Good morning or good evening. wherever you may be. It is just passing 1:30 a.m. in "The City."

A current temperature of 43° that feels like 37° is forecast to move up to today's high of 63°, albeit with showers in the evening a 45% possibility. The balance of the week looks like it will return to the 60° range. That bodes well for the outdoor activities that I/we have on my agenda for the balance of the week. That includes finishing the staining of the deck and a riverboat cruise that Mary and I have scheduled for Thursday afternoon on the Grand River. I need to be sure to remind Mary that she is going to the hospital with me that morning, since we have to travel directly from the hospital to the cruise launch site in Jenison, MI.

Speaking of getting things finished, I reassembled the cabinets in the upstairs bathroom because for the next several weeks, I'll be incapacitated due to my thumb surgery and rehab. The original plan was to be able to open the windows and get air upstairs while I was staining and finishing the cabinets, but the cooler than average temperatures have precluded that in the recent past.

Yesterday we got the basics decided for our Amtrak™ trip. We have to finalize the details, but at least we have a destination and a basic itinerary now. For the morning safari, we walked to the big-box home center to get some LED light bulbs for the downstairs bathroom. STWD got to go along and actually go into the store. I'm not sure what she thought about the experience, but it was a lot easier to be able to take her in.

By afternoon, we were ready for some culture, so we made our way to the library where classical guitarist Kyle Thompson was performing as part of the Sunday afternoon concert series provided by the library. He was great and I came away inspired to be a better player just as soon as my thumb heals.

With all of our walking yesterday, including a stop at our favorite watering hole, I amassed 7,280 steps. For the week, that was a total of 46,431 steps, good enough for 23.21 miles. Not bad.

Mary experimented with a different type of ingredients for her vegan beest. She always asks me to give a rating as to whether a recipe/outcome is a keeper. In this case, I have to say that this one is not. Too much like soggy bread, not enough like beest. She always says that recipes are just suggestions, much like Adam says about speed limits, but in this case the recipe needs a lot of work to move into the keeper category. Sorry Mary. Her breakfast hash was much better.

Sports news yesterday was mostly good, but the boys in blue lost to the Pirates 1 - 2. Said the Pirates' pitcher Gerrit Cole, "I don't really think they're the best team in baseball." This from a player on a team that the boys beat five out of six games this season, even sweeping the Pirates in their own ballpark earlier in the year. Sour grapes? The Cubs have a record of 27 - 9, eight full games ahead of the 19 - 17 second place Pirates on the NL Central division. Just saying,

The Tigers defeated the Orioles by a slim 6 - 5 margin. They are still in 4th place in the AL Central. My beloved Red Sox stopped their slide with a 10 - 9 win over the Astros. That gives the Sox a record of 24 - 14 in the AL East, but once again statistically tied with the division leading Orioles who lost to the Tigers. The Caps slipped by the Ft. Wayne, TinCaps 1 - 0 to move to 18 - 16 and 4th place in the MW League Eastern division. Oh, that other team from Chicago lost to the Yankees 5 - 7.

Today, more walking with the intrepid one, more reading, and some basic housework. In the afternoon we have an appointment at the chiropractor. The sun will rise at 6:19 a.m. and set at 9:03 p.m. amidst those possible showers. Ciao.