Septuagenarians rule

It's Wednesday. Before tennis I went into the back yard to see if any flowers were ready for prime time. I found this one in a pot of flowers that NCW planted for me about six weeks or more ago. It may be a petunia. It is certainly purple. I have some other flowers and a patch of garden that used to be, years ago,  for vegetables that now is the unruly home for the Prairie Princess' native plants - grasses, wild flowers and, I think, a family of rabbits. A single milkweed grows there, too. PP will be back from Norway to tend her native patch on August 15 - in about three weeks. There are also three tomato plants in the back yard. All three are growing rapidly and green fruit is starting to set. The plants were a gift from Unky Herb's friend, Drew, and thus I'm not sure what style of tomatoes I'll be harvesting in a month or less, but I do know that they'll be organic and fresh from the garden when I eat them.  Unky Herb says he thinks they're heirloom tomatoes.  I'll eat them with respect.

It was a really nice day for tennis outside.  The temperature was mid 70's and dew point in the fifties.  The tennis playing geezer group has expanded for the summer and now we're playing three times a week at Sibley High School in Mendota Heights.  Today we had ten competitors, most in their sixties, but one, at least, at 58 and two septuagenarians (you know, guys in their seventies). We draw cards for partners and then play mini sets to start so that we get some variety of competition. A mini set allows everyone to serve once and if the set gets to 2-2, we have a seven point tie breaker. It's all pretty low key, but silently competitive. No one wants to lose to an old guy, even other old guys. After three mini sets against a variety of opponents, the survivors and the hard core play a set of doubles against whoever is still willing to play.

As one of the septuagenarians, I got to play the last set with the 58 year old guy against two guys who are cousins and pretty good players. It was a fun day and we all managed to get out alive and well. It was good tennis, good for geezers and competitive enough to make the afternoon feel like two hours well spent.  I love those guys and I love that game.

Tennis History

This is supposed to be a tennis related blog. Thus a photo of a bunch of tennis players. Tennis Tousan is in the photo and he has a very inadequate tennis racket. It was 1960 and technology had not yet produced the T2000, much less the Wilson k SixOne, but the pictured racket was inadequate even for 1960. It was replaced the following year and by 1961 the future Tousan was playing with a Bancroft racket (if my memory can be trusted) that would develop a decided warp, but would be adequate for that level of competition. The warp was the result of not properly using a tennis racket press (a device that has lost favor in the era of titanium and liquid metal). The use of the racket required hitting the ball with the concave side of the racket, so there was an adjustment before most strokes. Shots from the convex side were always an adventure.

The inadequate racket in the picture is my first tennis racket, a gift from Grandma Sylvia Melissa sometime in the 50's. The photo is taken at the tennis courts a half block from home that also served as a skating rink in the winter. The spring thaw was hastened by the tennis team shoveling the slushy ice off the concrete to be able to get in some early season practice.

The coach of the team, the young fellow at the far end of the photo, was Paul Bouchard, only six years older than his seniors. Can anyone name the other fellows in the photo, all geezers now? A can of new tennis balls to whomever gets them all.

1960 Greenway High School tennis team.


It was another hot day in the city by the river. I searched for Minnesota Rocks on foot. A walk around Como Park failed to reveal number 7 in the series, supposedly very near the "rain garden" at Midway Parkway and Hamline. Pshaw.

Geezer Tennis

Not a biking day for Tousan. I did slam some tennis balls over the nets at Marie Park this a.m. with the Geezer Gang of Eight - a regular Saturday morning event. I think now that I may need a day of rest, like Santini. We played a kind of round robin scheme wherein you only have the same partner for 4 games and then the teams are shuffled. I didn't get to play with everyone, but we each played 24 games, not including tie breakers, so it was enough. There was much good natured ribbing of opponents amongst the geezers. Claims of bad calls, and good natured appreciation of well executed shots - both intentional and accidental.

This photo is from yesterday's ride at Crosby Farm along the big river. It shows that a forest exists in the middle of St Paul.



I puttered around in the back yard - planted some flowers and trimmed some bushes. The city has replaced some sod on the boulevard that was new last year as a result of the "improvement" project in my neighborhood. The sod failed over the winter, so they brought in new - but it looks a little dryer than one would expect for new sod. Long story for very little payoff - I watered the sod profusely this afternoon. The grass on the boulevard is at the mercy of the legion of dogs walked on this street who tend to visit as many trees as they can. This iteration of sod may fail, too.

I wander.