The Swimmer

  Back when Ron was in university, he was on the swim team.

Of course I didn't know him then. I met him the year after he graduated.

When we met and I found out he was a good swimmer, I thought, YES! Now I can learn to 'tumble turn' in the pool!

He was a very patient instructor and I eventually learned how to turn at the end of each lap in a more efficient way.

Back in those days (geez, now that sounds oldish!), our main source of exercise was swimming lengths in a pool.

Any pool would do. When we traveled we made sure there was a pool near by.

When we were heading west to live in Vancouver, we stopped at every major city/university that had a pool. I am serious.

I bet you we had swum at every pool that was available in Canada (and parts of the northern States) in 1979.

We were hooked on swimming for years. It became part of what we did on a daily basis....no matter where we were.

When I met Ron I had only been swimming for a couple of years. I taught myself. And yes he could tell.

So he taught me the 'correct' way to do each stroke......the crawl, backstroke, breast stroke and the butterfly and of course the dog paddle!

My favourite  strokes were the beast and back. Ron's was the butterfly and I used to love to watch him whip up and down the pool like a dolphin!

We haven't swum much in the past few years, so today while at the river, it was good to see Ron swimming again.

We were right at the mouth of the river where it empties into the ocean at low tide. And it was low tide today when we were there.

The neat thing about low tide is that while the river is emptying into the ocean it is a good time to swim up the river....against the current.

That's right against the current. This affords a tougher 'work out' and you really can't get very far up because of the current. So you basically stay in one spot!

We used to do this all the time here. And when Ron started to swim 'up river' today, I got these shots.

Now if the water had been a tad warmer, I would have joined him. Hey, it's only July here in the NORTH Atlantic.....I'll be waiting for early September to get my workouts! Yes, I will!