Tennis at Marie Park

In the summer months (or is that simmer months) I spend about six hours a week at the tennis courts at Marie Park. The Cadre of Codgers that play with me chose this venue several years ago and it continues to be a pretty good place to play summer tennis. The courts are well protected from the wind because they sit downhill from the area on the east side. The courts are getting old and developing some cracks, so they pretty much match the players in our group. We play in the afternoon on weekdays before most working people are out of work, and thus have the courts pretty much to ourselves. We also play Saturday morning at 8:30, some say an ungodly hour, but it gets us home before the heat of the day.

The courts are nearly surrounded by trees which grow on three sides of the courts.

 

The other direction away from the court there is a algae covered pond. Across the pond there is a kids' playground that is often in use by neighborhood kiddies.  And a baseball field.

 

It was 88 degrees today, although MPR was reporting 90. So maybe it was 90. It's so far been the warmest year of the century and of the last century, too, according the weather guys. I guess we're getting a couple more days of 90 before it cools a bit for the next part of June.

The French Open is nearing completion in Paris.  The men's final will be a classic confrontation between the number one player in the world and the number one player on clay.  I'm having a tough time choosing between Nadal and Djokovic as my favorite and may have to flip a coin at the last moment.  They'll be playing Sunday morning early, and it could take five to six hours to determine this year's champ.  That's the nature of clay court tennis.

Yesterday the US Post Office issued a new set of forever postage stamps featuring bike riders.   They should be on sale at a Post Office near you.