Nicest Wednesday of the week

After yesterday almost any weather would have been pretty nice, but today was cool enough without humidity to qualify in one of those nicest days comparisons.

I have another bird photo, but after this I may find another subject for a while - perhaps benches, or snow piles (although the St Paul fish rap reported today that the huge snow pile at the Rice Street Sears store finally melted in yesterday's 103 degree heat), or maybe traffic signs. The two adult geese are herding around a brood of new geese, goslings, I think they're called. They'll soon be fans of that Beach Boys hit, "Little Deuce Coupe."  At any rate, goslings are pretty cute until they get bigger, ornery and messy.  One of the big ones hissed at me as I went by, a trifle too close for the boundaries of its personal space.  I kept walking.

There was geezer tennis at Marie Park this afternoon and eight guys showed up for the fun.  It was windy enough to cause some stress and some mis-hits, but otherwise a fine day.  I was playing with one of the regulars as a partner and we were nearly bageled in the first set, before regaining equilibrium and getting two games before succumbing.   I haven't been bageled in a while and had forgotten how sometimes no matter what you hit over the net, it comes back just a little nastier than it left, and sometimes it'll even bounce off the top of the net and fall straight down your your side of the net.  I think there is karma - good and  bad - involved these plays, but they are sometimes unavoidable.  I'll have my good days, too.  I'm not complaining.

It's nice that it's June and the tomatoes are growing rapidly by my back door.  What's nicer than that?

One hundred degrees

For the first time in five years the temperature reached triple digits. I guess 103 was the official high and it was the hottest day in 23 years here in the Saintly City. It was too hot to repeat yesterday's tennis ordeal, and it was too hot for biking, but it was okay for a walk around the lake. It's only 1.6 miles - a distance that I can handle even at 20 below zero.  Happily the humidity was only around 25%, so I took my camera and went for a stroll. The Black Bear Inn is right by the parking lot where I start, and is a friendly air conditioned coffee shop.

Amazingly (or not), there were very few walkers or runners using the trail around the lake. I counted for a while and half way around the count was eight people, including a roller blader. I encountered the neighborhood heron again. He was spooked by my closeness I guess, but I was able to get a decent photo of his flying style.

About the time I got the photo of the heron, I apparently spooked a pair of red wing blackbirds. They screeched at me and made some aggressive moves in my direction. They were agitated.  The male has an orange-red splotch on his wing next to a yellow splotch.

The female was less colorful, but just as wary. I looked around and took several photos of their behavior. They hung around and seemed to be protecting a nest.

After scanning the trees in the area, I noticed the reason for their distress. The new born birds in this nest are very likely closely related to the two birds above.

I continued the walk, not wanting to cause any more stress to the wildlife on such a hot day. Near the end point of my circumnavigation I found mallards again. I know I've posted a lot of mallard photos lately, but I like this one well enough to repeat. The ducks seemed unaffected by the heat and happy to be next to a decent size body of water.

Our heat wave is expected to end tomorrow. It was short but intense. I plan to be smacking tennis balls again tomorrow with the geezers on a mostly comfortable day. Another day in the endless string of present moments.

Sleeping Ducks, Tomatoes and Hot Day Tennis

I caught these mallard males napping on the shore of Lake Como. They're so tame that they didn't look up or budge as I took the photo. Como is a busy lake with lots of people walking and running around it nearly every day, so I guess they've grown accustomed to activity. They seem like they're feeling secure.

It was too hot for tennis today. There were health warnings for the aged amongst us, who were advised to find an air conditioner and hang around it all afternoon. But, since the geezers were scheduled for an afternoon session of tennis ball whacking, I played some tennis at Marie Park. Besides Curt was back from his winter haven in Arkansas, and I hadn't exchanged witticisms with him for months. There were six of us older gents there, determined to play some tennis and also to survive the first day in the nineties this year. We played some abbreviated sets and finished off most of our water before calling it a day. When I got into my car, the on board thermometer falsely reported 107. After five minutes of driving it had dropped back to a more likely 95. I stopped at Subway for a sandwich, Gatorade and a walk though the air conditioned convenience store attached to the Subway.

I have planted my tomato plants by the back door. They're well established already and beginning to grow. Last year, if you remember, I tried to grow heirloom tomatoes from seeds. It was pretty much a failure, because the heirloom tomatoes that survived yielded blueberry size tomatoes, so small that I didn't even harvest them. And, of course, my planting was delayed by a trip to Paris and Roland Garros stadium. This year I bought Early Girls from the garden center on Randolph. I'm much encouraged. This is the tomato plant to the left of the other one.

Raffa Nadal is the champion again at Roland Garros in Paris for the sixth time. The championship match against Roger Federer was classic clay court tennis. I spent about four hours Sunday watching them beat each other up and counted it good use of my time.

Sato finishes last

In the just completed annual family Indy 500 pool I managed to pick the last place finisher - the driver of the first car to crash out - Takuma Sato of Japan. However Danica Patrick, my last-second third choice led for a while before finishing tenth. I congratulate Mr Moohoo for his astute pick of the lucky, last-second winner, Dan Wheldon.

After the race, because the bridge to Pike Island is closed, I decided to go to Webster, Wisconsin. Tomorrow is Memorial day and I decided that it was maybe my year to spruce up the family's burial plots. Dad was always one for marking Memorial Day and always put flowers on the graves. So I bought some flowers and top soil in a bag and drove to Wisconsin.

Lillie's grave was in need of the most work. I trimmed the pine tree that is growing there and planted my own yellow flowers to complement the red ones that someone had planted some time recently. I even raked up the leaves and spread some grass seed on the soil that I brought along. I'm not sure who I was doing this maintenance for, but I felt better for it. Maybe I was doing it for me. It looks better, good enough to warrant a photo. A woman who was there doing her own maintenance for the usual Memorial Day rites, stopped and said that it looked nice. I thanked her and said that it was much in need of some work.

It was a little rainy on the way back and the total drive time was about four hours, but it was the right thing to do today.

Novak Djokovic continued his winning streak in Paris today, beating Frenchman Richard Gasquet pretty handily. He's in the quarterfinals, where he must play an Italian guy, Fabio Fognini. I think Fabio has run out of luck. Roger Federer and Raffa Nadal await Novak in the semis and finals. If he makes the finals he will displace Raffa Nadal as number one in the world.

Not Paris

Last year about this time I was in Paris for the French Open Tennis Tournament. While Paris was quite nice, I remember at least one memorably rainy day spent in the stands on Court One, waiting for the drizzle to dissipate. Bad weather happens. The photo below of Gino and me was taken on one of the nice days we spent at Roland Garros, a day on which there was a lot of walking around, watching great tennis and fighting the crowds of tennis fans. Paris was beautiful. St Paul is pretty nice, too.

Today in Minnesota the weather was nice much of the day, except for the couple of hours in the afternoon when it rained and the weather creatures took over the local TV stations to warn about impending tornados - and interrupting the broadcast of the UEFA Champions League Final soccer game between Manchester United and Barcelona from Wembley Stadium. (Barcelona won 3-1.) The morning weather was nice enough to demand a walk around the neighborhood and the photo below records the day from the top of the St. Clair stairs near the new tennis courts.

Then it rained really hard.

After the game and the rain, I went back to Como to appreciate the return of the sun. It turned to sunny and pleasant in a hurry. The sun brought back the wildlife, including this great white heron - maybe the same one I've caught there in the past. This guy is perched on a fallen tree's branch and seems to be at peace with its world. There were also wood ducks, mallards, geese, turtles and muskrats using the lake today, while the citizens of St Paul used the walking paths, mostly unaware of much of the wildlife's activities.

There was tennis again today at Roland Garros. I was in St Paul, but, by the miracle of the modern internet, I know that Novak Djokovic won his 40th consecutive match of the year and 42nd overall by beating Juan-Martin del Potro in four sets. Next he gets Gasquet, then probably Federer, followed by Raffa Nadal, if the historic streak is to continue. Things are getting tougher.

The Nicest Day

It was a very nice day in May, a little cooler than normal, but the sun was out and a sweatshirt was enough to keep the chill away. The geese and the other water birds are in the midst of new baby season. The geese were congregated together, watching the antics of the newbies. These were on the banks of Lake Como near the pavilion. They're just now learning to stay together and follow the big bird. They're born swimming, I think.  They'll soon be fouling (fowling?) the walks at a lake near you.

This big white water bird seems to be a great white heron.  He's standing in the Mississippi River just off the shore of Harriet Island, probably looking for food.

To be truthful, these photos were taken yesterday, but they look very much like they could have been taken today.  I've been out in the parklands quite a bit lately and the birds are very active and much in evidence.

Today I was hoping to get photos at Pike Island to post, but when I arrived at the bridge to gain access to the island, I discovered high water and "access denied."  The island is still isolated by the high waters of the Minnesota-Mississippi River below the fort.  I spent a couple of hours on the mainland side of the park, hoping to surprise a deer or two, but all I saw was a set of fairly fresh deer hoof prints.  The deer were probably taking a nap.  It was a pleasant stroll, however, and I was happy to be out in nature.

The Prairie Princess is going to be in town this weekend, partly because it's Memorial Day and that means a long weekend.  Her schedule (rather her dance card) is pretty full, but I'm hoping to learn the names of a few more wild plants while she's here.  I figured out garlic mustard and catnip the last time she was in town.

The indoor tennis season ends officially tomorrow.  The last prepaid indoor court time at Fort Snelling tennis center with the gang of geezers is at 1 p.m.  We're about to become an outdoor social club for the summer.  The size of the group increases, too, because there is more interest and some of the out of towner snowbirds are back for a summer of fun and competition.  And the outdoor courts are free.

The French Open continued today in Paris.  Kim Clijsters was upset, but mostly because she's been out because of an injury and came back without much preparation.  Clay court tennis is hard.

Tulips and Goldfinches

I had a pleasant walk around parts of Como Park that I don't usually blog about. It's getting close to summer and everything is getting green and pretty. I stopped by the butterfly garden to see what was blooming and encountered these fringed red tulips. The fringe is a feature that I haven't much noticed before, but adds an interesting twist to the image.  It's still early in the season for the other blossoms to be emerging, so the whole show is pretty much tulips.

There were also some goldfinches flying around. They're small, very yellow, and seem to stay on the wing most of the time, but I was able to catch one perched in a tree and got a reasonable photo with my telephoto lens. They are a chatty bird, doing a lot of singing and chirping to their friends.

This is Joyce Kilmer Fireplace in Como Park.   The city spent some time and money restoring it and it was just rededicated this spring.  It was built in the 1930's and I remember walking by it several times over the last few years and noting how run down it had become.  It's near Como Avenue and the soccer and baseball athletic fields.  There is still work to be done in the area, but the fireplace is ready for fires.

No tennis today for me but the tennis tournament at Roland Garros continues. Raffa Nadal had a tough five setter with American John Isner, but managed to win and move on to the next round.

Time of the Lilacs

I think the lilacs are late this year, but they have arrived in all their purpleness. And they have a lovely aroma.

It was a stormy weekend in the Saintly City, but not as bad as across the river where a huge tornado busted up north Minneapolis. That was a serious wind storm. The rain kept me off the tennis courts and away from the woodsy areas by the Mississippi. And it made the lawn grow and turn a trifle jungly. So today I mowed the grass and later after lunch I hit some tennis balls at Marie Park with another of the usual group. We often play doubles on Monday, but there were conflicts today. Practice is exercise and time spent outside. We settled for that.

The French Open is in progress in Paris this week. It's just a year since my presence at the tournament and watching it on television brings back some good memories of the time spent there. The favorite to win this year is still probably Nadal, but Djokovic has been on a tear, winning 40 matches in a row and he certainly deserves consideration. I think Federer has a chance win, too, but he must get by these two guys, not an easy task. I'll be watching. It'll be some entertaining tennis.

Doomsday Eve

It wasn't much of an outdoors day for most of the day, but I did have a walk around Lake Como again today in the morning before the rains came. The fruit trees are just showing off. The colors are bright and the aroma quite fruity. This beauty is just off the hiking path about a quarter of the way around. The turtles weren't basking - too cool perhaps -but the mallards and wood ducks were still about. The Ramsey county Sheriff's Department divers have stopped searching the lake, so they either found what they were looking for or perhaps gave up.

This is a crab apple tree, I believe.

Since the world ends tomorrow, I thought I should get in just one more blog and perhaps report on the activities of this last Friday. It was another day when my mostly inadequate planning resulted in two sessions of doubles. I may have to do some rejiggering of the schedule next week, but so far it hasn't been too onerous. The afternoon session with the gang of geezers went off without much wailing. We managed two fairly lopsided sets and began a third before we ran out of players. One of the guys was having a little trouble with his artificial hip in the third set, so we shut down the competition. It was okay by me, because I was scheduled for the USTA match that Jerry's mixed doubles team was playing in Wooddale at seven.

The Wooddale match was tight and pretty entertaining. Marsha and I were playing a married couple who were celebrating their 11th wedding anniversary today. You'd think that we would cut them some slack, but just because it was their anniversary and because they were well short of their 40th birthdays, we gave them as much competition as we were able. In the end they beat us in the third set tie breaker after we had split two 6-4 sets. We had two match points at 9-7 in the tie breaker, but they steadied and managed to beat us. They were nice "kids" and a lot of fun to play, too. After the match I wished them a happy anniversary and chatted a bit. They asked how old I am, and I was happy to claim 68. Brian, the guy, was kind enough to opine that he hoped he would be playing as well as me when he is 68, indeed said he in exaggeration, he hoped to still have as much game when he gets to 38. So I came home defeated but in a pretty good mood.

It's just kind of sad that doomsday is tomorrow. I was hoping to get in another week of so of tennis before it all comes crashing down. And maybe a game or two of scrabble.

Excitement at the lake

It was a busy day, although I didn't plan for that to happen. Most of it was pretty mundane, but I did manage to recycle one of my old computers at Best Buy. They charge ten bucks, but they give you a gift card for ten bucks to spend in the store and that got me to buy a Bruce Springsteen CD and a bag of Snickers in their Robert Street store. Who knew that they sell Snickers at Best Buy.

The day was cloudy, but warm, in anticipation of tomorrow's all day rain - so says the weather wizards, but since doomsday is Saturday, I decided to make as good use as I could of a nice May day. [As an aside and one I'd like to have Chad's owner verify, "m'aider" in French seems to mean "help me" and is pronounced "May Day" which is the universal call for help. Coincidence??]

Lots was going on at Como Lake, where I stopped for a circumnavigation after a brief stop at Goodwill to give away some old clothes and toys. The lake shore restoration has encouraged wildlife to find the lake quite enticing. Today, and some of these are pictured here, I saw an egret, multiple mallards, several wood ducks, a black headed duck, a muskrat, and about a thousand turtles basking on logs. The shore line restoration has been going on for a couple of years and there are cat tails and lots of vegetation along the shore for wild life cover. This egret was kind enough to let me get close enough for a photo. And stayed around for several.

There was also some sort of turtle census or tagging going on today. These city employees (I think they work for the city) captured this giant turtle and were tagging him or perhaps taking a blood sample or who knows what. They released him back into the lake and he didn't end today as soup. It was a big guy and he was not happy about the process. Of course, the turtle may be female - I don't know how to tell the difference.

There were myriads of smaller turtles basking on logs in the lake. I guess they are just happy to be past the harsh winter and are probably getting ready for the summer and a lot more basking.

On the other side of the lake the Sheriff's department had divers in the lake. They were searching for something, but one of the other passersby said they have been doing it for about three days. With the help of google news when I got home, I ascertained that they were probably searching for a weapon that had been used in a shooting over on Dale Street last week. The news article said that the perp had disposed of the gun in question, by throwing it into Como Lake. It was not a dull day around Como Lake.

And then when I finally got home I made a loaf of raisin bread in the bread machine and played some scrabble.