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

Unlike that hackneyed opening from one of Snoopy's fairy-tales in the comic strip Peanuts, I can say with near certainty, that my arising @ 5:30 a.m. is a bit unusual. I decided to head to bed last night after watching my beloved Red Sox dispatch the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth-inning with a final score of 4 - 3. I slept through the night.

The game was not without its moments in the bottom of the 9th inning, as the Yankees loaded the bases, the Sox' usually reliable closer, Craig Kimbrel, couldn't find the plate and walked n a run and hit a batter. The final out was called on a disputed play @ first-base to put the icing on the cake as the Sox prepare for the ALCS against the Astros.

But on to bigger and better things. We have a current temperature of 69° under what hqad been totally clear skies in which were visible numerous planets and constellations. I was outside with both of the fur-children around 5:45 a.m. and as promised, the winds were picking up en route to the Small Craft Warning and the Gale Force Winds in the forecast from the NWS. Today's high is forecast to be 73° and the skies will cloud up as the rains begin to fall as the day progresses. As of now, the NWS is expecting those rains to hold off until around 1:00 p.m. The sun will rise @ 7:52 and set @ 7:10.

We had a terrific day yesterday. We dropped Ginger @ daycare/grooming and headed north to see what we could see. We traveled over 150 miles in our journey and discovered some things and places that we've never seen before in our seven years of living in Michigan.

We had set our GPS system to take us to Newaygo, MI and then continued north from there. We passed through a few tiny towns and hamlets along the way, including Scottville, the home to the famous Scottville Clown Band. The band is composed of talented members from all over Michigan and they perform in parades and venues throughout the state, including our own Coast Guard Festival Parade. They are best known for their crazy antics and colorful costumes.

I took this pic at the historical village I am about to mention.

But I digress. While we were traveling, we came across a roadside marker that led us to a place named the White Pines Village. This charming historical village is nestled in the back-roads near Ludington, MI, and is run by volunteers from early May through late October. This quaint village is home to many historic buildings and depicts the way life was in the bygone days of Michigan.

On this Tuesday afternoon, just a couple of weeks before they close their season, the village was nearly devoid of tourists.

Since we had brought our camera to take pix of the changing colors, I took numerous photos. I can't begin to add them all, so I'll select a few that we found interesting during our stop.

When you leave the entrance to the village,the first building you encounter is this home from the 1800s.

You can't visit an historic home without getting apic of the kitchen area.

Of course, the village had to have a "Time Museum." I took these two pix for Adam.

Oddly, or perhaps not, the exhibits include one of a company that made watch cases. Their business thrived until one of their biggest customers, the Elgin Watch Company, bought a watch-case maker and began to manufacture their own cases.

Nestled in the White Pines of the village, is this quaint church and graveyard.

Also on the grounds, is this locomotive.

However, I should back up and mention that we were traveling along Route 37, and I espied a railroad trestle that I wanted to memorialize in a picture. We made a turn, couldn't find the trestle, but we did find a beautiful park along the shores of the White River.

I took some pix of the colorful leaves and the sights to be seen there.

I shot this one with my zoom lens.

Mary suggested the framing of this shot, also taken with my zoom lens.

I don't know what this brook was babbling about, but it sure was scenic.

As we traveled towards home. I decided to try taking some pix using the motion setting on our Olympus DSLR camera. Normally, the setting is used for taking pictures of cars and things that are passing by at high-speed. However, since we were in motion in the car, I used the setting in what was effectively reverse, to take some pix of the fall leaves along the way. I think they turned out great.

I like this one, a lot!

This one too.

The fall colors are clearly evident in this one.

As they are here.

Keep in mind that we are traveling @ 60 mph plus!

We ended our glorious day @ Stan's and then picked up Ginger from her much needed grooming. She looks and feels much better.

Today, we hope to stay in out of the rain and just relax. If all goes well, I'll get some indoor chores done and more reading and playing with the girls, Blue, Ivy, Abigael, et al. Mary will be crafting etc. Ciao.