This is my 13th blog post for the Blaugust 2026 community blogging project. Join me all this month for more blogging. I just returned from a long weekend in Ashland, Oregon. Ashland is a beautiful town in the Rogue Valley, a half hour north of the California border. It is home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which is what brought us there for a long weekend. The main business district is full of shops and galleries and restaurants – a nice stroll. That area butts into the head of Lithia Park, running about 1.2 miles along Ashland Creek. Walking through the park, away from town, about a half mile down, you’ll run into the Ashland Japanese Garden. We discovered the Ashland Japanese Garden last year, on our first visit to the area. We are members of the Portland Japanese Garden. It’s a lovely place and it reminds us of our wonderful visits to Japan. When we learned that Ashland had a Japanese Garden too, we were excited to see it. It is, as you might expect, much smaller than its Portland sibling. But it is beautifully arranged and lovingly tended. We enjoyed our visit last year, and it was on our “must do” list for this year. It has a raked zen garden, where you can sit and bask in the tranquility. The air is filled with the sounds of birds and rushing water. Then … Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! They put a fucking pickleball court right next to the Japanese Garden. This browser does not display embedded videos. Pickleball is played with a hard ball and a solid paddle, and every strike makes a loud Thwack! That makes outdoor pickleball courts are a nuisance. How one ended up in the lovely Lithia Park – right next to the Japanese Garden no less – is unfathomable and a crime against humanity. On our visit this year, we noticed they may have turned up the water features a bit. We’re speculating that’s to mask the intruding noise of the pickleball. It doesn’t really work. It’s not just me. The locals are complaining too. Just recently, the city approved funding for a study of the noise problem. The pickleball craze was ignited by the baby boomers. It fits the boomer stereotype of maximum selfishness – do what you want and to hell with everybody else. (I get to slag on baby boomers; I am a boomer.) The pickleball craze reportedly is receding already. For me, that can’t happen too soon. I hope someday the earth cracks open and swallows all these wretched outdoor courts. And when it does, I hope the Ashland courts are first.