Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just passing 6:30 p.m. in "The City", where the current temperature is a San Diego like 59°! It was so warm today that the letter carrier from the USPS was wearing a summer uniform of shorts and a short-sleeved shirt as he made his rounds. 

Our high-temperature today reached 62° as the winds picked up and once again added to the detritus on the vast estate. It feels like 55° with a strong wind out of the south @ 24 mph!

The NWS is ending the Small Craft Advisory @ 7:00 p.m. tonight to be replaced by a High Wind Warning beginning @ 7:00 p.m. and ending tomorrow afternoon @ 4:00 p.m., for Central, Southwest, and West Central, MI. Winds will blow steadily @ 30 to 40 mph with gusts possible up to 65 mph! There are likely to be downed power lines and fallen trees. 

If that wasn't enough, there will also be a Storm Warning in effect from St. Joseph to Manistee, also from 7:00 p.m. tonight and continuing until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. Southwest Gale Force Winds will blow @ 45 knots with gusts up to 55 knots! That means that waves may reach heights up to 15 feet!

But wait, there's more! There will also be a concomitant Lakeshore Flood Advisory in effect for Allegan, Mason, Muskegon, Oceana, Ottawas, and Van Buren counties. Some erosion of the shoreline is likely.

I guess that's a good thing that I took STWD for an afternoon walkabout before joining Mary and Ginger for a safari to Duck Pond and Swan Lake. I probably overdid it, but so far today, I've covered about four miles of walking! Not bad for an old man.

I took my camera along and took many pix as we walked.

I took this pic of a sculpture located near Linear Park on Harbor Island

Mary took this pic with her Smart Phone of the plaque that explains what the sculpture represents.

Since I had my 75 - 300 mm lens attached to my camera, I couldn't get a good shot of the plaque, but our Senior Staff Photographer bailed me out. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see so many ducks swimming on Duck Pond, and many more ducks and swans swimming on Swan Lake. Here are some pix of what I saw.

These swans must overwinter somewhere here in GH.

There was a huge bevy or flock of swans on the lake.

I shot this one because I was there and I could capture all of the waterfowl as they swam side by side.

The ducks on Duck Pond.

One of the trails we were following had a large branch across most of the path due to the recent high winds.

I was trying to capture a shot through the cattails along the shore of Duck Pond. I like how this one turned out.

As we walked back to the manse, I took this shot from a different angle.

But I wasn't done. As we walked, we espied The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, flat as the proverbial pancake. He doesn't look so mean, does he?

To paraphrase the Munchkins, "He's really most sincerely dead!"

But, it was time to get home with Ginger and set a spell as I worked a crossword puzzle before feeding the fur-children and taking out the trash. I also finished the indoor chores too. Mary had done much of that task earlier, so all I had to do was finish up the heavy items and put them away.

Tomorrow, I have that final P/T appointment and that's all that is pressing on my schedule. I won't be doing more walking tomorrow. With a bit of luck, I may get in more painting and music. Mary will continue her cross-stitching and listening to her latest book, entitled, Vanderbilt, narrated by the author, Anderson Cooper. He is the son of designer Gloria Vanderbilt and a fine journalist and writer in his own right.

Is that enough for one day? You bet! Ciao.