Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 6:30 p.m. in "The City", where the current temperature is a very seasonal 54° under fair skies with an overnight low expected to drop to 38°. The sun will set tonight @ 6:42 p.m.

Not much happened at the manse today. We did more ear-reading, newspaper perusal, and crossword solving before taking a trip to that big-box home center and making a stop at the library. Finally, we drove over to Hofma Park, not to be confused with Hofma Preserve. We finally gained access to Hofma Park which has been under construction for a considerable time. While Mary and Ginger took a short sojourn, I mostly stayed near the car for some picture-taking.

Similar to Duncan Woods in the City of Grand Haven, a gift to the citizens of GH by Mrs. Duncan in the early 1900s, Hofma Memorial Park was gifted to  GH Township by Dr. and Mrs. Hofma.

This is the access road to the balance of Hofma Memorial Park where there are soccer and baseball fields and a playground. 

Near where I was stationed, this bench awaits travelers.

Like most of Hofma Preserve and Hofma Park, the woods are left to nature.

However, there is a nature trail named for an early trustee of Hofma Memorial Park.

Across from Hofma Memorial Park, some type of construction is underway. I love shots of heavy equipment

As my loyal readers may recall, I am fascinated by playgrounds without users.

But, it was time to head home. As we traveled along, I shot a picture of this small plane at the Grand Haven Airport.

Waiting for clearance to taxi and takeoff. 

Once home,  I took some shots of the flora in our vast gardens.

These yellow annuals are blooming non-stop.

As are these perennials. 

I had the right lens, so I took this close-up of one of those yellow annuals.

I just thought the roses were done for the season.

Be that as it may, I am awaiting a ZOOM™ session at 7:00 p.m. regarding some pictures taken by Mike Amico, a representative of OM-Solutions, the camera division of Olympus Digital, and a Master Trainer. I always enjoy his presentations and I always get something useful out of each session.

Finally, tomorrow night, I plan to be in front of my TV in the media room to see the 114th game between the 7 - 0 Michigan Wolverines and the 3 - 4 MSU Spartans for the Paul Bunyan Trophy. This trophy was first introduced into the series in 1953, and it represents the history of Michigan as a lumber-producing state. These two teams have been playing each other since 1898. 

While the Wolverines have that 7 - 0 conference record, don't count out my sentimental favorites, the 3 - 4 MSU Spartans.

That's enough for one blog. Ciao. 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 8:25 a.m. in "The City", where the current temperature is 62° under mostly cloudy skies. although it feels more like 61° with winds out of the southeast at 12 mph.

Those winds are part of the ongoing Small Craft Advisory from St. Joseph to GH until 2:00 p.m. tomorrow as winds on Lake Michigan will blow from 10 - 20 knots with possible gusts up to 25 knots propelling waves up to three feet. 

Today's high temperature will reach 72° with a chance for additional rain showers around 8:00 a.m. continuing until 11:00 a.m. when the chance drops to almost zero. Our low overnight tonight will drop to a still comfortable 59°. Sunrise today was @ 8:09 a.m. and sunset will be @ 6:47 p.m.

What happened around here yesterday?

Well, we did a lot of ear-reading, I did some print-reading, Ginger and Mary walked more than I did, and I stupidly watched most of the pathetic 1 - 5 Detroit Lions loss to the 5 - 2 Dallas cowboys, 6 - 24. Will I never learn that just about wherever I live, the professional teams will be mediocre at best, and downright awful at worst. 

However, there are exceptions, The Chicago Bulls in the 90s, the Bears in 1985, the Blackhawks in 2013 and 2015, the Cubs in 2016, and that's about it. Meanwhile, the Astros will return to the MLB™ World Series for the umpteenth time in the 21st century and the Cubs and Tigers will again go home. Wait til next year????

At any rate, my apple pie turned out to be my best yet and so that's all good. We also found time to make a donation at the local Goodwill Store™ and then travel over to the Grand Haven State Park for what should have been a few shots of the calm conditions, However, one person had a mishap of some type while walking on the south pier and so that factored into my photo shoot.

People were mostly enjoying the great weather while walking on the south pier.

And the north pier.

The waves were small and the skies were mostly clear.

The gulls were enjoying the updrafts over the channel. 

But, our EMTs had to take a small ATV onto the pier to retrieve a person.

I'm working on getting the settings better for this type of shot. 

But overall, I think that this shot looked nice.

Small crafts were out and about late yesterday. 

Again, I need to work on my settings more.

I joined my ukulele strum session last night @ 9:00 p.m. and that was fun. After that, I mostly read and watched a couple of Hallmark Channel™ Christmas movies, staying up until 2:00 a.m.

Mary spent part of her afternoon on the deck with Ginger, ear-reading, knitting, and enjoying the beautiful fall afternoon. Later, she came inside and did more ear-reading and crafting.

Tonight, I have to decide if I can get Chicago out of my DNA and avoid watching the Bears on Monday Night Football™. Somehow, I suspect that I'll be like that proverbial moth to a flame. Ciao. 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 1:15 p.m. in "The City", where the current and "Real Feel" temperatures are exactly the same @ 68° under partly to mostly sunny skies with a wind out of the southeast @ 13 mph. That wind is part of the Small Craft Advisory that remains in effect from S. Joseph to Grand Haven until 6:00 p.m. tomorrow night. The sun will set later this evening @ 6:49 p.m. with a 50% chance for showers later tonight.

Tomorrow, the sun will rise @ 8:09 a.m. and set later @ 6:49 p.m. In between, the high is forecast to reach a very pleasant and fall-like 72°. Tuesday's high will still be in the lower 60s, but there is also a 79% chance for rain showers too. 

Yesterday was a day in which we did more reading, more crossword solving, more knitting, more music playing, more apple pie baking, and more photography. It was later in the afternoon, and I had gotten restless, so Mary, Ginger, and I hopped into our Jeep Renegade™ and headed over to the Harbor Island/Linear Park/Swan Lake area to get some exercise for Ginger and some photo-ops for me.

Swans and Canada geese near the Verplank Dock in Ferrysburg looking across Swan Lake. 

Given the wrangling over the clean-up of the former Sims II power plant site, this sign will be there for many years into the future. 

But for now, the Linear Park walkway is accessible to Ginger and her companion. human.

The pathway borders one of the channels of the Grand River that leads to Lake Michigan. 

I was interested in getting a reflection shot of this No Wake sign.

I hope I captured the sunlight glinting off the water in the channel. 

Once again, trying to capture the reflection as well as the actual piling in the channel.

I just liked how this tree looked.

But, I'm not done yet. Both before we left and after we returned to the manse, I took some shots of the flora here.

Our perennials in the small garden near the deck are blooming once again. 

And though I've stopped watering, these geraniums are still flourishing. 

The fallen green leaves make a nice contrast to the purple mums.

The annuals continue to bloom in spite of my no-watering policy. The brown leaves are a nice contrast.

In the far-flung reaches of our vast gardens, these annuals are thriving without any intervention from me. 

Overall, yesterday was really a productive day for all of us here at the manse. Today is a day when Mary and Ginger have gone for a walkabout while I have stayed behind to rest my knees and blog. A side note, my recent (Radio Frequency Ablation) RFI spinal nerve ablations have produced significant relief for my aching yak, so that's all good. Ciao. 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. across the nation and across the world. It is just past 9:00 p.m. in "The City" and this is my second blog for today. 

The NWS is reporting a current temperature of 66° that feels like 66° with a wind out of the southwest @ 17 mph. That wind is part of the reason for the Small Craft Advisory still being in effect until 2:00 a.m. tomorrow from St. Joseph to Manistee. Winds of 20 knots or more will propel waves up to six feet in height. That is relatively sedate given the recent spate of Gale Warnings and other alerts that have plagued the lakeshore counties of late. Our overnight low-temperature forecast calls for 55°.

The sun will rise tomorrow @ 8:07 a.m. and set later @ 6:50 p.m.. In between, we anticipate sunny skies and a high temperature of 71°, with an overnight low temperature of 58°.

Most of today was spent reading both, ear and print, and cross-stitching. However, since it was such a gorgeous day, we took a road trip to Duncan Memorial Park or Duncan Woods, depending on your preference, for a photo shoot and some walk time for our fur child, Ginger. Oh, I also took some shots of our own vast gardens when we returned. I have it on good authority, that at least one of my pictures will make an excellent background for a computer screen too.

A gem donated to the city of Grand Haven by Martha Duncan in the early 1900s to honor her husband, Robert, an attorney and farsighted early citizen of Grand Haven.

A wide view of a puddle on the paved pathway that used to be a vehicular thoroughfare until 1973.

I focused more tightly on that puddle using a telephoto lens.

Although Duncan Woods is very shady, the sun pokes through in many places.

The mottled effect of the sun through the trees along that same pathway.

The fallen leaves made a nice backdrop for this stump.

Some of the best subjects are right at your feet.

The leaves are falling in our own vast gardens, but the flowers continue to bloom.

As does one of the last roses in Mary's rose garden.

I like to say that we live on a reality-scale train board.

Otherwise, I covered most of the happenings around the Palatial Estate in my last blog. Ciao. 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 6:15 a.m. in "The City", where the current temperature is a very fall-like 41° as we head for sunrise today @ 8:05, yet well before sunset @ 6:52 p.m. In between, the NWS forecast shows the high temperature will reach anywhere between 61° and 64°, depending on which part of the Weather.com™ forecast you consult.

Tonight's low temperature is forecast to drop to a very comfortable 56°. However, one of those pesky Small Craft Advisories from St. Joseph to Manistee, goes into effect from 8:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. tomorrow.

But there is very good news regarding the weekend temperatures, as Saturday's high temperature will reach 69°, and Sunday's high temperature will reach a sultry 71°, with both of those accompanied by mostly sunny skies. Monday the NWS is forecasting a high of 70°, albeit under mostly cloudy skies.

Yesterday was a day that found us wondering what we accomplished. 

Mary and Ginger went to the small-box grocery store, I went to the podiatrist, we collectively did the indoor chores, we ear-read, both independently and as a tandem, we read the newspapers, I worked a couple of crosswords, and Mary was productive in the kitchen and cross-stitching. So, we accomplished a lot. We just had to take stock of our activities.

Yesterday, Mary sent me a picture of our then newly adopted fur child, Ginger, our recently departed fur child, Sugar, and me on the bench at the Loutit District Library from six years ago.

I am working on it, it's been nearly four weeks, but I still miss Sugar more than I can adequately describe. I knew I'd be the proverbial basket case when I lost Sugar, but it has been harder than I ever imagined. Thank you, Sugar, for 15 great years.

The only college football game of note this weekend features the Huskies of NIU versus the Bobcats of Ohio on Saturday @ 1:00 p.m. The Michigan Wolverines and the Spartans of MSU are in bye weeks before they renew their annual rivalry @ 7:30 p.m. Saturday night, 10-29-22.

Today we hope to do more ear-reading, crossword solving, cross-stitching, music playing, print-reading, painting, and any other creative activities that come to mind, none of them too strenuous. I hope to accompany Mary and Ginger on one of their walkabouts, but I have to limit myself as I'm still recovering from my recent spinal nerve ablations. Is that enough for one day? Yes! Ciao. 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 6:45 p.m. in "The City", where the current temperature is a very raw 44° under showery skies with a wind out of the northeast @ 18 mph making it feel more like 36°. 

Our overnight low tonight will be a warmer feeling 40° with showers ending for a short time around 7:45 p.m. and then returning again early tomorrow morning with a 92% chance of light showers throughout the day.

The sunrise tomorrow will occur @ 8:02 a.m. and the sunset will happen @ 6:57 p.m.

As of now, we have two warnings and one advisory from the NWS.

First, is the continuation of that Gale Warning from St. Joseph to Manistee until 2:00 a.m. tomorrow, with Gale Force winds blowing anywhere from 35 - 45 knots propelling waves up to 14 feet in height. 

That Gale Warning is in addition to a Storm Warning also from St. Joseph to Manistee and also until 2:00 a.m. tomorrow, with winds possible up to 50 knots and waves possible up to 18 Feet! In fact, the NWS is reporting that waves up to 14 feet have been measured out on Lake Michigan as of 3:00 p.m. this afternoon. 

Finally, a Wind Advisory is going into effect for Allegan, Mason, Muskegon, Oceana, Ottawa, and Van Buren counties from late tonight into tomorrow, with 2 - 30 mph winds causing a strong possibility for downed tree limbs and power lines.

Naturally when I espied that Gale Warning on the Weather.com™ app on my tablet, I knew that the surf was up and it was time for a visit to Grand Haven State Park for another photoshoot utilizing my mid-range telephoto lens attached to my Olympus E-M10III DSLR camera. Transportation is provided by Mary, with Ginger riding shotgun in our Jeep Renegade™. Here are some of those pix.

But before I get to those pix, this a great opportunity to insert the Beach Boys' song,  Catch a Wave, from their Surfer Girl album. Catch a Wave

Although not highly visible, there was a rainbow over the channel when we arrived.

The waves broke over the south pier and both lighthouses. 

Not to mention the railings that separate the walkway from the channel.

Nobody was foolish enough to venture out on the pier today.

Even the gulls were almost hovering in place.

This lakeweed was blown into the sand-covered parking area.

The waves were breaking constantly.

Which encouraged this lone surfer to paddle out. 

And wait for just the right wave.

Before trying to climb atop his board for a ride.

Again, a rainbow was nearly invisible, this time over the lake itself.

Otherwise, it was a day of ear-reading, cross-stitching, print reading, and retirement. Tomorrow looks very similar to today. Ciao.