Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just after 7:30 a.m. in "The City."

The current temperature is 28° under clear skies with winds of 6 mph that make it feel more like 20°. Today's high is forecast to be 42° with 7 mph winds. That's 6° warmer than yesterday. If all goes according to plan and the forecast by the NWS proves accurate, Thursday's high will be 53° with a 90% chance for rain. But, the forecast keeps changing, so...

The Small Craft Advisory has ended and there are no new Advisories, Watches, nor Warnings in the forecast from the NWS.

The sun will rise today @ 7:56 a.m. and set later @ 7:52 p.m.


Yesterday was an interesting day. We got up late, had a light lunch and then didn't do much but read and relax until it was time for the late afternoon walk with the fur-children. Now that the daylight hours are longer and the sidewalks are clear, we've started a new system that gets the fur-children fed and walked all within the same time-frame. Then we come in, they go to their rest positions and we watch TV or a movie and have our dinner.


Here are the fur-children in their rest positions.

No barking required.

Once the fur-children were napping, Mary set about making another of those old family recipes from the Internet. This one was for Balsamic Soy and Garlic Mushrooms, which became a side-dish with our dinner.

The basic tomato sauce that Mary augmented to go with the vegan Italian sausages, our main-course.

Which are seen here being sauteed in her cast-iron skillet before being added to her sauce.

The Balsamic, Soy, and Garlic mushrooms roasting in the oven.

Finally on the plate and looking great, but tasting even better!

By the by, all photos are courtesy of our Senior Staff Photographer and her Smart Phone camera.

Here is something that I thought I'd never write. I love mushrooms! This recipe is a definite keeper!

As we ate and had a few adult beverages, we watched a movie from 1981, Continental Divide,
starring the late John Belushi and Blair Brown.

 

 
For those of you who like old movies, here is a link to a trailer from the movie. Both of the late Chicago movie critics, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, gave this movie "Two Thumbs Up!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32ohLh9F4_g

Belushi played Ernie Souchak, a thinly-disguised version of the late Chicago columnist, Mike Royko. Brown played Nell Porter, an ornithologist who lived in and loved the Rocky Mountains and watching the Bald Eagles that lived there. With the movie set in both Chicago, and the always beautiful Rocky Mountains, what's not to like?

What you got was a romantic movie that had great scenery and a romance. Sometimes, a little escapism is the antidote for the ills of the real world.  John Belushi passed away in 1982, while Brown is still alive, active and working.

Today, we are planning to read the weekend edition of the Grand Haven Tribune, work the crossword puzzle, read more of my dwindling supply of books, and take that late-afternoon walk with the fur-children.

What can you do to avoid catching the Coronavirus? Practice social distancing, employ frequent, 20 second hand-washing, avoid contact between your hands and your face, (something I have a hard time doing), disinfect commonly touched items in your home, and above all else, avoid places that draw crowds, like just about every place that is common to everyday life in America. In other words, change your regular habits.

Oh well, as two people of a certain age, Mary and I are going to do our best. Ciao.