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

We had a Winter Weather Advisory forecast issued last evening that was supposed to be in effect until later this morning, but it appears that that the NWS has cancelled that for the foreseeable future. That's fine by me. I can only move so much snow one-handed. We have a current temperature of 20° under cloudy skies with today's high forecast to reach 24°. The sun will rise in less than two hours @ 7:11 a.m. and set later @ 6:41 p.m.

In Mesa, AZ, spring home to the Chicago Cubs, the current temperature is 61° under partly cloudy-skies. Later today, the skies will remain cloudy and the high is forecast to reach 76°.

In Ft. Myers, FL, spring home of my beloved Boston Red Sox, the current temperature is 48° under clear-skies. Today's high is forecast to reach 76° under sunny-skies.

In Lakeland. FL, spring training home to the Detroit Tigers, the current temperature is 44° under clear skies. Today/s high is going to reach 73° with those clear-skies still in the forecast.

I am amazed to see that the overnight temperatures in FL have dipped, while those in Mesa. AZ have risen. Plus, the daily highs have equalized. Go Figure.

We made it to our book club yesterday and had good book discussions and rousing side discussions too. We all agreed that the book for next month is going to be 1984 by George Orwell. That book was first published in 1949 and is eerily prophetic. In addition, we plan to also watch the movie version, ironically released in 1984, to compare and contrast the two versions. I don't yet have an opinion, as I don't remember either version well enough. I'm not even sure if I ever completed the book or the movie.

We finally got to that vegan pot-roast with vegetables and gravy. Mary is right, we've done better, so that recipe has been consigned to the "ash heap of history" or the "dustbin of history", to borrow from Petrarch in the 14th century as he supposedly commented during a visit to Rome. Later in history, Leon Trotsky purportedly used the phrase during the beginnings of the Russian/Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. I guess you could say that about either usage, as those records have themselves been consigned to the collective "dustbins of history." At any rate, that's another of those historical sayings that people often use, like Catch 22.

I spent quite a lot of time at my desk coloring yesterday. That followed two hours of coloring on Tuesday morning while I was at my monthly adult coloring session at the library. I was the only attendee for the first 20 minutes or so before a new person came in. That gave me the chance to work almost one on one with Kerry, the session leader, and coincidentally, the Assistant Library Director. She gave me a seemingly simple assignment, color a bookmark using only four pencils to create the various shadings that she had created on her sample. I finished my task near the end of the session and now Mary has something that she has wanted for a long while, a personal bookmark.

Kerry noted that I must use chalks a lot at home. From her previous observations of my "technique", she had noted that I seem to be judicious in my use of pressure on pencils, because chalks, given their soft nature, are vulnerable to breakage if you press too hard. She had also noted that I tended to hold a pencil like chalks when I am shading. So, a seemingly simple task became two hours of learning to hold a pencil and create shadings using just those four pencils. That's why I am going to these sessions, to learn.

I was in the mudroom last evening watching the fur-children after their evening meal and post-meal activities, when I glanced out the back door and saw some cloud formations that were very photogenic. So, I asked Mary to fetch the camera from the downstairs guestroom and then I stepped outside, camera in hand, and took some shots of what I was viewing. I like them, so that's what matters. They have an "Industrial" quality to me. I like that look in my photos.

Taken looking east and up towards the sky.

A similar view, looking more to the south.

I brought the lens down and captured some of the snows on the ground in this one.

All shots were taken as I stood on our deck, using the manual outdoor setting on our Olympus camera with the regular focal length lens in place.

Otherwise, yesterday was mostly pedestrian. We did some indoor chores, how two people can create so many indoor chores in a short time, I don't know. We didn't get up until late yesterday morning after I had slept in from about 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday until about 10:00 am yesterday.

Today, P/T. and that's about all that is pressing on our schedule. I am still making non-linear progress, but I am making progress. John is due in today to accomplish that painting while Mary and Ginger stay in her office as she edits my novel's manuscript for continuity issues. I know that those issues are there, but like any writing you can't see the forest for the trees when you are the writer, so to speak. I often used to ask my former colleague and friend, Ellen @ Cooper, for editing help as she had a discerning eye without being brutal. Ciao.