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

The current temperature is 37° under cloudy skies. Today's high is forecast to reach the same 37° under skies that have a 40% chance of yielding snow showers and windy conditions, with wind speeds possibly reaching 30 mph!. The sun will rise today @ 7:59 a.m. and set later @ 5:11 p.m.

There is still a Small Craft Advisory in effect for the "Big Lake" until 11:00 a.m. tomorrow, with the winds out of the west at up to 26 knots and waves of 5 to 8 feet. A Small Craft Advisory means that winds or waves are expected to produce hazardous conditions to small craft. Inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller vessels should avoid navigating in these conditions.Ya think?


Of course, the windy conditions that will necessitate that Small Craft Advisory, will once again cause a Lakeshore Flood Advisory with a chance for minor flooding and minor beach erosion. Mary read that the City of Muskegon to the north, will be erecting a concrete wall to slow the progress of sand blowing across the aptly named Beach St. across from Pere Marquette Park.


I promised that I'd take some pix of the Christmas decorations in and around the manse and that I'd include them in a later blog. Well, it's later.

Taken from across the street with a telephoto lens.

Another angle.

Indoors, no flash.

Indoors, with flash.

I'll leave it to my loyal readers to decide which of the indoor pix they like. I'm not sure I have a preference.

I had a good time at the Coffee and Coloring session yesterday. I worked on a new unicorn drawing for Mary's desk and talked to Larry about our upcoming visit to the Frauenthal Theater in Muskegon for the Sunday matinee performance of the Singing Christmas Tree. I promised Mary I wouldn't reveal any of the secrets that I learned during my conversation with Larry. Remember, Mary doesn't like to know how movies are made, she just likes to enjoy the final product. So, I guess that the secrets behind the staging of the Singing Christmas Tree is the equivalent of a movie.

Today, I have no specific plans. I may do some painting, some cooking, some reading, and some retiring. I'll also be finishing the indoor chores while I am downstairs.

Mary will be off to her volunteer work at the Loutit Library this afternoon, something she has dubbed her "Tad" sessions, owing to her work on entering into the library's database, Clarence "Tad" Poel's columns from the Grand Haven Tribune where Poel worked for many years.

By the by, I was downstairs a while ago and Mary is making great progress on my new kitchen apron. The cross-stitching of the apron requires both skill and patience. Which one is more important> I don't know. Ciao.