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

I hadn't planned on being up, but when you sit down to watch a thrilling baseball game, like the one I watched as the 68 - 49, 1st in the NL Central. The Cubs have a three game over the 67 - 54, 2nd place Brewers, who will be the Cubs' opponent on Tuesday @ 2:20 p.m. EDT. I watched as David Bote came to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning, with two outs and the bases loaded. Bote drove the ball to straight-away center-field and rounded the bases with his fist in the air to the cheers of Cub's fans. When he reached the plate, his teammates tore off his jersey and celebrated with him. What can I say, Cubs Win!

My beloved, 85 - 35, 1st place in the AL East Red Sox, have a commanding 9.5 game lead over the 2nd place Yankees. In addition, the Sox are 50 games over .500 for the first time since 1946! What else happened that year? Oh yeah, some guy named Captain Ted Williams, returned to the Sox from his WWII service as a fighter pilot. Williams is the last player to hit .400 for an entire season.

At any rate, the Sox swept the 5th place, 35 - 84 Orioles as Chris Sale returned from the DL and recorded 12 strikeouts in the 4 - 1 decision. The Sox have a day off as they travel to Philadelphia for a game against the 65 - 52, 2nd in the NL East Phillies @ 7:05 p.m. EDT.

The 49 - 69, 3rd place in the AL Central Tigers, actually won a game over the 54 - 63, 2nd place Twins, 4 - 2 in a very weak division. The Tigers don't get a day off as they welcome that other team from Chicago and their 42 - 75, 4th place in the AL Central record, for a game tomorrow night @ 7:10 p.m.

The 3rd place 60 - 58 Caps, lost a MWL East game to the 4th place Ft. Wayne, IN TinCaps, 2 - 5. The Caps play the TinCaps again tonight @ 7:05 p.m. EDT.

I did a little picture taking over the last couple of days, surprise, and so I've chosen a few that I think show promise and growth in my nascent photography skills. I guess my loyal readers can judge for themselves.

I took this pic with Mary's macro lens following a walk with STWD on Saturday. These mushrooms appeared in our neighbor's lawn following a recent rain shower.

Since I was out there, I took this pic of an almost hidden rose in our newly added parkway garden.

I've been watering this Gerbera Daisy for the entire summer and we have been rewarded with may flowers like these.

This multi-faceted planter is being held "Captive" on the front porch of the manse.

The first flowers on our shared driveway Hostas.

I like to think of these Black-eyed Susan's as volunteers that sprouted among our Irises near the deck. I have been watering them too.

Speaking of volunteers, these potatoes grew from some leftover tubers in what is now Mary's rose garden. They are the first of our potato crop this season. More potatoes to be harvested in the next few days.

Otherwise, I am doing well with my highlighting chores. I am on page 223/512, or 43% done.

I convinced Mary that one more big-box stop was in our plans for yesterday. She says that that is her last visit for awhile. I got what I wanted and that's all that matters.

I finished my latest novel, The Escape Artist, by Brad Meltzer, late last night. It was good, but not great in my opinion. I'd not read any of his works before and I may try another just to confirm my diagnosis/opinion.

We have a current temperature of 69° under clear skies, as we drop to the overnight low of 62°. The NWS is forecasting showers/T-storms for Wednesday thru Friday @ anywhere from 40% to 60%. We shall see. The sun will rise today @ 6:48 a.m. and set tonight @ 8:49 p.m.

Otherwise, I have to continue my highlighting and Mary has to continue her chunking and indexing. Ciao.