January 8 (Sun)—It was a small crowd for a Sunday; just a few of us stealing in a swim between storms. It raged last night and is set to do so again tonight, so this morning we plunged in. The water was murky below and probably pretty polluted, but it looked beautiful! Calm, with ribbons of color and light. The air felt warm and still. The water was 51. 

January 9 (Mon)—Today was a no-swim day due to storms. Instead, I started off with a good, long soak in the horse trough. Rain was falling lightly and, after I acclimated to the cold, it was incredibly peaceful to sit in there with nothing to do but breathe.

January 10 (Tue)–It started seriously storming; rain for days, hail and mudslides, flooding, power outages, thunder and lightning. No one was swimming in the bay. I dunked. I watched in awe as the storm raged.

There was to be no more swimming this week and so I stopped keeping track, glad that this wasn’t my year of swimming every day. On Wednesday I celebrated my 51^st birthday and appreciated the way that number comes without all of the expectations of 50. I felt wonderfully celebrated and loved; deeply grateful for my dear family and friends. On Thursday, I left for a beautiful, inspiring writing retreat in Pt. Reyes where I happily sunk into writing about swimming rather than actually swimming.