Theme Day: Feet

Theme day again. This time it calls for a photo of feet. Not to be defeated, my feat was to fete my feet. As I have done. See below.



We played tennis this afternoon at Marie Park. We scheduled the playing time to be 4 p.m., but when we arrived both courts were in use. Two guys on the first court said that there was just one game left in their contest. We waited. It turned out that they meant a set and it took them about 25 minutes to finish. On the other court two young girls, about ten, were hitting the ball around. As it turned out they lasted longer than the guys, so we didn't get on the courts on time and didn't begin play until nearly five. But for all of that, the tennis was good and we finished two sets 1-6, 6-2, sets more competitive than the scores would seem to indicate. But it was a beautiful afternoon and no one got hurt. And Curt is back from Arkansas for the summer.

PP had a day off from MCC, so she was around most of the day, puttering in the dirt of the native plant garden, and trying to transplant some of the Big Blue Stem into a pot to move to another garden. The day goes better and faster when the princess is on the prowl.

And then we had Thai food from The Taste of Thailand. Topped off with mango sweet sticky rice.

Another great day in southeast Minnesota.

Rafa Bows

After 31 straight wins at Roland Garros, Rafa Nadal lost today to Robin Soderling, a 24 year-old Swede in four sets. A huge upset. The four time French Open champ will have to wait until next year for his fifth title. The way is somewhat clearer now for Roger Federer to win his first French Open.

It was another of those great days in May that are not nearly common enough. The lilacs continue to bloom. This is another variety of lilac that always blooms about ten days after the common variety. The blooms and scent are somewhat alike, but recognizably different. The back yard smells mah-velous.



St Paul has a poetry project as part of the maintenance of the sidewalks in my part of the city, at least. They have a cache of poems that they imprint in new slabs of sidewalk when they are put in. Public Art St Paul had a contest to get people to send in short poems suitable for public display. They had an entry fee and a first place prize of $150. Their site has an explanation and the poems themselves. I discovered this example on Goodrich Avenue, I think, several blocks east of here.


Herb is back from another trip to Chicago and he brought back some of that Japanese candy Pocky. He says that he drove the rain on the road between here and Hudson. The sidewalks here remain dry.

Wood Tick Wonderland

The day after Memorial Day was cloudy and cool. The crowds at the various places of remembering were gone, and I had decided to visit a place I remember pretty well, but one that doesn't exist in the way it used to exist fifty years ago. I took a drive in the country. To Wisconsin.

This is a view of Dick's Ranch from the far side of the County U bridge over the Yellow River (not far from the junction of FF and U). Richard Anderson owned this land until he died in 1954, 55 years ago. The land is now controlled by the Burnett County Historical Society to commemorate an old trading post that existed there in 1803 - 206 years ago. It's named Fort Folle Avoine, which translates roughly to Fort Wild Rice. I used to do some fishing off this bridge as a lad.



The farm buildings have disintegrated over the years and not much is left to indicate that Richard and his large family actually lived here for at least 40 years. In contrast, the trading post was burned down after a single season in business - 1803. The silo foundation which stood next to the old barn is still visible, and probably a hazard to hikers. Plants are growing out of it.



Richard's spouse, Hansine, had a flower garden that was created by filling the center of an old tractor tire with dirt and planting flowers in it. The tire was still in place, but the flowers have been replaced with forest plants. It was located somewhere between the house and the barn.



I came across an old washing nachine that was still lying in the yard. I think it belonged to the Anderson family, but can't really swear to the fact. It's a really old style washing machine, as you can see. It's been there a long time.


I walked along the driveway, past the foundation of the house and the farm sheds. The pump is still standing, too, but not pictured here. The Historical Society has a nature walk in the "woods" that used to be the farmyard. They have signs that identify various interesting trees as one walks along the trail. One stands next to the large oak tree by where the house used to be and identifies it as a white oak. I think it may have been planted by Richard 75 to 100 years ago. I know it was there when I played in the yard as a child. I guess it's a wild tree again.

This is the old driveway to the farmyard. There used to be a garden on the left side of the drive, and maybe on the right side, too. The culvert for drainage under the drive is still in place and seems functional.


The trees have grown a lot. New trees have appeared. There are still a lot of woodticks on the grounds. Four of them came home with me and met their doom soon after I discovered their existence.

Memorial Day is early this year

Another beautiful day in May. One of the nicest days ever. A little windy to bike, but nice enough to walk about. The best part of the day was a hike at Bruce Vento State Park with Herb. He was checking out the sandstone castle on the bluff. It's an area that has been used by young people to climb and explore the art of rock climbing. Herb was looking for a spot to get a good photo when I took this one. The trees and grasses that have been planted - many by PP - are doing well and everything looks green and healthy.


The second photo depicts an interesting dilemma for someone. It's a bicycle lock that is in locked position around a tree, but there is no bike to be seen. It looks like someone lost the key to the lock which was holding the bike, but was able to rescue the bike somehow without it. Or maybe something completely different than that happened. I took the picture anyhow.

A Familiar Face

It was a nice day in May. The temperature topped out in the mid-70's. It was take a 53 year-old to lunch day. I found this guy over by Metropolitan State University, a place founded by an old, sometime teacher of mine, G. Theodore Mitau. It's also a place known reasonably well by Mr. Moohoo. I've known the guy in the photo all his life. The statue of Snoopy is a trade mark of St Paul, and there are dozens scattered throughout the city. This one is just outside the Metro State office where Andy works. We went for a sandwich and a walk through Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, not far from where he works. I was able to point out some of the prairie restoration and plantings done there by PP at her job with Americorps. Burr oaks and hackberry trees. The sanctuary is greening up nicely and seems to be becoming a more popular place to walk in nature.



I managed to avoid much physical exercise today, other than the nature trek and a little lawn mowing. The lawn is dry and we need some rain, but the warm weather the last few days seems to doing my two tomato plants a world of good. I like to mow almost as much as BB, but my lawnmowing didn't cost nearly as much as her last outing. Mine was just $40. It's a different story line however.

Ninety-three Again

It was too hot and too windy to bike or play tennis. It made 93 degrees again for the second day in a row, and the breeze was in the 25-30 mph range much of the day. But I did manage to get in a set and a half of tennis at 4 pm at Marie Park. It was not as much fun as usual, but better than a sharp stick in the eye. I managed to be on the winning side for the complete set and also did not hurt myself. A successful outing.

This photo was taken at Linwood on my way home from checking out the progress on the Linwood courts. The courts haven't been worked on since yesterday. No progress. The strength of the wind may be seen in the flapping of the flag of the USA.



The French have been running their national championship in Paris at Roland-Garros for a long time. They have had a hard time finding a French national who can win the tournament. The last French man to win was Yannick Noah in 1983 (the year that PP was born) and the last French woman was Mary Pierce in 2000. The Americans, too, have had some recent droughts in the win department. The last USA man was Andre Agassi in 1999, and the last USA woman was Serena Williams in 2002. It is also true that Chrissie Evert won the French Open 7 times.

Tennis Court Progress

The temperature rose into the nineties today. It was the hottest day, so far, of 2009. I had the day off from tennis and indulged in a little gardening. I planted a double row of carrots, to go with the tomatoes and two kinds of lettuce. I also have basil and chives growing in the yard. There will be salad.

The court builders have been at work on the resurfacing of the Linwood tennis courts. The asphalt surface has been put down and leveled, and the big machines are gone. I have been checking on the work in progress and have yet to see anyone actually working at the site, but there is visual evidence that they have been on the job. I suspect that they may sneak onto the site late at night so that no one sees them make progress. There is still a lot of work to do until the courts are playable. Stay tuned.


Roland Garros was a French aviator who was shot down in combat in World War I one day short of his thirtieth birthday, on October 5, 1918. He was credited with shooting down three enemy (German) planes. He was a noted aviator before the war, but wasn't known as a tennis player. He was, however, a religious fan of the game. The stadium where the French Open is played was named for him in the 1920's. In 1913 he became the first man to fly across the Mediterranean Sea.

A link to the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris.

Marie Park courts vs Roland Garros

Across the pond there are a couple of tennis courts. I played two sets of tennis there this afternoon in 80 luxurious degrees. This is Marie Park in Mendota Heights where a lot of my summer tennis ball smacking is done. The courts are well sheltered from the wind and well hidden from casual passersby. The pond shelters a lot of birds. Today they were notably red-wing blackbirds.


The French Open begins May 24, next Sunday, at Roland Garros in Paris. They have a website where one could purchase tickets, usable if one were to spend some time in Paris between May 24 and June 7, when Raphael Nadal takes his trophy home (and his check for about a million dollars.) I was looking at this year's price structure to see what it might cost to actually take in a few matches. Of course, it varies depending on the part of the tourney one wants to see (the finals are the most expensive) and the venue where one sees the match. The main stadium (Phillippe-Chatrier) is the most expensive and Suzanne-Lenglen is next, and it ranges down to the 15-20 outside courts that hold the matches of relative unknowns during the first week. There are differences in the prices within the large stadia, too, depending on how close to the action one wants to be. Lots of differences, but the range of prices for a single day's ticket ranges from the best seats at the finals at P-C at 85 euros (about $115) to matches on the outside courts during the first week at 21 euros (about $28.50). These are tickets for all day, so one would see a lot more tennis the first week, because there are a lot more players still in the draw then. One should probably factor in the price of the airline ticket to France, too, but these are numbers to consider.

A schematic of the center of the tennis world starting Sunday - Roland Garros.

A Sweet Day

The lilacs are still blooming in my own backyard.



It was United States Tennis Assoc. (USTA) tennis night at Wooddale. It was my first chance to play for Jerry's 8.0 team in quite a while. Sundays have been the province of permanent court time at Fort Snelling until yesterday. My partner, Barb, and I played second doubles against a couple of thirtysomething players. I don't usually go into much detail about matches, because you really have to be there to get the full flavor, but the flavor of this match was sweet, wild honey sweet. We lost the first set, without any service breaks, in a tiebreaker, 7-6. The second set went along pretty well until the opponents got a service break to go up 5-3. We were able to break back for 5-4. Then it was my serve and we had to fight off two match points to tie the set at 5-5. The next two games were close, but we won both and the set at 7-5. Then, in USTA tennis the winner is determined by a super tiebreaker - the first team to 10 points and ahead by at least two, win. We won some key reflex points and cruised 10-3. The victory was sweet. And we had fans to watch - nine of them - the other two matches had finished and they and captain Jerry stayed to watch.

So I came home and PP and I had some almost Mexican food from Chipotle as celebration for a day well spent.

Twenty Stars

After my usual Saturday tennis competition at Wooddale, I came home to find the youngsters here and looking for an adventure in nature. We decided that Pike Island offered a nice walk in the woods with a relatively high chance of sighting a deer or maybe an eagle. And it's only ten minutes from my door.

On the way we walked by old Fort Snelling. The flag flying against the cool, blue sky has only twenty stars. I know that Fort Snelling is a historic site, so flying an old flag is probably okay, but I am hard pressed to know when the USA had a flag with only twenty stars, maybe sometime near the Civil War. I'm sure there is an internet site that will tell me. [The twenty star flag was the official flag for only one year, 1818.]



The three mile walk around Pike Island took a while, and on the journey we discovered several hollow trees. They reminded me of Winnie the Pooh and his honey tree. PP said she could live in this particular tree, so we asked her to get inside and see how it fit her domestic requirements. The place did not have indoor bathroom plumbing.



Herb was taken by the multitude of dead limbs lying about. They look like ninja hitting sticks. We had a good time trying to knock hanging dead branches out of trees above the path. PP called them widow makers. It was a nearly perfect day for woods walking, fifty-five-ish and sunny. Unfortunately, we saw neither deer nor eagle on our rounds, but there were wood ducks, geese, poison ivy, and some wild turkeys at a distance, a distance beyond the photo taking range of my camera.



Another beautiful day in east central Minnesota.