A very positive outcome of this temperature blanket I’m crocheting is the way it motivates me to swim every day again. I swam a lot in 2023, but it was remarkable how quickly my daily habit from the year before fell away once I didn’t “have” to do it. It feels good to be getting… Read More January in Victoria
Today’s swim was a quick dip as we are starting the long road trip back and had to catch the morning ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles. Leaving this beautiful place (and especially my beautiful kids) behind leaves my heart heavy and a stormy swim was just the thing to fit my mood.
It was another beautiful day with the Cold Water Addicts. The weather was a little bit more seasonally appropriate and the clouds put on a spectacular show. So many friendly swimmers came out. The water was incredibly clear and, though it was hard to get in, I am acclimated enough now that once I was… Read More Coldtober Day 9
The last three days have been spent happily reuniting with Eliza and Hazel in Victoria. My heart feels whole being back with these two. But I’ve also been swimming. On the 5th we arrived in Victoria and after seeing Eliza’s beautiful house, meeting her roommates, and marveling at this side table she made… We went… Read More Coldtober Days 5-7
Sadly it’s our last morning in Victoria. I went for a sunrise swim so that we’d have time to say our goodbyes to Eliza and catch the morning ferry. Clouds hung heavy and gray in the sky so the sunrise wasn’t very dramatic, but the subtle shifts in light and color were beautiful nonetheless. It… Read More Goodbye Victoria (Day 314)
This morning I went for one last swim with the Cold Water Addicts. A little snow still clung to the ground, but it was clear and beautiful. The mountains of the Olympic Peninsula across the Salish Sea rose up dramatically and, for the first time, I realized how tall they were. In the previous days,… Read More Healing Cold (Day 313)
It snowed yesterday; by the time we were driving back from dropping off Eliza in the evening, it was a magical winter wonderland. When I woke up this morning, snow still coated all the surfaces, glittering and white. A bitter wind made even letting Lulu out for a pee feel like an ordeal. Swim? Are… Read More Snowy Swim (Day 312)
It was rainy and cold this morning and I wasn’t especially excited by the prospect of getting into freezing water, but I was happy to join the Cold Water Addicts again at their usual swim spot: Ogden Point Breakwater. Even better, Kevin was joining me this morning (not to swim) and I was looking forward… Read More Ogden Point Breakwater (Day 311)
On my trip to Victoria last January, my swim with the Cold Water Addicts was one of my most memorable. It was the first time I’d ventured somewhere new for a swim with a group of strangers; my first time swimming in bitterly cold water. It was the swim that showed me that this year… Read More Spiral Beach (Day 310)
My excited anticipation to see Eliza today was only a little bit marred by my worry about having to swim at some point. I left Portland early with the idea that I would swim in the afternoon in Victoria. I didn’t really start worrying about this plan until I was on the ferry to Victoria… Read More Reunited (Day 309)