Beautiful Monday

It was a very nice day, especially since July can be such a hot pot. The GTA, six strong played about two hours of tennis at Marie Park. We finished in 86 degrees. Warm, hot even, but not life threatening for people who are conditioned for it.

Along the Mississippi, which I must cross to get to Marie Park, there are often show boats traveling up and down stream. I caught the Anson Northrup as it passed under the High Bridge - sometimes known as the Smith Avenue Bridge. You can perhaps tell from the photo why High Bridge seems to fit.


Herb is back from his weekend jaunt and was back at work today. He and I went to a band concert about two blocks from his office in Edina and happened to run across a familiar face in the flute section. I took a photo before the show. Where's Waldo? Or, Where's Wireless? My favorite tune may have been "That Old Black Magic." At least it's the one that I remember. The flautist's mother, BB, showed up as the concert began so we sat on the side hill in the shade and enjoyed a beautiful summer evening in the park. Most of the music was pleasant to hear.


Just reiterate the Wimbledon men's finals result. I watched this baby for over four hours on Sunday. I should perhaps get a life. Roger Federer won the longest final in the history of the event - over 100 years. Poor Andy Roddick was the victim again. 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 6-3, 16-14. Pretty good tennis.

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.

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.

Saturday

It was a busy Saturday. The rain finished in time so that I could play some tennis with the older gentlemen. It was necessary to sweep the water from the courts, but luckily Curt showed up early with a broom and did the job. We managed to play three sets, but my level of play was affected by the gusty winds, and my general lack of inspired play meant that I was on the winning side of only one of the sets. The zone has fled from my life, but I'm hoping for its return.

The French Open is completing this weekend. The Serb youngster, Anna Ivanovic beat Marat Safin's little sister, Dinara Safina, 6-4, 6-3 to win her first major. She takes over as number one woman player in the world from Maria Sharapova. The French has been owned by Justine Henin the last few years, but she unexpectedly retired this year and didn't play at Roland Garros. Tomorrow Raphael Nadal tries for his fourth consecutive win in the Open. He's contesting the finals again with Roger Federer, the world's number one man. It's on broadcast TV at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning, live.

Herb and I planted some veggies in the backyard patch this afternoon - tomatoes and yellow peppers. We had a pretty good crop last year and I'm hoping for a repeat. It's been a late season, and I'm late planting by a week or so, but I think we'll have locally grown Early Girls in August. BC doesn't complain about non-native plants when they are edible. She's spending the summer working with prairie restoration and native plants in Glyndon and may not benefit much from the veggie largess.

Outdoor Tennis Ball Smacking

When you run across guys playing tennis outside this late in November, it's always worth recording. These guys were hitting the ball pretty well and seemed to be enjoying the weather and bonus playing day. It was taken November 12 at some Minneapolis public courts. By me. Also, this is a tennis blog and needs some photos of the sport to maintain atmosphere and cred.


There was blogging from KS today. It's always nice to hear of her doings in Ogaki City. There were some nice photos, too, from her salsa party.

Friday the thirteenth came on Tuesday this month. Today. It was an off day from tennis and also from curling. Curling resumes tomorrow and we are riding one game winning streaks on both teams - the "old timers" and the Miller Rink. Our current streaks are longer than both the Vikings and Roger Federer, who lost to Fernando Gonzalez, but is still in the hunt at the season ending tourney, the Masters in Shanghai. I guess nobody beats Fernando Gonzalez eleven straight times.
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