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."

The current temperature is 33° under partly-cloudy skies. Today's high is forecast to reach 44°, albeit under mostly-cloudy skies. We still expect to see temperatures in the lower 40s for several more days, including Christmas Day.

The sun will rise today @ 8:14 a.m. and set later @ 5:14 p.m.

What a day yesterday. We were awakened by the sound of STWD doing her every few weeks retching sound in the middle of the carpet. Sadly, it was more than a sound effect. So, it was necessary to get out the Rug Doctor™ that we bought for just these occasions and clean up after her. By the by, STWD felt fine afterwards

Once that excitement was over, I decided it was time to get up and get on with my day. We ate breakfast that consisted of bagels with vegan cream-cheese, thinly sliced onions and vegan pepperoni with a salad on the side. Fancy no, but tasty yes.

We took some time to read and then Dawn came over to do her regular weekly cleaning of the manse. We decided a long time ago, that time is something that should be reserved for things you like to do, not things you have to do. The exceptions to that rule are indoor chores and meal preparation.

Once everything had settled down, we set forth on a journey to run some errands to the cell phone store and that nearby big-box home center. We followed that with a random photo-shoot in Spring Lake. Thereby hangs a tale.

"The City" is just across the bridge from Spring Lake and yet, we have barely explored that fine village. Each time we set out to look around, we discover new things to see and photograph. As always, it is a lot easier to take pix when someone else is driving.

We drove along the shore of the Grand River where it has expanded to form what is now Spring Lake and we found several interesting sights. I am going to include a few pix here for your enjoyment and edification. Don't forget, a click on any pic yields a larger version.

With the sun setting in the sky, this turned out to be an excellent shot.

A leafless tree.

For Adam, here's Scooby Doo and friends!

We inadvertently traversed a private driveway and encountered some deer in the woods. We stared, they stared, then they ran and jumped.

This deer cleared the fence four or five foot as though it wasn't even there.

Nearby, this deer also stared at us before bounding away.

Wildlife?

Metallic wildlife?

A nice juxtaposition of dark and light.

The sun was setting when we came back across the bridge.

With the sunset as a backdrop sans trees, steam from the GHBLP Power Plant on Harbor Island..

Further along with trees now part of the shot

Today, promises to be a bit less frenetic. Mary has plans to make another batch of her slow-cooker vegetable broth in preparation for our vegan Christmas dinner of hammish and herbed scalloped potatoes. I'm thinking that I might also get her to make biscuits for our dinner since we won't be over-carbed with dressing etc.

I never got to painting yesterday, but I did get some reading done. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, who knows? Otherwise, that looks like a wrap. Ciao.