So I'm really looking forward to the weekend. We will then embark on the work-week that leads into the new CNY. Our Beloved Star-Gazette will no longer be published in Elmira, New York. Instead the pages will ship over "high-speed" telephone wires (an oxymoron!) to our multi-million dollar press in Johnson City, outside Binghamton, New York.
But if I could take a vacation, I would go swimming. Thanks to Criminal Grace for this week's Five on Friday:
1--I can swim very well because I had Swimming Lessons as a very small child. We would catch the bus early in the morning, and return home for lunch. It was part of growing up in Central Massachusetts.
2--I learned how to swim at Rotary Beach in Auburn, Massachusetts from the Red Cross instructors there. In the Baker family, everyone was required to learn. We spent a lot of time at the beach every summer. My parents now spend their summers in Kennebunkport, Maine.
3--I haven't swum in years. Here in Upstate New York, the Finger Lakes are "glacial," and yes, that does mean they are frigid. Frigid water + Multiple Sclerosis = a wonderfully funny show for everyone except the MSer. It truly defines the term "spazzing out." Thank goodness the water is there to hide the sudden incontinence.
4--Underwater swimming was always my favorite as a child, and I had the ear infections to prove it. And why would anyone swim underwater without opening their eyes? Of course now with contact lenses, I can understand, but as a child...
5--Salt water all the way: give me the ocean any day. If I ever won the Lottery, the first order of business (after paying all the bills!) would be a castle on the Atlantic Ocean. In Maine. And on St. Thomas.
Hope you get the chance to swim this weekend. Wish I did; the warmest local beach was recently closed be cause of the bacteria count. No doubt due to the recent wicked rains.
Update: Note the correction: Day Twelve. And I will work Saturday night, too. Now that I'm the mother of the bride, I am such a money-hoard... Hee, Hee.
pb
Little Pond
3 comments:
I made the mistake of wading in a small warm pond - got a few bumps, like swimmer's itch. Or, maybe it was just the mosquitoes....lasted just a couple days.
And that's a real problem with ponds. When I was little, we already knew that the inland lakes were polluted. They got cleaner for a while, but now, especially here in the Northeast, we have to worry about the acid rain.
A very, very clean lake could now indicate acid rain damage, where the flora and fauna die by degrees, leaving sparkling, sterile water.
But no, most of our local water is simply polluted by farms and sewage, same as ever. We ritually use hydrogen peroxide solutions in our ears when we swim locally. And most places have showers to use after leaving the water.
I loved swimming as a kid! Still enjoy a could splash now and then, but I never could see underwater with my eyes open. It hurt a bit to try it, as I did now and then. I needed goggles.
I agree about the telephone 'high-speed' paradox. Out in the country, dialup is slower than molasses in january.
Susan :)
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