I am still having trouble writing a post all the photos were just a mess but I know they have come through but a bit small I really do not know how to fix it any ideas!!!!
Anyway as you can see I did my favorite hike again and this time the waterfalls were flowing although not too fast...but such a joy to be up there...you also see that the tour company that uses the bridge had a zip line going.....
Did abot 8 miles and great to there even if the sun was not too bright....
I like millions of others always had aspirations of being a professional athlete I did not have the talent but if I did I would not be like this idiot below........he should give all the paying customers over the years that watched him their money back!!!!
Bernard Tomic amazed at career, despite lack of effort at times
Tomic reached a career-high ranking of 17 in January 2016
Bernard Tomic says he has never "really tried" throughout his tennis career, adding that he has probably been operating at "around 50%".
The Australian claimed he was bored during his straight-set defeat by Mischa Zverev at Wimbledon on 4 July.
A series of lacklustre displays has seen the 24-year-old drop from 17 in the world last year to 73.
"Tennis chose me. It's something I never fell in love with," Tomic told Australia's Channel Seven.
"Throughout my career I've given 100%. I've given also 30%. But if you balance it out, I think all my career's been around 50%.
"I haven't really tried, and still achieved all this. So it's just amazing what I've done."
'I'm trapped and I have to do it'
Tomic has won three ATP Tour titles and has earned almost £4m in career prize money, including £35,000 for his defeat by Zverev.
However, he has not won a tour title since 2015 and has struggled for form this year, winning just nine matches overall and losing in the first rounds at the French Open and Wimbledon.
When asked what advice he would give to aspiring tennis players, Tomic said: "Don't play tennis.
"Do something you love and enjoy because it's a grind and it's a tough, tough, tough life. My position, I'm trapped. I have to do it."
I was bored - Tomic's extraordinary admission
Tomic's previous controversies
Tomic was criticised for ruling himself out of the Rio 2016 Olympics because of an "extremely busy" schedule, a year after he was dropped by Tennis Australia - for a second time - from their Davis Cup squad.
He was left out in 2015 after accusing the governing body of abandoning him following hip surgery in 2014, but has since returned to the team.
Further questions were raised about his attitude when he held his racquet by the strings when facing match point in a Madrid Open match last year.
Tomic's career has also been affected by off-court controversy.
In July 2015, he was charged with resisting arrest and trespassing by police in the United States after refusing to leave a hotel room.
His father John was sentenced to eight months in prison for assaulting his son's training partner before the 2013 Madrid Open.
Yashi Kochi!!!!
I took a hammering at Poker on Wednesday my first loss in months...100 pesos back to eating tacos and beans!!!!
Fortunate in between the showers to play tennis yesterday was good to be on the courts I always enjoyed those two hours......
Starting today for the next week is International Film festival...this year the host country is Canada and at many venues films are being shown all day and the cost of admission is free......today Gracie and i went to see a series of short films in two different locations....I must admit that a lot of them were very dark and some disturbing but some were quite entertaining..we will see lots more this week.
This is also disturbing!!!
Xanda, son of Cecil the lion, killed by hunter in Zimbabwe
Xanda was reportedly shot on a trophy hunt
Two years after Cecil the lion was killed by a trophy-hunter in Zimbabwe, prompting global outrage, his son has met a similar sad end.
Xanda, a six-year-old lion with several young cubs, was shot dead on 7 July.
He was killed just outside the Hwange National Park in northern Zimbabwe, close to where his father died.
The lion had been fitted with an electronic tracking collar by Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU).
Dr Loveridge, a Senior Research Fellow with Oxford's Department of Zoology, secured the collar last October.
"Xanda was one of these gorgeous Kalahari lions, with a big mane, big body, beautiful condition - a very, very lovely animal. Personally, I think it is sad that anyone wants to shoot a lion, but there are people who will pay money to do that," he said.
The Oxford team are calling for a wider 5km (three-mile) "no-hunting zone" around the National Park.
Sad inheritance: The much-loved Zimbabwean lion Cecil was killed in 2015
The BBC's Africa Correspondent, Andrew Harding, reports that at the age of six, Xanda was old enough to be legally targeted by big game hunters.
These individuals, many from the US, UK and South Africa, pay tens of thousands of pounds for the deadly pursuit - thereby funding the staff who protect other wildlife.
It is not yet clear who shot Xanda. A professional hunter is said to have reported the death to the authorities and returned the lion's collar.
Lion kills girl of 10 as she goes to toilet
When is hunting not poaching?
How the internet descended on the man who killed Cecil the lion
The killing comes two years after dentist Walter James Palmer, from Minnesota in the US, sparked an international outcry by killing Cecil, a 13-year-old lion who was a major tourist attraction in the area.
His home and dentistry practice were targeted by protesters after his identity surfaced in the press.
A picture shows stuffed animals left by protesters in the doorway of River Bluff Dental clinic, workplace of Walter James Palmer, in July
Protesters left stuffed animals at Walter Palmer's dental practice after it emerged he had shot Cecil
At the time it was reported that the lion had been shot with a bow and arrow and did not die immediately. He was followed for more than 40 hours before being shot with a rifle.
Mr Palmer was believed to have paid $50,000 (£32,000) to hunt a lion in Zimbabwe's largest game reserve.
I hope the weekend is a good one for you where ever you are....
Yashi Kochi!!!!
The sun finally came out this weekend and I was able to play tennis on Saturday morning and yesterday was lovely also today up till now 5.00 pm the skies have darkened and the rain is about to come down......
I have had trouble trying to write this blog as I was not able to access the New Post on Blogger...I tried all sorts of help lines without success but just now I did something I have to admit I do not know what but I think this will post!!!!
Enjoyed watching Roger win another Grand slam yesterday from Wimbledon....
Hope you all have a super week best wishes....
Yashi Kochi!!!!
to ask me what I am doing writing a blog at 9.30 am on a Thursday morning???
The answer would be I am doing the same thing I was doing last Tuesday morning at 9.30 am!!!!!!!
Which is???
NOT PLAYING TENNIS!!!!!!!!
All I will say is that little word....rain!!!!
Yesterday again the winning ways continue at poker with an 80 pesos victory!!!!
Gracie and I are going to my favorite thing tonight.....it is called Play readers...and a group of local performers who read a play.... tonight the play is called Motor Trade written by the famous Canadian play wright Norm Foster...all his productions I have seen have been really funny and well acted...so it should be a good evening even better when I tell you the cost of admission is only 20 pesos ..work it out in your currency!!
Today was the 5th Tennis slam that I have organized and at 1 pm 12 players met at the courts..this theme was for Independence 4th July event and so everyone was informed they must wear red, white and blue!!!!
I usually take a lot more group photos do not know what happened this time, sorry!!
Here is Debra and Jenny, who won the prize for best dressed!!!
Diane and Mathew....
Yours truly brightly attired!!
Unfortunately after only two hours of tennis the heavens opened and the rain poured down and we had to abandon the rest of the matches but at the time.....Jenny and Steve were ahead on points and were awarded the first prize.......they wanted trophies I was told at the last slam...so I unselfishly awarded both Jenny and Steve each one of my old soccer trophies from like 20 years ago!!!
We had fun and it is always good to get on the courts and have some fun and socialize...next slam September to celebrate Mexican Independence day!!!
A belated Happy 4th of July to all my USA readers!!!!!
Gracie and I went to a local bar for a celebration but to be frank it was not worth the money!!!..
A lot of people were there the food ran out and what was left was not very tasty...the music was so so and then the heavens opened and this huge hail storm came through...we both looked at each other and wished we had stayed home...I guess the saving grace may be we won the first raffle prize....a steak and wine at the bar, not sure we will use that.....when we got home the power was out all night!!!!
Anyway all is well and wet this morning....I have to rest now to be alert for my poker afternoon.....
With all the heavy rains the last few days I decided to hike to the Botanical gardens to check to see if the water was going over the dam.......what do you think???
I forgot my camera so these shots are taken with my smart phone a first for me!!!
Just amazing to think that about 9 weeks ago this was the scene here!!!!!
A huge difference!!!!
My lunch view!!!!
I had to cross over the dam and only one way way off with the socks and shoes!!!!
This week will see many full-throated renditions of "O Canada!"
The "Happy Canada Day" signs are already planted in front yards and the country is preparing to celebrate a birthday on Saturday, 150 years since British and French Canada bonded together to form a confederation.
Hanging over the ceremonies is the question of identity - the great driver of so much of today's politics.
Canada, like other countries, poses the question of who we are and how we define ourselves in a churning global world.
Some say it is insecurity, the changing face of communities, which has been a recruiter for so much of the recent anti-establishment politics and that the call to take back control of countries and borders reflects a broader unease.
Fault line
The Canadian anniversary is gathering attention because Canada is increasingly saluted by some as a champion of liberal democracy.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionCanadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won a landslide victory in 2015's general election
Canada finds itself astride one of the great fault lines of modern politics.
Canadians are immensely proud of what has been carved out of wilderness and a harsh climate, but they wear their identity lightly.
When asked "What defines a Canadian?", they often answer with symbols: ice hockey, Tim Hortons coffee, wilderness, a canoe and portage, an array of singers - but the list usually comes with an ironic smile.
Canadians often define themselves by what they are not: their neighbour to the south.
Image copyrightTIM HORTONSImage captionTim Hortons says eight out of 10 cups of coffee sold in Canada are served at its outlets
There is an appetite for a more positively defined Canadian identity, but for most of the time, many Canadians seem happy for it to remain largely undefined.
Mr Trudeau has offered his own take on what Canada is and how it is defined.
"This is something," he said, "we are able to do in this country, because we define a Canadian not by a skin colour or a language or a religion or a background, but by a set of values, aspirations, hopes and dreams that not just Canadians but people and the world share."
Difficult past
Canada is perhaps one of the few countries in the world where welcoming refugees is regarded as patriotic.
But as the anniversary approaches, the past intrudes.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionIndigenous children at a residential school in 1950
Some of the First Nations want to be part of modern Canada, but many grieve for land and culture that they believe was stolen from them.
In recent years Canada has undergone immense change. Toronto is now one of the most multicultural cities in the world, although economic power still largely rests with older Canadian families.
The British connection
For much of the time, the world ignores this country and the immensity of its wilderness.
I emigrated to Canada in the 1980s. What I saw then - and it remains true - is that for many people in the world the flag is a symbol of tolerance, of refuge, and of a civilised country.
As the country looks to the future, there is the issue of the British connection and the role of head of state. On the prairies of Saskatchewan or in the increasingly diverse city of Vancouver, Britain seems far away, a distant relative.
There is speculation as to what will happen when Prince Charles inherits the throne. Will Canada welcome him as its head of state?
Image copyrightPAImage captionThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge went on a royal tour of Canada in 2016, five years after they first visited the country as newly-weds.
However, changing the head of state does not seem to be an immediate priority. Indeed, many Canadians are wary of opening up the issue of identity.
Defining how a Canadian head of state was chosen or elected would be hugely sensitive, not least to the French-speaking Quebecois, who held two referendums on independence in 1980 and 1995. The majority for staying in Canada in the latter vote was wafer-thin.
Less predictable friends?
Canada has fostered its alliances - most often as a junior partner - but its closest allies have become less predictable friends.
Britain is seen by some Canadians as preoccupied with its own identity crisis, bruised by the fallout from the Brexit vote and inward looking. Similarly some consider America to be undermining the very institutions it helped create to shape international order, such as Nato.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionGermany and Canada are both recalibrating their relationships with the US and the UK
Recently, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland gave what for a Canadian is an unusual assessment of where the country finds itself with regards to the United States.
"The fact that our friend and ally," she said, "has come to question the very worth of its mantle of global leadership, puts into sharp focus the need for the rest of us to set our own clear and sovereign course."
The Canada of the future may prove to have a more distinctive and assertive voice.
Everything is drying out after the huge storm last night.......
Gracie and I went out to Los Labrodas a gated a community about 15 minutes out of town for a Canada Day celebration.......the location is very lovely..but we could only see a few people and because of that and the fact the weather was a bit "iffy" we decided not to stay but I took Gracie to a great hamburger restaurant in the country...it was really good.
This evening the heavens opened up again and another huge storm came through.....
The Internet is strange I can do this but cannot access anything Yahoo including my e mails..........
