Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 4:45 a.m. in "The City,"

I was outside with Ginger around 2:30 a.m. and what to my wondering eyes had appeared? It had rained and by all appearances, quite heavily. That wasn't in yesterday's forecast from the NWS. Go figure. The current temperature is 70° according to both of my sources. Later today, after the sun rises @ 620 a.m. and long before it sets @ 9:21 p.m., the high is forecast to reach 78°. I was going to water today, but now I don't have to do that outdoor chore. Phew!

Speaking of outdoor chores, I mowed the vast lawns of the PE yesterday, pulled some weeds and also used my bequeathed from Adam and Stephany's South Haven house line trimmer and the high-velocity leaf blower to rid the front porch of the various spiders and their webs that had taken up residence there. I watered the lawns after mowing. I guess I was a bit premature. Oh well, in this case, more is better.

Prior to making lunch for myself and Mary, we took the morning safari to the GH Farmer's Market. I returned to do what is almost always Mary's favorite activity, chopping vegetables. In this case, I made my best stove top activity, a stir fry. Since I didn't have any rice, I made couscous and that actually turned out to be a better choice. Julienned carrots, sliced celery, bean sprouts, portobello mushroom, onions, green pepper from the aforementioned GH Farmer's Market, garlic, ginger soy sauce, and molasses, and that couscous combined to make a delicious repast.

After lunch, I went outside for those outdoor chores and returned to the kitchen to make my version of Mary's vegan sausages. I don't know that they were better or worse, they tasted just great for dinner. Mary has now committed the slightly tweaked recipe to her personal cookbook.

Mary spent much of the afternoon indexing and then we traveled to JWs for adult libations and I got to bring home her free birthday dessert, vegan Key Lime pie!

Sports news yesterday was almost perfect unless you count the final result of the game between my beloved Red Sox and the Yankees. The Sox are still atop the AL East by 2.5 games @ 51 - 40, but the Yankees were better in the 1 - 4 Red Sox loss. Chris Sale was just not able to hold off the Yankees' onslaught. The Sox and the Yankees play again today @ 1:05 p.m.

The Cubs moved back to even with the league @ 45 - 45, with a 10 - 3 drubbing of the Orioles in an interleague game between the NL Central 2nd place Cubs and the 42 - 48 4th place in the AL East Orioles. Cubs' pitcher Jake Arrieta outpitched his former team and flashed the Cy Young pitching of 2015. The latest pitching acquisition by Theo Epstein, left handed pitcher Jose Quintana, starts the game in Baltimore today @ 1:35 p.m. A sweep would be great.

The Tigers actually looked good with an 11 - 1 win over the Bluejays. So, the Tigers moved to 40 - 49 and stayed in 4th place, but they are still not a good team. Sadly, their victory came over the last place in the AL East 42 - 48 Bluejays. The Tigers and the Bluejays play again today @ 1:05 p.m.

The Caps fell to earth yesterday with a 1 - 8 loss in the MWL East to the visiting Quad Cities River Bandits. The Caps still sit atop their division @ 16 - 6 with a 1.5 game lead over the Ft. Wayne TinCaps. The Caps play the River Bandits again today @ 1:00 p.m.

So today, we will take the morning safari, this time a shorter distance to better accommodate STWDs' decreased stamina. She is nearly 10 years old and doesn't have the stamina she had when she was a few years younger, But then, neither do I.

Mary will continue indexing and I'll do some things in the man-cave before I settle in to do some reading in my latest novel, a book entitled The Case of the Bygone Brother, by Michigan based author Diane Burton. The story is set in the fictional lakeside town of Fair Haven, MI. I am liking it so far. Ciao.