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

Cubs Win!, Cubs Win!, Cubs Win! Yes my friends, the boys in blue traveled to Pittsburgh and beat the Pirates 7 - 2. That gives the Cubs a NL Central Division leading record of 18 - 6, a full four games ahead of those same Pirates. The Tigers, with a 14 - 10 record and a 2nd place position in the AL Central Division, had the day off before visiting the Indians in Cleveland tonight. Likewise, my beloved Red Sox had the day off, but they are in 1st place in the AL East Division, with a record of 15 - 10. The Red Sox visit Chicago tonight to play that other team from Chicago, who are leading their division, or so I've heard. The Caps fell to the Beloit Snappers, 2 - 4 yesterday. With a sub-.500 record of 11 - 12, the Caps are in 6th place in the Midwest League East.

Yesterday, Mary went to the library to participate in the first of many stretching sessions. She came back with some new ways to stretch and an appreciation for how good she generally feels on a daily basis. While she was out, STWD and I took the morning safari through the mean streets of "The City."

While we were walking, we witnessed the passage of the southbound train on the "Reality Scale Train Layout." However that passage didn't take long, as it consisted of one BC and one CHC behind locomotives 2019 and 2057. Sugar did not much like the train horns as they passed directly in front of us. Me, I was thrilled. The afternoon passage will forever remain a mystery, since Mary and I had plans for the afternoon which included a visit to:

Where we began by walking the mostly deserted trails,

Which while beautiful in the spring.

Are not entirely deserted.

Before we departed, we found our way to the scenic overlook in the park, which offered great views of the "Big Lake."

However, our original purpose for the trip to the big city of Holland, was to attend a lecture session given by Tim Laman on orangutans at the science center at Hope College, named for Paul Schaff, a Hope College alum, and where Tim is also an alum.

Within this unassuming building, multiple programs in the sciences,  and medical fields such as nursing, are offered. 

However our lecture with slides took place in a typical college lecture hall. The presenter, Tim Laman and his wife, Cheryl Knott, have worked in the wilds of Borneo and Sumatra for many years studying orangutans. The photos and videos of their subjects were breathtaking. We learned many things we didn't know before. Retirement offers many opportunities to continue to learn and grow. We also took a photo of our own upstairs in the building. Our photo shows some of the work that Tim has done for one of his books and for National Geographic magazine. 

These photos can be seen in in the pages of Tim's book of the same name Birds of Paradise.

By the time the Q & A session was over, we decided it was time to head for home and a visit to our favorite watering hole for dinner.

We never did get to the cutting of the prototype pieces for my chair pillow, so that's on tap for later today, after our visit to the chiropractor. Mary also has a visit today to her beautician. I don't know why, because she looks great to me. 

I found time early yesterday morning to spend some time with Ivy, my 12 string guitar. We sounded great. 

Today I plan to read the final chapter in The Witches, in preparation for our session tomorrow at the history discussion session at the Tri-Cities Historical Museum. 

The current temperature is 39° which feels just like 39°,  My "Desktop Weather Station" is showing a temperature of 42°. Later today, sunny skies will be the order of the day as the temperature soars to a more spring-like 60°. However this being MI, we won't be seeing the upper 60° range for at least another 10 days or so. One of these days, I can get to my backlog of things, both inside and outside of the Palatial Estate, that require warmer temperatures. But as one of our favorite local meteorologists often says, it is cooler near the lake than inland. 

The sun will rise at 6:36 a.m. and set at 8:49 p.m. Ciao.

By the by, does anyone see a problem with this picture we took at Kirk Park?