Lucky. That is what I was when my parents decided to buy their first home in Alexandria at Lake Brophy back in the early 70’s. A few years later they bought a home on the west side of downtown Alexandria and a cottage at Lake Le Homme Dieu. Next was a cottage at the south end of Lake Carlos. The net result was life at the lake has been a part of every summer of my life. I loved it and still do. A breeze from Lake Darling is keeping me cool as I write this on a hot Sunday evening. Much of what I enjoy about lake life is the simplicity of living and of course the close connection to nature. Not that that can’t exist away from the lake but it seems to easily go hand in hand at the lake especially in the smaller confines of a cottage.
Something else that was instilled in me, and for which I feel fortunate, was that tennis can be enjoyed for your entire life. My mother told me this as she made me go to my first tennis lesson. The lesson was with Suzie Olson (now Suzie Johnson), a longtime tennis coach with Jefferson High School. Suzie and the game hooked me immediately and it led to more lessons and many hours on a tennis court. I haven’t played much in the past decade but will again some day. It is a game that whether aged five years or ninety-five, you can enjoy.
This all leads me to the photos below. Last week I received an email from someone I hadn’t connected with in a few years. Back in the 2000’s I participated in the District 206 Lunch Buddy Program. In brief, it is a program that connected me with an elementary student that might benefit from spending time with someone outside their peer group each week. It is a great program and I can say that I benefited as much as the new friend I made. Anyway, the person that contacted me was the wonderful coordinator of the Lunch Buddy Program and more. Her husband happens to be the President of the Alexandria Area Tennis Association and she had heard I own a drone and wondered if I could capture some aerials of the courts at Discovery Middle School and Alexandria Area High School. I was glad to not only help Kathy but to give back to the tennis association. Below are some of the photos I took today. Alexandria is a special place to live and as you will see, there are some nice courts to play tennis. Learn more about the AATA at their web-site and/or their Facebook page. In closing, I’d also like to give a shout out to Casey DeJong. He was my high school coach and has done so much for tennis in Alexandria and gave so much to me. He is a good person and regretfully I don’t know that I ever expressed that to him. I should stop by a local court. No doubt, Casey is there playing and having a great time.
Alexandria Area High School
Discovery Middle School
