Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 8:00 p.m. in "The City." The current temperature per my DTWS is 75 very comfortable degrees, as compared to the temperature supplied by the NWS of 69° as we continue our drop towards tonight's low temperature of 58° under mostly cloudy skies. The sun will set tonight @ 9:23 p.m.

The NWS has issued two warnings, a Beach Hazard Statement for Allegan, Mason, Oceana, Ottawa, and Van Buren counties beginning @ 8:00 a.m. tomorrow and continuing until 8:00 p.m. Monday night. High waves will make swimming hazardous. Duh!

In addition, the NWS has also issued a Small Craft Advisory from St. Joseph to Manistee, with one-to-four-foot waves expected pushed by 10 to 20 knot winds with gusts possible to 25 knots. 

The NWS is currently forecasting rain showers beginning around 3:00 a.m. tomorrow morning and continuing until early afternoon, with a 68% probability and a daytime high temperature of only 63° after sunrise @ 6:05 a.m. and well before sunset @ 9:24 p.m. 

We made it to the Grand Haven Pride Festival today after a long-distance walk for me, and some pix of the festival and the performers themselves. 

Pride was on display all over the downtown area. 

A DJ provided pulse-pounding music. 

Dogs seemed to like the show too. 

What would a Pride Fest be without Drag Queens?

Complete with costume changes. 

And a Marilyn Monroe look alike. 

Each performer had their own routine. 

Also, with costume changes. 

Old Glory didn't fall down when faced with the Pride Festival. 

And the building of the Tribune Lofts continued unabated too. 

Otherwise, after lunch, I took a nap and then we did some ear-reading of our latest book. All in all, it was a great day. Ciao. 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 9:00 p.m. in "The City", where the current temperature under partly cloudy skies is a very comfortable 61°, which corresponds to the Real Feel temperature of 61° with s light wind out of the southwest @ six mph. 

The sunset tonight will occur at 9:23 p.m., before we drop to an overnight low temperature of 55°. Tomorrow after sunrise @ 6:03 a.m., the high temperature will rise to 73° before sunset and an overnight low temperature of 59°. We have a 74% chance for precipitation on Sunday, especially in the morning. Here's hoping. 

I still have nothing good to say about my baseball teams. The Tigers are being pounded right now by the D'Backs, 9 - 2, with the Tigers having an overall sub .500 record, as do the Cubs and the Red Sox. The obese one is warming up for all of them. 

We did get my new office chair assembled today and I'm sitting in it right now. 

Late this afternoon, I went out for a walk, and at Mary's suggestion, I took along my camera to record whatever caught my eye. I'll include some selections now for your viewing pleasure. 

I started my photo safari on our own deck, with this pic of a lone marigold in bloom.

Then I continued my walkabout towards the local Monarch Butterfly Waystation. 

Where various varieties of flora were blooming to attract the Monarchs. 

Some very brightly colored. 

And others, not so much.

An industrial sign denoting a local firm with offices in our Public Safety building.

My sentiments exactly were on display at St. John's Episcopal church, 

Ironically, directly across the street from the Grand Haven Dept. of Public Safety.

I think that the fountain in Central Park is out of whack. I hope more whack has been ordered. 

Once again, an industrial photo. This is what I've seen called a "Gimmick" when used in connection to a radio circuit or amplifier. 

I liked how the sun and shadows interplayed in this shot.

In our own Parkway Gardens, everything is in bloom.

While in our vast gardens, the tomatoes are budding. 

Mary made a great dinner of vegan "Spam" with a side of cheezy broccoli for dinner after a lunch of soup and salad with her homemade French dressing. 

Mostly that sums up our day. I plan to sit back and relax now and enjoy the balance of my evening in anticipation of a visit to the Grand Haven Pride Fest at the Lynn Sherwood Waterfront Stadium tomorrow. We plan to go to show our support for our entire community. Ciao. 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 8:45 p.m. in "The City."

The current temperature is a very comfortable 65° as we drop to an overnight low temperature of 59° after the sunset tonight @ 9:20 p.m. Tomorrow, the sun will rise @ 6:04:33 a.m., with sunset occurring later @ 9:22:40 p.m. The high temperature tomorrow will also be very comfortable @ 73° under mostly cloudy skies, with an overnight low of 52°

Today's temperature was perfect by Mary's standards, in the low 70° range and perfect for a safari here in the City of Grand Haven, and also at Hemlock Crossing County Park.

I just don't feel like reporting on the mess that my baseball teams are right now, so suffice it to say, that unless and until they improve, markedly, I will be withholding more reporting. 

However, once our carpets had their spring-cleaning, we decided to set out for a trip to Hemlock Crossing County Park for a longer hike by Mary and Ginger, and a shorter hike and a photo shoot for me. 

Here are some pix from that photo shoot, as well as some from our own vast gardens located here at the palatial estate. 

The Meadow Walk is about one-half mile around the wetlands at Hemlock Crossing.

Adjacent to the meadow, is the Hemlock Crossing Public Observatory. 

While you may expect an observatory to be tall, as long as the skies are open, this size is perfect. 

The paved path around the meadow was an easy walk for me. 

But at this time of year, the wetlands have become drylands. 

My yak protested, but I made the entire distance.

This squirrel was just resting along my route. 

In our won vast gardens, these brightly-colored annuals are a perfect complement to their container. 

One of Mary's newest roses, and Emily Bronte, is developing flowers. 

As is one of her older roses. 

I think that once again, that's enough for one blog. Ciao. 

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation an across the world. It is just past 3:30 p.m. in "The City", where the current temperature is a sultry 80° under mostly cloudy skies, with a Real Feel temperature of 82° with winds out of the northwest @ 10 mph. I don't know how the wind-driven temperature can be higher than the actual temperature. But, that's how it is, per the NWS. Go figure,

The NWS has downgraded our precipitation forecast to 39% sometime after 4:00 p.m. today, so I'm not counting on any rain for the foreseeable future. The sun will set today @ 9:19 p.m.

In sports news, the 25 - 31, 4th in the NL Central Cubs, saw RHP Jameson Taillon right the ship for a 2 - 1 win over the 26 - 31 San Diego Padres last night in San Diego. Sadly, the Cubs are nearing the time to make some decisions with regard to being sellers rather than buyers in a season that is fast getting away. Where once there was great hope that this might be the year, right now, I'm not so sure. At any rate, the Cubs send LHP Drew Smyly, 5 - 2, to the mound for tonight's game beginning @ 10:10 p.m. EDT. 

The 26 - 29 in the AL Central Tigers, are playing that 24 - 35 other team from Chicago, right now, but the score is knotted @ 1 - 1 in the top of the 6th inning with RHP Michael Lorenzen, 2 - 2, on the hill for the Tigers.

Yesterday the Tigers sent rookie RHP Reese Olson. 0 - 1 to the mound in a 0 - 3 loss. Olson took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, but then the wheels came off as his pitch count grew and he was sent to the showers before absorbing his first MLB loss in a debut that showed great promise. 

My beloved, 29 - 27, 5th in the AL East Red Sox, were postponed yesterday, so they are playing two today versus the 1st place in the AL East, 40 - 18 Tampa Bay Rays. Sadly, RHP Garrett Whitlock is down 1 - 4 in the 5th inning. Things do not look good for the Red Sox, so far, with game two to be played later today.

However, on the home front, it was a good day here yesterday. The A/C repair technicians came to the manse and got our three-year-old A/C system up and running. The contractor that installed our system has gone out of business, so we are hoping that if there is a problem with the equipment, that the manufacturer will honor the ten-year warranty. At any rate, we are happy to report that the A/C is working fine now.

Yesterday saw Mary and Ginger make it back to Central Park from their morning walk, only to have Ginger lay down in the grass there, in need of a long drink of cool water before finishing their safari. 

Which leads me to say that while it was warm out this morning, Mary and Ginger took a walk to the waterfront that was a bit longer than yesterday's sojourn. While they were out, Mary took this pic of the scoreboard for the annual offshore fishing tournament.

No scores this morning, but soon the weights will be on the board.

But I digress. While it was warm this morning too, we opted to go the Grand Haven Memorial Airport for their open house and the requisite photo-op. I got some great shots of planes on the tarmac, taking off and landing, and of the skydivers descending under the auspices of Skydive Grand Haven.

The spacious terminal building.

A pusher plane courtesy of the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association. 

A similar plane, taxiing to a parking space after landing. 

A four-seat Piper Cherokee, readying for takeoff. I checked, and a 1974 version of this aircraft, is available for as low as $44,000, while a similar 1978 version can be had for $325,000.

A smooth landing?

Much smoother, just before touchdown.

Two skydivers preparing to land after a tandem jump.

Same here.

And here.

Overall, it was a great opportunity to see the aircraft and the skydivers. That's all folks. Ciao.

Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 5:45 p.m. in "The City."

The NWS has continued the Air Quality Alert for Allegan, Barry, Calhoun, Clinton, Eaton, Ingham, Ionia, Jackson, Muskegon, Oceana, and Ottawa counties in MI through tomorrow. In short, don't fuel vehicles, limit your outdoor activities, and stay indoors whenever possible.

Our current temperature is a sultry 82° before we drop down to an overnight low of 61°, with a possibility for T-storms this evening. I can't agree with what I see outside the WW.

The sunset tonight will occur @ 9:17 p.m.

Normally, I'd report about baseball, but the way things are going, I'll just say that for every step forward, my teams take several steps back.

However, we did get out today for some errands and photoshoot. 

Within Lake Forest Cemetery, these fallen trees attracted my attention. 

High winds must have been responsible.

Actually, two trees were felled.

The fallen trees were near the children's section of the cemetery. 

Because I was there, this marker also caught my eye. 

An iris from our local gardens.

And irises from South Haven, MI.

Although we didn't set out to buy this sculpture, we liked it and so it is now in our vast gardens. 

I think that's enough for one blog. Ciao.