August is a hot month, Martha

I stayed out of the heat until about three, when I took my Powerade, water, and new racket to Marie courts to engage in competition. I found a couple of the geezers already there, trying to get an edge by warming up ahead of time. I took their picture (this is supposed to be a tennis blog.) It was 86 degrees, at least that's what the radio said as I exited my auto and got ready to play. We managed two sets and a ten point tiebreaker. I relearned the lesson that I learn every August. It is a good idea to replace electrolytes with Powerade or equivalent liquid beverages. I managed to stay reasonably sharp and upright all the way to the end of the friendly ordeal.



After some dinner, I decided to get out of the hot house and visit the jewel of St Paul's park system - Como Park. The butterfly garden was my principal target tonight. I was hoping to see some Monarch's fluttering about. It's also reputed to be very close to peak Monarch season. There were lots of pretty flowers and a good supply of milk weeds - the preferred egg laying plants of the Monarchs - but no flutterbys. I guess they prefer other times of day or maybe they've left for Mexico, but neither Monarchs nor any of their kin were to be seen. But the flowers were pretty. Cone flowers??



I spent some more time strolling around the park as dusk began to descend and came across athletic competition on the soccer fields. It was a real game with referees and colorful shirts, so I stopped and watched a while. These guys are in no danger of ever playing in the World Cup, but they were working hard, trying to play the right way, and enjoying the fun of competition. I took a photo of a corner kick. The goalie made a good save and punted the ball out of danger. There was also a baseball game going on a ways off to the right of the soccer field. There are a lot of things going on in Como Park on an August evening.



It's been a warm spell in Minnesota, but with a reasonable amount of rain and the warmth, everything is green and beautiful.