Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 5:30 a.m. in "The City."

I'm going to start with a picture that Mary took yesterday after her regularly scheduled Friday chat session.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is a photo of my long awaited 65th birthday cake. Using all of her long-dormant cake baking skills and her well-worn Fanny Farmer cookbook Mary created this scratch-made cake and the buttercream icing. I can personally attest that in spite of my involvement, it tasted and will continue to taste great for several more samplings. Of course, what is chocolate cake without a glass of almond milk? 

But enough about my gustatory yearnings and proclivities. Let's discuss what's really important, the reality that, "Baseball is life!"

The Cubs and starting pitcher Jon Lester took a no-hitter into the top of the 7th yesterday. With two outs and no one on base, Hunter Pence of the Giants reached down and swatted a ball over the left-field wall to spoil the no-hit bid and tally the only run that the Giants would get in a game that the Cubs won, 2 - 1. That moves the Cubs NL Central record to a Major League™ best 87 - 47. They are enjoying a 16.5 game lead over the 2nd place Cardinals. and 19.0 games ahead of the 3rd place Pirates. The Cubs and the Giants play again today @ 2:20 p.m. EDT.

The Tigers also won by one run over the Royals in a battle of AL Central opponents. The final score was 7 - 6. That score still finds the Tigers in 2nd place with their division record of 73 - 61, 4.5 games behind the winning Indians. TheTigers and the Royals play again tonight @ 7:15 p.m.

My beloved Red Sox traveled to Oakland, CA to crush the As by a final score of 16 - 2. The Sox are now just one game behind the losing Blue Jays with the Sox having a division record of 79 - 59 in the AL East. Big Papi got three RBIs to bring his season total to 103 with 24 games still to play in the regular season. The Sox and the As play again tonight @ 9:05 p.m. 

The Caps defeated the South Bend Cubs 3 - 0. in an MWL East game last night. Unfortunately, the Caps are still in 5th place, 12 games behind the division-leading Hot Rods. The Caps will be playing the Great Lakes Loons tonight to complete a rained out game @ 5:00 p.m. and then again in a regularly scheduled game @ 7:05 p.m. The Caps open the playoffs in Wednesday against the South Bend Cubs.

I actually got to spot both runs of the train on the RSTL as they passed through GH. At 10:20 a.m., EMD GP 38 locomotive was cruising down the rails heading south towing one BC and 13 CHCs. That same locomotive returned heading north @ 2:47 p.m., towing seven CHCs, one GTC, and seven DBTCs.

After the morning safari, I walked to Guitar Haven to attempt to purchase new strings for Blue and Ivy. Unfortunately, I was one day late, as a person came in the day before and bought the entire stock. Now I have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday. 

I watered and worked in the gardens of the PE, while Mary baked and chatted. I came in to assist in the preparation of my birthday cake and the latest edition of her vegan spicy tomato loaf, which will become part of today's meals. Sugar was on hand in her role as sous dog to assist in any way that was necessary.

The current temperature is 54° under clear skies. We anticipate a high today of 77° under sunny skies with 69% relative humidity, There is no rain in the forecast from the NWS until Wednesday when they are forecasting a 69% chance of scattered T-storms. 

We have no plans beyond the morning safari and a continuation of Mary's reorganization efforts. I may get to the painting of the storage chest from the mud room given the clear skies forecast for several more days. 

The sun will rise @7:12 a.m. and set @ 8:14 p.m. Ciao.