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 was planning to make this a sort blog and maybe I'll keep it that way.

We show a current temperature of 44° under clear skies. Today's high is forecast to reach 60°, At 2:00 p.m., the NWS has issued a Small Craft Advisory that will last until 5:00 a.m. Thursday for the shores of the "Big Lake" from Holland to GH. 25 - 30 knot winds and 3 - 5 foot waves are expected. Plus, Thursday's forecast includes a high temperature of 58° with an 80% chance for T-storms. Today the sun will rise @ 6:29 a.m. and set later @ 8:53 p.m.

Baseball news was once again half and half.

The 20 - 13, once again 1st place Cubs, lead the NL Central by .5 games over the 21 -15, 2nd place Cardinals. Will it last? I dunno, but I am enjoying the ride. I watched until the wee hours last night as LHP Jon Lester pitched bravely, but was lifted with the score tied at two all. It took until the bottom of the ninth for the Cubs to pull out a victory and once more go into the W column, 5 - 2 over the hapless 10 - 25, 5th /last place in the NL East Marlins and their LHP Adam Conley. 3rd baseman, Kris Bryant, KB, sent a ball into the basket for the winning runs. The Cubs entertain the Marlins again tonight @ 8:05 EDT when RHP Kyle Hendricks, 2 - 4, goes for his 3rd win versus the Marlins RHP Jose Urenga, 1 - 5.

My beloved, 18 - 19, 3rd place in the AL East, Red Sox, out-dueled the 5th/last place in the AL East Orioles, 8 - 5. The Sox RHP Marcus Walden, 5 - 0, got the win over the Orioles RHP Branden Kline, 1 - 1. The Sox' J. D Martinez blasted his 200th career home run. The Sox and the Orioles go again tonight in Camden Yards @ 7:05 p.m. when the Sox send LHP Chris Sale, 1 - 5 against the Orioles RHP Andrew Cashner, 4 - 1.

The on again off again, 15 - 17, 4th place in the AL Central Tigers, fell flat once again, this time against the 16 - 19, 4th place in the AL West Angels, 2 - 5. The Tigers LHP Dan Norris, 1 - 4, tried, but with no success as he took the loss. The Angels gave the win to RHP Griffin Canning, 1 - 0. Tonight's game in Comerica Park features the Tigers' LHP Matthew Boyd, 3 - 2, against the Angels LHP Tyler Skaggs, 3 - 2, @ 7:10 p.m.

The 14 - 16, 5th place in the MWL East Caps dropped another game, again, to the 14 - 17, 5th place in the MWL West Peoria Chiefs, 2 - 5. Reminiscent of the days we took the students to see the Kane County Cougars, the Caps will begin their game @ 11:00 a.m. today against those same Chiefs on this School Kids Day.

I had a great time at my Coffee and Coloring session yesterday. I am working on a scene of flowers on a background of my own choosing. Two hours flew past like they were mere minutes. Kerry, the facilitator offered up her suggestions as to the background and I like her ideas. But then, she is the experienced colorist with an impressive array of drawings to prove it. I can't wait until next month.

While I was out, Mary was able to get into one of her remaining cookbooks and modify a salad for our lunch. This one featured homemade French dressing, cauliflower, cannelloni beans to go with an Italian lettuce blend salad, green olives, and onions. It was great! here is a pic taken by our Senior Staff Photographer and her Smart Phone camera. A marked improvement over my own, woefully inadequate shelf pic, taken with my not so smart tablet camera used in my previous blog.

Looks good and tasted great!

Dinner last night was a casserole of toona with water chestnuts and Daiya™ cheese mixed with egg-less noodles and baked. I liked that too, but sadly, no pic.

Today, John will return, we'll be off to the chiropractor in the afternoon after some local errands. What can I say, busy, busy, busy. Oh, this was not my idea of a short blog. Maybe next time.