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)
Week three began in Pt. Reyes at my gorgeous writing retreat. It rained and rained and I cozied up in my little writing hut and luxuriated in time and creativity. When we lost power, I snuggled by the fire with books and my journal and I slept more than I have for years. I felt… Read More (Im)Patience (Week 3 in Swimming)
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
A couple of days ago, Kevin and I decided to cut our trip short and head back to California for New Years. Kevin’s been away for over a month and is missing home and I love the idea of doing my last swim of the year in my home waters of the Albany Bulb. So,… Read More Lost in Hampstead Heath (Day 364)
Today we left Essex to go back to London and start our journey home. It’s been a lovely week with Kevin’s sister and family and I’m not sure how I will cope without a daily hot breakfast cooked by my brother-in-law Phil, bottomless cups of tea provided by my sister-in-law Sandra, and endless adorable shenanigans… Read More Goodbye Essex (Day 363)
It was a blustery, rainy English day today. Not a day that screams at you to get in for a swim, but of course I had to do it and, of course, it was lovely. After a lazy, lounging morning and a rainy, brisk walk, we went back to Manningtree where I jumped into the… Read More Last Rainy Swim in Manningtree (Day 362)
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)
When Kevin and I were first dating, his mom, Kathleen, started writing me letters. She’d tell me about herself, about Kevin, about her day. I’d look forward to those envelopes with her loopy handwriting; to sitting in my San Francisco attic apartment and reading them, a cup of coffee in hand; getting out my best… Read More Grandma’s Swans (Day 360)
I had planned to go swim with the Bluetits in Dedham again, but the draw of staying in my PJs and watching my delightful grand niece, Eloise, open her Christmas presents and dance around the room, was too strong. After lots of laughing and lounging, Sandra drove Kevin and me down to the River Stour… Read More Christmas Swim in the River Stour (Day 359)
Jenny Swimming 