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."

This time for sure! I am going to keep this blog a short one

We have a current temperature of 66° under mostly-cloudy skies. Today's high should be a comfortable 72° under partly-cloudy skies. That's once the sun rises @ 6:08 a.m. and well before it sets tonight @ 9:28 p.m. There is only a 10% chance of showers in that forecast.

Mary and Ginger plan to walk through the annual Grand Haven Art Festival located on Washington Ave, in downtown GH. Once they have breezed through there, the plan calls for Mary to take her book and sit on the waterfront and read while Ginger attracts numerous requests for pets from passersby. Of course, Ginger doesn't know any of these plans, but she is always glad to go for a walk.

Baseball news yesterday was all bad. The 44 - 38, still in 1st place in the NL Central Cubs, lost a game in Cincinnati  to the 37 - 42 Reds. They also lost starting pitcher Cole Hamels to the 10-day IL with an injury to his left oblique muscle. He departed the mound after warming up in the top of the 2nd and was replaced by Mike Montgomery who proved to be ineffective as was the rest of the relief corps. The Cubs ad the Reds play again today @ 4:30 p.m.

The woeful, 26 - 51, 5th place in the AL Central Tigers, lost to the 41 - 40, 3rd in the NL East Washington Nationals, 1 - 3. The Nationals have struggled from an early 10-game deficit in the league to move to one-game over .500. Today's game between the Tigers and the Nats will commence @ 4:10 p.m.

My beloved 44 - 38, 3rd in the AL East Red Sox, finally take the field in London, England today against the 52 - 28, 1st in the AL East Yankees @ 1:10 p.m. Notice that the Sox are in 3rd with the same record as the Cubs. The Sox play one more game in London against the Yankees tomorrow @ 10:10 a.m.

The overall, 24 - 53, 3 - 5 in the 2nd-half of the MWL East Season, West Michigan WhiteCaps, couldn't keep their hopes alive, as their winning streak ended yesterday with an, 0 - 1 loss to the 31 - 47 overall and also 3 - 5 in the 2nd-half of the season in the MWL East, Dayton Dragons. The Caps are home tonight to face the 46 - 31 overall, 6 - 2 in the 2nd-half , Lake County, OH Captains @ 7:05 p.m.

I made a stir-fry for lunch yesterday and Mary made a pizza for dinner. Both tasted great. Collectively we completed the usually difficult Friday crossword. I finished my latest novel and will start another today and hopefully do some painting while Mary and Ginger are on walkabout. Ciao.