Good mornig or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 9:00 p.m. in "The City."

We have a current temperature here on the shores of the "Big Lake" of 33°, that feels like 22° with a 19 mph wind blowing out of the north. That wind is part of the Gale Warning that remains in effect until 1:00 a.m. tomorrow. Winds will blow @ 25 to 35 knots and waves will crash with heights of 7 - 12 feet from St. Joseph to Manistee, with the tallest waves towards St. Joseph and near Little Sable and Big Sable Points. 

Tonight's low will drop to 32° and tomorrow's high will reach 40° under partly-cloudy skies. Tomorrow, the sun will rise @ 7:56 a.m. and set later @ 5 :11 p.m.

Last night, I watched only a small portion of the Bears game, then I had other plans. Ultimately, the 5 - 6 Bears were defeated by the 8 - 3 Packers, 25 - 41. 

Late last night, I finished my John Grisham novel A Time For Mercy, and I was satisfied with both the entire story and and the ending. I have selected my next book, Lisa Gardner's Never Tell, in my preferred large-print format. 

Today, I found myself in the man-cave, where I used my new hand saw to make some modifications to an older project and also to craft some new outdoor Christmas decorations. I had to solicit Mary's knitting assistance to complete one of the decorations. She'll be working on that while she watches TV news downstairs. With her needle skills, it should not take too long. 

I never got outside for the balance of my decorating, as the winds were just too strong. While I was in the man-cave, Mary put our dinner in the Crockpot™. Rice, mixed vegetables and soy curls combined to make a great dinner.

Tomorrow, I hope to get the balance of my outdoor decorating done and also spread the mulch on the fur-children's play area. We may also get them out there on their tethers to enjoy the outdoors and a dental treat. STWD will savor hers, whilst Ginger will practically inhale hers. Plus, since it will be December 1, they both are scheduled for their monthly medications and Ginger is due for her every 90 day medication too. 

Otherwise, I hope to get to more music, more reading, more man-cave activities, the Tuesday edition of the indoor chores, etc. Mary as scheduled a pick up at the Fast Lane™ grocery pick up too. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 8:00 p.m. in "The City." 

We have a Small Craft Advisory in effect now that will expire @ 1:00 a.m. tomorrow, when it will be superseded by a Gale Warning that will remain in effect until 1:00 a.m. Tuesday. Both the Small Craft Advisory and the Gale Warning were issued by the NWS in GR from St. Joseph to Manistee. The former Small Craft Advisory was necessitated by wind speeds of 10 - 20 knots and possible gusts to 30 knots which may produce waves from five to eight feet in height. 

The Gale Warning was issued by the NWS due to wind speeds of 15 - 25 knots with gusts up to 35 knots possible. Those winds may produce wavs from six to eleven feet in height. Surf will definitely be up!

The advisories and warnings are one of the reasons that Mary and I went out without our fur-children to take some pix.

Sometimes you get lucky during the "Golden Hour."

Sometimes you just have to be randomly pointing the lens in the right direction. 

Like this.

Or this.

The stack is still standing on Harbor Island as seen behind Dewey Hill..

We have a current temperature of 44° that feels like 37°, with winds out of the north blowing @ 16 mph. Tonight's low is forecast to be a real 33°. Tomorrow's high is forecast to only reach 37°, which is why it was a good thing that I got most of my outdoor Christmas decorating accomplished earlier today. 

I spent a number of hours reading early this morning and I am nearing the end of my novel, which is due tomorrow. 

Tonight, I'll watch the 5 - 5 Bears and their QB Mitchell Trubisky, take on the 7 - 3 Green Bay Packers and their QB, Aaron Rodgers. Trubisky was given the start tonight due to an injury to his replacement, Nick Foles. We shall see what happens.

Tomorrow, I have to spread some mulch in the fur-children's outdoor play area and install some garland to accompany my outdoor Christmas decorations. We picked up both of those items at the local big-box home center earlier this afternoon after we had visited the beaches.

I will finish my book soon and move on to my next read. I need more time with my music too.

The sun will rise tomorrow @ 7:55 a.m. and set tomorrow evening @ 5:11 p.m. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 9:30 p.m. in "The City."

Once again, the best laid plans of mice and men, gang aft agley, which is Scottish for "Often go wrong." While I can't actually say that my plans went wrong, as I never really have any that are set in stone, I never got to my outdoor Christmas decorations, but I did get to the indoor chores. Some of my other nebulous plans also reached fruition, as I also practiced my harmonica and wrote some things for my novel. What can I say, when you are retired, time is finite in one sense, but also plentiful in another.

We did make it to the Lake Forest Cemetery for a walkabout with our fur-children this afternoon. While there and at the Grand Haven State Park, I took a lot of pix. Our walkabout at Lake Forest Cemetery was shortened by the nearby use of a tree chipper which made for a less than enjoyable time. Still, the fur-children loved it.

Here are some of the pix from Lake Forest Cemetery.

Dune sands are not a good base for a large tree's root system.

Unlike our last outing, STWD seemed more interested in smells than any noises. 

Mary helped me frame this shot. 

We were heading out when I decided that I had to get this pic.

This path leads to Duncan Woods.

When we left, we could hear the waves breaking on the beach at Grand Haven State Park. So, we headed over there, where many of the people in town for the holiday were also visiting on a sunny day in GH. There too, I took a lot of pix.

The "Big Lake" was very riled today, with more to come, which I'll explain later. 

The Outer Lighthouse at the end of the South Pier was being pummeled by the relentless waves. 

No one was foolhardy enough to brave walking on the South Pier today.

You don't need to be sailor to know that the winds of November were slashing.

Kite surfers didn't seem to mind.

Indeed!

We stopped watching the 1 - 5 Nittany Lions of Penn State take it to the 2 - 4 Wolverines of Michigan, but the final score says it all, as the Wolverines were dispatched by the Nittany Lions, 17 - 27.

We returned home in time to see the 2 - 3 Spartans of Michigan State, defeat the now 5 - 1 Wildcats of Northwestern, 20 - 29. The Wildcats were up by three, but the Spartans defense held on and finally won the game with a defensive gem.

In pro football news, the Detroit Lions fired Head Coach, Matt Patricia and GM Bob Quinn. Team owner, Sheila Ford Hamp said last December, that she wanted to see a major improvement from her football team this season. The double-digit loss on Thanksgiving by the 4 - 7 Lions to the also 4 - 7 Houston Texans, 25 - 41, was the final nail in the proverbial coffin for Patricia and for Quinn who hired him. The search is now on for a new head coach, with current Wolverines Head Coach, Jim Harbaugh high on the list. Harbaugh has a winning record in the NFL, and his days at Michigan are probably numbered. Only time will tell.  

Getting back to the wave action on the "Big Lake", there is currently a Small Craft Advisory in effect until 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night. Winds of 10 - 15 knots with gusts up to 25 knots, are expected to produce waves from three to five feet. That  Small Craft Advisory will give way to a Gale Watch beginning Monday @ 1:00 a.m. and extending until Tuesday @ 1:00 a.m. Winds of 15 - 25 knots and gusts up to 35 knots have the potential to produce waves of five to eight feet. Both the Small Craft Advisory and the Gale Watch were issued for Lake Michigan from St. Joseph to Manistee.

We have a current temperature of 47° under clear skies, but it feels more like 40° with a 17 mph wind blowing out of the south. Tomorrow's high is forecast to reach that same 47° under mostly-cloudy skies, that's why I felt safe in postponing my outdoor decorating until tomorrow.

Since I have no desire to watch the Lions lose again, I will have plenty of time. Plus, since I played and practiced my music today, I gained even more free time. 

We had pizza for brunch and spaghetti and vegan Italian meatballs for dinner. Tomorrow, I think that the Thanksgiving repast will be revisited. I am okay with that, as it was delicious. But, cheesy grits sure have an appeal to me too. I still have to get to my indoor decorations, but those take time, so they will probably wait until Monday or Tuesday. 

Mary finished her latest book Circe, by Madeline Miller, and she has now moved on to another book. I'm still working my way through A Time For Mercy by John Grisham. I wish I could have gotten it in my preferred large-print format.

The sun will rise tomorrow @ 7:51 a.m. and set tomorrow evening @ 5:11 p.m. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 9:00 .m. in "The City."

We have a current temperature of 41° that feels like 34° with a wind out of the southwest @ 10 mph. Tonight's low will be 36°. Starting tomorrow @ 11:00 a.m., and continuing until 7:00 a.m. Sunday, there will be a Small Craft Advisory in effect from St. Joseph to Whitehall. Wind speeds will be 10 - 15 knots with gusts up to 25 knots, that have the potential to produce waves from 3 - 5 feet. 

The NWS in GR is showing a barometric pressure of 30.11" and rising, while my DTWS is showing 29.51" and steady. Here on the shores of the "Big Lake", that difference is not unusual. 

Tomorrow's high is forecast to reach 49° under sunny skies, albeit with an 18 mph wind. Still, the weather should be perfect for my outdoor Christmas decorating. 

The sun will rise @ 7:52 a.m. and set @ 5:12 p.m.

We had a good day today. I spent some time in my man-cave butchering some wood and that always feels good. I have no desire to have the equipment I used to have, but some of it would have made my work easier. I just have to be more innovative now. 

I have no pictures for tonight's blog, but I do have some anecdotes.

I made another vegan pepperoni and also some vegan Italian meatballs for future consumption. In order to work our way through some of our vegan Thanksgiving and other sundry leftovers, we had Spaghettirole casserole and salad for lunch and faux turkey sandwiches and green bean casserole for dinner. Both were excellent.

I did more reading today, along with my kitchen efforts and time spent in my man-cave. All in all, I had a great day. Our fur-children wanted to go walkabout, but that will be tomorrow if everything goes as planned. Mary washed our new towels which we are always surprised are so much softer than the ones we have been using. I'll be doing my usual Saturday indoor chores tomorrow. 

Mary vacuumed the downstairs and emptied the dishwasher for the second time today. Now, she is downstairs reading, which she also did while I was in my man-cave. 

We realized that as retirees, our Thanksgiving day was a break from what has become routine here at the manse. Mary changed her datebook calendar for 2021 and we both lamented all of the lost activities that were fostered by the Covid-19 virus/ stay at home requirement which started last March. We are hoping for a better 2021 and so we are making plans for the Michigan Irish Festival and the Harbor Springs Festival of the Book next September on successive weekends. Fingers and toes crossed!

To recap tomorrow's activities. Indoor chores, music, reading, puzzle solving, and retirement. As Porky the Pig says, "That's All Folks!"

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 10:00 p.m. in "The City."

Yesterday was a day for daydreaming, but today was even better. We didn't get up too late, we talked to our children via some internet service, and we spent some time in the kitchen. Actually, my tasks in the kitchen were limited to reaching and mashing and later cleaning the pots and pans. The star of the show was Mary. 

As I noted previously, she likes Thanksgiving the most, because she gets to chop, stir, saute, bake and mix. As she said, a break from the average day here at the manse. At any rate, her efforts produced our annual vegan Thanksgiving dinner as pictured below.

Clockwise: My favorite part of Thanksgiving, Ocean Spray™ jellied cranberry sauce, our faux turkey breast, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and Mary's excellent dressing. I think this year's dressing was the best! Of course, the potatoes, the dressing, and the faux turkey were covered with Mary's famous mushroom gravy. 

Somehow, we also found time to go walkabout at the Lake Forest Cemetery, where I took many pix, and the beach at the Grand Haven State Park, where I also took many pix. I'll choose a few that I think are/were the most interesting. 

A road to nowhere from the cemetery that dead ends at Duncan Woods.

Once the leaves fell, new sights were revealed.

The sun over the treetops.

White clouds in an azure blue sky.

Just interesting. 

The sun was very visible on this tree's trunk.

As it was on this much smaller tree.

Interesting!

Trees fall, and then they are cut up and left to rot.

A rotting tree that has sprouted a fungus growth. 

Our second stop was at the Grand Haven State Park, where I took more pix. 

Brave or foolhardy?

The north pier leading to the lighthouses was nearly underwater.

A view of the lighthouse over the top of the dune. 

The 4 - 7 Lions lost again today, 25 - 41 to the now 4 - 7 Houston Texans. Some spectacular plays, but the Lions were outplayed. When you need 10 yards and you throw the ball for eight, what can you expect?

We didn't watch one of the typical Thanksgiving movies this evening. Instead, we watched Airplane! the movie. I finished two crossword puzzles after dinner. Then I was politely asked to vacate my Lazy Boy to allow a very tired but happy Mary to take my place so that she could do some reading. 

We have a current temperature of 45° under cloudy skies. The temperature feels more like 39° with a 13 mph wind blowing. My DTWS shows a barometric pressure of 29.40" and falling, while the NWS in GR is reporting 30'04" and rising. No logic there.

Tomorrow, the sun will rise into a partly cloudy sky @ 7:51 a.m. and it will set later @ 5:12 p.m. The high temperature tomorrow is forecast to be 43°, with a low temperature of 35°.

Needless to say, we have an abundance of leftovers from our repast. Dressing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, faux turkey, and even some gravy are stored in the refrigerator for future consumption. I have it on good authority that I need to make some vegan pepperoni tomorrow. I think that's because we will be having pizza for one of our meals tomorrow. 

Tomorrow, I am going to hold off on my usual post-Thanksgiving Christmas decorating because it will be sunny and warmer on Saturday. I have lots of time and nowhere to go, so why not?

I don't have much else on my agenda. I think Mary should take time to read and relax too. My thanks to Mary for her her efforts on our dinner. Yes, I helped, but most of the planning, preparation and cooking was hers. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just before 11:00 p.m. in "The City."

What a day for a daydream, to borrow from The Lovin' Spoonful. We had a great time in the kitchen today, making our vegan turkey and finishing the vegetable broth that Mary began yesterday. Actually, we made a faux turkey, and it is resting in the refrigerator right now in preparation for tomorrow. Mary took pix of both our turkey and our broth.

Actually a faux turkey breast, but no animals were harmed in the process. The aroma from the oven was terrific too!

As for the broth, we netted four Mason™ jars full for use in Mary's gravy and dressing.

The broth is "Just Right" as Goldilocks might have said.

Of course, there is a lot of work still to be done, but Mary loves Thanksgiving, as she gets to spend time in the kitchen chopping and cooking. She kneaded the turkey breast after my Kitchenaid™ stand mixer had done the initial mixing and kneading. I mixed the herbs and spices, so I had a hand in the prep. 

Oddly, even after a trip to the library with Ginger for a book pick up and even though Mary never got to reading her latest book, she still found time to make her famous Spaghettirole casserole. It ranks up there with her best efforts for taste and aroma. 

Before dinner, we watched another episode of Victoria. It too is a romance. I just finished watching a Hallmark Channel™ romantic Christmas themed movie and as always, I loved it. 

I spent some time earlier this morning practicing my harmonica. I am getting better, but I am not ready for a pubic performance. I also spent some time reading and braving the rain with the fur-children. 

We have a current temperature of 42° that feels more like 39° due to the 5 mph wind that is blowing off of Lake Michigan. The NWS in GR is reporting a barometric pressure of 29.77" and rising, while my own DTWS is showing 29.10", also rising, Both of those readings indicate that although the skies are cloudy right now and into tomorrow, there is no real chance for precipitation. 

Tomorrow, I won't be watching football. I'll be reading, working a crossword, playing music and assisting as necessary in the kitchen. As I said earlier, Thanksgiving is Mary's day, so that is the extent of my activities in the kitchen. Of course, I'll be partaking of our Thanksgiving repast, which will include a can of Ocean Spray™ jellied cranberry sauce. Mary doesn't much like it, so it's mine, all mine!

One thing is for certain, we will be thinking of all the people that we are thankful to have in our lives and being thankful for our own good fortune. While 2020 has not been the best in regards to having a normal year, we are still thankful that we can enjoy another Thanksgiving this year. Friday or Saturday,  I can get to decorating our manse for the Christmas holiday. Mary loves Thanksgiving and I love Christmas. 

The sun will rise tomorrow @ 7:50 a.m. and set later @ 5:13 p.m. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 10:00 p.m. in "The City."

We have a current temperature of 37° that feels like 30° under rainy skies and with a 9 mph wind blowing outside the WW. A current DTWS barometric pressure of 29.42" and rising conflicts with the barometric reading being supplied by the NWS in GR of 30.01 and falling. The forecast for tonight and into tomorrow of rain tonight and an 80% chance of rain tomorrow, means I can trust both my own reading and that of the NWS in GR.

The sun will rise tomorrow morning @ 7:49 a.m. and set later @ 5:13 p.m.

We saw our first significant snowfall today. Somewhere between one and two inches of snow fell on the PE. Naturally, I had to snap some pix.

Our parkway garden was totally covered. 

The neighbors across the street were trying to assemble a snowman or snow woman.

Before I cleared the deck.

The back-forty of the PE.

Mary captured this shot while I was out back. Sadly, the snowman or snow woman didn't last long. 

Mostly, we did some home repairs and such today along with working the weekend crossword puzzle  and doing some indoor chores. I assembled Mary's new lamp and replaced the shower wand in the downstairs bathroom with one that has a shutoff valve on the wand. Much better, but no pix.

Collectively, we took some pix of the pre-Thanksgiving activities too.

Vegetable broth in the slow cooker taken by Mary with our Smart Phone.

And with my DSLR.

Homemade bread for dressing, ala Mary, taken with the Smart Phone by Mary.

And with my DSLR.

In either case, the broth and the bread are just the beginnings of our Thanksgiving repast. Tomorrow, we have to make our vegan faux turkey and place it in the refrigerator overnight for the final phase of the recipe. More on that in my next blog.

Last night, MMRR locomotive #2170 roared past, and I do mean roared, at a high rate of speed, heading south @ 10:25 p.m. In tow were 11 CHCs, two DBTCs, and one DWTC.

At about 3:00 a.m., I was awakened by that same locomotive heading north, once again at a high rate of speed. I believe it had no cars in tow. With no crossing gates here in GH, someone is going to believe that the trains are running at their old slow rate of speed and try to beat the train. 

Tomorrow, all we have on tap is that turkey preparation. Mostly, I want to play some music and that's about it. The fur-children want to go walkabout, but today's snow and tomorrow's rain will not let that happen. Maybe Thursday. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 9:00 p.m. in "The City."

We have no alerts, watches, advisories, nor warnings in effect at this time. But, this being MI, that is subject to change at any time.

In fact, tomorrow's forecast from the NWS in GR is calling for a high temperature of only 39° with a 70% chance for rain/snow. Wednesday's high temperature forecast is a much more seasonal 47°, and the chance for precipitation is still 70%, albeit the forecast only calls for rain.

Our current barometric pressures are 30.35" and rising, that's from the NWS in GR. While here on my Desktop Weather Station, the readout is 29.71" and falling. That's what I mean about the forecast being subject to change at any time. 

The current temperature is 33° under clear skies. According to the NWS, it feels like 33° with only a 3 mph wind blowing.

We all went walkabout to the Lake Forest Cemetery today. I eschewed my camera, but Mary took along hers and took some nice pix as we walked. That is until STWD heard gunshots from the township, and couldn't wait to get back to the relative safety of our car. 

However, as I noted above, Mary got some nice pix.

We believe that these markers once stood upright, but have been laid flat for preservation. Many date to the mid-1800s.

The young man, Brian Mitchell interred here, was a big fan of Frisbee Golf.

The front side of his marker. 

As the leaves fall, there is so much to see and photograph.

See the above caption.

A panoramic view from our position, before STWD got panicked. 

Deer hunting season with firearms began today. I'm not surprised that the deer that call Lake Forest Cemetery and the nearby Duncan Woods home were in hiding, even though there is no hunting permitted within the city limits of GH.

Later, Mary and Ginger traveled to the big-box nearly everything store for a pick up and then they came straight home. Ginger wanted to go to the City Beach, but they didn't make it. 

Later, I convinced Mary that we needed to fill the fuel tank on our Jeep™ since the overnight temperature is forecast to drop below freezing. I may be overly concerned, but better safe than sorry. 

We didn't get Mary's new lamp assembled, but the old lamp that didn't fit our current layout was taken from the curbside overnight by a person who needed that style of lamp, so instead of going to the landfill, it has found a new home. 

Tomorrow, we have no plans other than the usual indoor chores and the assembly of that lamp. I started a new book, John Grisham's A Time For Mercy, and I liked it right off. As I've often said, I am too old to waste time on a book that can't pull me in immediately. However, I wish that it was in my preferred large-print format. 

The sun will rise tomorrow @ 7:47 a.m. and set tomorrow evening @ 5:14 p.m. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 9:30 a.m. in "The City."

I'm going to dispense with my usual format, and just say that it is cool out and that the skies are only partly-cloudy. Otherwise, to paraphrase from the movie Airplane, most things are not important right now. 

We took a walkabout yesterday afternoon without our fur-children. Well actually, it was a more of a driveabout with stops to drop off some books and a package at the UPS box downtown, with a walk thrown in for good measure. 

We made our first photo stop at the mouth of the Grand River, where I took some pix of the lighthouses, the shorebirds, and the lake herself.

A bit dark perhaps, but still a nice view.

Caught this tern or gull in a flyover.

Looking south towards Holland.

Into the setting sun.

I like this one.

No kids, but the birds were happy.

Next, we moved on to the Lake Forest Cemetery, because there were some things there that I wanted to photograph, but which are best shot when no workers are around, as some of the things are behind their maintenance building. 

A long shot with my telephoto lens.

Same lens, different subject.

Same subject as the first pic, but with a lot of zoom!

A tight shot of this root system.

Just because.

Lest you think that we were done, we moved on to find that at dusk, the deer come out to feed and ignore the humans in what the deer consider "Their Domain."

Right outside our car's window. 

I stared and clicked, this one just stared. 

Licking its lips after munching on the available food. 

I'm so done with you!

Finally, we moved up to the area reserved for the children's final resting place, but which is also adjacent to a secluded area of peaceful rest for adults. 

This path is effectively invisible during the summer months, so it was new to us and led to a new and unexplored before location. . 

This bench and the bird feeder say "Welcome."

You gain a different perspective sometimes. 

The Guardian Angel for the little children.

From another angle. 

By then, it was time to head home to our fur-children and get dinner going. I had made more of my soon to be famous vegan Italian meatballs earlier, and with Mary's assistance, I also made some marinated vegan seitan steaks. Once again to paraphrase, Airplane, we had the spaghetti with meatballs for dinner.

We opted to watch the TV comedy, Wings as our replacement for Dharma and Greg, as you don't have to see the picture to know what's going on. That was before dinner, as was another episode of Victoria. 

Today, we have a small number of things to do, including a walkabout with our fur-children before it rains for two days. Otherwise, to use another famous line, "That's all folks!" Ciao.