One word – cold.  I got in the water and my feet and hands were soooo cold.  By the time I realized it, the water hit the zipper of my wetsuit and I found myself letting out a “Jesus!  It’s freezing!”  I got myself moving and then started swimming… never putting my head in the water because it was just too cold.  I did eventually put my head underwater and when I popped my head back up, I looked at my heart rate monitor and my heart rate shot up about 28 beats!   So now, as I type this, I’m sipping on hot chocolate.

I found out today that my health insurance covers 4 visits to a nutritionist.  So I think I might use that option.  Who knows… maybe I’ll learn something I don’t already know   And all it will cost is my copay.

And now… for the Secret Pal 12 weekly question #2!

As a kid, what did you look forward to most about summer vacation/break/holiday?

I think it would be being home with dad (my dad was a high school teacher) and going to Helderberg Workshop.  My dad would teach a class and I would take class.  I remember taking an archeology class, a pottery class… hmmm, I’m sure there was one of two more but I can’t remember them.  I do remember getting there early with dad and we would hang out until everyone else arrived and it was time to start.  It was so quiet and beautiful in the mornings.  I also remember getting the coolest pet – a guinea pig that we named Big Al. He had a mohawk.  He was the coolest of all guinea pigs.

I also looked forward to going to camp.  Camp was a summer home my grandfather built in the Minerva, NY.  We always had fun their.  I remember playing a lot of card games, going swimming at Minvera Lake, putting puzzles together, watching the beavers at the swamp with grandpa,  waiting in the car while dad went fishing on the river, going to garage sales with grandma and mom, doing some needlepoint with mom and grandma, helping grandma make a pie (by helping I mean, eating raw dough), or going out in the canoe or guide boat with grandpa (A boat he built over the winter months.)

Or there were the times we go to Pow Wows on the 4th of July weekend and setting up the tee pee.  Nope.  We’re not Native American.  My dad got interested in Native American traditions and such when he was a boy scout and it just carried thru to his adult life.  I remember catching grasshoppers on the side of the tee pee and picking wild strawberries in the field.  And of course, falling asleep to the drums at night.