Butt-high Day

Whoa... my joints hurt this morning! High pressure can kill you first thing in the a.m. What's the solution? Move, move, move.

I have a list of "stuff" to do today before I go to the pool. From comments I've had in the past, I know people don't quite understand about the pool. It's not a standard pool--it's a therapy pool. Ninety-two degrees. Four feet deep. And designed for folks who aren't quite up to swimming laps in a cooler pool. It has grab bars all the way around it for the less steady.

When I go there, soaking in the warm water is one of the benefits. If a particular joint is so stubborn the therapy pool doesn't work, I can spend a few moments in the spa (ninety-six degrees with bubbling jets) and that helps loosen the joints...or something.

The other part of the pool experience is socialization. You know...stimulating conversation.

"How's it going today?"

"Pretty good."

"Sure is cold/hot/raining/snowing out there!"

"I slept in/got up early/stayed up all night..."

"My bursitis/diverticulitis/diabetes/arthritis is acting up today."

"I saw that cute little blonde chick/big mondo-muscle guy out in the gym."

See? Stimulating conversation all conducted as you walk to and fro in the pool. You meet going one way and say something. Then the other fella says something when you pass on the way back.

Anyway, besides the pool today, I have a visit to the post office on my agenda. That's always interesting. Every time I go, something new has been instituted and I'm never prepared, even though I do try. But today's the day for the hauling stuff in to be mailed to all the folks I promised stuff to. We'll see how that goes. Surely, there will be more stimulating conversation in the process.

Then, we'll likely stop at Aldi's for any last-minute grocery needs. I might step into Office Depot. I've been looking for a LARGE post-it pad (the size you would use on a easel). I don't have spare wall space in my office for a plot planner so I was going to use the door. The thing is I don't want to put nail holes in the door...

Ah, well. The hunk is calling. Breakfast is done. Time to get rolling. Just another exciting day in the life of an author.

anny

Lost Wednesday

It seems to me that rainy days disappear more easily. I don't know if it's because of our tendency to doze lightly or whether we just hope the time will fly by or what. Anyway, 1400 words for the day. Another five rows on the jacket. One hour at the pool and a surprise dinner out. A little reading. A little shuffling things in the closet.

And voila! The day is over. Just like magic.

anny

Walrus Swim

All right everybody! And one, and two...

Yep, that's what we look like in the exercise class. I watched one. Once. I'm surprised someone didn't get an eye poked out. So I do my exercises on my own.

Little known facts about the human walrus...

1) We float really well. I mean it. I have my own personal flotation device. This is not necessarily good because it means my BMI is high. On the other hand, it's harder to drown.

2) Because I float so well, I also have to work harder to keep the body in the water for the exercises. One lady I talked to thought the point of the exercise was to lift my legs. Nah... I'm trying to push them down to the bottom of the pool. Either way, it's exercise, right?

3) Salt water makes you reallllly floaty. I bob around on top like a blow up toy. That's my reward for finishing all my exercises. It's very relaxing and the water is warm (92 degrees F!)

4) A nice swim, exercises, and then a short session in the hot tub...what could be a better preliminary to a nap? Boy by the time I get home, I'm ready to hit the hay for a little snooze. Fifteen minutes? Oh, yeah.

My new recipe for unwinding.

anny

End of Summer

The kids have four more days of summer before school starts. The end of summer should be hot and suitable weather to go swimming. Instead, we have cold, rainy weather. What's up with that?

Where did summer go?

This is AUGUST.

And why is school starting before Labor Day? Every year school lets out later and later and starts earlier and earlier. If kids are gonna have year-round school, why not get on with it and make it official instead of this fake-out they're doing now?

Or give the kids the last two weeks of December and the first two weeks of January off. At least then they could play with their Christmas toys. By the time they're tired of them, they'll be glad to go back to school.

Interesting times... I'm glad mine are all grown.

anny

Summers at the Pool

When I was a kid, I lived in the Arizona desert country. Getting wet involved jumping in an irrigation ditch or the Gila River or a water tank. It was a rare event, much anticipated and long remembered.

Then my family moved up near Lake Michigan and I was introduced to the concept of a beach. My cousin lived very near the beach and when I stayed with her, we would walk to the beach. Swimming in the lake involved fish and other debris, but nothing that was seriously dangerous.

We moved to Chicago and I learned about municipal swimming pools. All summer long my brothers and I joined the long line of kids waiting outside the fence for the life guards to open the pool. It was a place we could actually go to without my parents tagging along. Imagine that.

Not long after I married we moved to Houston where every apartment complex and subdivision had a pool. My children lived there all summer from the time the pool opened until it closed. The few days it rained, they moped around the house like someone had killed their best friend.

And then we moved to upstate New York. Swimming places were few and far between. They were expensive and far enough away that the most practical deal was a packed lunch with the plan to stay all day. My children finished growing up there and I quit looking for a pool or beach or swimming hole to visit.

Then we moved to Baltimore to an apartment complex with a lovely pool. No fee to use the pool and it's open six days a week. Initially I didn't go to the pool because I assumed it would be filled with kids. Eight hundred apartments would yield a lot of kids.

Well, it isn't so. Today my neighbor and I went to the pool with a couple of young friends. For quite a while we were the only ones in the pool. Five people in a pool. Seems a shame that there weren't more people using the pool. But today's kid doesn't find it a priviledge. They don't go outside and play or trot down to the pool to hang out. They're inside in the AC with the video games and movies.

Aside from the exercise issue, there's another side issue that affects their health. We're in the midst of a crisis regarding vitamin D. Sixty percent of the population (kids included) are vitamin D deficient. It only requires fifteen minutes in the sun daily to meet the requirements to be healthy. Hmmm. Fifteen minutes.

Not really all that much time. Fifteen minutes at the pool, jumping in with their friends, splashing the adults foolish enough to sunbathe on the side of the pool, playing marco polo with the other kids. Exercise and vitamin D all in one neat package.

Well, I don't really know why the kids don't use the pool. But since they don't, I think I'll drag my neighbor down there. We're both vitamin D deficient so we could use a little sun and the pool is excellent exercise for our arthritis...

See you at the pool.

Anny

If you haven't read today's Crazy Blog Serial hop over to Amarinda's blog at http://www.amarindajones.blogspot.com or if you would like to get to know Kelly better check out http://www.kkirch.blogspot.com