Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 4:00 a.m. in "The City."

I only witnessed the afternoon run of the train on the RSTL yesterday, as I refused to get out of bed to actually see the morning, southbound run that I heard occur @ 8:30 a.m. However, since I was downstairs while Mary was at the grocery store l;ater inthe day @ 1:10 p.m., I was able to espy the northbound run of MMRR EMD GP 38-2 locomotive # 2019 as it towed six CHCs, two DBTCs, seven DWTCs, and one GTC.

I finally started my painting of a daisy yesterday. I have much of the background color on the canvas, but now I have to start adding the details. When it is done to my satisfaction, I'll put up a picture for your enjoyment/satisfaction too.

Speaking of daisies, it appears that the doe that Mary has christened Betsy, has not visited in the last two days. However, as you may recall, all of the rose buds in Mary's rose garden, not to be confused with the rose garden at that big house in Washington, D.C., have been a salad for Betsy. So, when we were in Spring Lake on Tuesday, Mary went to the Spring Lake Florist and purchased some flowers for her "Flower Room." In this case, they are a few Gerber Daisies, AKA Transvaal Daisies, so that she could have some color in her space. Since I had the chance, I took some pix of the daisies before they too succumb to the ages and lose their petals. 

You may recognize the 'vase" that Mary chose for her daisies. A nice bit of re-purposing, don't you think?

A different angle

A close up with my telephoto lens.

Yesterday in baseball was 1/4, .250, for all of my teams. The 43 - 37, 1st place in the NL Central Cubs, fell to the 48 - 33, 1st place in the NL East Braves, 3 - 5. In spite of Kris Bryant's solo home-run in the 5th, Yu Darvish finally moved the needle on his record to 2 - 4. He was totally ineffective as he watched baseballs fly out of the park. He couldn't seem to fool any of the Braves' hitters. The Cubs and the Braves play an afternoon game today @ 2:20 p.m. EDT.

My beloved, 44 - 38, 3rd place in the AL East Red Sox, also were tripped up, in their case by that 37 - 41, 3rd place in the AL Central other team from Chicago, 7 - 8. The Red Sox took the lead late in the game, but the bottom of the 9th saw that other team score twice and win the game. Today, the Red Sox welcome the 52 - 28, 1st place in the AL East Yankees to Fenway for a 1:10 p.m. game. 

It is worthy of note, that the Red Sox have a 44 - 38 record in the AL East, only good enough for 3rd place in their division, while the Cubs have a 43 - 37 record in the NL Central, allowing them to stay one-game ahead of the Brewers in 1st place. Ah, the vagaries of baseball.

The 26 - 49, 4th place Tigers also lost, as they could only score one measly run against the 44 -36, 2nd place in the AL West Rangers. The Tigers lost that game, 1 - 4. The Tigers are considering trading some pitching and hitting for "future prospects" , as this season is a study in futility. Some players are not performing up to their past efforts, both pitchers and hitters. As the All-Star break approaches, the Tigers will once again be sellers to interested and contending teams. The Tigers and the Rangers play this afternoon @ 1:10 p.m.

Holy winning streak Batman! The 8th place White Caps have won two in a row, to move to 23 - 52 in the MWL East with a 4 - 1 win over the 6th place Dayton Dragons. The Caps and the Dragons will play again tonight @ 7:05 p.m. Can the Caps make it three in a row? Stay tuned to this same channel.

I am certain that today should be less busy. We really don't have anything on tap until tomorrow night when I plan to go to the Camera Store in Muskegon for a class in Long Exposures, given as a free session to owners of any DSLR camera, but especially for people who have an Olympus DSLR camera. I am more interested in this photographic technique than Mary, so I may solo while Mary stays home with the fur-children. 

Saturday, we are signed-up to take a class in photographing fur-babies, getting the right framing and settings. If we go, both Mary and I will attend.

Otherwise, for long-time residents of Chicago, it was a sad day as veteran newsman, Russ Ewing passed away at his home in Paw Paw, MI yesterday @ the age of 95. He had a very interesting career, to say the least. 

Today, more painting, more reading, more music, and more retirement. What's not to like? I'm just glad that although our high temperature today will be a humid and sultry 80°, enough for me to turn on our A/C, we don't live in Europe, India, or many places in our own western states. The Czech Republic, Poland, and France will all set records with temperatures over 100° Fahrenheit! Our own state of CA has seen temperatures over 100° several times this year!

We have a current temperature of 63° before the sun rises @ 6:07 p.m. and long before it sets @ 9:28 p.m. No showers nor T-storms are in the forecast from the NWS. Ciao.