The rain returned to the Bay Area this week, which was a glorious relief after our alarmingly dry January. The dingy air that has hung like a dirty film over everything blew away with the storm, and the sky has been crystal clear. What isn’t crystal clear is whether we should be swimming when it… Read More Rain
I celebrated my birthday this past weekend with a beautiful swim at Chicken Ranch Beach in Tomales Bay. My cousin Kathleen was in town, and a gaggle of Blue Booby swim friends joined us for a gorgeous day of swimming, communing, eating delicious food, and lying around in the January sunshine, talking and laughing. But… Read More Goats
On our drive down to the bulb for our swim this morning, Kim and I joked about the coming winter, the plunging water temperatures. “I can’t wait for my antidepressant to return,” I said. “I know,” she said, “I need my euphoria drug.” Many think we are crazy for loving the cold water as much… Read More Keep Swimming
I’m just back from a whirlwind weekend in Cape Cod to celebrate Helen’s 70th birthday. Boy did we celebrate! I woke up Thursday morning in the predawn and had my coffee, then went for a quick swim as the light was just returning. Then I drove ten hours and arrived at Laura and Helen’s beautiful… Read More Cape Cod
Sheila and Angie came for Labor Day weekend and it was so much fun. Those two have the most positive outlook on everything and experiencing the lake with them brought me a new level of appreciation for the life I have here. We spent long hours in our PJs reading books and pottering around the… Read More Friends
When I woke up to frost on all the windows, I did not want to swim. I made my tea and wrote in my journal and thought, “I won’t go unless someone else instigates it.” Five minutes later, my phone buzzed and a text from Angie said she’d pick me up in fifteen minutes. By… Read More A Very Cold Morning
Sunday was another lovely sunny day with a big crowd at the Bulb, which still felt like a welcome sight after all of the rain. Brown, murky water greeted us again, but I tried to pretend not to notice. The temperature was 51, the air slightly warmer than it had been the day before, but… Read More Sickness and Health (Week 4 in Swimming)
Today, my swim friends threw me a party in celebration of my year of swimming and it was a joyful, soul-nourishing experience. Swimming every day in 2022 brought me so many gifts, but if this day had been the only one, it would have been worth it. How rare it is to be so fully… Read More Celebrating
Bleary-eyed with jet lag and the particular bodily displacement that comes from traveling such a long distance in such a short time, I arrived back in the stormy Bay Area ready to take my last plunge of my year of swimming in my favorite place: the Albany Bulb. It was pouring with rain as our… Read More 365 Days of Swimming
Today we went for a lovely walk with the extended family to a village on the Essex/Suffolk border called Bures. My nephew-in-law likes it because it’s one of the hillier places in usually flat Essex. He, like Kevin’s family, is from Yorkshire and the dales are in their blood. We walked up a hill to… Read More Bures (Day 361)