Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is now nearly 6:00 a.m. in ":The City."

I've just returned from a safari to the nether regions of the manse, AKA the first floor. While there, I took some pix of the roses from our vast gardens that Mary had placed in our foyer, AKA the "Flower Room." Yesterday, Mary reminded me that a few weeks ago, she had purchased a special light for taking pix with her macro lens. So, since the pix I took yesterday without that light didn't turn out very well, I found the light, figured out how to turn it on, and then attached it to the camera to take these shots with our general purpose lens. I'm not sure if I like any of them, but I'll put them here and let my loyal readers decide.

Angle one.

Similar, but not exactly the same angle.

More focused on just one of the roses.

At any rate, yesterday was just a layabout kind of day. I had plans, but by the time we got up and Mary had made scrambled tofu with toast for brunch, the day was mostly gone. I did let the fur-children out in a light rain, they were not happy, but that was the extent of my activities. So, we read the newspaper, I started the crossword, and pretty soon it was time to go to the chiropractor.

The Caps were rained out last night in OH, so they didn't lose any ground in their trek towards mediocrity in the MWL East following the All-Star break. They try again tonight in OH @ 5:30 p.m.

The 41 - 33 Cubs were the only MLB team of the ones that I follow, that played last night. They took a game from the hated NY Mets, 7 - 4, as newly promoted Adbert Alzolay, take note of that name, came in in relief of Tyler Chatwood, who started the game in place of Kyle Hendricks who is on the IL.  Alzolay worked four scoreless innings, recording 5 Ks and no hits until the top of the 9th, when he surrendered a home run. He was lifted by manager Joe Maddon and got a standing ovation from the crowd to go with  the win.

Along with a six-run outburst in the third inning and a solo home-run by Javier Baez in the seventh, the Cubs were able to get the win and gain a 1.5 game lead over the 2nd place Brewers, who were unceremoniously dumped by the Reds, 7 - 1. The Cubs and Yu Darvish play this afternoon @ 2:20 p.m. EDT.

All my other teams were off for the day and return to action tonight.

I am willing to wager that the attendance at the unveiling of the new sound system for the world famous GH Musical Fountain last night was lighter than expected, due to the cold that set in last night. I know, as Mary reminded me, that the average low temperature in June here is 54°, but that is still cold when you are sitting on the waterfront in an open-air stadium. Not for us in our dotage.

Today, we have to purchase a new downstairs bed for Ginger, as her old one is no longer serviceable and she didn't like the back-up bed we had held in reserve. She can be very picky about where she lays her head. So can we, so we shouldn't be surprised. STWD could care less as long as she has a comfortable spot on the floor. However, access to the bed we use is the preferred spot to wile away her days and nights. She doesn't like having to babysit Ginger downstairs when we go out, but Ginger still has those separation issues, so...

Otherwise, I haven't told Mary yet, but we need to make a run to that big-box nearly everything store too, as some of the things on our list can only be purchased there. I don't like it either, but with a pared down list that we can follow religiously, we should do fine and be in and out quickly.

I'd also like to continue my art activities too.

Our current temperature is 55° under partly-cloudy skies as we await the sunrise @ 6:05 a.m. and the sunset much later @ 9:28 p.m. Today's high should reach 67° if all goes according to the forecast from the NWS. Plus, the regular run of the trains should happen later today too.

Since I was talking about the sunrise in a very clinical and technical way, I though it would be appropriate to take some shots out the WW as the sun was rising. So, without further adieu, here they are.

I especially liked this one, looking northeast.

Shortly thereafter.

Different compostion.

Ciao.