Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 7:00 a.m. in "The City", where my DTWS is displaying a current temperature of 65° under cloudy-skies, with a barometric pressure reading of 29.21" of Hg and falling, albeit only slightly. That would seem to correspond to the NWS forecast for afternoon showers with a 24% to 45% probability between 12:00 p.m. this afternoon and 7:00 p.m. tonight. The sun will be rising this morning @ 7:46 a.m. and setting later @ 7:29 p.m. 

We had quite a bit of rain yesterday that included some thunder, before the skies cleared for a few hours in the afternoon into the late evening. That respite allowed Mary and I to go out and check out the local car dealer for a new car to lease. Our current Jeep lease is set to expire in a few months. However, it would seem that the current supply-chain shortages that are plaguing the auto industry have left the local dealerships mostly bereft of new vehicles to sell or lease, with only a few exceptions, i.e. pickup trucks. Oh well, there are still a few months until we have to face that problem.

Before we set out, Mary went up to her office to listen to her latest novel and I stayed downstairs to do something I had not planned on, watching the 1 - 2 Chicago Bears take on the 0 - 3 Detroit Lions. The game ended in a final score of 24 - 14 in favor of the now 2 - 2 Bears and left the Lions at 0 - 4. 

Rookie QB Justin Fields got his second start for the Bears under newly promoted OC Bill Razor, who took the offensive reins from Bears' HC Matt Nagy. Fields looked good, at least for one game. A good choice by the Bears. Are the Bears for real? Are the Lions that bad? Probably not and very likely.

In addition, last night I had to wait out the results of the baseball game between the victorious NY Yankees, who prevailed 1 - 0 over the Tampa Bay Rays, and the also victorious Boston Red Sox, who defeated the Washington Nationals, 7 - 5. Once again, Rafael Devers was the man for the Red Sox, recording four hits, that included two home-runs. First, a solo home-run and second, a two RBI homer. I now await the one-game playoff between my beloved Red Sox and the hated NY Yankees, as Red Sox RHP Nathan Eovaldi, 3.75 ERA, with 2021 a won/lost record of 11 - 9, pitches versus the Yankees RHP Garrett Cole, 2.68 ERA and a 2021 won/lost record of 16 - 8. The game begins @ 8:00 p.m. Tuesday night in Fenway Park.

Since we were going out, I took along my camera, following that adage that the best camera you have is the one that you have with you. We made our way to the Grand Haven City Beach, where I took a lot of pix, some using various settings and special-effects to photograph the ever-present gulls, the sky, and the beach itself.

The gulls taking flight as seen with one of those aforementioned special-effects applied.

Same here.

I especially like this one. Hitchcock anyone?

Both shadow and substance, the Twilight Zone effect on Lake Michigan.

This gull was soloing against the cloudy sky.

This shot was a quickie taken as the gulls separated, again using a special-effect.

Just because.

A lone gull awaiting something.

Same fence, one more gull.

All in all, it was a great photo-op and I got the chance to try some of the things I learned during a recent Coffee with Olympus session. 

Today should be more laid-back. I gave up on a book I started, as it was just not to my liking. So many books, so little time, as "They" say. Nothing urgent on the agenda. Ciao.