The day after the ides of March

The strangely warm March continues. Today broke a high temperature record for March 16 by 7 degrees, reaching 79 in the Saintly City. And tomorrow promises more of the same for St Patty's Day, a big event in St Paul where there is a big parade and nearly everyone claims at least some Irish ancestry.  I'm not complaining about the warmth yet. If this is indeed global warming, this part of it is welcome in these parts.

Because it was a really nice day, and because the girl from the north country (GFTNC) was in town, we took the opportunity to circumnavigate Como Lake. We were joined by a large number of the diverse population of the Capitol City. The lake has not lost quite all of its ice, but what's left in the central part of the lake is really just slush with maybe a few chunks. The ice out date is very near at hand.

There is a new feature at Como Park, a charging station for electric cars. It's solar powered and thus will not be connected to the grid. The charge is free for any electric cars in the area in need of a charge, paid for by the tax payers of St Paul. No need to thank me. You are welcome. I guess the idea is to encourage people from a fair distance to come to Como without fear of running out of juice for the ride home. I'll be watching after it opens (next week sometime) to see if it's being put to use.

There is some cycling content in today's blog. As we were walking near the pavilion, I noticed an object about 50 feet from shore. After some examination, it appears to be a bike seat. It doesn't seem to have a bike attached to the seat, but I could be wrong. I wasn't about to walk out onto the ice to see what's attached.

Does it or does it not look like a bike seat?

Not bicycling but at least cycling content. It was a nice enough day to attract a guy on a unicycle to come out and repeatedly circle the lake. He was getting exercise or maybe just showing off, but it was a nice addition to a good people watching day by the lake.

And I played some tennis inside today at Ft. Snelling with three other codgers. There are indications that we may be moving the game outside next week, but only if this string of beautiful warm days continues into next Wednesday. The weather creatures seem to think that it is well within the realm of possibility.

Winded Again

I'm posting a photo that I actually took today. It was warm this morning, but the weather prognosticators were predicting strong winds with gusts to 35-40 mph. Undeterred, because I had no tennis to play today, I took a ride to the windiest place I know of, down by the river. It went along very nicely until after this photo was taken at the turn around point, some distance downstream from the Lafayette Bridge. The photo captures the Mississippi and the Capital City all right, but doesn't capture the essence of the wind. The journey after the turn was upwind, reaching, at times, six miles an hour. Another lesson relearned.


It was another 12 miles for the summer and gets me to about the mileage that Santini and Mr Moohoo had near the end of April.

There will be tennis in the morning, rain or shine, and opportunities to catch the turning of the leaves. Then, on Sunday at 4:52 CDT the autumnal equinox arrives. [I looked it up this time.]

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.

Spurs sweep

I heard the forecast calling for the 5th straight day of 90's, so I, too, took a morning ride. I finished at 11:58 am. It was fairly pleasant and I haven't been to Fort Snelling on the bike for a long time. I went over the 35E bridge on the way, and, on the bridge, took the picture of a rock-filled barge as it passed in front of the Lilydale Yacht Club. My camera battery gave up the ghost there, so the remainder of the ride was pretty much photo free. The path down into Fort Snelling Park, where the entrance to Pike Island exists, was closed, the sign said, so I took the alternate path along the highway to Minnehaha Falls and the Ford bridge and then up Jefferson towards home. I ran into a pipe smoking biker on the way, a rare breed in these parts, and almost guffawed. He had his own ozone advisory area that he was carrying around with him. An odd piece of behavior for someone biking to stay healthy. I finished the ride with 15.75 miles.


The farmer's market was open by St Luke's Chuch at 1:15, so I stopped to see what they were selling this early in the season. Some guy had tomatoes. He said that he planted them in the ground in February. "They looked fabulous." And there was zucchini and cukes, and snap peas. And lots of onions. I bought tomatoes and zukes.

More scanner fun. You have to love this technology. This is the 1959 issue of GHS tennis team. They don't look much like tennis players except they wield tennis rackets and most are wearing tennis shoes of the day. Name the players and win a "brand new car." (just a match box car, sorry.) If you get the racket makes, there is an old Wilson racket here I'll let you have. There are no Bouchards in the picture, but maybe a Sobczak.


I discovered through google that only gray squirrels are considered vermin in many areas of the country. The red ones are the nice squirrels. This smacks of racism and should be stamped out. Do this google command "squirrels are vermin" for the definitive proof.

San Antonio wins NBA crown in four straight games over Lebron James.

Saturday morning tennis

It was another glorious day in May. The gang of geezers gathered for competition at 8:30. It was mix and match of another variety today because we could only roust six of the usual suspects. There were some good points and fun was had by most. 6-3, 6-4, plus a half hour of practice.

The Herb was off on a trek to Chicago with compatriots, so I was able to catch a cat nap, and a cup of tea at T.K.'s in Mendota Heights.

At about five I set out to find number two on the Minnesota Rocks sculpture list. I had to pedal over the High Bridge against a significant wind and a long uphill incline to get to West St Paul and Cherokee Park, between Wyoming and Annapolis. There were quite a number of people in the park, including a tree climbing contest. It was fun to watch for about ten minutes while a guy equipped with ropes and steady resolve climbed a tall, old oak tree and rang bells far out at the end of branches - all the while he was being timed and perhaps judged on technique. The trucks in the parking areas were from tree trimming services from around the Twin Cities area. This appears to be a new sport, although it's maybe just new to me. I should have taken pictures.

Minnesota Rock Carving number 2:

Number two on the map of Minnesota Rocks Sculptures is "Peace Table" by Craig David, a St Paul sculptor. All of these sculptures are carved in Minnesota stone - granite, limestone, stromatolite. I bet the geologists at the DNR know all about this stuff. "Peace Table" is granite, I think.

Trek to Old Man River

A beautiful day in this river city. It's easy to forget that the Mississippi runs through this city sometimes, but it does and along its banks for many miles there are forest and parks, and then there is downtown. I rode both sides of the river today - my first 20 mile ride of the year. This photo was taken in Hidden Falls Park - the east bank - as I rolled past the river. I had to scramble to get off the bike before the riverboat got too far upstream to be in the photo. I like the juxtaposition of trees, bike, river, and boat.



There were a lot of walking primates out and about with their canine companions. I crossed the 35E bridge past the old Lilydale Tennis Club and rode to Harriet Island to where the railroad tracks cross the bike path. The tracks were in use by a long string of freight cars, so I turned and rode back past the water front park, through the forested bike path, and home. The trip up Benhill Road at 19 miles took my breath away, but I got it back.

Leftover pizza for lunch. I played some tennis this afternoon: ground strokes and overheads. Now I may need a nap.

I'm considering a plan to plant new flowers in the back yard. The native grass garden planted by the good Kagami is thriving, although it's getting competition from quack grass and other weeds. I think there will be black eyed susans galore. I have come to the conclusion that the term "weed" is a social construct. One man's dandelion is another man's lilac.

Gas was $3.259 in Mendota Heights. A nice jump for those who profit from our addiction.

It rains on Saturday sometimes

It's Saturday in Minnesota. And it rains. What can I say? I am inside, but spent about 90 minutes smacking tennis balls inside at Wooddale with the aging gentlemen that I often share the court with. We managed three sets with three different arrangements of combatants. 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 today. I was a little off my game, slow sometimes, which I attribute to the change of surface and lighting differences inside. But the new racket did its job when I was able to locate the sweet spot. A sweet red Wilson racket.

I have few recent tennis photos, so I'm posting a photo from this January in Florida with my high school tennis coach. He is a few years older than me, but still an active and effective player. The tennis we played was the first in about 40 years and an identical time since we had seen each other. Thanks to the internet and a little tool called 'google' used by Sylvi, I was able to relocate him. We had a great time, recalling triumphs of our "youths" and filling in the gaps in our histories, at his home near St Petersburg. Sylvi, who was one of his French student faves in high school was there, too.



My tennis schedule is pretty busy for next week. I'll be hitting with the geezer group a few times, and the USTA 8.0 mixed doubles league starts up on Sunday.

I'm also planning to do some biking next week when the rain ceases. I'll try to get some good photos of the trails by the Mississippi River and the vegetation that is again showing its beauty. The river is the dominant feature on many of my rides - it's about 2 miles down hill from here. That means, of course, that my ride home is dominated by a climb up Benhill Street.

Gas is $2.95. The war goes on. Visualize peace.