Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 5:30 a.m. in "The City."

I got up a while ago, but with all that I've been doing since then, I just got around to sitting down to blog. You know how it goes, reading emails, putting things away in my office, emptying the dishwasher, letting out the fur-children, playing with the girls, etc, well...

At any rate, we have a current temperature of 39° under clear skies. I could see one of the planets, probably Jupiter, but it could be Mars, Saturn, or any of seven possible planets, when I let the fur-children out arond 3:00 a.m. Who knows? We are anticipating a high temperature of 65° under mostly sunny skies. Here's hoping.

We have only one plan for today, to get up late, do a few small errands and some indoor chores, and then kick back and retire. The sun will rise this morning @ 6:33 a.m. and set later @ 8:50 p.m. By the by, the high temperature tomorrow will reach 59°, albeit with a 70% chance for light rain. Tuesday's high is forecast to reach only 49°!

I was listening to Coast to Coast AM and guest host Jimmy Church was playing Emerson, Lake and Palmer's, From the Beginning. Here is a link to that song from YouTube.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9kXfW2gIcw

But as usual, I digress. I was just running some music through my mind and I started singing/strumming Mary Fahl's Going Home. Ms. Fahl was formerly the lead vocalist for a 90s band named October Project and Going Home is a song that I'm working on right now. While it is song that was written about the American Civil War and  technically not an Irish tune, it has some familiar parallels in its lyrics and time signature, so that's why I'm working on the song for my Irish Jam Session. Naturally I had to go to YouTube for Mary's version. I'll add that here.

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

Baseball news yesterday was 75% good, but that other 25% was bad, very bad!

My beloved, 16 - 18, 3rd in the AL East Red Sox, pounded that 14 - 17, 4th place in the AL Central other team from Chicago, 15 - 2 yesterday. En route, the Red Sox got 10 hits in a row, two shy of the Major League record of 12! Red Sox LHP, Eduardo Rodriguez, 3 - 2, was victorious over that other team's RHP Manny Banuelos, 2 - 1. The Red Sox and that other team play this afternoon @ 2:10 p.m. EDT, as RHP Rick Porcello,2 - 3, takes the ball for the Red Sox and RHP Dylan Covey, 2 - 1, goes for that other team.

Sadly the 14 - 16, also 3rd place, albeit in the AL Central Tigers, fell flat on their faces, as they lost to the 12 - 22, last place in the AL Central Royals, 3 - 15. Starting and losing RHP Tyson Ross, 1 - 4, lost to the Royals own RHP Homer Bailey, 3 - 3. Ross was so porous, that he was pulled by Tigers' manager, Ron Gardenhire, after 1 1/3 innings! The Tigers and the Royals wrap up their series today @ 1:10 p.m. when Tigers RHP Spencer Turnbull, 2 - 2, goes against the Royals RHP Brad Keller, 2  - 3.

The Cubs $126 million man, Yu Darvish, looked as human as ever, as he had the Cubs down 1 - 5 with a series of bad pitches early in the game. Fortunately for Darvish, the Cubs' back-up catcher, Taylor Davis, came to the plate following an intentional walk to the Cubs' Kyle Schwarber to load the bases and got his first Major League home run, a grand slam, to tie the game @ five. The game remained tied through several relief pitchers until the Cubs' All World Player, SS Javier Baez, deposited a ball over the wall to give the Cubs the lead. 6 - 5, and then the victory as RHP Brandon Kintzler was relieved by closer RHP Pedro Strop. Strop got the save and Kintzler the win.

The Cubs are now 18 - 12 and in 2nd place in the NL Central, just 1/2 game behind the 20 - 13. 1st place Cardinals. LHP Jose Quintana. 3 - 1, goes for the Cubs tonight @ 7:05 EDT against the Cardinals RHP Adam Wainwright. 3 - 2.

The 13 - 14, 5th place in the MWL East Caps defeated the 17 - 12, 2nd place  in the MWL West Burlington, IA Bees, 6 - 5. The Caps and the Bees go again this afternoon @ 3:00 p.m.

I almost forgot, I made it to that workshop on watercolors @ Hemlock Crossing yesterday afternoon and I didn't come away with a suitable for hanging result. However, I learned some new techniques, painted an impressionistic rendering of trilliums, and also learned that I have a lot to learn.

So like Porky the Pig oft intoned for Looney Tunes,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBzJGckMYO4