Swimming

Whenever someone asks me what the kids are doing this summer, I say, "Swimming lessons." What better says "childhood summer activity?" I had nearly forgotten how much of my early summers were spent in swim lessons until we took Anna to her first class. The chlorine smell, the sound of children's voices reflected off the water, and the endless rounds of "Marco! Polo!" brought me right back. Now I know what all moms know: when its too hot to do anything else, go to the pool for instant entertainment. I also now know that it takes lots of organization and loot hauling on the shepherding mom's part. (And Dads! Anthony has been doing nearly all the swimming lesson duty this summer.)

When time allows I go swimming on my lunch breaks at work. There is a free pool nearby with a few lap lanes and a shower. At the top of the hour, the lifeguards blow the whistle for "adult swim." I swear, the first time this happened I almost got out of the pool, scowling because my fun was interrupted. Now I know that for five minutes I get to swim in relative peace and quiet, but it still feels so weird to be still in the pool!

I like the solitude of swimming laps. When my head is under water, the raucous sounds of the world are left behind. I like my rhythmic breathing when I do breast stroke, and the way I can really stretch out my weightless body. I like getting to be out in the sun after being in a windowless building all morning. My heart gets pumping and I don't get hot.

What I don't like (and I hated this as a kid, too) is seeing all the gross stuff at the bottom of the pool - hair, leaves, and dead, waterlogged bugs. And bandaids! Why are there always so many used discarded bandaids at the bottom of pools? So gross.

Bevie's Here!

Yesterday I picked up my cousin, Beverly. She is staying with us for a week to fill in while our regular babysitter is going to her college orientation. Its great having her here. We all enjoy her company, and she is very easy to be around. She is also very helpful at all times, not just when she is "on duty" as the babysitter. Making dinner while Bev plays never ending games of "Hide and Go Boo" was much easier.

But the best was when I got to go to Costco ALL BY MYSELF! We realized there were things we needed from Costco, and Anthony was too busy with work to go, and it was time for Colin's nap. So, Beverly stayed at the house and watched Cinderella with Anna.

I had never been to Costco alone. It was great, browsing the isles at my own pace without anyone interrupting me with demands. I could look at the (boring) books as long as I wanted. I didn't have to share my samples. So nice...

I guess we could still immigrate...

You're Canada!

People make fun of you a lot, but they're stupid because you've got a much better life than they do.  In fact, they're probably just jealous.
 You believe in crazy things like human rights and health care and not dying in the streets, and you end up securing these rights for yourself and others.  If it weren't for your weird affection for ice hockey, you'd be the perfect person.
Take the Country Quiz!

Loneliness

I met a neat little old lady at work today. She brought in a dachsund that used to belong to her daughter in Wisconsin, but she was taking care of the dog because her daughter has MS and cannot adequately care for the dog.

She told me her husband died a few years ago. "You know what, honey?" she told me, "They don't make movies or write books about loneliness. Because who would want to read 'em? But this little dog sleeps in bed with me at night." She told me all about their little routine, how the dog barks and wakes her up at 5 am, they get up and eat, and then go back to bed together. They have a great relationship. Taking care of the dog is also a way for her to do something for her ill daughter who is so far away.

When she left, she hiked up her skirt around her knees and hopped into her SUV!

Have some sympathy

Today I saw a cat for annual examination and vaccinations. The woman who brought her in said that she was healthy, except the cat didn't like another feline member of the household and the two of them had been spraying parts of her house. It had been going on for some time, and although she had tried some things (Rescue Remedy, an herbal treatment, and Feliway, a pheromone spray) she said "nothing" worked. These cats had intercat aggression and, although they are female, were marking vertical surfaces in their territory. This is different behavior than inappropriate urination on horizontal surfaces.

After some probing, she told me a lot of these problems started when she got her divorce. The cats even started spraying her books, so she had purchased plexiglass and velcro and put them over her bookcases.

By now you're thinking what I was thinking. Why would she put up with such behavior from her cats? She said her mother and sister said she should just get rid of them, and her eyes teared up. Clearly she loves these cats, and they were quite a comfort to her when she got divorced. It was painful for her to admit they were ruining her house.

Seeing that she was on the road to becoming a crazy cat lady, I talked to her about some pharmacologic ways to get these cats to reduce their anxiety, which should stop the spraying. There are drugs which have studies that prove they actually help with this type of marking behavior (unlike some of the other methods she tried).

For her sake, I hope it helps.

Triathlon Photos

I finally got the photos the professional photographers took last week at the Danskin Triathlon. Here you can see me struggle:


I just finished the swim portion (half a mile in just 18 minutes!) and I am running up the hill to the transition area to jump on the bike. The ankle strap has my timing chip. On my left wrist is my Ironman Triathlon Watch my sister Steph gave me years ago. Prophetic, no?


Here I just finished the 12 mile bike route (the hardest portion for me - those hills!). 2 down, 1 event to go!


Crossing the finish line! Hooray! Boy, my face looks tired.

Twins Party Pictures

We just returned from a hot trip to Houston, where we celebrated Paige and Graham's 2nd birthday. The party was awesome, with a petting zoo and lots of happy toddlers, and lots of sweating adults. The party started at 9:30 am, and it was a sauna. The little people didn't mind, though, as you'll see:


The pirate ship is attacked by cousins Graham, Paige, Colin, and Anna. It was at least as popular as the petting zoo in the background, which had goats, ducks, chickens, and huge rabbits.


Instead of messy cake, they had beautiful iced cookies. Here, Colin gives me a bite.


Here is a picture of the awesome Steph, who managed to orchestrate the whole event, and record it on her videocamera. All her hard work and planning really paid off.


Here's me with birthday girl Paige.


Graham really loves his Nana, who helps him with the arts and crafts table.


Pensive Paige cuddles up to Steph toward the end of the party. We spent the rest of the day in the pool. More pics of that to come!

Looks slightly painful

Too bad this wasn't going on when we were in Madrid!

Happy International Blogger's Day

Actually it was yesterday. As I heard on the radio the other day, 10 years ago there was little on the web, there was no "blogosphere," all this rush of information and interaction and commerce did not exist. I remember when Anthony proved to me that you could find information on anything on the web by searching the most obscure thing I could think of (which was a drug called "yohimbine"). I remember when we were amazed that companies started putting their web site address at the ends of their commercials. I remember shocking our friends by daring to do all our Christmas shopping on line and thereby avoiding the dreaded mall.

But now there is a whole new dialogue with this blogging phenomenon. Like never before you have a public forum to toot your own horn, make your argument, and chronicle your life. You can find people sharing similar experiences, and really get to know them as they share little self described pieces of themselves. Too often, my conversations start with, "On this blog I follow..." and then I tell some interesting or witty anecdote (that is not mine).

Blogging has helped me find a way to write that I never could find before. The difference is an audience. Keeping a journal is great, but I was never inspired enough to write just for me (not since high school). People I know leave comments, and that makes me happy and gives us something to talk about. When strangers read my blog and comment, I am thrilled that I struck a chord with someone I don't even know. And, I have a record of what my daily life was like when my children were small.

It feels really exciting to be a part of this exchange. I imagine great writers of the past exchanging formal letters with each other. I would never have thought I was worthy enough to be part of a conversation like that. But I can send a message to another writer, someone whose life seems like mine, with little effort.

And my parents can impress (or confuse) their friends by saying each of their daughters has a BLOG.

For a great essay on blogging that'll inspire you to write, click here.

Post Triathlon Celebration

Sunday night we had dinner at our friends' house. Lisa and Michael made a wonderful meal of lemon herb chicken, tender green beans from the Farmer's Market, and grilled peppers. The kids had a lot of fun, too.


The girls mostly played in the pool.


Colin played with rocks and pointed to airplanes.



Happy girlfriends: Lyra, Anna, and Ruby.

After dinner, we had this fabulous summer cobbler that Lisa made with strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and peaches, with ice cream. The kids opted for just ice cream cones.


Colin and Lyra -- 2 year olds really know how to enjoy their ice cream!