Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 2:30 a.m. in "The City."

I awoke a while ago in my La-Z-Boy in the media room where I had journeyed to watch the game between the now 9 - 4 Chicago Bears, and the now 11 - 2 L.A. Rams. Neither team sparkled offensively, but the Rams were the worst. Before this game, they had been very good in the 2018 season. Rams' QB Jared Goff posted his lowest passer rating of the year with a 19.1, while Rams' star RB, Todd Gurley, normally a very prolific running back, was held to just 28 yards on 11 carries. To say that the Bears' defense dominated the Rams' offense is putting it mildly. Returning from an injury, Bears' QB. Mitch Trubisky, tossed three interceptions and didn't seem to bring his "A" game to Soldier Field. All in all, a satisfying Sunday Night Football win by the Bears over the Rams, 15 - 6.

We have a current temperature of 29° as we drop towards the overnight low of 27° under partly cloudy-skies. Today's high after the sun rises @ 8:05 a.m. will be 35°, also under partly-cloudy skies, well before the sun sets @ 5:09 p.m.

We bid a fond adieu to the human-children yesterday morning and then settled in for a bagel with a schmear, as my friend Ellen might say. While Mary went to the grocery store, I combined two soup recipes to make a delicious second-course of mushroom and lentil soup. When Mary returned, she had brought some spinach with her and that also found its way into the soup. This soup is a definite keeper. I wish I could say the same about the vegan seitan bacon that Mary cremated to go with those aforementioned bagels, I wish, but I can't. It was charcoal pretending to be vegan bacon. Sorry Mary, but that's the way the bacon crumbled.

In the mid-afternoon, we journeyed to the library for one of their Sunday Afternoon Concerts, featuring a singer/songwriter named Lee Murdoch. He is a superb guitarist and storyteller who entertained a large crowd for one-hour, with songs of the season and songs of the sailors who plied the Great Lakes and the oceans of the world. I have included a clip from YouTube™ of Murdoch performing at the 2005 Chicago Maritime Festival, singing a song that he wrote entitled My Mother's Eyes. This song is the story of a man and his family who owned a ship called Bridge Tender #10.

The ship had been refitted in Wisconsin after being purchased from a bridge building company and the father of the family was to bring her back across the "Big Lake" when she was done, hopefully bring her safely to port. Unfortunately, he never reached home and was lost at sea. The "Big Lake" has claimed her share of sailors throughout the years. To this day, many ship's skeletons are found and/or viewed when the waters of Lake Michigan drop low during the seasons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPo4aN3aBlo&index=2&list=PLE2F9CB659ADDED02

I have taken the liberty of including some pix of Murdoch performing that both Mary and yours truly took while at the library.

Actually, this isn't Murdoch, but Larry Halverson, the Loutit Library's Public Relations Director,  as he introduced Murdoch before he performed. Larry is also the coordinator of our monthly Irish Jam sessions and the principal whistle player with his own Irish band, Uneven Ground.

Murdoch played a six-string guitar that was hand, made along with a 12-string guitar of similar origins.

Here he is seen giving the background to one of his songs.

The aforementioned 12-string guitar.

A nice shot taken by Mary of the lobby area where Murdoch was performing.

Mary redeemed herself for dinner, with a baked mostaccioli that I had suggested earlier the day before. There is a story n that suggestion regarding the word mostaccioli, that I may tell more about in another blog. While her original conception didn't make it into the oven, her final product was superb and also a keeper.Very tasty.

Today, we have nothing specific on the agenda except for a walk with the fur-children and a large amount of indoor chores. Fortunately, we have our regular house cleaning happening today too. Speaking of the fur-children, since I was up, I let them out around 1:30 a.m.

I think that's enough for one blog. Ciao.