2024 – A Little Photo Variety (including a 6,000-step walk)
………………………………………….(ignore April 30, 2017 publish date – this was published on December 12, 2024)
(The last part of that title was put in to make my cardiologist happy.)
Variety? How about streaking airplanes (with white AND black plumes), craters on the moon, sunsets, reflections, active fire engines, old and new buildings, sculptures, banners, advertising signs, pink ice cream parlor (the parlor’s pink – not the ice cream), UNsanitary manhole cover, more signs, CPR mannequins, sun on a river, pointy-roof building, squirrels, ducks, bridge underside, and strange parking……………..all shot on a Saturday PM and a Sunday AM.
Ready?
Saturday, December 7, 2:40pm
I saw this from my living room window:
ONE minute later, I noticed something above a different part of the plume. It took a little work to bring it out – an afternoon moon!
An hour later, a purple jeep’s windshield was reflecting a whole bunch of unrecognizable stuff (I think that’s another apartment building on the right):
Ten minutes after THAT (and from a different window), I saw more plane plumes and an interesting sunset with a fuzzy dark cloud on top:
Thirty-three minutes later, as the sunset was getting really interesting, I saw something unusual in the sky – some BLACK plumes, so I took four shots over a 133-second period and made a PANO from them:
I took the first shot to include a passing plane that has nothing to do with the black plumes.
I zoomed in on the second shot and saw two distinct parallel black plumes coming from a shiny dot that could only be a plane. But why black plumes?
On the third shot, I tried to zoom in further just as another plane was crossing the plumes and the result was out of focus (Hey – they can’t ALL be gems).
Finally, the fourth shot shows a dark, disintegrating plume. If anyone knows why the plume was black, let me know in the comments.
Thirteen minutes after that (4:40pm), that moon that I managed to dig out of the hazy sky just 2 hours earlier, was suddenly much more presentable, as were a couple dozen craters:
I’m still amazed that I can get clear crater shots with my little pocket Canon.
Just under 5 hours later, something was going on in that church next door with the gorgeous steeple that you just saw at sunset. I was alerted by the sound of screaming fire engines – three of which parked on my street. Here are 5 shots of them:
There was no visible fire or smoke and no fire hoses were unfurled. All I could see were a couple of firemen going down some stairs to the basement in the back of the church, so I’m guessing it was something minor like an alarm having to be reset.
So much for Saturday……………all shot from home.
Sunday, December 8
On Sundays, I usually like to walk in the afternoon, but that’s difficult in the Fall because of the Giants and Jets games, so I decided to walk in the morning so I could see how both teams managed to lose in the afternoon.
I went out at 9:30am and walked 3 blocks UP Main St to Bruce the Bed King to see if that building had been torn down yet. It’s supposed to make way for yet ANOTHER new residential building (we only have about 346 new monstrosities going up around town) – and, in a rather-not-well-thought-out move, one of them is eliminating the only neighborhood pharmacy we have (it closes on 1-28-25). I could walk to that one…………I’ll probably have to drive to Teaneck after January.
Anyway, Bruce the BK – where I bought my last mattress – looks like it’ll be coming down soon. BTW – this a PANO (panoramic) shot. Click (TWICE on this one) to enlarge here and when you see “PANO” elsewhere in this post:
I took this next shot through the fence just right of center in the previous shot:
About a block further north is 505 Main – a building I’ve always liked the look of:
I purposely went a little heavy on the color saturation.
Two blocks further north is this tutoring center with the two skinny chicks out front:
(I like the one with the long hair.)
Another block or two north is where I found this rather large garage with a “Welcome Home” banner for a US Marine:
Along the side of the same driveway, I found this discarded advertising piece showing what appears to be a dozen haircuts suitable for a Marine:
Very nearby was this sign in a store window:
At first glance from a slight distance, I thought it said “We move snow”. Googling the phone number tells me that it was a Dominican hair products salon (and that they’ve already moved).
This is a billboard about another block north on Main St. I just started laughing as soon as I saw it. I understand what they specialize in, but that name doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in their lawyers (PANO):
OK, time to visit Cranberry Junction – a cute ice cream place that supermodel Bella Hadid also visited in 2020 (the store’s big claim to fame). It’s about another block north off Main St in Hackensack’s Fairmount Park.
I’ve yet to sample their wares and it was closed this December Sunday morning, but I’ll get there someday.
Until then, these’ll have to do:
At this point, I decided to turn east toward Fairleigh Dickinson University – about 6-7 blocks away.
On the way there:
Entrance to the world of sewage wastewater (please do not open!):
Just before the FDU campus:
(does this lead to eventual FDU admission?)
Finally on the FDU campus and I suddenly have a craving for gefilte fish tacos:
(not really)
An interesting window display on a campus building:
I don’t think I’ve ever seen “love” and “CPR” put together before.
I’ve entered the FDU Hackensack campus near the pedestrian bridge over the Hackensack River that leads to FDU’s Teaneck campus, but only got on the bridge to photograph the river:
You’ve heard the song “Moon River”? Think anybody’ll now be inspired to write “Sun River”?
Dunno what this is, but it was near the Teaneck riverbank:
Time to start heading back home (and I’ve got about a mile to go).
I think this is the building where they made those 1950s pointy bras (PANO):
(Actually, it’s the Rothman Center where FDU’s men’s basketball team plays. I haven’t seen a game there, so I don’t know if pointy bras are part of their uniforms or not.)
Plumes in the sky AND down by the river:
Squoils
As I got closer to home, the FDU campus turned into Hackensack’s Johnson Park with a lot of squirrels running around. Most of them immediately run from you, but one seemed fearless…………and almost friendly.
He (assuming maleness) seemed to pose:
And then he surprised the hell out of me by facing me with his right paw on his heart:
I found this online: “…placing the right hand on the heart is a warm way to greet someone and means that the person truly appreciates your presence.”
I’m not reading TOO much into this, am I?
Probably………after all, he then started eating right in front of me without offering me any:
But he DID seem friendly. He took a few steps toward me, stopped, stood up and then took a few more steps in my direction. He did this 3 or 4 times. I almost wanted to pet the little guy, but that’s when you get bitten and find out the squirrel has rabies.
Besides, I had to get home.
I DID want to shoot the underside of the Anderson St Bridge (“Cedar Lane Bridge” if you live on the other side in Teaneck). I haven’t been there in a while and there’s usually some interesting graffiti that’s been recently added.
But as soon as I got close to it, a group of ducks popped up out of nowhere, so I had to take a few shots of them:
And then I finished up the walk by taking this PANO of the bridge’s underside……but the graffiti sucked:
So an hour-and-a-half after I went out, I was back home. My Letsfit watch said it was a 6,000-step walk………………..but I had ONE more picture to take that morning…………….and it was a slightly confusing one.
As you may know, there’s a municipal parking lot seven floors down from my living room window. I could see the meter maid walking around the lot putting tickets under the windshield wipers of all the bad parkers.
BUT THEN LOOK HOW SHE PARKED!!
I should have put this picture under the wipers of all those who got tickets from “Parking Enforcement”. They might have won their court cases!
How could they be guilty of any minor parking wrongdoing when the parking enforcement person who ticketed them parks in two spaces – blatantly!
They were all in ONE space………….they just didn’t feed the meter on a Saturday morning.
Who enforces the “parking” of “Parking Enforcement”?
BTW – the next morning, she did the same thing, only slightly less blatantly.
I think I have to start making another small photo collection.
Let’s see how long this goes on……………..
Have you noticed the drones in Bergen County?
There are reports of some people in Bergen County seeing the drones, but I haven’t bothered to look because there are WAY too many aircraft in my sky coming and going from Teterboro, Newark, LaGuardia, and JFK airports at all different altitudes to be able to discern what they all are.
Hey Bob,
My thoughts on the black plumes (without any Googling)
First – the correct term for the plume is contrail.
Contrails are formed by turbine engine exhaust (products of combustion include moisture). I am not sure but they might be initiated with the accelerated airflow off the wing, including the tip.
Anyway – my theory is that they look black because most of the cloud like particles are in the shadow of the edge of the contrail which is facing the setting sun (on the left in your pictures). Easiest to see the bright edge in the third picture from the left in that series. This phenomenon also explains why the underside of the clouds look black in your fourth picture in this edition of I ain’t just music.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Paul