Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, aross rhe nation and across the world. It is just past 6:30 a.m. in "The City."

I am going to start with some sad news, a former colleague, Franci C., passed away on Sunday. Services will be in Illinois on Tuesday afternoon. I had both of her sons in my classes when I was teaching and she, along with her husband, David, raised them to be fine men. Both Franci and they added at lot to our Cooper Middle School Community. She will be missed in our community and our world.

In other news, we have a current temperature of 19° under cloudy-skies. There is an expectation for light snow this morning of 50%. The view out the WW confirms that it snowed overnight and also that the city came by with their Sidewalk Zamboni and their street plows, leaving more accumulation on our front sidewalk and at the end of our shared driveway. Oh well, that's the way it goes in W. Michigan at this time of year and it seems, also at any time I have shoulder surgery. The sun will rise this morning @ 7:38 a.m. and set later @ 6:220 p.m.

In weather related baseball news, the current temperature in or near Fort Myers, FL. where my beloved Red Sox train, is 73° under partly-cloudy skies. The high temperature is forecast to reach 85° there today! In Lakeland, Fl, at Joe Marchant Stadium, where the Detroit Tigers train, the current temperature is 73° and today's high is forecast to be 86°, also under partly-cloudy skies.

The Cubs hold spring training in Mesa, AZ @ Sloan Park, where the current temperature is 48° under cloudy-skies. Today's forecast calls for the high to reach 52°, and the forecast from the NWS calls for the high temps to reach only into the 50s until next Monday! Awww. In fact, there is a Freeze Warning for that area from tomorrow evening into Wednesday morning. Good news though, the Tigers and the Cubs are expecting their position players to report today and begin full aquad workouts tomorrow, while the Red Sox reported yesterday. Ahhh, baseball is in the air.

I had a good time at my Irish Jam Session last Saturday after my "Roadie", Mary, got me situated and headed out to do some shopping. I was judicious in my playing time and rested often. I wasn't as rusty as I thought I would be. We had a good number of musicians and a fair-sized audience.

Yesterday was another in the long line of crash-filled Daytona 500s! 500 miles should have taken about three hours, but with the myriad crashes, red flag stops, caution flags, and restarts, the race didn't finish until after 7:00 p.m.! Taxi cabs with terrific structure allowed all the drivers to escape relatively unscathed, with the eventual winner, Denny Hamlin, putting his Toyota over the finish line to take the checkered flag, just ahead of Kyle Busch.

Yesterday, we collectively did the remaining indoor chores and spent time in the kitchen too. I made Mary's fave, vegan Italian meatballs, while Mary made roasted chickpeas, tofu cubes, and a great dinner of pasta topped by her secret recipe sauce and my Italian meatballs. I read part of the weekend edition of the Grand Haven Tribune and completed the crossword puzzle from Friday's paper. There is no paper today as it is Presiden't Day and therefore there is no mail delivery.

Elsewhere, after we get the snow cleared, I have another P/T appointment this afternoon. I am making progress, but it will be a long slog. Sigh. Mary will continue to knit. Ciao.