoke in “ride credits” and I spoke in dollars and was never given the conversion factor. She then said, “I’ll be right back”.

When she returned, she gave me a ticket that she said would put me on the Rock Star ride………….but still never mentioned the cost or the conversion factor from ride credits to dollars.

After some more friendly back-and-forth, it dawned on me that she was GIVING me the ride.

“You paid for this?”

She smiled and walked away.

What a sweetheart!

But I still don’t know how many credits equal one dollar (or vice-versa).

Things were pretty busy by that time, so I continued my Saturday Night Shoot.

 

The Fun Slide (again), this time in a not-so-flattering pinkish-purple:

 

More of the same “color” on the Super-Himalaya:

 

How’s this for fine Carnival eatin’? Turkey legs, roasted corn and pickles, all washed down with lemonade:

I like turkey legs, so I looked around for something that indicated the price. How much could they be………..four or five bucks each?

I’m not sure, but I think I saw a small sign that said $20 per!

See ya!

 

More food and Zipper……………

 

I wonder what this guy’s eating……………pickles and lemonade?

 

I don’t think this place offers enough choices………….

 

That poor dog can’t get away from the sounds of the screaming kids on the Zipper:

 

Inflatable hammers (for pounding your inflatable nails):

 

RIDES!

Hey – GOTTA video some rides, right? Here are 5 of them:

 

And you KNOW I have to finish up with the Rock Star (I sound like I’m back in my old career……….maybe I should add this video to https://bobleafe.com

 

OK – I think I’ve had enough…………I’m running out of things to shoot and the Rock Star has a long line, so maybe I’ll have to pass on that free ride that cost some complete stranger an unknown amount (a “complete”…….”unknown”? Hey, I could write a pretty decent song with those lyrics…………….and maybe even a movie script!).

Lotta work to do on Sunday………….all those pix and vids to edit from last night.

After dinner, I settled in to watch some TV, but I kept thinking about that Rock Star ride I never took…………that I still had the ticket for………….and that tonight’s the last night I might ever be able to use that ticket (assuming that it’s still usable the next day).

I didn’t want to be thinking “what if” forever and I really had no other pressing business that night.

It was pretty hot outside, so maybe the crowds might be thinner………and all the ads say it’s open until 11pm and it’s now almost 9pm and I’m willing to pay the extra $5 admission just to do this……………..so off I went just after 9pm.

I caught a red light at an intersection by the western entrance to the park and saw an electronic sign that alternated an arrow and a message directing you to the carnival. I took about 10 seconds of video of the sign before the light turned green and later got a decent still of both electronic messages from that video, put one on top of the other and got the image that leads off this post. Just thought you’d like to know where that came from.

When I got to the site, parking was pretty easy, so maybe the heat DID keep people away.

This just might work!

As I walked in, I couldn’t find any of the people who guide you to those Porta-payment machines. Is this a heat freebie?

But as I got further into the site, the only people I saw were tearing things down. I walked over to the Rock Star ride and asked some grumpy worker what was going on.

“CLOSED AT 9PM!”

“But the listed hours for Saturday and Sunday say 3pm-11pm.”

“9PM!!!” he snarled at me. I got the impression that he wasn’t up for any more questions.

 

Oh well……………..I tried.

 

Maybe next year (if my ticket’s still good).

 

 

Whenever I hear about these events, they always seem to be far away or just completed. I knew that this event was about to happen in 2,000 places across the nation, so I checked to see if any were nearby.

TWO were scheduled within about 3 miles of me: Teaneck to the east and Paramus to the west.

Teaneck’s protest was a short march to the Municipal Building………..that meant lots of signs. Paramus’ event was on – actually, “over” – a major highway (Route 4), with large-letter messages attached to a pedestrian overpass facing both eastbound and westbound traffic, while many people waved to cars from the overpass, resulting in lots of horn-honking. Additionally, many more people with signs gathered at road-level on both sides of the highway.

Paramus sounded way more interesting and photographically-challenging, so this was not a difficult decision.

The event was scheduled from 10am – 4pm. I didn’t know how crazy/busy it might be or what the parking situation was (neither turned out to be a problem), so I was there and ready to shoot at 9:15am.

Not many people were there:

 

I shot what I could and was ready to pack it in by 10am. But then people started pouring in (I wished I had been smart enough to do the same).

At about 9:40am, I went up the steps to the overpass, met the man in charge and took pictures of the 10-12 people there in the passway:

 

…..and the backs of people waving to the cars below:

 

…..and also of the signs that others were holding high when there were no more open waving spaces by the overpass’ fencing:

Click to enlarge the Kings/Jesters sign. Most are easily identifiable. I think the jester in the upper left is aiming at a canine in a tree.

 

I don’t know how many – if any – of the drivers honking at 60mph could read those signs, so I’m guessing that many of the overpass’ sign holders eventually found their way down to road level, where their signs would be more visible (but not necessarily more readable at 60mph).

 

Back on the ground, I found these two (actually, three) with a staggering age differential between them, but they were there for very similar reasons:

Actually, I was stunned by the similarity between the picture in the middle of the man’s sign and the image you see on the right.

This protest spans generations. No one is happy.

 

I had seen this woman and her sign/flag earlier up in that overpass, but now I get them all together from road level:

 

Moving slightly to the right, I was hoping to get more of the flag as they moved it up and down, but now I see something I didn’t notice when I hit the shutter: the back of his hat says “Canada”:

Nice to think he may have come all the way down here to wave an American flag (he needs to put a “No 51st state!” message on the back of his coat).

 

 

So now it’s 10:02am and the overpass is filling up nicely:

(this is when I should have arrived)

 

 

The westbound (top) and eastbound (bottom) views of the overpass:

 

 

My last shot of “We The Overpass People” at 10:29am:

 

But I’m not quite done. My drive home took me down Route 4 past the overpass. I got my phone out and took two quickies as I honked my horn at 10:34am:

 

 

Obviously, I had a bunch of pix and vids to upload when I got home, lunch to eat and a busy afternoon ahead, but I wanted to go back to the overpass just to see how crowded it got (and to make up for showing up too early in the morning).

I had between a half-hour and an hour to squeeze it in, but when I looked out of my apartment window, it was raining a lot harder (it had been a medium drizzle most of the AM, as you might be able to see in some of the videos).

 

Pass. 

 

 

And now on to the videos:

1. iPhone vertical: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCGTWdagQEY

Did anyone notice a sign that said, “No Dictotors Allowed!” ? (Ain’t all us guys one of those?)

 

2. iPhone horizontal (very short): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpM4353dcCY

 

3. Camera on tripod: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTGoQNSKgAw

(read video descriptions)

 

 

I think I got what I needed.

 

 

 

 

Some of you may know that I can see all of the Pascack Valley Line trains from my kitchen, some 3-4 blocks away.

Besides NJ Transit engines, I have seen a variety of others, including Conrail, CNJ, Norfolk-Southern, and others.

But one day last month, I saw a northbound train with a colorful engine I had never seen before. I took note of the time and a few days later, it returned at the same time…………but NOW, I was ready with my camera:

It was impossible to read anything on that engine, but I knew it had to come back…..and stop.

I found an online schedule. Between that and my pictures from the free trip I took on the Line last September, I was able to figure out when it would be heading back southbound and stopping at the Anderson St. Station, a block to the right of the above picture’s location.

At the appointed time, I was across the tracks from the station, so I could get the engine and the station in an image. But I forgot one thing…………..

These trains don’t turn around for the return trip. Northbound, the engine’s in front, pulling. Southbound, it’s in back, pushing. As the train pulled into the station, I was frantically run……..er, jogging the length of the train northward, hoping to reach the engine before the train left the station in a minute or so.

I got there just before it started moving and took this PANO shot. I had no room to back up (and no time if I did) to take a regular shot (click twice to fully enlarge):

I wanted to get a clear shot of the front part of the train where all the sideways names are shown, but the train was becoming photographically-segmented on the far right in this shot:

At this point, there was nothing left to shoot except a video of the train pulling (backing) away:

 

I didn’t get that shot of the engine and the station, but the video gave me a still of the engine and a station sign:

 

So now I’m sitting here feeling proud that I got some of the first shots of this brand new engine, when I decided to search to see if NJ Transit had just put out a brand new press release about it.

I found it right away: https://www.njtransit.com/press-releases/nj-transit-celebrates-historical-contributions-african-americans-decorated

One tiny problem: it’s dated February 26, 2024.

 

Oy!

 

And here’s a shot that – thankfully – I DIDN’T take, dated February 28, 2024:

 

Can I at least get an acknowledgement that maybe I got the first sighting of this engine in Hackensack? (he asks, grasping for straws……………….)

 

Well, maybe some of my relatives in Alabama, Minnesota or Hawaii have never seen it before.

 

 

             

 

Like April, the “best of May” will be identified by date (and there is a lot to get to).

 

May 2 – Ooo, LOOK! “Art” involving the photographer AND his subject! This was taken from the site’s Main St perimeter and shows alternating views of my living room window, rebar from this project, a yellow-brick chimney from my building and the end of the hose of a very long extension from a concrete pumper on the site:

Though the hose looks fake – even to me! – this is all ONE photo………not bits and pieces stuck together.

 

Well, that was a nice start. It’s probably all downhill from here.

 

Most of the pictures involve machinery, but these 4 pix show workers:

 

From Passaic St:

 

From home…………concrete pumper being fed by two concrete mixer trucks:

 

 

May 5 – lifting rebar (far left):

 

 

May 6 – This may be the most workers I’ve ever seen on the ground at one time:

 

One group of three pictures of workers NOT on the ground (click to enlarge):

 

 

May 7 – These are two separate pictures: one to get the full concrete pumper and the other to get a closeup of two cranes from separate projects being framed by that pumper:

 

Two max closeups of the two projects’ cranes:

 

 

May 8 – Activity on the Passaic St side:

 

Lunch!

 

 

May 9 – Inclement weather:

If you look at the above picture closely, you can see cement coming out of the pumper hose.

 

Three stitched-together shots involving the pumper hose (click to enlarge):

 

I’m not sure what’s being covered up………..undried concrete?

 

4-image stitch, with 3 showing pumper extending. What is the man doing in the last image? Knocking off dried concrete? (click to enlarge)

 

May 10 – Some breezy stills today:

 

Video – More breeziness:

 

Wrapping up:

 

From Passaic St:

 

from Main St:

 

All the cement mixers on State St, as photographed from street level and home:

 

 

May 11 – Four perimeter shots:

 

 

May 12 – ON-SITE SHOOT:

 

I was invited by the site’s project manager to do some on-site photography as he guided me around (thanks, Chris!).

It was suggested that I wear steel-tipped shoes and a hard hat. I actually found that a pair of my lace-up white snow boots had steel tips and Chris lent me a white hard hat (which looked quite odd atop my black baseball cap), so I was all set:

 

Here’s my first PANO shot (click TWICE to fully enlarge):

 

When there’s no concrete pumper around, cranes lift a big bucketful of cement up to where it’s needed:

 

A closeup of the bucket:

 

Men working on what I think is an elevator shaft:

 

Last on-site PANO (click to enlarge):

 

 

May 13

 

Is that a camera on a tripod filming the climber?

 

That brown avalanche must look quite impressive when you’re that close:

 

 

May 14

 

Look how close the cement mixer is to the space where its cement is going (bottom right)…..a couple of yards? And look how far the cement actually has to travel to get there:

Couldn’t the mixer just back up to the hole and dump the cement? (I’m sure there’s a very involved reason why that’s not possible, but from a block away, I can’t see it.)

 

 

May 15

 

I thought this was an interesting-looking image. Are the poles holding up the str-ucture? If so, how is the pole on the far right helping? It’s not attached to anything:

 

 

May 16

 

Project Yellow takes a peek at Project Blue:

 

As Chris knows, I was hoping to get on the site when the concrete pumper was there, so I could get all kinds of crazy closeup PANO shots of its contortions, but I like what I can get from home (it might be TOO close on-site) (click to enlarge):

Note: these five shots were taken over a 67-minute period (and the pumper truck never moved).

 

I have no idea what’s being covered up, but maybe that makes it a better picture:

 

 

May 17

 

All its neighbors gather around to try to figure out what’s under the sheet:

 

 

May 19

 

I think this is the first big board I’ve seen here (just don’t ask me what it’s for).

 

I’d say this was a serious game of Peekaboo when one guy’s got a hammer in his hand:

 

 

May 20

 

Photographically, a lot of these structures look better in the morning sun. This would not look as good if everything was bright from the evening sun:

 

One advantage these pumpers have is lots of high-up advertising space:

 

Dunno what the wood toss thing is about, but it looks like I got it in 2 out of 3 shots (click to enlarge):

 

This is the second of two shots I captured this month that shows the concrete coming out of the pumper hose (the hose end is usually in something else and not visible):

 

The pumper extends halfway to Manhattan:

 

This is a shot where the evening sun is a huge plus:

 

 

May 23

 

Big piece slowly moved:

 

 

The concrete pumper arrives at the State St entrance:

 

Time to wrap it up!

 

37 minutes apart:

 

Highlight of the Month! (click twice to fully enlarge):

Two days into June, I already have this month’s highlight!

 

May 26

 

Veterans Day stroll around the perimeter:

 

The western view from Main St (click to enlarge):

Does that second (grayish) car look a little TOO compact? When you pan from left to right and a vehicle goes through your frame from right to left, it gets compressed (look at its front wheel – it’s not round, but rather football-shaped) and when you pan L to R and a vehicle is moving through your frame L to R, it can become ridiculously long.

 

Don’t believe it? You can apply that principle to anything that moves: planes, people, etc. Look up 3-in-a-row of my blog posts from 2022 with their titles all in caps and beginning with the word “WEIRDLY” (it helps to have a PANO setting on your phone’s camera). You’ll have a lot of fun with this.

 

 

May 28

 

New cover/wrapping:

 

 

May 30

 

Cleaning up the pumper:

 

The view from the SW corner of Passaic St and State St:

 

The view from State St – just north of Passaic St:

 

 

May 31

 

Last-day-of-the-month-Saturday stroll on State St and Passaic St (click to enlarge):

 

…AND – finishing up the month of May – standing on the Passaic St sidewalk and shooting a very wide PANO that goes from the apartments on State St (left) to the soon-to-be-gone old YMCA building on Main St (right): (click twice to fully enlarge)

 

 

See you next month with June in July……….

 

 

 

The carnival ran from May 21 – 25. On May 26, I was nearby shooting something else and decided to take a walk over to the carnival site to see if everything was gone.

It looked like hardly anything was gone and I didn’t see anyone in authority there, so I decided to shoot the rides, etc., without all those annoying festival-goers in the way.

 

Click the first and last images TWICE to fully enlarge.

 

Here’s what the scene looked like from the Maple Ave entrance:

 

The Fire Fly and its ATM (you’d think that would be the first thing they’d remove):

 

So THAT’S what the seats looked like! It was hard to tell at night when they were moving (and mostly occupied):

 

Nice clear shot of the Zipper:

 

Top of the Fun Slide:

 

The rest of the Slide (and most of the Zipper):

 

So colorful, I had to shoot it twice:

 

I never saw this at night (and what’s that last letter in the top right?):

 

The 1957 taillights ride:

 

It’s easy to tell that this says “Toontown”, but doesn’t that first “T” look like a “J”?

 

On the way out, I checked out the food section (nothing edible):

Darn!

 

 

Having been baptized in this church and gone through 8 years of Holy Trinity School, I think “Carnival” would be the last word I’d associate with either place.

But this event has now become a long-standing tradition. I’m not sure when it started, but if you go to bobleafe.com and enter “Carnival” in the search box, you’ll see an interesting (he says modestly) photo I took at the 2001 carnival.

I still get a kick out of the fact that the large parking lot on which all this merriment takes place used to have a big school on it in which I attended grades 1-4 (zero merriment from the nuns).

Anyway, I try to make it a point to visit the carnival when I see this banner on the Anderson St side of the old convent:

 

BTW……..click images to see if they enlarge. A couple won’t and a couple need two clicks.

 

 

When you walk down Pangborn Place, this is what you see as you approach Maple Ave:

 

Let’s start on the left at the Fire Fly. I’ve never been interested in whatever’s on that corner of the lot. Photographically, it’s good for one shot. Financially, it must be expensive because it’s got an ATM right next to it:

 

From the southwest corner to the northwest corner, we arrive at the Round Up, which is ALWAYS in this spot (so is almost every other ride………when you figure out a placement plan that works, you stick with it).

The Round Up is always good for a couple of shots:

 

Want one in purple?

 

Just to the east of the Round Up is the Zipper – ALWAYS good for a couple of shots:

 

Slightly to the south of the Zipper is the Fun Slide. You sit on a towel or something and slide down………whoopee:

 

Time for the wild animal rides…………ride the wild baby elephant!

 

When you recover from that, ride the wild Woody Woodpecker!

Looks like no one was brave enough to try it.

 

On the west side of the lot, you’ll find all the games of chance:

 

Want a sno-cone? No one’s home, so it must be self-serve:

 

Here are a couple of panoramic shots, primarily looking north and east:

 

My exit shot:

 

See you next May!

 

                                                 (Part 2 – APRIL 2025)

 

Since I’m still way behind and it’s the middle of May, I’m going to go by month, so this will be the best of April.

 

April 3 – You’d better be a pretty good driver to maneuver something like this vehicle in a lot like this:

 

April 4 – I won’t tell you what I first thought when I saw this:

 

April 14 – Two views of a heavy-duty crane:

 

See what it’s carrying? It looks like a concrete room:

 

April 15 – At the crew’s Tax Day party, the DJ holds up his favorite record:

 

This looks like the guy we saw on April 4 with the pipes………

 

“Gotta keep those local photographers from seein’ what we’re doin’ in here.”

 

A pretty tree sprouts from an excavator:

 

April 17 – Two views of the man on the corner of Main and Passaic streets:

 

Yet a third view of the same man, PLUS…….two cement mixers, a cement pumper AND my apartment (on top, way in the back):

 

A very similar view to the shot I ended my previous post with, but this one is closer and excludes the cement pumper:

 

 

April 19 – A grave for the world’s tallest person? Actually, I have to pair this shot with one I took 6 days earlier (top image):

 

Some rebar:

(In case you get thirsty lugging all that iron around…….)

 

April 22 – Another truck I can’t imagine having to back into this lot with such precision:

A little more rebar:

 

April 23 – Here’s a white cement pumper that appears to be taller than the buildings on the horizon, which are (upper left): St. Joseph’s Church on Palisade Avenue in Bogota…….and behind that are hi-rises that sit on the Palisades in Fort Lee and Cliffside Park overlooking the Hudson River (there’s an entire valley between the church and those hi-rises):

 

April 24 – The Rebar Family poses for the tripoded camera:

 

Someone’s trying to move in already? (BTW – the moving company is called “Piece of Cake”):

 

The reason I took this picture of the orange crane that’s attached to nothing is because of the blue crane, which belongs to an entirely different project: that black-and-white building that’s on Passaic St between Main St and River St:

It advertises itself as a luxury building……………how many of those have you ever seen located right next to a McDonald’s?

 

Meanwhile, back at our project, up pops a stairway to……..Komat’su?

 

 

April 25 – Doesn’t this cement pumper seem to be taking two wildly different routes to get to the same place?

 

Meanwhile, the mighty cement mixer’s connection to the huge cement pumper doesn’t seem to be “chute”-ing very much (third pic…………little blue pill time?).

 

Looks like they got things going…………

 

The …um, “receptacle” gets a needed shower…………..and look at all that “spillage” on the ground!

 

April 26 – Headless/handless worker still gets the job done:

 

I thought this was just an odd-lookiing gas pipe, but it was a concrete pipe used for storm water that has since been removed and replaced with a plastic pipe (good thing I asked). Thanks, Chris.

 

 

The right-to-left movement of this dark form was way too slow for video, so I hope these 3 stills suffice (click to enlarge):

 

I think this was the same piece’s final destination:

 

or maybe it was here (they all look the same to me):

 

I happened to be on the site recently when it was pointed out to me that this was a container of fuel for all the site vehicles, so they wouldn’t have to drive an excavator around town to look for a gas station:

 

I really liked the light and shadows on this one (though the sky’s color is a little weird):

 

April 28 – Peekaboo!

 

That looks comfy……..

 

April 30 – This shot of the rebar section was taken from the State St perimeter:

 

And this one was taken from a few feet north of that location:

 

This was taken from the northernmost corner of the site, right next to the businesses on Main St (you can see the wall of one of them on the right):

 

 

APRIL’S GRAND FINALE

Top half: Orange Jacket and Green Vest are having an animated discussion about who’s king of this hill:

Bottom half: Green Vest retreats to his excavator while Orange Jacket struts around his kingdom, not noticing that Green Vest is about to grab a chunk of mountaintop that’ll send Orange Jacket to Kingdom Come:

(Hey – When you really have no idea what’s going on, you have to make up stories to fit the pictures – and to keep yourself amused.)

 

Next up: May in June

 

 

I have a feeling that there may be less to see in upcoming months as verticality increases, but stay tuned…………you never know.