Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 4:30 a.m. in "The City."

The current temperature is 32° under partly-cloudy skies. Today's high is forecast to reach 40°, also under partly-cloudy skies. Once again, there are no watches, advisories, nor warnings in effect. We expect to see temperatures in the lower 40s for several more days.

The sun will rise today @ 8:13 a.m. and set later @ 5:12 p.m.

Yes my loyal readers, it is once again time for the Winter Solstice, that time of year, when, according to the website Mental Floss™ and many other sites, the sun is at the point where it is inclined away from those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere and it appears to sit the lowest on the horizon. Our daylight hours will now get longer with each passing day, while just the reverse of the above will now be happening in the Southern Hemisphere.

Best of all, and this is just a teaser, MLB™ will be opening Spring Training when pitchers and catchers report to their respective training camps for the new MLB™ baseball season in early 2020. While the Cubs and the Tigers have no official dates as of yet, my beloved Boston Red Sox will have their pitchers and catchers reporting on Tuesday, February 11, 2020, and they will begin full squad workouts on Monday, February 17, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfL1VCv2kCI

Yesterday was relatively pedestrian. It was warm enough for us to take the fur-children for a short walk and then to go for a more long-distance walkabout ourselves. One great thing about this time of year is that the day to day weather always brings surprises.

I'm not sure that I worry too much about the snow any more, as we generally have nowhere to go and all day to get there, with the exception of appointments at doctor's offices. Oops, am I giving away our ages?

Mary made our brunch yesterday that consisted of chickpea fettuccine with garlic and olive oil accompanied by a salad. Dinner was her best to date, vegan toona casserole. She might disagree, and I may have been really hungry by 8:00 p.m. last night, but I really liked this incarnation.

Today, I have my last Irish Jam Session of 2019 and also the last of the decade. Wow, that sounds so final when I write it that way. As previously noted, I'll be taking my recently baked Holiday Cookies for all to enjoy.

Otherwise, Mary will be soloing to the grocery store while I am jamming. I believe that I get the best of the deal.

Everything else will be on hold until tomorrow. Ciao.