Good mornig or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 9:15 p.m. in "The City."

We had a nice brunch this afternoon that consisted of some vegan chik'n that I'd made last week and which Mary converted into nice mix of celery and herbs, atop some Bibb lettuce and sliced mushrooms. 

Excellent!

After brunch, I worked two crossword puzzles before I came upstairs to do some painting and play some music.

So there I was, sitting in my studio after painting playing with Blue, my Ovation™ six-string guitar, when Mary popped in and said the she was being "pressured" by the fur-children for a walkabout. I can emphasize with them, as they don't get out much during the snow/winter months.

I was open to suggestion, as I'd just finished adding some things to the painting that I'm working on here in my studio. So I came downstairs. Mary got to a stopping point on my artist's apron, and we "Dressed" the fur-children and set out. We had two options, the Grand Haven State Park or the North Beach Park, if we found that the Grand Haven State Park was not suitable. Fortunately, the State Park was fine, so we parked there, unloaded our fur-children, and Mary grabbed her camera and we went walkabout.

Here are some pix she took during our visit, as personally selected by our Senior Staff Photographer herself. 

The waves were crashing over the South Pier and the outer lighthouse.

Mary thinks that she was a Druid or a wood-nymph in a previous life. She loves these shots. 

The Gale Force Winds last night made interesting changes to the beach sands. 

A beautiful shot of the sky later in the afternoon. 

Mary framed this shot using the ranger's hut.

Last night, around 11:20 p.m., Mary espied the train passing by heading south on the RSTL. She thought there were two locomotives, but I believe that there was only one. She did espy some CHCs, and some CGCs, but was unable to make an accurate count.

At 4:49 a.m., I was awake and heard the train approaching from the south and heading north. I jumped out of bed, gazed out the WW in my studio, and saw MMRR locomotive # 2019 passing by towing 20 CHCs, and seven DBTCs. It was that observation that led me to believe that when she saw the southbound run that only one locomotive was passing by.

By the by, it is usually this time of year when I start to get excited about the upcoming MLB™ season. But this year, only a few teams have listed any dates for pitchers and catchers to report and none of my teams are among those. With the Covid-19 Pandemic still in full force, I am having a difficult time getting excited. Sigh.

We have a current temperature of 37° under cloudy skies that feels more like 27° with winds out of the west @ 18 mph. Tonight's low will drop to 23°. That wind has caused the NWS to to issue yet another Small Craft Advisory from St. Joseph to Manistee. 15 - 25 knot winds will blow, with gusts up to 30 knots until 3:00 a.m. Saturday. Those winds were producing waves on on Lake Michigan when we visited and the NWS is forecasting wave heights up to 10 feet!

Tomorrow, the high temperature will only reach 25° under cloudy-skies. The low temperature will drop to 21°. The sun will rise @ 8:09 a.m. and set later in the day @ 5:43 p.m.

Our plans for tomorrow call for me to make another batch of my vegan Funfettti cookies. I had considered chocolate cupcakes, but Mary thinks I should make those cookies. Who am I to argue?

Otherwise, I want to read more, play more music, and relax. We may get to grooming Ginger, but I am not all that thrilled by that prospect right now. Ciao.