Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 6:30 a.m. in "The City."

My original plan was to stay in bed and get some additional sleep. Alas, as is all too often said, "Plans change." I once again awoke to the sound of thunder and of course found STWD in her hide-e-hole. So I proceeded to the media room for some early morning TV and then I sprang to my desk for this blog.

All of that thunder I'd heard was accompanied by another gully-washer of a rain storm. I like it in that I once again won't have to water. However, my plan was to ride my bike today, but that may not be possible due to the forecast from the NWS. They predict that we'll see a cessation of the shower activity around 9:00 this a.m. and then only a 15% to 20% chance until 5:00 p.m. when the percentage changes to 50% to 65% for scattered T-storms.

The sun will rise this morning @ 7:05 a.m. and set later this evening @ 8:26 p.m. In between, the relative humidity will be 80% with a high temperature of 82°! There is not a chance that I'll be riding my bike today. Tomorrow doesn't look any better, with T-storms early and then cloudy-skies the rest of the day. However, the temperature forecast will be better along with the relative humidity tomorrow.

However, there is a side benefit/effect to the heavy rains of late. Mushrooms of various varieties seemingly pop-up out of nowhere. As you may recall, I took some photos in our neighbor's yard a few weeks ago of one variety. Yesterday's rains produced some additional varieties in our parkway garden. Naturally, Mary grabbed the camera and took some photos along with pix of her roses, one of which I think is stunning enough to be immortalized on the wall of her office. You decide.

I like this one.

But, I think I like this one the best.

Oh yes, the aforementioned mushrooms.

I was watching TV in the media room when Mary invited me to the front porch to enjoy the weather and a view of one of our roses.

Even though the skies were darkening as the front that drove STWD to her hid-e-hole moved in, Mary got some great pix.

Just because.

Since we were on the porch, Ginger wanted to be there too.

It is now official, Mary's indexing business has closed and she is retired. Her contact at the publisher gave her a great testimonial that made her feel as though her work had worth and value. I'm somewhat ambivalent, as she did the hard work and all I had to do was highlight and comment on some very interesting books. Will I miss the long tomes? No, but the shorter and often more interesting ones were fun and educational.

As was always the case, I was once again paid in beans. We made a stop for dinner at our favorite watering hole for my final, well-earned, bean burrito. Somewhat bittersweet I think, but a new chapter in our lives awaits. Mary has a myriad number of craft projects to work on, vegan cooking recipes to try, excursions for photo-ops, and walks with the fur-children to be taken.

Me? I have an entire library full of books to read and numerous meetings with the "Girls" to attend. Plus, I still love to cook and bake and there are musical instruments that I want to play, if not master. So, I have plenty to do too. Mary's mother always used to say how busy she was in retirement and now I know why. As I like to do, I just had to go to YouTube™ for an appropriate song to fit my mood. I chose He Went to Paris, by singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett to help illustrate my feelings.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyytp3Xf26I

I think Mary might have chosen this Jimmy Buffett song, A Pirate Looks at Forty from YouTube™ to illustrate her feelings. I'll let her correct me if I'm wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZmbjopYUPc

Baseball news yesterday was okay, if you are a Cubs' fan. They defeated the Mets, 7 - 4 last night as Jon Lester contributed two RBIs, but didn't get the decision. He was relieved and his relief gave up the tying run. A powerful 425' home-run from Anthony Rizzo and some timely hitting by Ben Zobrist sealed the win. The Cubs now lead the Cardinals and the Brewers in the  NL Central by 4.5 and 5.0 games respectively. The Cubs and the Mets play again tonight @ 8:05 p.m. EDT.

My beloved Red Sox had the day off, but a defeat of the 2nd place Yankees by that other team from Chicago, 6 - 2, gives the Sox a 6.5 game lead in the AL East. The Sox play in Fenway tonight against the 5th place, 53 - 79 Miami Marlins @ 710 p.m. EDT.

The 53 - 76, 3rd place in the AL Central Tigers, also had the day off yesterday. They travel to meet the equally inept, 40 - 91 Kansas City Royals tonight @ 8:15 p.m. EDT.

The 65 - 68, 5th place in the MWL East Caps, probably wish that they too had had the day off, as they fell to the 58 - 74 Loons, 2 - 6. The Caps do have today off before traveling to OH to meet the 56 - 76 Dayton Dragons @ 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night.

Well that looks like enough for one morning, so I'm outta here! Ciao.