May wanes

May is rapidly fading away. It's been a busy month and I have a few pictures and a few occasions to comment on. I spent last weekend in Pengilly with NCW at the lake. The septic system has thawed and the loons have returned. The loons were vocal and melodious in the evenings, getting ready for the summer up north. It was the first really nice weekend after a very long winter and cool spring, so we enjoyed the outdoor living and had a big bonfire to celebrate the return of summer.

Here's a photo of NCW sweeping the area near the lake.  Nice crocs.

The city, too, is getting ready for the growing season. This is the second season of community gardens on St Clair and it seems as though the seeds are planted and the mulch in place for another year. We're having a scourge of rabbits in the Saintly City, so I suspect there will be rabbit fences and all sorts of other strategies to keep the little bleeders away from the produce.

The community gardens on St Clair are taking shape.  The fences haven't yet been erected.

On my way to Pengilly I stopped in Wisconsin to check on the graves in Webster Cemetery. It was Saturday, so it seemed time to clean up the sites and put some flowers on the graves. Someone had planted flowers (geraniums) on the Anderson graves including Lillie's (maybe Uncle John?), but the Millers were untouched at that point at least. I put a pot of red geraniums on each and took some photos. It's always touched me that my parents and grandparents are all buried in the same small town cemetery.

Lillie's grave in Webster.

The Miller lot in Webster with geraniums.

Sunset on Swan Lake last weekend. NCW's son, Scott's family was there for a day and they enjoyed the sunset and the bonfire with us. This is Scott getting Ryan's fishing line untangled as the sun set in the west. It was an activity that seemed to recur as Ryan learned to cast with his fishing rod.

In tennis related information, I managed to play tennis 15 times in the month of May. It's the cutover to the outdoor season so about half were outside. I'm also playing on an over 65 USTA league team. It's an interesting situation. There only are two teams in the league. There are few players in this age group still playing league. We have played the other team, from the western suburbs, three times and have won all three. We will play them a total of 9 times, I think, and the winner of the league will be our region's representative in the age group national tournament in the fall. Perhaps in Arizona.