Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 5:00 a.m. in "The City."

I think I'll start with some pictures from the vast gardens of the PE. Mary and I picked up her lens attachment at The Camera Store on Saturday, but that wasn't something she used in the taking of the pictures that follow. However, if she had, I believe that the pictures would have had even more clarity and definition. You be the judge. I find all of the pictures to be high-quality.

The first flowers of spring.

Focused on just one.

This was taken as the flowers were first emerging from their long winter's nap.

My water pump and its bucket await some flowers that will have to come later.

Why not?

I spent some time in the kitchen yesterday making Mary's favorite, vegan Italian meatballs. Mary says they are great, I think I can do better. However, they were tasty as part of dinner last night. I also did some indoor chores while I waited for the meatballs to be done.

Mary went to the big-box almost everything store yesterday and could not believe how busy the place was on a Sunday afternoon. Go figure. She came back with most of what she went to purchase, something that can happen when a store is busy. I've had that experience.

We did take the fur-children for a walk yesterday, since the temperature was nothing short of spring-like. However by the time we took a second walk to the library, the temperature had dropped and the rain had begun to fall. According to the forecast from the NWS, we were supposed to get several hours of rain and perhaps some thunder, but what we got was about 20 minutes of heavy rain and no thunder.

We have a current temperature of 44° under partly-cloudy skies. The NWS has predicted that those partly-cloudy skies will continue through the morning hours, giving way to sunshine in the afternoon, as our high temperature reaches 52°, about 21° colder than yesterday's high of 73°!

The temperatures will  now hover in the low 50s and upper 40s fore several more days before we get permanently into the 50s by next Sunday. I cannot wait for spring to arrive and stay with us. Neither can our vegetable seedlings.

Speaking of surprises, as you may recall, I recently purchased MLBTV so that I could watch my favorite out of market games, i.e. my beloved Red Sox and the boys in blue, AKA the Cubs.

Sadly, the 3 - 8 Red Sox are struggling this season with a 4th place record in the AL East of 3 - 8. The Sox managed to eke out a win yesterday, 1 - 0 over the 5 - 5 in the AL West AZ D'Backs, on the strength of a home-run by Mitch Moreland. The Sox are off until Tuesday when they have their home opener at Fenway Park @ 2:05 p.m. LHP Chris Sale is scheduled to take the mound after the Sox receive their World Series™ championship rings before the game.

The boys in blue keep finding new ways to lose. The 2 - 7, 4th in the NL Central Cubs, lost to the 8 - 2, 1st place in the NL Central Brewers, 2 - 4 yesterday. The Cubs are enjoying the offense of backup catcher Victor Caratini, who may see more playing time. However, the big-boppers like Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo are struggling. Here's hoping that today's home opener in front of the home crowd will provide the spark that the team needs to reach the playoffs once again. Today's match-up against the 5 - 3, 2nd place in the NL Central Pirates begins @ 2:20 p.m. when LHP Jon Lester takes the ball.

Bright news, the 7 - 3 1st place in the AL Central Tigers, defeated the 2 - 6 in the AL Central Royals for the sweep yesterday, 3 - 1. The Royals are not very good again this year and the Tigers are hoping for a solid if not spectacular season this year as they rebuild, but who knows. The Tigers are off until Tuesday when the 2nd place in the AL Central Indians come to town for a 1:10 p.m. game, as RHP Jordan Zimmerman once again goes for the Tigers' win over the visiting Indians with RHP Corey Kluber on the hill.

The 2 - 2 in the MWL East Caps defeated the South Bend Cubs yesterday, 7 - 3 to tie for 2nd place with most of the teams in their division. The Caps travel to Lansing, MI for a 6:05 p.m. against the Lansing Lugnuts tonight.

Today, we don't have much on tap. The fur-children will want to take another walk, but that is weather dependent. I had hoped to put away our winter coats for the year, but so far that hasn't been possible. Otherwise, the sun will rise @ 7:15 a.m. and set later @ 8:18 p.m.

By the by, I am once again listening to Coast to Coast AM and George Noory as he is playing The Sounds of Silence, by the group Pentatonix, an a Capella group from TX. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdVjVtpr55M