Marsh Marigolds are pretty yellow flowers

Marsh marigolds, a species of early spring flower of boggy places, and a species that I inadvertently called bog daffodils, to the great amusement of the Princess de Prairie, is pictured below from a hike I took down by the big river. There aren't many native flowers out yet. In the area by the river there were these and some tiny little violet-like blossoms. The marigolds like the wet areas where the flood was, and from where the water has receded a bit.



Anyway. It's Tuesday and the rain stopped by about noon (nuun?), and the several geezers and I were scheduled to hit some ground strokes, volleys and lobs at Marie Park. As sometimes happens after a rain, we were forced to do some sweeping of the courts. I have a nice barn broom that does a good job of spreading out the wetness. The sweeping reminded me of the times in high school, in the early spring in a certain northern Minnesota town, where several members of the tennis team had to shovel the ice and snow off the tennis courts in anticipation of the short spring tennis season. It was especially needed in second addition of Coleraine, because the tennis courts were used in the winter months as a skating rink. There always seemed to be some leftover ice to get to melt. Today's moisture from the rain was minimal, and we got around to playing after a little warm up while the moisture evaporated. The other bugaboo of early spring outdoor play is wind. And we had some wind today. It took some of the magic out of the action, and the play was inconsistent at times. But it was a beautiful afternoon, we were outside in the sun, playing a familiar game that we love, so what can beat that. To paraphrase Kurt Vonnegut again, "It this isn't nice, what is?"