Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 5:30 a.m. in "The City."

Yesterday was far from boring, but the Covid-19 pandemic has reduced the options for thinking people just a bit. That's okay by me, because I have found many new activities to go with older pursuits that I'd meant to explore, but for which I'd never found the time. That's a win-win to me, to use an overused phrase. At this point, if I were writing a bad story, I'd lead off with something like, "It was a dark and stormy night."

However for the Cubs, it was in fact, not stormy, but it was dark, at least score wise. The 31 - 22 Cubs, who are leading the Central division of the NL by 3.5 games over the 26 - 24 Cardinals, didn't just have slumber in the lumber, they had an entire forest die in their hands as they were overcome by the visiting 33 - 22 Twins. 0 - 4. RHP starting pitcher, Yu Darvish, 7 - 3 was not as sharp as he might have been, but even Cy Young needed some run support for a win. 

It seems as though, with the exception of RF Jason Heyward, the Cubs big-boppers aren't bopping, they are sleep-walking at the plate. If the Cubs are to progress in the post-season, that has to change and now! 

Cubs' manager, David Ross, pulled LF Kyle Schwarber from the game in the 4th inning to underscore how a player has to have his head in the game at all times, as Schwarber misplayed a ball in the left-field corner and turned a Twins' double into a triple. That misplay led to a run being scored by the Twins.

Tonight's game with the 15 - 38 Pirates in Pittsburgh is a good place/time to start the improvement, as LHP Jon Lester, 2 - 2 goes for the  Cubs @ 7:05 p.m. EDT.

My beloved 20 - 34 Red Sox got a great start from rookie RHP Tanner Houck, as he tossed a near-perfect game at the 31 - 22 Yankees for a 10 - 2 win. The Sox are off today, but they will play out the string @ Fenway starting tomorrow night @ 7:30 p.m., when yet another wannabe Major-League™ pitcher, RHP Nick Pavetta,  takes the mound.

The 22 - 30 Tigers sent LHP Matthew Boyd to the mound yesterday and for the first several innings, it looked like he had regained his pre-Tommy John form. But, the sky soon fell on Boyd and the Tigers lost to the 29 - 24 Indians. 4 - 7. The Tigers too are off until Tuesday night, when they visit the Twins for a 7:40 p.m. game when rookies RHP Tarik Skubal. 1 - 3, continues his journey into the big leagues. 

The 0 - 2 Lions were looking good until the 2 - 0 Packers and their star QB, Aaron Rodgers, put the pedal to the metal and cruised to a 42 - 21 victory. Nuff said. Will Head Coach, Matt Patricia's tenure be coming to an end after another dismal season? The Lions visit AZ to face the 2 - 0 Cardinals next week.

Da 2 - 0 Bears, tried to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory yesterday, as the 0 - 2 Giants came to life and almost upended the Bears before the Bears' defense stiffened and held the Giants out of the end zone. Next week, Da Bears visit the Falcons in Atlanta for a 1:00 p.m. game. 

Saturday afternoon, I used her camera to take a pic of the last bloom of the season on Mary's Giant Hibiscus. I took one of the flower in full bloom and one of the pistil, close up. 

Surprise!

What Mary's camera was designed to do, take terrific close-up photos.

After Da Bears game, we took the fur-children for a walkabout in the Lake Forest Cemetery. Once again, I didn't take my camera, so Mary took hers. One of first sights we saw were more wild turkeys grazing amongst the markers. They quickly moved along as we came towards them with the fur-children.

The wild turkeys knew to avoid our ferocious predators.

We moved in, they moved out. 

A quiet cemetery is a great place to take some shots of the trees and the sunlight that filters through them.

A great job of framing!

Light and dark make for great subject material. 

Yesterday's weather here in GH could not have been better. The high temperature reached 70° and today's high will once again get into the lower 70s. We should see that continue for several more days. Tonight's low will be 58º. As of now, the current temperature is 52º, but it feels like 50º with the 7 mph wind.

Today, all I have on tap is to go out for an appointment at the podiatrist. I finished Thursday's crossword puzzle earlier. I'll play more music, and read more too. I like not having any plans most of the time. Mary will continue to read, craft, and putter in the kitchen. 

The sun will rise today @ 7:312 a.m. and set later @ 7:43 p.m. Ciao.