The Way We Were Wednesday - Open Water Swimming

I had a flashback moment recently. The CBS Sunday Morning Show did a feature on the South End Rowing Club in San Francisco. I have seen the club, watched people swimming in the bay. They do open water swimming in San Francisco Bay. So part of the flashback was I have seen Aquatic Park, and that club, but deeper, the real flash back for me was 32 years ago, at the peak of my fitness, I did open water swimming in the Atlantic Ocean, along the coast of Florida.

I would go out probably 100 yards from shore, and swim parallel to the shore. I was swimming a lot, 2-3 hours a week of laps in a pool. I learned to stay afloat as a child, I seriously learned to swim so I could compete in two seasons of Sprint Series TriAthlons, with swims up to half a mile. I recall swimming as much as half a mile, parallel to the coast in open water. It is peaceful, powerful, relaxing. It is surprisingly fast. Wonderful memories.

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Saturday Morning Post: In lieu of flowers

I read this in an obituary recently: In lieu of flowers or cards, Jim would want you to write a card or letter to someone that is special to you. Dear Travel Penguin Blog Readers, I never met Jim, kinda wish I had. He lived near where I was born and raised, I often check obits there, people around my age are often people I crossed paths with when I was growing up. Those 20-30 years older are often the parents of people I grew up with. Sadly sometimes the younger ones are the children of my classmates. You are special to me. I know a handful of you. I wake up everyday looking forward to interacting in the comments. The statistics tell me there are many more that read, than I have never seen a comment from. I write for everyone of you. My sincere hope is that a photo I have posted, or a phrase I have crafted, makes your day a little better. I hope through these photos and words I am able to express that life will be...

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I have made the first purchase for the kitchen replacement, a new faucet, and the next day the kitchen sink. Both should be here by the time this posts. The faucet is black and square, there was a TV commercial of a couple walking into an architect, placing a faucet on the desk and saying "design us a house around this." Yes, that kind of a statement piece. Appliances remain the major loose end. I am in a crazy busy cycle at the work, three major trainings in two days, and another next week. My first board meeting since becoming director is Friday, I get to shake things up. And it is budgeting season. And we are officially returning to the office. Glad I am taking a week off in May. I am back in a reading frenzy, I bought a stack of books in NYC, and I am almost done with those. More on the Kindle to read. It was nice to get into ink and paper bookstores a couple of times. There is a nice small bookstore ...

The Way We Were Wednesday - Rollo

This photo of my mother's parents was probably taken before I was born, definitely before his health forced them to retire. He looks very robust in this photo. He was born into a large family on a farm. He preferred to farm with horses or mules, resisted using a tractor (and a tractor accident started the cascade of health problems that led to his retirement.) When I was sorting photos after my parents died, I came across a baby photo of him, and discovered that his middle name was Rollo. I have no idea where that came from. The best I can determine his family was primarily German in ancestry. As was my grandmother's. She had an unusual first name, Mina. (Yes like the bird.) Any unusual names in your family history?

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