Hot September Day

It was 90 degrees in St Paul this afternoon, maybe more if I could find any recent temp records on the internet. I played about an hour and a quarter of tennis on a quaint single court at MacKubin and Laurel. The surface was a little rough and the net a tad low, but it was 9:30 and the day was still cool, in the 70's. There is ivy growing on the fences, too. Picture a couple of retired guys banging ground strokes at each other. Most of the rest of the day was spent avoiding the heat.

This former elm tree stands across the street from the governor's mansion on Summit Avenue. It's starting to deteriorate a bit, but to me it is authentic public art.


The US Open had some good matches on TV today. The match between Novak Djokovic, the number 3 seed, and Juan Monaco was inspired tennis and a grueling 4 hours long. Djokovic won in four sets, but not without using most of his resevoir of energy. In tonight's featured women's match, Justine Henin beat Serena Williams 7-6, 6-1 to get to the semis, where she may have to play Venus.