Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 6:30 a.m. in "The City."

Last night, we had a "Gully Washer" of a rain-storm, replete with T-storms that drove STWD into her hide-e-hole and which also interfered with our TV viewing. But, that rain came on the heels of the completion of our new front gardens, the gardens that eliminated all of the grass on the Palatial Estate.

We have a current temperature of 74° that feels like 74° with a five mph wind out of the west under partly-cloudy skies. Today's high temperature is forecast to reach a seasonal 81°, with an overnight low of 66°. In between the sunrise today, which occurred  @ 6:47 a.m. and the sunset @ 8:51 p.m., the forecast calls for partly-cloudy skies and the possibility of a stray T-storm during the evening hours. At any rate, I won't have to water the new plantings until at least Saturday.

We visited our auxiliary gardens yesterday after taking the fur-children for a short walk, STWD is not good in the heat and humidity that has plagued us for the last several days. She was glad to get home. Ginger would walk for miles as long as Mary was at the other end of Ginger's leash. Ginger likes me, but she is really Mary's girl.

Once we were back from our walk with the fur-children, we took off again to make a drop at the Goodwill store. Then we headed out to Hofma Preserve for a photo-shoot. I took along my camera with a wide-angle lens that I recently had to purchase due to the demise of my old lens. I will include some pix that I took to show how well it fits my needs.

My new lens is totally manual, but I like the way it is easier to focus.

My camera is a four-thirds, digital Olympus mirrorless camera. I think this shot demonstrated its capabilities nicely.

I've often said that looking down can yield some of the best shots.

That's one of the reasons I included this silhouette of yours truly.

I was on a bridge over the wetlands where Mary had left me and my yak when I shot this flower.

Mary continued to walk deeper, farther, further?, into the wetlands.

I'm very pleased with my new lens.

Sometimes, a fallen tree is a good subject.

Baseball news yesterday was interesting, to say the least. 

The 4th place in the NL Central, 52 - 64 Cubs, continued their slide away from their 2016 World Series championship and the players that got them there. Gone are Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Kyle Schwarber, and a cast of players too numerous to be named. Now wearing Cubby Blue are players, most of whom I didn't know their names until recently. 

Sadly, one of the pitchers that helped propel the Cubs to that Championship, one-time Cy Young winner RHP Jake Arrieta. He recently came back to the Cubs following a free-agent stint with the Phillies. Arrieta pitched yesterday and in the top of the first-inning, he had to face 11 Brewers batters and throw 37 pitches before the Brewers were retired. 

The first-place, 69 - 46 in the NL Central Brewers are now the team to beat in the NL Central and the Cubs are just cannon fodder as they rebuild. Oh, by the by, the Cubs fell to the Brewers last night, 0 - 10. Today's game @ 2:20 p.m. EDT will feature another of the pitchers from that World Series team, RHP Kyle Hendricks, 13 - 4.

My beloved, second-place in the AL East, with a record of 66 - 50 Red Sox, drubbed the first-place in the AL East, the 69 - 45 Tampa Bay Rays last night, as RHP Nathan Eovaldi, 10 - 7, looked impressive as the Sox topped the Rays, 20 - 8. Today's game @ 4:10 p.m. EDT features the stylings of young Sox RHP Tanner Houck, 0 - 2. Houck is one of the pitchers that the Sox are counting on for the future.

The third-place in the AL Central Tigers and their 56 - 60 record, easily handled the 5th place in the AL East Orioles, last night, 5 - 3. Best of all, Miguel "Miggy" Cabrera, nailed his 499th home run while playing first-base, where Cabrera looked good defensively. 

Cabrera will be joining the ranks of some great players like Barry Bonds with 762, Hank Aaron with 755, Babe Ruth with 714, my personal favorite, David "Big Poppy" Ortiz, at 541, and the Cubs Ernie Banks with 512. Other names on that short list include Reggie Jackson, 563, Frank Thomas, 521, and the immortal Ted Williams, also at 521. Rare company indeed. 

The Tigers and the Orioles also play this afternoon beginning @ 4:05 p.m. EDT, when RHP Matt Manning, 2 - 5 hurls for the Tigers.

The West Michigan White Caps and the Lake County, OH Captains were rained out last night. They try again tonight @ 7:00 p.m.

Otherwise, today we have plans to get to some of those tings we've been meaning to get to for a while and also do some additional reading. That should be enough for one day. I've already been downstairs for some of the tasks that were on our short list. Ciao.