Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 2:00 a.m. in "The City."

To quote that old beer ad, no not the one where Leo "The Lip" Durocher said during the season that dashed my hopes during the 1969 baseball season, "How about another Slitz!" (sic), but the one in which an actor noted to a group of faux friends on a set made up to look like a deck on a lake, "It doesn't get any better than this." That's how I would have described yesterday. The temperature was in the mid 70s, the skies were sunny, and the Irish Jam session moved to the porch deck at the library. Since it was Earth Day, we had a lot of passersby to hear our efforts. In addition, the chance to "open" for the band that would be playing just across the street at 3:00 p.m. for Earth Day in Central Park, was an extra bonus. We had a smaller turnout, but we still sounded great. That's my story and I"m sticking to it.

Mary stayed behind to do some household chores and that means that I won't have to do them myself. Plus, she had to edit some recent indexes, so that was a win-win for both of us.

After my Irish Jam, I dropped Abigael off at home and then we collectively walked downtown to mail our tax returns and stop in one of the local watering holes for dinner and libations.
As expected, the influx of tourists into "The City" was, to borrow a phrase from  one of the presidential candidates, "Huge!" Plus, as also anticipated, the number of boats in the channel increased over the day before. Like we often say, we've lost our town to the tourists for another year. That's the price we pay for living in one of "The Big Lake's" best communities.

Speaking of sports, the Cubs' game was not on any free TV channel, so I had to make do with periodic reports on Twitter. That's okay, because I got the final score of a 6 - 2 victory over the Rockies anyway. It was another gem pitched by Jake Arrieta. The boys in blue are now 9 - 2 and still leading their division. The Tigers, who are now 7 - 3 and in third place in their division, defeated the Astros, 5 - 3. My beloved Red Sox, at 6 - 4 in their division, and in second place, also won over the Blue Jays, 4 - 2.

We had planned some gardening today on the Palatial Estate, but we decided that it could wait until Monday. As the immortal Bob Apa used to say, "Put off until tomorrow, what you can put off until tomorrow", so we will. That means more time for reading, more time for listening to the Cubs game, and more time for retirement. At the risk of repeating myself, "It doesn't get any better than this."

We'll take the morning safari with STWD, while avoiding the tourist infestation downtown. There are plenty of things to see and smell in other directions. Monday, we'll get "The City" back for another few days. Technically, tourist season doesn't begin until Memorial Day, but the nice weather here is too enticing.

We made a short stop at the Post and learned that Sally is under the weather, again. Our wishes for a quick recovery go out to her.

Mary has promised to make her now famous vegan Swiss cheese and sauerkraut sandwiches on the San Francisco Sourdough bread we picked up on the way home yesterday, for dinner. That's after we watch CBS Sunday Morning and do all of the other mostly unplanned things we have planned for today.

Finally, speaking of the weather, the current temperature provided by the porch mounted sensor for the desktop weather station, shows a current temperature of 57° that feels like 54°. The NWS is forecasting a high of 72° under mostly sunny skies for later today. There is no precipitation in the forecast until Thursday. The sun will rise at 6:59 a.m. and set at 8:30 p.m. Ciao.