Tiger Lily Time

The tiger lilies came out over the weekend. I guess it was time for them to begin to bloom for the summer. This one lives in my backyard.


The GTA had a session of tennis at Marie Park this afternoon. It was windy, sometimes gusting unpredictably, but the tennis wasn't bad. We managed two sets 4-6, 6-1 before taking the rest of the day off. Tennis Dennis made an appearance and explained that there is another week to wait before he returns from his current injury.

The other court was used by a guy and two 7-10 year olds that he was babysitting, he said. The boys kept throwing their rackets and refused to stop when asked. Eventually they left to go home, but for a while they were quite disruptive. Their rackets are pretty banged up from all the tossing, but no one got hurt.

Both Venus and Serena are through to the quarterfinals at Wimby and there is a large possibility that they will meet in the final. In the men's draw, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Andy Roddick are among the eight players left. Roger is looking good, but the guys who are left are strong players who really want to win this tournament. The finals are this weekend. I'm still picking Fed.

Ques: What's the difference between a pigeon and an investment banker?
Ans: A pigeon can still make a deposit on a Ferrari.

Tigers Return

This year's crop of tiger lilies have emerged from buds. They are later than last year by a couple of weeks, but still welcome. This fellow lives in my backyard, along with other assorted plants, including quite a number that PP guarantees to be native to this area.


I was committed to Saturday tennis, so I was unable to view the women's championship match from Wimbledon. Venus beat Serena and won her third Wimby title in four years (just as I predicted about a week and a half ago). I hear that it was a fairly serious match, and both were attempting to win. Later in the day they combined to win the women's doubles championship. Tomorrow morning is breakfast at Wimbledon wherein Nadal and Federer try to beat each other for the title that Roger owns. I still like the Spaniard.

My own tennis was pretty good. We had early morning courts at Sibley High School. The first set went to 7-5 and then the wind came up. We had six of the game's elder statesmen in attendance, so I also played most of a set of singles tennis. It was enough tennis for a windy Saturday in July and we scheduled another session for Monday evening and went home to check on Venus and Serena.

Herb and I are engaging in guerrilla gardening at Linwood Park. We have decided to water some of their (our) trees and see if we can get them through the current dry spell. Some of the smaller, recently planted trees are starting to wilt and appear to need some water. Since the city has no obvious plans to save the trees that they planted last year, it seems fitting that some citizens take action. Besides it gets me out of the house and to the park, where the prairie garden was planted last year.

I understand a bike race has broken out in France. Fancy that.

Trees

I was at Linwood Park and noticed the trees that they so meticulously planted at taxpayer expense in the last couple of years. They must have some flaw in their plan, in that, when the summers are dry, they don't water the trees and thus have to replace them the next year. You'd think that the park board could send some interns out and splash some water on the expensive trees and keep them alive through the droughts. That's just my opinion and I could be wrong.

These are recently planted trees on park land. Only one is completely stone dead.


Enough ranting. It was a beautiful day, about eighty degrees, and I played some tennis again today. There was wind, but we played on the sheltered courts at Marie and it went pretty well. The evening mellowed into a sweet twilight and a very beautiful pastel sky at sunset. One of the top ten days of the year without much doubt.

The Prairie Princess will be driving home tomorrow for the Independence Day holiday. The weather creatures are predicting pleasant weather for the weekend.

Wimby is down to semifinal action. The men played today. Federer and Nadal are still in the action and are likely to meet for the championship this weekend. I hate to pick against the five time defending champion, but I still like Raffy.

No Theme

I was able to find a sign for theme day on the tennis court on St Clair Avenue. It's a tennis court that needs some maintenance work, but it gets quite a bit of play. Over the years there seems to have been competition for the smooth asphalt that make up the tennis courts. Thus the series of "no"'s. My tennis rackets for scale.

It was windy by the time I arrived at the place for Tuesday tennis - Sibley High School. There were wind gusts to 20 miles per hour. That added a bit of complexity to the game, but it was warm - nearly 90 - and we played three sets. The competition was mixed doubles and the hard core girls were there to win. 3-6, 2-6, 6-1 were the scores.

Wimbledon continued today featuring the ladies quarter finals. At the end of the day, there are four women left in the tournament - two of them happen to be Venus and Serena Williams in opposite brackets. There is a very good chance that they'll play each other for the trophy on Saturday. I still like Venus. Tomorrow's matches feature the men's quarters.

It must be nearly time for the bike tour of France to begin. I understand they changed some of the rules for this year to cut down on the excitement. No bonus points?

The End of June

The season is late. I looked at my tomato photos from last June and it is obvious that we are at least a week behind where we were on the same date in 2007. This is one of my tomato plants from this year. It's doing quite well, but it's a long way from producing those plump, red fruit that I'm waiting for - locally grown organic tomatoes.


It was a very nice afternoon on the tennis courts. I played ok, but I miss residing in the zone. We played two long sets - 6-7, 6-3 - and quit. Tennis Dennis showed up to watch and to chat. He's 67 and is 5 weeks past his hip replacement operation and was hoping to hit a few balls. I did some net volley drills with him, trying to keep the ball close so that he wouldn't have to move much. He still has good hand-eye coordination, but his lateral movement is missing. He says he has at least a month before he can start to play again. He needs to go slow, but also needs to keep moving forward. Getting old is not for the faint of heart.

Wimbledon has reached the quarterfinals and the two top seeds are still around. Federer may have to beat the unpredictable Marat Safin, and Raphael Nadal has the gritty Brit, Andy Murray in his path to the finals. In the women's tourney, both Venus and Serena are still in the draw. They could meet in the finals yet again. I'm still picking Venus.

Toppled

I was up early this morning and made my way down St Clair Avenue to a spot near the High Bridge. Xcel Energy decided to take down their 570 foot smokestack which has stood for 36 years near the Mississippi River. There were many other Minnesotans with the same idea, but I found a decent spot for the 20 second long spectacle. They dynamited a spot in the base of the structure at 7:30 a.m. and it toppled like a very tall pine tree. The smoke stack was constructed of poured concrete and I've wondered several times how they managed to get it built without a skyhook. There are thousands of pictures of this baby showing up on the internet today in picture and video form, but these images came from my camera. The first photo shows the smoke from the instigating explosion.


Photo two is a couple of seconds later as the topple begins.


The third photo is very near the actual contact with the earth. I managed to get the head of the guy in front of me in the photo. There was a loud noise and a big dust cloud emerged which chased the spectators on the High Bridge from their viewing positions as the big cloud came their way.


Photo four shows the beginning of the dust cloud spreading around the site of earth contact, a spot that had been prepared with several piles of sand, a target that they nearly hit.


The big smokestack has been part of the skyline for 36 years, but I'm not going to miss it.

After the spectacle I played some tennis with the geezer group. There was a smattering of rain as we began, but it passed by and blue sky appeared for a couple of hours. Later, after three sets were completed, the rains came again. I am in need of a day off from the game I play. I've managed to play six consecutive days, partly inspired by Wimby and partly due to my inability to say "no" to play opportunities. I played on a level somewhat south of average for me, but it was fun.

My predicted winners at Wimbledon, Venus Williams and Raphael Nadal are still in contention at the end of the first week of play.

Plant of the Day

The plant of the day is the red bell pepper plant that resides in a green pot in my backyard. I could have chosen milfoil, but I like this better. A member of the nightshade family, capsicum annuum, is edible and a native of North America.


I spent some time hiking around Lake Como this afternoon. It is badly overrun with milfoil. I have pictures, but they are uggglly. The park board has hired a company to come in and "harvest" the milfoil and truck it off to a landfill or maybe to become mulch. They were at work when I circled the lake. They have a home built vessel that reels in the weed on a treadmill like device and carries it to shore for transport elsewhere. The lake is overrun. It's kind of sad. But there is money to be made when bad times strike.

It was a bad day for Americans and American wannabes at Wimby. Andy Roddick, James Blake, Maria Sharapova, and Lindsey Davenport all lost their second round matches to people I have not heard of. And I follow tennis action more closely than most Americans, I suspect. Venus and Serena are still in it, but most of the American competitors are now spectators.

It was also a bad day for US investors. Dow Jones was down 358 points to 11453, the low point on the Dow for the year. And the price of oil finished at $139+, another record high.

But here in St Paul, I discovered a hoard of goat cheese in the fridge, left there by PP when she left to return to the Big Blue Stem Prairie up by Moorhead. Brunost. Brown cheese from Norway. Herb and I have been feasting on the pungent Norski treat.

I put in about 45 minutes on a tennis court on McKubin street here in St Paul, crushing forehands in the general direction of one of the other geezers - the one who purports to be 100% Swedish (a little too much, I think.)

Singles in the Heat

I was looking through last year's photos and realized how late the flowers are this year. This photo, taken on this date last year, has tiger lilies in the background. The 2008 tiger lilies have not yet emerged from the case they come in. But today was the warmest day of the year. It hasn't been to 90 degrees yet, but I saw 89 on my car thermometer on the way to crushing tennis balls, and the TV weather creatures affirmed 90. The grasses in the photo could qualify as "plant of the week" if I knew what they are. The Prairie Princess probably knows and I'll try to consult with her to find out. They are part of her ongoing project to turn my backyard into prairie.



I watched sports on the tube today. There was a lot of European activity. Germany eked out a victory over Turkey in one of the Euro 2008 semifinal games. Tomorrow the other semifinal pits Spain against Russia. The tennis action from Wimby was shown on ESPN. Novak Djokavic, the number 3 seed from Serbia, was upset by the unpredictable Marat Safin, and the number one woman player in the world, Ana Ivanovic, was nearly upset in the second round by a French woman. Lots of drama with match points reached and lost by both women, 6-7, 7-6, 10-8.

By 5 pm I was ready to play some tennis myself. The group of geezers numbered six tonight, so I was called upon to play a set of singles in the heat. It was my first attempt at singles in several months and it took me a while to remember how to play to win that version of the grand game. At my level of play it pays to go to the net at every opportunity and challenge the guy on the other side of the net to hit the ball past you. But it's pretty hard work for a retired guy when the temperature is 88. After a successful set, I played a set of doubles and called it a night. I think that I'll sleep well tonight.

It Rains At Last

Wimbledon is done and Roger Federer is the men's champion for the fifth straight year, tying the streak of the stoic Swede, Bjorn Borg. Rafael Nadal gave it a pretty good shot, but came up a little bit short in five sets. It was a very good match. Defending men's doubles champions, twins Bob and Mike Bryan lost in the finals to two Frenchmen (should make some readers happy) Clement and Llodra.

For Minnesota, it was a wild weather day. It was very hot in the morning and this afternoon it rained cats and puppies. I was inside at Wooddale playing a mixed doubles league match. Our team is an average team in this 8.0
league, but we managed two wins (out of three) and won the face-off. I could hear the rain pounding on the roof as we played. My partner and I had a relatively easy match and finished early enough to watch the downpour outside.

It rained copiously in St Paul and battered down my tomato plants. They are fine, but not so tall. The fruit may be prime targets for Peter Rabbit, who apparently lives in KS's native grass garden. I'll try to get a photo of this wild creature. He is often hanging around in the yard and we startle each other frequently.

I picked the first zuke of the season today, sliced it up with some onions and marinaded it in some fancy Tarragon vinegar for lunch. Only green tomatoes thus far.

Without any recent photos for this site, I have reverted to about 1950 or so for a picture from Webster of my two younger siblings. It's taken in front of the place we lived on Main Street. Santini has clamp-on roller skates and thus appears much taller than her bro. Mr Moohoo has rudimentary ski poles and a cool hat.


Another photo from the deep past. Maybe 1953? This one is early spring near the hollyhock site at the side door at 108 Hartley Avenue. Santini is underdressed and is trying to get inside. TT is wearing a stylish overcoat and an odd smirk. We all need to be reminded occasionally where we came from, and that time flees.

Seven Seven Oh Seven

It was the hottest day of the year thus far. It is 8:45 pm and the temperature according to the car thermometer is still 93. But life continues. The Saturday morning tennis match was again on the schedule. The characters were somewhat different because of injuries to two of the geezers, but with subs we blasted through three sets in a couple of hours and all in attendance went home whole. Scores do not matter when the blast furnace begins.

This evening Herb and I drove to Hampton where a new Buddhist Temple is being dedicated this weekend. The large Cambodian immigrant community has financed and built this temple on farmland between Hampton and Farmington about 25 miles south of St Paul. They are the remnants of people from Cambodia that survived Pol Pot, one of the last century's major mass murderers. They have settled in Minnesota and elsewhere in the USA. They are mostly farmers and supply much of the produce for the several farmer's markets in the Twin Cities.



It was an odd experience in the farm fields of Minnesota to be among a small minority of European Americans and be outnumbered by Asians. It was much like the experience of Japan in some ways. The people were friendly and the surroundings a little out of the ordinary. There were about 100 orange clad Buddhist monks on the premises talking and advising and taking their ease. And thousands of Cambodian Americans, some selling food, produce, and art work, some listening to the Cambodian dance music and some talking with family and friends.

Here's Herb next to a statue of a Buddha along with gifts to Buddha and to the monks. Herb and the monks were similarly coifed.



Venus Williams won at Wimby today, her fourth singles title there since 2000. I predicted Serena, but Richard Williams, their father (tousan), about two weeks ago, predicted Venus would win. He is a better prognosticator than this tousan. Tomorrow is the men's final between Federer and Nadal. My prediction is still Roger Federer. It should be an interesting morning.

And They're Racing

The annual outing at Canterbury Downs for Independence Day was today, Independence Day. The cast of characters pictured below does not include TT, who was the photographer.


We were treated to horse racing, free hot dogs, a race among a whole bevy of wiener dogs, and a hot dog eating contest. The dachshund race was won by Gage, a 2-year old male, in a close race for his second consecutive win. The hot dog eating contest has become tradition for the 4th. Last year's champ, "Gus De Dog", a large man in a red teeshirt, returned to defend his title against several rotundish men and a single filly. Gus was able to defend, eating six dogs in about 90 seconds, if I remember the contest correctly. He dedicated the win to his departed parents in an emotional moment after the fray. The woman, who finished last, was asked about the contest and about what went wrong. She replied, "I like catsup."

This horse, Gentleman's Club, raced in the 5th race a few minutes after the photo was taken in the paddock. He was a lovely piece of horseflesh.


A photo of the horses coming to the finish line in the 5th race. Gentlemen's Club is in blue and somewhere in the photo, I think, tied for third at the time.


We had a fine time at the track. The hot dogs were much improved by the condiments supplied by Gino and family: saurkraut, banana peppers, and a fine variety of grey poupon mustard. The betting on the horses was just entertainment and we all went home with some money still in our pockets.

Wimby update. Venus beat Sharapova fairly easily, but Serena went down to Justine Henin in three sets, leaving the family honor (or should i say "honour") in Venus' capable hands. Federer plays again soon.

Some Rain to Rest On

The weather wizard wins, Wilson waits. There are storms in the area and so the bike and the racket rest. Tomorrow promises better weather and more opportunities for photo madness. It will be Independence Day and Canterbury Downs has free hot dogs for its patrons, and who can pass up heated, ground pig parts and preservatives in casings, slathered in mustard.

From the recent archives comes this photo of the reflecting pool just outside the Como Park Conservatory. The good taxpayers of St Paul have been financing improvements to the grounds at Como the last few years and the pool has been repaired and filled with water. The ducks have joined in the fun and now the people come and take pictures. I rode the Trek by and took this picture from the top of the hill so as not to disturb the woman on the shore photographing the ducks off to the left.


And some scanner fun. Why is the cow in this picture? Minda has a firm grip on the cow's ear to keep it in place, while Hansine and Richard show off the new baby. Baby Lillie, I presume, and the year is likely 1914. The photographer's large shadow in the foreground indicates a man, but is it Jake or a man friend of Minda? Maybe Grandpa Nils? The field in the background was likely freshly stripped of its trees in the not too distant past to facilitate crops. There was farming going on.


Mostly rain at Wimby, but Mauresmo is gone.

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.

Ninety Three

It was hot and humid in the great outdoors, and I needed a rest day from all the tennis yesterday. The heat index was reputed to be over a hundred, and it rained in a squally sort of way this afternoon. Today's photo is an attempt to assuage the heat gods with a vision of falling snow. I hope that it works. It's the tousan trying to get into his garage while the Herbster snaps off a photo, and not that long ago.


I filled some of my time at the scanner, loaded ancient images into modern computer memory to be stored off on disk surfaces in internet land, and on my own hard disk. This one is from about 1925, I'd guess, maybe taken at Ricardo's Ranchero, although the location is not in my memory. I messed with the image with my friend iPhoto and I think that it is better, but still imperfect (see Marvin's nose.) There are no dogs in the shot, but a nice looking home made doll is sitting on the bench.


Wimbledon continues. Milagros Sequera won her first round match, 6-2, 6-3, and was not interviewed for television. She next plays Aussie Samantha Stosur in the second round. The biggest upset of the day was Tim Henman over the 25 seed, Carlos Moya in five sets.

Tennis All Day

After being a sloth for a couple of days, today in the heat I played 5 sets of tennis, and was on the winning side twice. I played at 9 am at Visitation High School and again at 5 at Marie Park. I consider that to be enough exercise for today. I may get on the bike again tomorrow, if I feel up to it.

This photo is left over from the Mpls. rose garden trip. The sentiment engraved on the stone is a good one and it appears that most days in the last week counted. That old Trek that I got from Mr. Moohoo several years ago, just before the first of our family TRAMs, is a real trooper. I'm thinking about having him bronzed.


More scanner magic. I scanned this old photo into the computer today. The original is about 2X3 inches and the people in the photo are hard to see without magnification. It was taken in the early 1950's I think. The scanner and iPhoto got me to this enhanced version of the photo. The question for logicians out there: who was the photographer? I think I know, but there is no guarantee that my logic is correct.

I know the names of everyone in the photo except for the puppy in the foreground and I'm guessing that his name is Tippy.

I received via email some very nice old black and white photos from Santini. The wedding shot from 1940 was especially nice and I expect to see it sometime on her blog. The couple were obviously happy and seemed overjoyed with their selection of life partners. Tom and Lillie.

Wimby started today. Both Serena and Roger advanced to the second round.

Wimby Warning

It was cloudy and threatened to rain most of the day. At Adam's workplace in Edina there was a serious downpour. I was ready to rest from my trek to the roses. I pumped up my bicycle tires to 70 pounds, and the Matrix tires to 32 psi. And I had a walk around Como Park today. I'm using a couple of photos from my files with a theme, far-fetched, but a theme..

Pictures of two representative Norwegians in St Paul.

This is Leif Erikson, the great Viking explorer in statue form on the premises of the state capitol. He never actually made it this far west, not even to Kensington, but there are a lot of people who were willing to pay for this sculpture and have it erected in St Paul.


This depicts Lillie Anderson on Wabasha Street in St Paul, sometime in the late 1930's. This picture appeared in the Dispatch, one of our local newspapers at the time and Lillie got a copy of the photo somehow. On the back of the photo, in her handwriting: "hidden[?] camera picture taken of me walking down Wabasha St. Taken by a Dispatch cameraman. I was whistling and I didn't even notice he was there. Aren't I the funniest looking thing you ever saw. Must be about 6 weeks ago." I've been on Wabasha, but I don't recognize the spot pictured. There have been lots of changes in the last 80 years.


The tennis tournament at Wimbledon begins on Monday. Milagros Sequera is again entered and will start against the blond German Julia Schruff. Roger Federer seeded first and is going for his fifth consecutive championship. Justine Henin is seeded number one among the women. My predictions for this Wimby; Federer in men's singles, Serena Williams as your women's champion.