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

I was just outside with GTWD for her final out before bedtime, which provides me with the perfect segue into the current weather conditions. The NWS is reporting a current temperature of 64°, while on the DTWS, the display shows 62° based on its FPMS. In either case, it is absolutely gorgeous, albeit on the windy side with clear skies. Those conditions are forecast to extend through the balance of today with the high reaching 65°. However, the winds will strengthen throughout the day in advance of the approaching front that will produce showers sometime this evening.

Sadly, those showers will lead to the very seasonable weather that is forecast to arrive on Saturday. The high temperature will not exceed 40° with a chance of rain and snow accompanied by windy conditions. In short, winter will announce its arrival with gusto. That is much the same for Sunday too.

Oh well, I may take my travelling guitar, Abigael, to the Irish Jam session on Saturday as she is the lightest to carry. Or, I may take my banjitar or ganjo, Susanna. A game day decision.

What a great day it was yesterday. The temperatures absolutely demanded that I ride my bike, and so I did. I rode all over "The City" travelling west, north, east and south. If the old bones allow, I will repeat again today while Mary works. I like the sound of that. If it is too windy, I may not go riding. In either case, I'll be hanging both of our bikes in the rafters of the garage as this will be the last chance for me to ride until spring. Sigh.

It should be noted that in spite of our big tree being gone from the parkway, the leaves are piling up in the front lawn of the PE. I believe, as does my neighbor, Ron, that the leaves are blowing down the street from Central Park. It is ironic that the leaves need to be raked and then placed into bags that cost money. The city fathers, in their infinite wisdom, decided about four years ago that it was too expensive to provide curbside leaf removal as the other cities in the Tri-Cities area do. So, we are now paying for bags, providing the labor through sweat equity, or through a lawn service which has an additional cost and then hauling the bags to the curb on trash day for pickup.  However, the city can avoid the tax burden that it costs for leaf removal and claim they are being fiscally responsible. Hmmmm? I'll have to query our council member about that savings.

Mary and GTWD soloed again yesterday while STWD and I traveled in the opposite direction. We ended up meeting at the corner anyway, as Mary and GTWD had stopped in @ JDubs wine/cheese, and other things of interest store for some trivets. JDubs is the new store located next to JWs restaurant. Since GTWD is small, Mary was able to carry her into the store, with the owner's permission. The trivets look very nice.

Speaking of Mary, for lunch, she used her food processor to make chickpea salad for sandwiches. She had some of my famous Coleslaw, which isn't as good with carrots substituting for apples in my recipe. I made a salad to go with my sandwich. Mary used turmeric instead of paprika when making the chickpea spread and I think it tastes better. Just an opinion.

When I returned from my bike ride, I assisted with the catalog index Mary is currently working on and then I assisted with the final winding of the yarn ball that we have been working on for several sittings. It is now done. Whew!

Dinner turned out to be a sandwich for me, while Mary had something later that she had nuked. When I took GTWD out @ 12:30 a.m., I only saw the empty bowl, so I don't know what was in it.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention one last bit of baseball news for 2016, @ least for now. The Boston Red Sox' ace pitcher, Rick Porcello, won the American League Cy Young award on Wednesday as the best pitcher in the American League. He narrowly beat the Tigers' own ace, Justin Verlander for that prestigious award. Kris Bryant, the Cub's multi-position player, won the MVP award yesterday based on the tremendous year that he had had in helping the Cubs win the pennant and the World Series. Do I dare? Sure! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9XtDyDUjIU

Today, to bike ride or not to bike ride, that is the question. Time with the girls and reading are also in the mix after the morning safari with STWD. Mary reminded me that the bananas are ready for another loaf of my world famous banana nut bread. STWD will become STSD @ that time. She provides invaluable assistance in the kitchen for that activity. Mary also plans to try a new breakfast recipe for tofu scramble that requires chopping. The recipe looks good in pictures and in its description, so here's hoping. Mary loves to chop veggies and other things and experiment with recipes. I prefer to stay with what I know how to do.

The sun will rise today @ 7:41 a.m. and set @ 5:17 p.m. Ciao.