Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 6:00 a.m. in "The City."

This morning I was downstairs to let the fur-children out and the NWS is right. The current temperature of 29° actually feels like 29! In addition, there is something new in the forecast from the NWS, a Freezing Fog Advisory. That's a first for me in all my years of writing this blog. a Freezing Fog Advisory is issued when the temperatures are hovering just below freezing and there is fog that can cause poor visibility and slick-spots on the roads. That advisory is in effect until 9:00 a.m. this morning.

Plus, there is yet another of those Small Craft Advisories in effect for the shores of the "Big Lake" from Holland to Grand Haven, beginning tonight @ 8:00 p.m. and continuing until 8:00 p.m. Monday night. As the night wears on, the wind-speeds will increase up to 30 knots and wave heights will increase on Lake Michigan up to 7 feet!. The sun will rise this morning @ 8:10 a.m. and set later @ 5:10 p.m.

This is an interesting time of the year for weather predictions. As of now, the NWS is forecasting that a White Christmas, defined as one-inch or more of snow on the ground, is possible for the Rocky Mountains, Northern WI, the Arrowhead of MN, the U.P. of MI, and the upper New England states. As long as I don't have to shovel or blow it, I'm OK with that forecast.

Mary and I went to the library for my Irish Jam session yesterday. My funfetti cookies were a hit and I had a good time. However, my aching shoulder caused me to stop playing several times. Sigh, I guess the surgery can't be too soon. Mary spent part of her visit upstairs in the library reading a book that she was checking out and which she likes, a lot, according to her personal and emailed commentary.

We went downtown after the jam session to take advantage of the 25% off sale at the gift shop @ the Tri-Cities Historical Museum. We selected an ornament for our tree that represents the lighthouse on Grand Haven's North Pier. Mary used her Smart Phone camera function to take a couple of pix, one of the bag that held our new ornament, and one of the ornament itself. I am recommending that she keep the bag for storage of the ornament for future Christmases.

Yes, I am older than the museum, established in 1959!.

Mary placed the bright-red ornament strategically on our tree.

Today, we are off to Hemlock Crossing County Park for an afternoon session of Christmas ornament creation, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. A couple of years ago we also participated in this activity and I made an owl and a reindeer out of various itmes from the forests of Ottawa County. Mary made an owl. We still have the owls to display on our tree, but the reindeer was here for Ginder's first Christmas at the manse and she felt a need to return it to its original form, sticks and pieces of pine cone. This year, though she is mostly all grown-up, we'll place the reindeer in/on the display that we keep on the table in the foyer to forestall a future catastrophe.

Otherwise, we plan to stop at our favorite watering hole on the way home, football fans permitting, to have a late lunch. If that fails, we don't have a back-up plan.

The Lions are in Buffalo @ 1:00 p.m. EST, while the Bears welcome the Packers to Soldier field, also @ 1:00 p.m. EST. Ciao.