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

The current temperature is 35° under partly cloudy skies. Winds of 11 mph make it feel like 27°. Today's high-temperature forecast calls for 41º under mostly sunny skies.

The sun rose this morning @ 6:28 a.m. and it will set later @ 8:54 p.m.

There will be a Freeze Watch in effect tonight from 11:00 p.m. until 8:00 a.m.Saturday morning for portions of central, south-central, southwest and west-central Michigan. Frost and freeze conditions could kill crops, other sensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing. Early season tender vegetation will need to be protected. The most vulnerable vegetation will be fruit trees that have already bloomed. You should take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. Once again, it is fortunate that my seedlings are still safely growing in the man-cave. They will get some fertilizer later today or tomorrow.

As of now, the view out the WW is a partly-cloudy panorama of blues and grays as the sun pokes in and out of those clouds.

We had a good day yesterday. I am actually nearing the end of the initial writing of my manuscript, which will be an epic saga in and of itself, considering how long I've been working on it.

I finished my household chores yesterday. Another epic saga I guess. I repaired to my studio and continued to write as Mary worked in the kitchen. She was busy and very productive. I cleaned up the overspray of one of her efforts on the stovetop this morning. The end result was well worth the effort on my part. Somewhere in there, I made Coleslaw too.

Mary made our lunch of Chickapea Brand™ macaroni and cheeze that was accompanied by two, count them, two different types of applesauce, both sporting the same label. I believe that the variation in color and tartness was due to two different varieties of apples being used in the preparations at the factory.

Dinner was a salad with Mary's homemade Thousand Island Salad Dressing on head-lettuce. The main attraction, the pièce de résistance so to speak, was another in her ever-expanding repertoire of Hasselback creations. This one was Hasselback Barbecue Tofu that utilized the source of the stovetop splatter I cleaned up earlier, a homemade barbecue sauce, that Mary crafted. However, she halved the amount of cayenne called for in the recipe which made the sauce perfect!

When pressed and sliced in the Hasselback fashion, you get slices about one-quarter of an inch thick and the slices go about one-half the way down. The slices are then spread, the barbecue sauce is gently spread between and then the top is slathered with more of the barbecue sauce. Into a 400º oven for 20 minutes followed by about five-minutes under the broiler and voila, Hasselback tofu.

It tasted even better than it looks!

My salad and my first portion of the Hasselback Barbecue Tofu on the plate.

Along with my housework, we finished two crossword puzzles yesterday and unwrapped some of our packages after the requisite waiting period. There will be more unwrapped and delivered today.

We watched more of Outlander before and during dinner. I am still loving it. But, I like period pieces, so.

I also visited and talked to my seedlings in the man-cave. I believe that it is important to talk to your plants and encourage them to grow up big and strong.

Today, I have to do some impromptu carpet cleaning to stay ahead of STWD. As an old lady, she can be messy sometimes, but that's one of the priveledges of being the dowager queen of the manse.

I hope to continue my writing today and do more reading along with that carpet cleaning. Ciao.