Mary Lambert - I Know Girls (Bodylove)

Power Out...Pump

#1 - You may or may not have noticed but I post on an 8 day rotation. Last week Sunday, so this week Monday (occasionally I add something in between). I was going to skip today though because I haven't had internet because of storm power outages on Friday. However the internet just returned in time for me to be grateful publicly.

#2 - I realized we have an air filter - which I should have been running when I was scrubbing mold in the basement a couple weeks ago - but better late then never.

#3 - My employer seemed unconcerned about the little work today because of the power situation.

#4 - My niece, who is learning new words everyday, still predominantly speaks a language I do not know. Today it was clear she had something very important to explain. She did this once before last weekend when she was saying, "Power out....pump..."(and words I don't understand) then had me follow her into the basement to point at the pump. She was then, and again today, very earnest while speaking, it lasted quite a while and she held her hands in a triangle in front of her at key points.

#5 - The main thing I missed in not having the internet this weekend is research capabilities. I wanted to read a little about lyme disease. I haven't had a tick bite that I know of but I've been feeling a little weird and I had been camping/hiking. Information at your fingertips is so recent and I was trying to figure out this weekend what I would have done in the past. I do have a reference health book which I read, but I still wanted more information...which I got today.

George Pakenham - My New Hero

George Pakenham started approaching idling vehicles and asked them to turn off their engines. When he was successful he kept going. I heard about him on The Story

http://www.thestory.org/mediaplaylist/popup

One of the things he said was that last year in NYC

400 people died of homicide

and according to the Department of Health,

3000 deaths were attributed to air pollution.

Past Tense of Tread?

My motivation can be minimal for swimming long enough to get some exercise. It can really help to have a friend who will tread water with me, a stranger swimming laps nearby or even simple people watching to keep going. So far this year it hasn't happened.

#1 - Today I wanted to swim and then a friend called and asked if I wanted to go canoeing. So we worked out that she would kayak while I swam next to her. This is the ideal long swim motivator.

#2 - We went to a lake I frequently swim at, but never have had a kayak accompaniment. I asked where she wanted to go and she said it was up to me. "I would feel really fulfilled if I could swim across this lake and back." I replied.

So we began.

It is not a big lake, nor a far distance, but still the farthest I have tried to swim in open water. When I reached the weeds on the other side I tread water briefly, and then we turned back. I felt completely fine! Eventually my neck got a little crampy (I was doing breaststroke) but I didn't have any issues with the distance. I never get to test how far I swim, that is a scary unsafe thought, but today I found out that I could swim across a small lake!

#3 - I wonder how much the gift of the swim today was a reflection of my attitude. My knee has been bothering me recently, so I'm skipping my soccer game again today. I was really bummed about this previously, but today I had come to accept it and was happily thinking I would swim instead. Then my friend called.

#4 - I'm not someone that loves any exercise enough to do it multiple times a week. Some people run 5x a week. NO WAY! Yoga - once or twice is fine. Even soccer - more than twice a week - I'd no longer be interested.

Sometimes I envy people who have the enthusiasm to keep at something on a more frequent basis, but today I can see how enjoying a variety of activities can pay off. When something is injured or needs resting, maybe you can still do something else.

#5 - I played her my new song on guitar and my friend sang some harmonies with it. Lovely!

I Would Be Happier If...

I biked from my campsite to the beach for my first 2013 swim.

No one was in the water. I went for a walk, laid on the grass, probably took a nap. There were many people around enjoying the beautiful day. However no one was swimming. Eventually I sat on a bench right next to the water. I imagined biking back to the campsite with and without going into the water, and I knew I'd be happier if I went in. I had a warm change of clothes with me...but I also knew I would be a spectacle. No one else was in a swimsuit. I was wearing pants and a sweatshirt myself.

Then Maddie arrived. Actually Maddie her parents and two younger sisters arrived. Her parents fully clothed but Maddie and her sisters were wearing swimsuits and Maddie (the oldest - maybe 11) headed straight for the water. I walked up to her family and said, "I've been sitting here for a couple hours waiting for inspiration to get in the water. Thanks!"













#2 - I didn't actually swim. However, I did dive in and fully submerge myself three times. It felt refreshing and I wasn't cold at all afterwards.


#3 - I was thinking afterwards that it is probably even more important what we say to ourselves than what we do. "What was going through my head in this process?" Was I beating myself up for not following through on something I knew I wanted to do? Was I trying to force myself to get in the water? In the past I know I would have been harsher - trying to tell myself it didn't matter what people thought etc. just get in the water! Today, it was much quieter, I mostly just waited, knowing I wanted to get in, but not sure if I would. And then when the time was right, I did.









#4 - Two couples at the beach were playing catch with a football - the women trying to throw to each other, the men trying to intercept and vice versa. They looked so healthy and content. I smiled just watching them.



#5 - Listening to the three couples at the campsite next to me play a guessing game (that I can't remember what it is called - not Pictionary, not charades) where you try to get your team to say a word by describing it without saying it. Anyway, they sounded like they were having fun in general, and I especially enjoyed when a woman was saying, "Girls are having a sleepover" and the first thing a guy guessed was "pillow fight". It wasn't the right answer.