swimming

It was a dark and foggy swim

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And it was perfect. It looked intimidating when I arrived, rain and thunderstorms were predicted for later.

I had the pond to myself and it was a good thing because I have to get busy. Water temperature is dropping as nights get cooler. I heard it was 30 f degrees last night on Goodnow Mountain.

All I know is my fingers go numb from Raynaud’s phenomenon at about 45 minutes. Today, I brought a dry change of clothes, wool hat and fleece jacket, so I was better prepared. Then I cranked the car heater up to 85 and took a long, hot shower when I got home.

It was a three letter day. As I try to draw more letters, their connections clog things up. I cleaned it up a bit in anticipation of my upcoming alphabet book.

I have decided order is not important because I will separate them into individual letters. May I introduce “J”, “I” and H”, better known as “HIJ”.

Swimming the alphabet

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It’s summer and we have been swimming in lakes and ponds since mid -May. I wore a shortie wet suit (an old scuba diving suit I cut the legs and sleeves from) for the first two weeks until Memorial Day.

Tim is on a quest to swim the largest lakes in the Adirondacks and I come along for the fun.

I’ve decided to draw with the gps map of my swim track. Today I made an “x” or even better, a bow tie.

I had a little trouble retracing my lines to extend my swim.

This adds a whole new challenge to swimming. I have to plot my course and pivot points in the water. I think “Y” or “L” is in my future.

Cold wet summer

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While the rest of the country and world broil, we have had a cool, damp summer in the Adirondacks. I read that based on historic trends, forests in temperate climates including those in New York may experience less stress and more vigor due to the warmer and wetter weather that climate change is bringing. It is certainly true here.

Look at this heat map from one day this summer. The brown area had heat warnings.

Compare it to a map of the Adirondack Park from the Adirondack Almanack.

All those trees are keeping us cool – and wet.

How wet? As of today, we have already had a total of 23 inches of rain. The annual average is about 38” over the past twenty years.

So wet, the frogs want in.

This very little frog hung out on our window all day. How little?

So little! That’s him compared to a pen.

How cool? So cool the last time I swam in my favorite pond, I had to cut it short due to an ice cream headache and concern for hypothermia. I thought I was done with pools for the summer. But then we headed south for a family event, to Rockville, MD.

I brought my swim stuff, just in case. And lo and behold, we found this beautiful facility.

8 lanes, 50 meters long! And underused. That’s something we don’t have in the Adirondacks.

Now I’m back home and sleeping under two blankets again.

Elementary back stroke races

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This thought just tickles me. We are taking a few swimming lessons to improve our strokes. I pretty much swim freestyle, always, and Tim does this and the backstroke. While giving us tips about our strokes, our teacher is intent on teaching survival skills as well, and the elementary backstroke, which used to be a favorite of mine when I was young, is really a survival swim. Since gliding and doing nothing is one of the most important aspects it made me chuckle to imagine a race with everyone doing nothing.

My concentration ebbed. The instructor asked me to count my strokes for the length of the pool – and I forgot to. Then when I remembered to count my strokes, I forgot to kick, because we had been working on another drill. It’s a good thing I wasn’t chewing gum as well, who knows what might have happened.

Back on terra firma, I have finished a lovely merino shawl for a friend. It is Print o’ the wave stole by Eunny Jang and the second time I have knitted it. Very satisfying. And I did memorize the patterns so something is still working up there.

Then I got carried away and decided I needed to weave a ribbon for the package. I hope to finish and mail it tomorrow.

We walked on the sand bar over to Little Moose Island which is only accessible at low tide. The day was glorious, 50’s and sunny, and we were not alone. But we always find secluded places to enjoy the sea and rocks.

I thought lobsters only turned red after they were cooked. Who cooked this one?

I saw a mitt in this rock. How about you?

Ah, how the mind wanders.