Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 8:50 p.m. in "The City", where the current temperature under cloudy skies is 40°, although it feels like 32° with a wind out of the east @ 15 mph. 

It should come as no surprise that we have a Small Craft Advisory in effect from St. Joseph to Manistee from now until 8:00 p.m. tomorrow night, with winds possible from 15 to 25 knots and gusts up to 30 knots that may produce waves anywhere from one to four feet in height.

But wait, there's more! We also have a Winter Weather Advisory now in effect for Ionia, Kent, Muskegon, and Ottawa counties in MI until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow. The NWS is forecasting a chance for sleet/freezing rain during that time period, with a strong chance for rain after midnight tonight.

That forecast may explain why the NWS is reporting a current barometric pressure of 30.04 of Hg and falling, while my own DTWS is showing 29.39" of Hg and rising. After all, we live on the lakeshore and that means that we are experiencing that infamous Lake Effect weather. 

The overnight low-temperature tonight will be 34° before we rise to tomorrow's high temperature of 57°, albeit with a 99% chance for rain throughout the day after the sun rises @ 7:32 a.m. and well before it sets @ 8:07 p.m.

Sugar and I took a short walk this afternoon while Mary and Ginger went down to Harbor Dr. and back. While they were walking, they took a picture of something that Sugar and I had missed, flowers blooming in our parkway garden. 

They might be crocuses, but neither of us is certain. However, they are blooming before the snow and ice land on them, so...

We accomplished the indoor chores today before we went walkabout and after lunch that was fried tofu and steamed broccoli with cheeze sauce. Somewhere in there, we read the Grand Haven Tribune and I worked the two crossword puzzles that are part of Tuesday's edition. 

Mary went all out for dinner, serving up a salad and vegan spinach and cheeze ravioli. I liked it.

Tomorrow, we have an afternoon appointment to have our wash machine-checked and estimated for possible repair due to excessive noise. That's all for tomorrow that is of any import. 

I may play more music, I'll certainly read more too. Mary is downstairs ear-reading and cross-stitching right now and I anticipate that she may do more of those activities tomorrow too. 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." Today was a chilly day as our high temperature peaked @ 27°. However, tomorrow promises to be much better, as we are forecast by the NWS to see a high temperature of 46° under partly-cloudy skies. 

Our current temperature is a brisk 25° under clear skies, but it feels more like 18° with a wind out of the southwest @ 6 mph. Our overnight low-temperature forecast calls for 21° before we see that 46°, but overnight tomorrow we'll drop to a much more comfortable overnight low temperature of 34°. Wednesday, the high temperature is forecast to reach a very springlike 56° with an 85% to 90% chance for showers throughout the day, 

It looks like the NWS is forecasting our daytime temperatures to stay under the 50° mark until April 10, when we get into the 50s and then the 60s to stay. Like Mary always says, there is a reason that you don't plant vegetables until Mother's Day, or at least May 1.

Our current barometric pressure per my DTWS is 29.71" of Hg and falling, while the NWS is reporting 30.34" of Hg and rising. Whatever the case, the sun will rise tomorrow @ 7:34 a.m. and set in the evening @ 8:06 p.m.

Last night was very busy for yours truly. I spent from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. watching a live acrylic painting tutorial and then segued to another ukulele play-along session from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. In short, I had a great night.

Earlier yesterday, Mary baked another loaf of light wheat bread which I enjoyed as a post ukulele sandwich following a bowl of homemade soup before my evening started. To borrow that phrase, "It doesn't get any better than this."

Today, it was mostly a pedestrian day here at the manse of the palatial estate. I did some reading, played some music, and generally watched the world go by. Mary did some ear-reading, cross-stitching, and made the meals as I took care of our fur children. Nobody said that retirement was easy.

Tomorrow, I have some indoor chores to accomplish, Mary will probably walk with Ginger and I may, and I stress may take a short walk with STWD. She always wants to go for walks, but the cold weather, the icy sidewalks, and her advancing age limit her ability to go long distances. Ginger never has that problem.

Otherwise, I have plenty of books to read, as I think I decimated the fiction section of the library over this past weekend. Mary will probably do more ear reading and more cross-stitching. That's all folks. Ciao.

Good morning 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", where the current temperature is a brisk 29°, but it feels more like 17° with a wind out of the northwest @ 15 mph. That wind is the remnants of the Gale Warning that was in effect until it was superseded by a Small Craft Advisory from St. Joseph to Manistee until 2:00 a.m. Monday. Wind speeds of 15 to 25 knots with gusts up to 30 knots may produce waves as high as nine feet in height. 

Our current barometric pressure per my DTWS is 29.36" of Hg and falling, while the NWS is reporting 29.95" of Hg and rising. 

Our overnight low is forecast to drop to 24° with tomorrow's high temperature only rising to 26° before another very chilly overnight low temperature of 21°. It looks as though winter will be hanging at least through late next week. The sun will rise tomorrow @ 7:37 a.m. and set later @ 8:04 p.m.

We had a great homemade pizza for dinner last night. I prevailed upon Mary to make her world-famous crust and then I chopped and sliced the various toppings which Mary piled on to make this delicious pizza!

We say this all the time, but we think this was our best effort to date!

I had chopped so many olives, mushrooms, green peppers, and vegan sausage Friday night, that the remainder became part of our brunch salad earlier today.

For dinner, Mary made homemade oven-baked garlic French fries to accompany one of my many favorites, vegan hot dog wraps. All in all, our meals were just perfect.

I finished one novel late last night and started another today following the reading of two newspapers and working their accompanying crossword puzzles, while Mary spent time with her ear reading and cross-stitching.

What can I say, when you are retired, you have plenty of time to do as little or as you like. Of course, I'd prefer to be outdoors, but my old bones are less willing to be outdoors when the temperature is below 40° or over 70°. 

Tomorrow, we have no specific plans except for music, painting, reading, cross-stitching, and whatever appeals to us at the time. Ciao. 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 4:30 a.m. in "The City."

The current temperature under cloudy skies is 36°, but it feels like 29° with a wind out of the west @ nine mph. No surprise there, as there will also be a Gale Warning going into effect from St. Joseph to Manistee beginning at 4:00 p.m. today and extending until 2:00 a.m. tomorrow. Windspeeds of 15 to 25 knots with gusts up to 35 knots are possible as are wave heights up to eight feet on Lake Michigan. Surf is up again this spring. 

We had some snow yesterday afternoon that was less than one inch. It rained too. Today's high temperature will be about five degrees warmer than yesterday, as we hit a daytime high of 41° before an overnight low of 31°. The rain should hold off until later in the day and then we may see an additional snowfall of less than one inch with more rain also in the forecast from the NWS. 

Our current barometric pressure per my DTWS is 29.12" of Hg and steady, while the NWS is showing 29.72" of Hg and falling. The sun will rise this morning @ 7:39 a.m. and set this evening @ 8:03 p.m.

Sad to say, the Michigan Men's Wolverines Basketball team fell to the Villanova Wildcats, 55 - 63 last night. The NCAA tournament rolls on, minus the Wolverines. 

We had an average day yesterday. The fur-children were reluctant to go out due to the wet weather, as neither STWD nor Ginger are big fans of getting their paws cold and/or wet. I can't disagree, as I am quite content to stay indoors on days like yesterday and today too. However, to borrow from The Rolling Stones, "You can't always get what you want..."

Mostly, I read more of my novel, Mary listened to more of hers, and we both read two newspapers. I soloed on the crossword puzzles from each.

Oh, I had a short visit to the dentist that was less than one-half hour in duration to repair a cavity. No Novacaine was required, so I had none of the usual side effects from that. 

Mary had pressed some tofu for many hours that became part of our dinner with a side salad.

Today, we have no specific plans. I'll probably play some music, as the lighting in my studio is too dim to get the colors right when painting, I may have to resort to some pencil drawing in black and white. Or, is that graphite on white.? We shall see. I'll probably finish my novel too and start another. 

Mary is happily cross-stitching and ear reading and staying out of the weather, just like yours truly and the fur-children. Ciao. 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 4:30 p.m. in "The City", so I guess you can call this either an early edition or a late edition from Sunday/Monday morning. Either way, the current temperature is 60° though it feels like 58° with a wind out of the southeast @ 13 mph under what the NWS is calling mostly-cloudy skies, which a view out the WW indicates to me is partly cloudy. You say potato, so to speak.

The sun will rise tomorrow @ 7:46 a.m. and set tomorrow evening @ 7:56 p.m. as the temperature will rise from that 40° overnight low to a high temperature of 53° which will be about seven degrees lower than today. 

We will have a Small Craft Advisory going into effect this evening @ 8:00 p.m. from St. Joseph to Manistee and lasting until 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, with wind speeds of 15 to 25 knots and gusts possible to 30 knots, with waves no more than three feet in height. 

Mary and Ginger were out picking up some groceries, but they are back now. Yesterday, they went for a morning walkabout as they did this morning. In addition, in the afternoon, they walked over to the auxiliary gardens, and lo and behold, the garlic we planted last fall is coming up.

I have to make a deer-resistant cover before the deer in our area discover they like garlic sprouts.

We amended the soil last fall to make it more garlic friendly and it looks like that worked.

The sprouts resemble the daffodils that are sprouting in our beds here at the manse.

Another angle was taken by our Senior Staff Photographer.

I took STWD for a walk earlier too, but as Mary has to remind me, Sugar is getting older, as am I, so while she thinks she can go farther, she needs to be kept in check so that her flesh doesn't give out before her mind. My yak felt better today than yesterday. I'll take it!

Today, we had a nice lunch of salad and leftover spaghettirole casserole and I did some reading of a novel I am enjoying entitled, The Last Thing He Told Me, by Laura Dave. I gave up on one yesterday that was quickly becoming tedious. I don't have time to waste on novels that require too much effort to read.

Tomorrow, we have nothing on the agenda other than some longer walks for Mary and Ginger and a shorter walk for STWD and me. We hope to get to look at our picture archives for some pictures we'd like to have printed for around the manse. 

Mary is still ear reading and stitching and I am still working on music and reading. Tomorrow should also bring some new crossword puzzles too. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 6:45 a.m. in "The City", where the NWS is forecasting rain this morning with possible clearing by later this afternoon and a high temperature of 41°, which is five degrees cooler than yesterday. 

The sun will rise into those leaden skies @ 7:50 a.m. and set later @ 7:56 p.m. We still have a Small Craft Advisory in effect from St. Joseph to Manistee until 11:00 p.m. tonight, with winds out of the northwest @ 10 - 20 knots with gusts up to 30 knots and waves as high as six feet. In short, an average day on Lake Michigan.

Our overnight low-temperature last night was the same as our current temperature, 40°, with tonight's low-temperature forecast from the NWS calling for 35° before tomorrow's high-temperature rising to a more seasonal 46° under sunny skies. Then overnight, we'll once again drop to 35°. Come on spring!

We watched two sporting events in the media room yesterday afternoon. First, was the eventual loss of the Loyola Ramblers men's basketball team to the Ohio State Buckeyes, 41 - 54, in spite of the fact that Mary and I were garbed in our Win One for the Nun shirts that our daughter gave to us a couple of years ago when the Ramblers made it to the Final Four. Unfortunately, the Ramblers lost to the Wolverines of Michigan that year. This year, the OSU Buckeyes were just too much for the outgunned Ramblers of Loyola. Wait til next March!

Second, we watched the first game of the 2022 spring-training baseball season between the Tigers and the Phillies. New Tigers' LHP Eduardo Rodriguez started the game strongly and the Tigers put some early runs on the board. But, successive Tigers' pitchers gave up more runs to the Phillies and the game ended in a tie, 6 - 6 at the end of nine innings. Worthy of note to Tigers fans, Akil Baddoo got an early dinger, showing that he has picked up where he left off last season, so, this could be the year that the Tigers once again contend for the AL pennant. 

Rodriguez was signed by the Tigers over the winter and will be the Opening Day starter for the Tigers. Perennial fan favorite, Miguel "Miggy" Cabrera, got a hit in the first inning in his 20th season and probably last season, in MLB. Baseball is back and so is my joy, because as we all know, Baseball is Life!

After our afternoon sports extravaganza, I finished two crossword puzzles, read beaucoup pages in my latest novel, The Love Of My Life, by Rosie Walsh, which I continued last night. Mary spent time cross-stitching and preparing meals, which included one of this man's faves, Spaghettirole Casserole. Life in Michigan and retirement is good!

Today, the rain will likely preclude any outdoor activities, but that's okay by me. My yak is improving and I'm doing my stretching and balancing exercises daily too, but it is s slow process. I am not patient when it comes to my own rehab, but like STWD, I am not getting younger, so I must pursue everything in moderation. 

Mary and I are still watching Suits too. I hope to get to more music today, I also worked on some transcription and interpretation over the last few days too. 

Mary is happily cross-stitching, but as always seems to be the case with knitting needles and cross-stitch floss colors, she never has just the right ones. I know how that goes, as I never have just the color I want when painting. 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", where the current temperature under partly-cloudy skies is a balmy 56° that feels like 53° with winds out of the south @ 10 mph. 

Earlier today, I was out in only a long-sleeved sweater and I loved it! Tonight's low will drop to 42° before the sunrise @ 7:55 a.m., and well before the sunset @ 7:52 p.m. The overnight low-temperature tomorrow will be 37°. According to the forecast from the NWS in GR, Friday's high temperature will be 44°, but the NWS is also forecasting a 92% chance for rain. 

All of that is just window dressing as we head into spring which begins on Sunday, March 20. As of now, we will have to enjoy the efforts of our Senior Staff Photographer as she and her Wing-Gal, Ginger, our resident Terrierorist, tour the mean streets of GH with only a SmartPhone camera in hand and an eye for what is photogenic on their city-safaris.

I was in the dentist's chair while they were out, but I passed them as they were heading home following my appointment. Here are the fine pictures they took while they walked.

At the corner of Jackson St. and 3rd Ave., crews were removing a tree to allow for more development.

The GHDPS blocked Jackson so that the tree could be felled across the road.

They made their way across the Third St. bridge as they crossed over Jackson to Linear Park on Harbor Island.

Which used to be home to the J. B. Sims Generating Station, now demolished. 

They stopped at this observation point that overlooks the channel.

Where they viewed this swan, not on Swan Lake, but in the channel.

As they left Linear Park, this sign referred to the "New Bridge" which was opened in 2000.

As Mary noted, "Unless you're going to redo your sign in a of couple years. Avoid the word new." I have to agree. But this is the city where the word Cemetery is also spelled Cemetary on the opposite side of a sign in Central Park, so...

Following my dental visit, I made some vegan bratwurst, and then I assisted Mary in the making of some Coleslaw for dinner. That was before sitting down to work on a couple of crossword puzzles and reading more of my latest novel, Dead at Third, by Gary Payette. 

Tomorrow, I hope to read more, play more music, do more painting, and solve more crossword puzzles. I have no indoor chores to do. 

Mary will be listening to her latest novel, one she is enjoying immensely, along with more work on her latest cross-stitch project. All in all, we are enjoying retirement. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 4:45 a.m. in "The City", where I'm happy to report that there is no snow falling, the skies are only partly-cloudy and the current temperature of 34° actually feels like 34°, with a wind out of the south at a mere two mph. To borrow from a Barry Manilow song, "Looks like we made it!" 

From this point forward, the daytime temperatures will be in the 40s and 50s and the overnight low temperatures will not drop below freezing. Ladies and gentlemen, spring has sprung!

What else does that portend? 

Well, the millionaires of MLB­™ have agreed to a new contract for five years that will still allow all 162 regular-season games to be played, Spring Training will begin in earnest today, and the National League will have the Designated Hitter rule. That will now match the American League and allow many sluggers to just do that voodoo that they do so well, hit the ball without having to embarrass themselves in the field. Life is good! Baseball is back!

The sun will rise today @ 7:58 a.m. and set later @ 7:50 p.m. now that Daylight Savings time has arrived.

Oh, with only a slight "Shocked Face" from me and almost everyone, Tom Brady has decided that he wants to play at least one more year for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Yes, he feels that in spite of his middle age, he has more football in him and wants to win another ring. I'm sure that the lure of another huge paycheck had nothing to do with his decision. Just saying

But, I digress. We got out late yesterday afternoon for stop at the library and a photo-safari in our own backyard, the City Beach of GH, and the Lake Forest Cemetery. So, without further ado, here are some of the pix that I like.

Still surviving the late spring snows.

Across from the Coal Tipple, condos are rising, so I had to get this "Industrial" pic.

The late afternoon sun reflected off the roiling waters of Lake Michigan.

Ice covers the south pier near the outer lighthouse.

A brisk windy afternoon did not deter the walkers on the beach.

But, the beaches took their usual winter beating from the Gale Force winds.

Still, the fallen fences created a nice frame for the inner lighthouse.

At Lake Forest Cemetery, this deer was casually approaching our car.

While these deer could have cared less about our presence.

All in all, it was a great day. We watched as our snow removal service cleared our porch, driveway, and deck. We did some collectively reading and enjoyed a lazy late winter afternoon here at the manse. I tuned in to the ukulele session late last night, played along, and that was fun too.

Today, we have nothing specific on the agenda and that's fine with me. I am enjoying retirement. There are some things I could do around the manse, but if I don't, that's just fine with me too. I'll be glad when the winter has finally gone away for the year, which the NWS forecasts seem to indicate. did I mention that: Baseball is back!!! Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 6:00 a.m. in "The City", where the current temperature under cloudy-skies is 27°, but with a 12 mph wind out of the northwest, it feels like 16°! That 27° will be our overnight low before we rise to today's high-temperature of 29° under partly-cloudy skies followed by an overnight low of 22°.

We'll be seeing those thirty-degree high-temperatures until Sunday when the high is forecast by the NWS to reach a balmy 43°. For those of us who did not manage to escape to sunnier climes, that should be the harbinger of things to come, that is unless you factor in the high-temperature forecast by that same NWS of 38° for Sunday 3/24. 

My DTWS is showing a barometric pressure of 29.56" of Hg and falling, while the NWS in GR is showing 30.22" of Hg and rising. Our proximity to the shores of the "Big Lake" alters our forecast just a tiny amount. The sun will rise later this morning @ 7:05 a.m. and set tonight @ 6:45 p.m.

We still have a Small Craft Advisory in effect from St. Joseph to Manistee until 1:00 p.m. today, with wind speeds of 15 to 20 knots and wave heights possibly reaching five feet. In other words, an average day on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Mary drove me to my orthopedist's appointment in Muskegon yesterday morning for my second radiofrequency ablation on my lower yak. I am once again counting on many more months of relief.

I came home a bit tired, but that didn't stop me from reading the Grand Haven Tribune and the USA Today and completing their respective crossword puzzles. While I was doing that, Mary finished her latest cross-stitch project, an elephant in the savannah. I'll include a picture when she has it mounted and framed. I think her work turned out great. Can it be called work when it is a labor of love? Just asking for a friend.

At any rate, by the time the afternoon had worn on and we'd watched another two episodes of Suits, and Mary had done some ear reading and that previously mentioned cross-stitching, it was time to feed our fur-children and take some very local pix here at the manse. I had hoped to get some pix while we were out for that appointment, but I'd forgotten how woozy I get following that aforementioned procedure. So, I opted for some pix much closer to home. I like many of them, some more than others, so I'll present them in no particular order.

I'd espied these leaves on our front sidewalk while looking out the front door, so I just had to get a pic of them.

Which led me to taking a pic of this lonely leaf on the melting snow in our parkway garden.

And one of these dried asparagus ferns in the planter on our front porch.

And this closeup of our Green Man in our vast gardens in back. Or is it a Tree Man?

And finally, this longe-range shot of the various yard-art and planters awaiting spring.

At any rate, spring will soon be here. Once we get past the danger of frost, our gardens will be returning to life, just like Persephone. the ancient goddess os spring growth, portended when she returned from her time in Hades for one-half of the year.

Today, not much is on tap and that's fine with me. I have more of my latest nonfiction book, Unthinkabke, by Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland to read too. In this book, he discusses the death at age 25 of his son, Tommy, and also the recent and current political climate in D.C.

Otherwise, Mary has plans for more cross-stitching and more ear-reading, while I have more puzzle solving and more reading of my own to do. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 9:20 p.m. in "The City."

Yes, my loyal readers, it has been a while since my last blog. I guess that I've had other things on my mind and there really hasn't been that much to report that was out of the ordinary here in West Michigan. 

But, that changed today, as the current temperature is 58° under cloudy skies with a wind out of the south @ 18 mph that makes it feel like 54°. The overnight low-temperature tonight will drop to 40° before we rebound to tomorrow's high temperature of 44°. As you can easily see, that's about 20° colder than the high today which reached a very pleasant 61°. There is a strong possibility, 90%, of T-storms after midnight tonight, as the low-temperature drops to 32°. We had one good day today, but the high temperatures will struggle to get into the 40s for the next couple of weeks.

However, as I noted previously, while things have been pretty normal for a Michigan winter, tonight we have two warnings going into effect at 12:00 a.m. and continuing until 1:00 p.m. tomorrow.

First, is a High Wind Warning for central, south-central, south, and central Michigan. The NWS is forecasting the winds to reach  60 mph which may cause trees to be uprooted and power lines to be brought down.

Second, there will be a Gale Warning in effect from St. Joseph to Manistee, with winds from 35 to 45 knots and waves up to 12 feet in height. 

The sun will rise tomorrow @ 7:13 a.m. and set later @ 6:39 p.m.

However, over the last few days, both Mary and I did get out with either a SmartPhone or a DSLR camera in hand, which allowed us to take some pix at the nearby Rosy Mounds County Park, the waterfront, and our own back-forty here at the manse. I'll share some of our results now.

Looking east over the dunes at Rosy Mound.

Looking northeast at Rosy Mounds.

Why? Because it was there!

I believe that these are daffodils sprouting near our deck as the snow recedes. 

Same here.

These are the South Haven irises sprouting adjacent to the deck too.

Our Haven Henge took a beating this winter.

Necessitating a spring rebuilding project here in the back forty of the manse.

Oddly, as the snow melts away, this flower is blooming.

While I was on the deck at the manse with STWD, Mary and Ginger walked to the waterfront, where Mary, our Senior Staff Photographer, took some pix of the waterfront with her SmartPhone. As Mary can tell you, without a viewfinder on the SmartPhone and looking into the setting sun, getting good pictures is a tough assignment. I think she did quite well.

On the grass near the waterfront, these ducks are pairing up.

The water in the channel is not frozen, allowing some of the ducks to get in a swim.

With the power plant gone on Harbor Island, the channel has a nice view.

The three shots just above are courtesy of our own Senior Staff Photographer.

Tomorrow, we have just a few things to do after a busy day of walking, crossword puzzle solving, reading, and doing some of the indoor chores earlier today. We plan to take it easy and stay out of the weather. 

I'm good with that. Ciao.