Good early morning GH. It is just past 4:00 AM in "The City" and the current temperature is 33 degrees as we head for a windy high of 37. Sugar the Weather Dog may be easier to walk with today than yesterday. While the the winds will be similar, the temperature should be a bit warmer.

When Sugar and I went walking yesterday, the winds were in our face and the weather felt raw. When Mary wanted to go out to the fabric store, I was willing as long as I was done walking. My hands get so cold these days, that there do not seem to be any gloves that can keep them warm, at least none that I've found.

Bad news, I sent some links to Mary regarding the possible temporary closing of what must be our favorite Chicago watering hole, the Billy Goat Tavern on lower Michigan Ave. Say it ain't so Sam, Say it ain't so. We don't get there as often as we used to go, but if it isn't there, things will never be the same in the Loop. Everything changes I know, but there are those things, like your self image, that are never supposed to change. When they do, a small piece of you is gone forever.

Otherwise on Tuesday, we had breakfast/lunch, I walked with Sugar, picked up and read the newspaper and then my book with Sugar in my lap. Later Mary and I had dinner, ate too much, and then I went to bed. See what I mean about things changing? Everything was normal for me on Tuesday. We did get to the fabric store and Mary got a surprise. She was shopping for material for new table napkins and discovered that material is made that is halfway finished. All she has to do is cut the material to the appropriate length, fold and iron the ends, and then sew them up. Sounds easy, but I suspect that it is harder than that.

Today I hope to encourage Sugar to be more forgiving on my knees. We had to walk nearly one and one half miles before she was ready to come home. I feigned anger, but she knows me well enough that she jumped into my lap when I was reading and stayed for quite awhile. Otherwise, laundry is on my agenda and that's about it. I can easily be encouraged to be lazy once Sugar has taken me walking. Ciao.