Friday, October 7, 2011

Too windy for outdoors tennis

My favorite sugar maple, the one in my back yard has turned orangish, and before the wind came up today looked like this. I'll have to post an "after" photo soon to show the damage 40 mph winds can do to showy color.


It was too windy to play tennis outside, so we took our geezer games and went under the bubble at Fort Snelling. Indoor tennis is inherently better tennis because the conditions are perfect. We played 90 minutes of pretty good tennis and left tired, but feeling somewhat younger than our respective advanced ages. I suspect that most of the outdoor tennis is finished for the year - except for whatever exceptionally nice days are left this month.

I'm also continuing to post these old photos - the ones that Santini gave me over a month ago. These are from the 1940's before the world discovered color photography.

The first ones is from circa 1949, judging from an estimate of Gino's age.  It was taken at Grandpa Richard's farm in Wisconsin and includes Dad and his kids: Gino, Jimmy, Tommy, and Sylvi.  Notice the giant stack of wood in the background.  That stack is fuel for the winter to heat the house and for the cook stove.  The size of the pile makes me suspect the picture was taken in the autumn. Sylvi has flowers. Dandelions?


An older picture from July, 1945 or so it says on the back of the photo.  It's posed in front of home in Webster, I think, and shows the kids in the family at the time - Jimmy, Sylvi, and Tommy.  It's before the arrival of the youngest child - Gene.  Notice my fancy socks.


The same group, rearranged, on the same date with the same socks. Tommy's socks match mine. I think all the clothes are home made by Mom.


The last one is perhaps 1946, judging from the suspected age of the youngest kid - Sylvi. She's wearing a pretty fancy knitted hat, most likely home made. It was taken outside on Grandpa's farm land, I think, across County U from the barn, near Uncle Marvin's cabin, where we lived for a while. I recognize the grove of birch trees.

2 comments:

Santini said...

I'm certain that the sweaters you and I were wearing while sitting in the wagon were hand knit, too. Dandelions bloom mainly in the spring, and I 'remember' -- more accurately, I remember remembering, that those are dandelions.

Your tree is quite spectacular. Too bad about the wind.

BDE said...

Gorgeous orange tree. And I am enjoying the old black and white photos of Miller kids.