Old Tennis Players

One of my team mates, Bruce McK. from the 1964 Hamline tennis team is trying to get our old coach into Hamline's athletic hall of fame. As a result of his activities rounding up the old players and getting the necessary documentation, I had the occasion to go look at the yearbook from 1964 and a chance to remember some times nearly forgotten. The coach was Doc Lewis, the Hamline librarian, and an all around good guy. He was instrumental in getting me to attend Hamline, and helped get me some financial aid, without which I couldn't have attended a private college, even in the cheap old days. As I recall, a year's tuition and books, plus a room in the dorm, was $700 for my freshman year. Times have changed a lot. Doc Lewis' teams won conference championships for three of the four years that I was at Hamline. Since those years, nearly every subsequent tennis championship has been taken by Gustavus. Doc Lewis died on April 1st of this year in Red Wing, Minnesota.

Doc is the guy in the suit.  I'm in the back row between Charlie Huss and Bruce McKinnon.  John Wirtanen is in the back row at the far left.  Rich Stebbins, my long time tennis playing doubles partner and singles competitor is in the front row on the right.   He carried me to some nice doubles wins that year (1964), for which I am grateful.

It was the first day in the 70's of the year, and it was a surprise to me.  I was able to be outside and be comfortable without a jacket.  The prairie princess left today for her new job, halfway to Michigan.  She crammed her auto with the necessary items and drove.   It's going to be a lot quieter here without her.

There will be outside tennis soon for me.  I saw a family hitting balls back and forth at the Linwood courts this afternoon while I was out walking with PP's bro.  Spring has returned to the tundra.

A Little Ride on the Ides

It was an off day from the tennis wars. I needed the day off because the aches and pains are mounting up. I needed some cross training, however, so I took a bike ride to Como Park. It was Father's Day and Como is a popular site for F-Day festivities. You might say that Como Park was a zoo.

I took this Old Main-ish picture on the way back from the park at Hamline U. to prove that I had been out and about. There were very few people hanging around on campus, not surprising for a beautiful June Sunday. I finished the ride at about 1:30. I put another 13 miles on my total for the month.



Celtics against the Lakers tonight in game 5 of the finals. They are still playing basketball in June, but it could end tonight because the Celtics are up 3-1. It would nice for Kevin Garnett to win a championship, even it's not with the T-Wolves.

Trek to Alma Mater

KS took me on a bicyle ride up Chatsworth to Hamline University and on to Como Park on this sunny, sunny day. The streets on the route to HU are being completely redone, much like what was done in my neighborhood last summer. We dodged around a bit before arriving on campus. There were quite a few people around as we rolled slowly through our common alma mater. I took this photo near the statue of Bishop Hamline, where the hybrid black-eyed susans were growing, They are quite impressive, but not authentic native Minnesota plants, says KS.


We looked for KS's favorite professors to talk to. We found KS's former advisor, F. Aziz, in her office. We chatted for a while and she advised grad school for KS, when she gets a round toit. They compared notes on experiences in the Far East, too. We tried calling BB from Professor Aziz's office, but she was out - lunching perhaps.

The trip to Como was uneventful. The butterfly garden was pretty, but a little dry and short of butterflies. We rode to the Global Harmony Labyrinth and walked the prescribed route. Felt harmonious. Then home for tuna salad sandwiches from tousan's special recipe. About eleven miles.

I finished Sunday's NY Times crossword today. It featured the "worst pickup lines." An example, 23 across. "Pardon me, are you from the Caribbean? Because ..." was answered, "Jamaican me crazy." Reasonably hard puzzle, but only minimal google support needed.

Unky Herb rode to work on his bike again today - 30 miles in his log for today. He arrived home at about 8:20 pm. KS is visiting friends.

Silk Purse Out of Sow's Ears

Friday came on Tuesday this week, because there was a Wednesday holiday. The weekend promises extreme heat and I'll be on the tennis courts both Saturday and Sunday. Today I watered the lawn and tried to figure out the puzzle that is Medicare. Part A through D, with options and prices and lots of insurance companies wanting to sell a plan. Bah.

The native grasses are still doing well in the garden that KS planted. I used the macro setting on the digital camera again and the results are displayed below. There are many signs of the ongoing drought in the city, lots of burned out crunchy lawns. The garden is not doing badly despite the dryness. It's harder to kill native grasses, I suspect.


This is what Hamline looks like this summer. I bike by fairly often because it's just a couple of miles away. Old Main is in the background, and the statue of the founder, Bishop Hamline, is in the foreground. I spent four years there and so did KS some forty years later. It's very pretty in the summer when the flowers bloom and the grass is green. I remember it mostly in the fall and winter. While the autumns were pretty and the odors of fall full of memories, most of the time I spent there I was inside, because it was frigid outside and besides I needed to study. I think the campus is really decorated for alumni and their nostalgia.


Herb says "Hooba, hooba."

A Ride to Como Park

I couldn't help myself this morning. It was too nice. I went for a meandering bike ride to Como Park and stopped along the way to snap off some photos. I hoped to see some wild life and, failing that, perhaps some vermin. So I have a picture of some Como geese that I encountered. So. Wildlife? Vermin? You decide.


I rode around Como Lake and the breeze was light and pleasant. I stopped near the native grass restoration and a crooked stone bridge and took another picture with the Trek. Then I rode to the Conservatory where there was a lot of foot traffic, a lot of people came out to see the flora and fauna available there and at the zoo. They have a garden they call "The Enchanted Garden" near the Conservatory that is filled with beautiful flowers and begins to attract butterflies (or flutterbys, as KS used to call them) later in the summer.


I rode over to Hamline to see how the flowers are there. The Hamline gardens are nice, nicer than most of Como's gardens. There I ran across this Snoopy sculpture from one of the Peanuts themed ceramics in St Paul from a couple of years ago. It's by the Klas Center where I have visited several times. I wonder if this was here when Kagami Sensei was an undergraduate at HU.


It was a nice ride of just over 11 miles.

Tonight I played some tennis with the normal gang at Marie Park. The myriad injuries of the last few weeks have healed enough for everyone to show up. There was some wind, but it was a pleasant evening and we played three good and interesting sets. Amiable sets with very little swearing.

Wimby continues. Milagros Sequera, my favorite Venezualan netster, won her second round match in three sets and now has another opportunity(?) to play Serena Williams, the same Serena who beat her at Roland Garros last month. Maybe she'll do better, although Serena is still my pick for Queen of Wimbledon.

Incidentally, it was Wednesday morning and Unky H. (UH?) and I talked with the one in the Orient via iChat. She is still doing fine and having some fun, but also is looking forward to some Michigan good times later in the summer. She was looking mahvelous.