The lakes are beginning to bloom

Saturday morning tennis at Marie Courts got started early, about 8:15 am, but it didn't last long. Rain came in and spoiled the party after about 25 minutes of play. It wasn't a hard rain, but persistent enough to make the courts slippery. Since we are oldish, but not particularly foolish, we quit and resolved to return Monday. As often happens in August, the rain finished soon thereafter and the temperature shot up to 89 or so. I needed some time away from the courts and used some of it personalizing my blog design. Notice the new colors and fonts?

Then later, in the afternoon I went to Upper Lake to see how the algae was doing in the water of the lake. As the photo attests, the lake is beginning to have a distinct greenish layer on top of the water. Upper Lake gets quite a bit of runoff from the city on the hill, so I assume some of the bloom is caused by lawn fertilizer.



The butterfly gardens in Crosby Park had quite a few monarch flutterbys fluttering by. It must be high season for the most well known butterfly species. I suspect they'll be fluttering off towards Mexico soon, to their wintering home. As is often the case, my attempts to get photos of the monarchs was thwarted by their erratic flying patterns ... and their small size. And my lack of patience.