Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 4:00 a.m. in "The City."

The current temperature is 51° under partly-cloudy skies. The sun will rise today @ 7:08 a.m. and set later @ 8:21 p.m. Today's high is forecast to reach 76°, also under partly-cloudy skies. As of now, the NWS is forecasting a 50% chance of showers Sunday morning, so I'll wait on watering the vast gardens to see what happens.

In the words of the immortal Ken "The Hawk" Harrelson, the regular play-by-play announcer for that other team fro Chicago, "Put it on the board, Yes!" My birthday has come and gone and I had a terrific day. I received well-wishes from family and friends and at my age, every birthday is a gift.

As planned, I took that ride on my bicycle to commemorate the day. Along the way, I used our Olympus DSLR to take a lot of pix. I rode through downtown GH and then out to Harbor Island and finally through Linear Park.

This park is on Harbor Island, which is also home to the soon to be shuttered Sims Generating Plant.

Sims is a coal-fired generating plant that has to be closed or upgraded at a cost in excess of $30 million! You can guess what the BLP Board chose.

This sculpture is at the entrance to Linear Park,

As I rode through, I noted that the high water levels of the past several months, have visited the park and Harbor Island too. Naturally, the ducks love it!

As another immortal, Yogi Berra once said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."

This is the lower part of the path through Linear Park. Fortunately, there is a bypass on an upper level.

The ducks didn't seem to mind having their pix taken.

Perhaps so many humans pass by, that they don't waste energy on the "Fight or Flight" response.

This pair just ignored me.

Since I was on the north side of the channel, I was able to take some pix of our coal tipple and other sights along the channel and Harbor Island. 

The coal tipple.

Fuel storage tanks.

Gravel stored at Verplank's Dock and a truck heading there.

This wooden trestle is part of the tracks belonging to the MMRR.

As a side note, GH has been allowing building on just about any open piece of land in the city. This seems to be exacerbating the flooding of homes near to the new construction, like these condos.

Condos starting in the $350s, but probably more in the $400 k range when completed. However, you can see that the price of living near downtown GH is high and getting higher all the time and hasn't deterred sales even slightly.

They look like single-family homes, but they are indeed condos.

As I rode back towards the manse, I took some pix of random places and things along the way.

The Purple Rose beckons customers using these three ladies as bait.

A little bit of fertilizer goes a long way to foster the blooms on Mary's roses.

As does regular watering of the planters out front.

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, many more zucchini will need to be harvested.

I'm getting verbose, so I'll truncate my commentary on the world of baseball.

The Cubs are now just one game behind the AL Central leading Cardinals, following the Cubs' convincing defeat of the Brewers, 7 - 1. Cole Hamels returns from the paternity list to start today's game @ 2:20 p.m. EDT.

It took 15 innings on the West Coast, but my beloved Red Sox defeated the Angels in LA earlier this morning, 7 - 6. Still, the Sox are firmly holding onto 3rd place in the AL East. Tonight's game begins @ 9:07 p.m.

The Tigers still can't catch a break nor a baseball apparently. They fell to the the AL Central leading Twins, 5 - 13. Tonight's game starts @ 6:10p.m.

The WhiteCaps took a game from the Lugnuts, 6 - 5 last night. The Caps move on to Dayton for a game against the Dragons tonight  @ 7:00 p.m.

Today promises to be another beautiful day in GH, partly-cloudy, but no rain in the forecast. I plan to paint some, read some, and watch baseball. That is until the Michigan Wolverines are hopefully on TV tonight. I have already asked Mary to prepare my viewing snacks/meals.

Speaking of meals, Mary made my requested spaghetti-role casserole for my dinner last night and it was superb. She used some of our own tomatoes in the casserole. I followed dinner with my annual slice of Key Lime Pie, from JWs. They have a policy of giving a free slice of pie or cake on your birthday. Let me say, that it was unbelievably delicious. We ate diner watching a Rom-Com movie on HULU™ starring Hugh Grant and Marisa Tomei entitled The Rewrite. As is always the case, I love a good Rom-Com movie.

Otherwise, we have no specific plans for today and that's fine with me. Ciao.

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

The current temperature is 61° under clear skies. The sun will rise today @ 7:07 a.m. and set later @ 8:24 p.m. The Beach Hazard Statement, the Small Craft Advisory, and the Lakeshore Erosion Statement have all been canceled. In addition, all of the T-storms that were in the forecast for last evening passed us by. All we got were some spectacular lightning effects and a bit of thunder. We received only a slight, and I stress slight, amount of rain. Today's high will be a very San Diego-like 71°. It's a good thing I watered all of the flowers and vegetables in the vast gardens yesterday.


Speaking of those lightning effects, our Senior Staff Photographer and I stopped in at JWs after her session at the library on the Making of Centerpieces. On the way home, we saw some startling lightning in the southern sky. Fortunately, she had her trusty Olympus TG-6 camera in her bag and took some shots of the lightning in progress. Here is one of those.

A great pic from a small camera!

As I mentioned, Mary had been at that centerpiece making session and when she got home, she placed her creation on the dresser in our bedroom. I think it looks terrific. I especially like the shadows behind her creation.

This shot was taken with our Olympus DSLR camera.

I finally remembered to fertilize our rose garden and the roses are once again blooming. So, it was only natural that we cut one for display on our dining room table.

The aroma is even more beautiful than the flower itself!

Since it is now my birthday, Mary did something that we haven't done in many years, she got me a gift. At our age, if we see something we want or need, we just buy it. So as a general rule, gift exchanges are not necessary.


In this case, I used our Olympus DSLR camera to take a pic of the book she gave me, appropriately in Black and White.

In addition, I took a pic of the beautiful card I received from Mary in color.

Not my best effort, but @ 6:00 a.m., what can you expect?

This s a quickie pic of an art project I've been working on for Halloween.

I'm sure to honor my birthday, the Cubs swept the Mets with a  4 - 1 win last night in NYC. Jon Lester got the win, but it was the two home runs from back-up catcher Victor Caratini that sealed the deal. That win finds the Cubs still 1.5 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central as they come home to "The Friendly Confines" for a game this afternoon @ 2:20 p.m. EDT. That's when the Brewers come to town, as Jose Quintana makes the start for the Cubs.

My beloved Red Sox had the day off for travel to California yesterday before tonight's game against the LA Angels @ 10:07 p.m. as Nathan Eovaldi starts.

The Tigers, what can I say? They lost to the Indians, 0 - 2. Starting pitcher Dan Norris looked good, but the Tigers still couldn't put any runs on the board. The Tigers meet the 1st place in the AL Central Twins tonight in Comerica Park @ 7:10 p.m., as Edwin Jackson tries to stem the tide of losses.

The West Michigan WhiteCaps, AKA the Caps, fell 3 - 7 to the Lansing Lugnuts lst night. This disappointing season will soon be mercifully over. Until it is, the Caps have a few more games to play, with tonight's game against the Lugnuts @ 7:05 p.m.

While Mary was out at the grocery store yesterday afternoon, I took the fur-children for individualized walks. STWD and I didn't go very far, as befits our advancing years, but Ginger and I took a bit longer sojourn. I also made some new soy curls and some tofu cubes too.

Today, I have plans to ride my bike for my 68th birthday. Since I can't skydive as former president George H.W. Bush did for his 90th birthday, and since I don't own a sports-car nor muscle-car, my bicycle will be my ride/activity of choice. That's fine by me, but I have to be sure to get out early before the Labor Day holiday traffic commences as the season closes in GH. I'll also be doing more coloring and playing with the girls too.

Mary plans to do some indoor chores and later make my dinner request, spaghetti-role casserole.

Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 4:00 a.m. in "The City."

The current temperature is 60° under clear skies. The sun will rise today @ 7:05 a.m. and set later @ 8:24 p.m. Between now and 8:00 p.m. Thursday, the NWS has extended those three advisories and/or statements already in effect.

We still have that Beach Hazard Statement in effect. That means that north of South Haven, high/strong-winds and rip currents preclude swimming in the "Big Lake." So naturally, people are strongly encouraged to avoid the water and/or walking on the piers.

In addition, there is still that Small Craft Advisory in effect, also until 8:00 p.m. tonight. Winds of 10 - 20 knots will diminish oduring the day today and then return with a vengeance later tomorrow, increasing to 30 knots and producing increased wave heights up to eight feet! Small craft, inexperienced sailors, and ships without a good crew and a good captain well seasoned should not leave the dock.

Let's not forget that the wind and waves also necessitated yet another Lakeshore Erosion Statement, also in effect until 8:00 p.m. tonight. Piers, docks, and other lake shore properties may become submerged.

There is a 50% chance for T-storms this afternoon too, with wind gusts of 20 - 30 mph!

You would think that any one of those warnings/statements/advisories would be enough to keep people out of the water and oft the piers. But no, you can't fix stupid as evidenced by some of the pictures I am adding below.

Red flag means: DON'T GO INTO THE WATER!

When you snap enough pictures with a digital camera, sometimes you get one like this.

At any time, waves might break over the railings of the boardwalk leading to the south pier.

What was it I said about trying to fix stupid?

Like Mother Ocean, the "Big Lake" can be very angry!

Indeed!

A little ray of sunshine.

One very foolish couple waded into this surf and the riptides with their small child.

We even saw a large group of young people way out on the pier.

Since we were both out with cameras in hand, we took pix of whatever caught our collective fancies. I had to stop and wipe my lens periodically so that the images came out crisp and clean with no...Oops!

As is almost always the case, I like to take pix of unused playground equipment.

What children were at the Grand Haven State Park Campground were hiding inside their respective campers.

Since we were out and about, we stopped in at Duncan Woods for some additional photos. Mary employed her new Olympus TG-6, while I tried the black and white function that I learned about on Tuesday.

Oddly, an old sign in Duncan Woods calls the place Duncan Park.

Normally Mary is rightfully afraid of spiders due to her allergic reactions. But this one was on something else she had chosen to photograph.

The fine details that her TG-6 can photograph are amazing!

Another angle on that spider and the veins of the leaf upon which he was sitting.

I sat on a bench biding my time and taking pix of whatever I chose, some in color and some in black and white.

Color.

Same shot in black and white.

Clouds seem to look more ominous in black and white.

Truly amazing what color can add, or take away!

But I need to move along or I'll be here all night, or is it morning?

In baseball news, the Cubs scored six runs in the first inning last night, en route to their final victory over the Mets, 10 - 7. Kyle Hendricks started the game, but was lifted by Joe Madden before he could qualify for the win, as he became very erratic in the 5th. One of his replacements, Kyle Ryan, got the win. The Cubs and the Mets reprise their rivalry again tonight @ 7:10 p.m. when Jon Lester makes the start. This being 2019, it marks 50 years since the Cubs fell out of contention late in the season as the "Miracle Mets" surged to the World Series. Here's hoping that history doesn't repeat itself.

My beloved Red Sox are still in 3rd place, 15.5 games behind the AL East leading Yankees following the Sox win over the Rockies, 7 - 4. The X-Man, Xander Bogaerts, got two home runs to propel the Sox offense and hand Eduardo Rodriguez his 16th win! Tonight's Red Sox game against the LA Angels will commence @ 10:07 p.m. when Nathan Eovaldi takes the hill.

Sadly, although Jordan Zimmerman had a "Quality Start" againt the Indians, the Tigers lost the game, 2 - 4. So, while the Tigers are still way deep in 5th place in the AL Central, 41 games in back of the division-leading Twins, the Indians are only 3.5 games behind and 37.5 of the Tigers in 2nd place. Today's Tigers' game against the Indians will start @ 1:10 p.m.

The West Michigan WhiteCaps had another oops last night, losing to the Lansing Lugnuts in Lansing, 6 - 8. The Caps and the Lugnuts play another one tonight @ 7:05 p.m.

We made it to my orthopedic appointment in Muskegon yesterday with minutes to spare. Unlike most doctors, this orthopedist values their time and ours and we were in and out in under 25 minutes. We got grat news, as the injections I received two weeks ago are doing as anticipated and I should be able to avoid any more serious and invasive procedures for a while.

Mary crafted another cast-iron pan pizza last night that tasted great. Tonight, she has a session at the library @ 6:30 p.m. regarding the making of centerpieces. I had thought about going on the Wicked Grand Haven Township Cemetery Tour tonight, but that is not a local event near GH, but out in the township of GH, almost six miles away. Since I am not much into driving anymore, I doubt I'll be going, especially with the threat of T-storms. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 7:30 a.m. in "The City."

The current temperature is 67° under clear skies. The sun will rise today @ 7:04 a.m. and set later @ 8:26 p.m. Between now and 5:00 a.m. Thursday, the NWS has issued three advisories and/or statements. We have a Beach Hazard Statement in effect. That means that north of Holland, high/strong-winds and rip currents currents preclude swimming in the "Big Lake." So, while the surf may be up, people are strongly encouraged to avoid the water and walking on the piers, as big waves will be washing over them. Photo -Op anyone?

In addition, there is a Small Craft Advisory in effect, also until 5:00 a.m. Thursday. Winds of 20 - 30 knots will cause waves that may reach four to seven feet in height. Small craft, inexperienced sailors, and ships without a good crew and a good captain well seasoned should not leave the dock. Gosh, what a great time to once again insert Gordon Lightfoot's The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald from YouTube™.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A 

But wait, there's more! There is also a Lakeshore Flood Advisory in effect until 5:00 a.m. Thursday too. 20 - 30 mph winds with gusts possible to 35 mph will propel waves of four to seven feet, just like that Small Craft Advisory. Erosion of shoreline properties will be a major concern.  Yes indeed, Photo-Op! This was the summer that I was going to go swimming in the "Big Lake", but so far, the weather has deterred me. Sigh.

Oh, there is a 40% chance for T-storms tomorrow evening in the forecast too.

I'll endeavor to keep my Special Kitchen Statement short this morning. I baked an excellent Banana-Zucchini Bundt bread/cake yesterday morning. Our Senior Staff Photographer used our Smart-Phone to capture a pic of the end result.

I have it on good authority that the taste, texture, and moistness is perfect. I also tasted my bread, and it is indeed excellent.

What a perfect way to segue to what came next. Mary got a call from Justin @ The Camera Shop in Muskegon that her Olympus TG-6, weatherproof and waterproof camera was in at the store. Mary has been wanting one of these cameras, in red, since she saw an early version at a macro-photography session earlier this year. So, we had to get there. It is an excellent camera that can photograph with microscopic detail and is able to work underwater and in all kinds/types of inclement weather. Somehow, I don't see Mary in a boat or on a surf board, but if she were so inclined....

I also learned how to set my Olympus E-M10 III to take pix in black and white. Justin is very patient with us newbies and he made the difficult internet and instruction manual explanation much easier to comprehend. Now all I have to do is give his information a try.

As we drove to and from The Camera Store, I took some pix of my own. Not in black and white, but I liked the results nonetheless. I even captured a flock of birds overflying the highway.

 

Small birds, big sky!

As you know, I love industrial pix.

Technically, The Camera Store is in Muskegon Heights.

One side note, I spent nearly 45 minutes this early morn, reclaiming the kitchen from last night's dinner preparation. Mary is a "Kitchen Magician." She can make a meal out of almost anything, but often, her clean-up skills are not on par with her cooking abilities. This time, her always excellent down and dirty pasta sauce was found on the walls, the stove-top, and the nearby appliances. It was a challenge, but I was up to the task and the kitchen once again sparkles in readiness for today's adventures. 

I'd better make the baseball report shorter today.

The Cubs used a stellar performance by Yu Darvish to overcome the Mets in NYC last night, 5 - 2. The Cubs and the Mets meet again tonight @ 7:10 p.m. EDT, when Kyle Hendricks starts for the Cubs.

My beloved Red Sox were powered to their own win, 10 - 6, over the Rockies, by a record-breaking, 478 foot home run off the bat of Jackie Bradley Jr. Once and former Sox 2nd baseman Dustin Pedroia was in the dugout sporting a massive knee brace and using crutches following his latest bout of knee surgery. I think his career is over, but... The Sox and the Rockies play again tonight @ 8:0 p.m.

The Tigers still can't score runs. In spite of an excellent performance by starter Spencer Turnbull, the final score still favored the Indians, 1 - 10. The Tigers and the Indians play @ Comerica Park again tonight when Jordan Zimmerman gets the call @ 7:10 p.m.

The West Michigan WhiteCaps fell to the Ft. Wayne TinCaps last night, 0 - 1. The Caps move on to Lansing, MI for tonight's game against the Lugnuts @ 7:05 p.m.

Today, I have that follow-up appointment @ the orthopedist in Muskegon regarding my yak. I'm hoping that the decision is to try that additional procedure that can improve my quality of life. We'll also be making what has become a regular stop at that big-box arts and crafts store in Norton Shores. You can never have too many paint colors. Ciao.







 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just before 7:00 a.m. in "The City."


The sun will rise shortly @ 7:03 a.m. and will set later tonight @ 8:28 p.m.


We have a current temperature of 69° under partly-cloudy skies. The rain originally in the forecast for today has been downgraded to only a 10% chance. However, both the Small Craft Warning and the Beach Hazard Statement, have been extended until 8:00 p.m. tomorrow. Our overnight low will be 64° and today's high will reach 74°.

Speaking of that weather forecast, both the Small Craft Warning and the Beach Hazard Statement became a magnet for the surfers who enjoy surfing on the "Third Coast" at the Grand Haven City Beach and the Grand haven State Park. Opportunity knocked for them and for us, as we grabbed our camera and took some pix of the beaches and the surfers.

Wait for it, wait for it !

Too soon?

Since we had to traverse the mean streets to get to "Surf City", would I write a blog that included a reference to:"Surf City" without including a YouTube™ link to Jan and Dean's homage to the surfing scene? Of course not, so here it is!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cvtD2U5mvM

But hey, since I was at YouTube™ I decided that I had to add some Beach Boys tunes too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFwLp2iM73Q

Of course, we don't have one of the four oceans of the world, but we do have what has been dubbed the "Inland Ocean" Lake Michigan!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s4slliAtQU

But once again, I digress. I told you I took some pix en route, so here they are, including some shorebirds and other things that we saw.

Most of the seabirds just sat out the high winds.

En route to the Grand Haven City Beach and the Grand Haven State Park.

Oddly, the soon to be shuttered Board of Light and Power Plant on Harbor Island was running yesterday.

At Mary's suggestion, I took this shot of a house through the dune grasses. I like how it turned out.

Before we hit the beaches, we made as top at Grand Haven Flower and Garden so that Mary could replace the flowers in her "Flower Room." They look beautiful, as befits tropical flowers, but I cannot tell you their names. But, does it really matter?

Unnamed, but beautiful!

In baseball news yesterday, the only team playing under the lights or anywhere else in my little corner of the world, were the West Michigan WhiteCaps in a game against the Ft. Wayne, IN TinCaps. Our own Caps lost the game, 4 - 6. The Caps and the Caps play again tonight @ 7:05 p.m.

The Cubs, my beloved Red Sox, and the Tiger all play later tonight @ 7:10 p.m. EDT in NYC, 8:40 p.m. in Colorado for the Sox, and 7:10 p.m. in Detroit for the Tigers.

An interesting tidbit from the Cubs camp is that they may pursue pitcher Cole Gerrit, who currently pitches for the Houston Astros. Gerrit is a free agent after this season. Will he be like Jon Lester from a few years back who opeted to go to the Cubs versus staying with the Red Sox? We shall see.

Today, just some mundane things to do. A haircut and some baking for me, some cross-stitching for Mary and reading for both of us, Oh, I may get to the grill if the weather forecast comes true. Ciao.