numbers

Guess what day it is! No, not May Day. Give up? It’s THE FIRST OF THE MONTH, which means it’s City Daily Photo Theme Day! And the theme this month is NUMBERS! I was so thrilled when I found a subject (a NJ Transit train engine–this was taken at Long Branch, a major transfer stop along the North Jersey Coast Line) that wasn’t a street number or a speed limit. As an added bonus, “4426″ appears TWICE. As an EXTRA added bonus, “1179+46″ is written on the right-hand vertical beam! Pretty numerical, huh?

If you want to see MORE numbers from ALL OVER THE WORLD, click here to see most of them on one page, or check out all the individual participating sites as listed on Ocean Township Daily Photo!

 

babel

Former location of the 700 Building at Monmouth University. I don’t know what they’re building here now.

(…Or maybe it was the 600 Building…? I don’t really have a head for remembering numbers.)

 

tasti!

Apparently, this is business on Ocean Blvd. in Long Branch is technically known as “Ocean D-Lites.” But they do sell Tasti D-Lite, which, if you’re not familiar with it (since it’s only sold in a few states: New York [most of its stores are concentrated in NYC], New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, and Texas), is a soft-serve “guilt-free” ice cream-esque dessert.

I actually just tried the stuff for the first time last weekend. Despite the multitude of flavors, after a few bites, you stop tasting anything at all and only feel the cold softness on your tongue. It’s not bad, but it’s not real ice cream.

 

sparrow

I’ll never know what you’ll find when you open up your letter box tomorrow
‘Cause a little bird never tells me anything I want to know, she’s my best friend, she’s a sparrow
And I’ll never never know what you never never never want to know when you know what you are-oh.

-They Might Be Giants, “Letterbox”

I spent about 10 minutes with my camera poised at this chirping little sparrow, trying to get a picture of it in flight.

This is the best one I got. (I actually ended up panning, which is why it’s blurred; the shutter speed was something like 1/400 sec.)

 

magnolias

This is the same magnolia I featured back in February. (I know ‘cos it’s the lowest-hanging and closest-to-the-door bud/blossom on this particular magnolia tree.)

Will there be an additional photo once the blossoms have fully opened? Time will tell!

 

cafe

Remember how I said Monmouth University used to be someone’s estate? The Guggenheim Library has a decidedly mansion-like air to it, even with the little library cafe at the bottom of the grand staircase.

 

ophelia

Lay her i’th’earth,
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
May violets spring.

William Shakespeare.
Laertes, in Hamlet, act 5, sc. 1, l. 238-40.

 

MOUTH

504. Gingivae (Gums). The gums are composed of dense fibrous tissue that overlies the crowns of teeth not erupted and surrounds the necks of teeth that have erupted. The fibrous tissue is covered by a smooth mucous membrane.

Incidentally, 500-504 are incisors, cuspids, bicuspids (a.k.a. premolars), and molars, respectively.