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.