Why were the elephants thrown out of the swimming pool?

A: Because they couldn't hold their trunks up!

We went to the pool this morning in the drizzling rain. It was chilly but so few people and once we got in the water it was warm and cozy in the. You have to keep moving though, otherwise the chilly catches up with you. With no alluring sunshine to distract from the workout I feel like I worked a little harder than usual. This summer has been great for me as far as getting off my ass and getting some exercise. I feel myself getting stronger every day and I love the way my body is starting to feel and look. Swimming is the perfect sport for me. I have always loved the water and learned to be a strong swimmer at a young age.

I have plans to start swimming at a new ozone pool in Burnaby when the outdoor pool shuts down in the fall. It's about 20 minutes away, about the same distance as Kits pool is from my house. Why would I drive 20 minutes away when I have a community pool 2 blocks away from my home? The big problems I have with the older, closer pool is cleanliness and chemicals. The old pool always feels dirty to me. I don't know if they just don't care anymore or if it's just impossible to keep clean due to the age of the facility. I have a real problem with big hunks of hair all over the shower floor and general unclean conditions when I am wandering around the change room. The whirlpool has a permanent foam of cast off cosmetics, creams and skin that floats by under my chin. No Sir, I don't care for it. It gives me the willies.

The new pool is clean and pristine, it's well laid out and bright, the pool itself is large with great lanes and lots of room for fooling around if your not doing laps. There is also a children's area that is away from the main area and a hot tub that doesn't make you feel like you're taking a bath with a bunch of strangers. The best part is the pool is cleaned with ozone as opposed to chlorine. It's easier on the skin, hair, eyes and swimsuit, and I like all of those things to remain, soft, supple, clear and intact in that order. Next week I will be purchasing some training flippers and will probably break down and start wearing the swim cap I've been carrying in my bag all summer. Between the ear plugs, the swim cap, the goggles and the flippers and of course the swim suit it is clear to me that accessories will once again play a fairly large role in my morning workout. That's okay, I love to accessorize!

Oh ya, I think I may have committed to a 3 day a week fitness "boot camp" starting in the fall too. I hate the name "boot camp", it's all the rage now but I think it only conjures up thoughts of suffering, doing push ups in a mud puddle and getting yelled at by someone way fitter and bigger than I am. That is something that scares the shit out of me but that's just not enough of a reason not to do it. I have been reassured that it won't be like that.

I will keep you posted.

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

That's right! The soothing enjoyment of sun, fun and splashing.

Not to mention that special ear piercing scream that only little girls can produce, the one that makes dogs run away and makes little rivulets of blood come out of your ears. I truly wonder if I was ever capable of making that sound. It's hard to believe now because I have an extremely low voice for a woman, especially in the morning, especially the morning after.

It's still pretty hot so the pool will be well attended this morning.

I'll post again later today but first, I just wanted to mention how much I am enjoying my Apple iPod 80 GB with Special Edition iSkin Claro, because Holy Crap I got a lot of hits the last time I mentioned it.

Have a great day, I'll catch up with you later.

Are you up?

I love this mechanical swimming girl at Kits Pool. The wind makes her swim. It is so beautifully made and her swimming movements are so perfect. I wonder who made her?

Things are going okay here at Belly Acres. I'm trying to keep it real but a lot of it is just fucked up. And a lot of it is really exciting and cool. Problem is, I can't talk about any of it here. It's too personal. For the moment anyway. Once things become resolved I promise I will let you in on it all. In the meantime, I could use a proper nights sleep.

With the heat and the fact that our bedroom is just soooo messy I am not getting decent sleeps and that must be resolved. I am thinking a lot about a new bed. I'm not saying our bed is bad it's just not good or bad. It's adequate. I keep hearing about new types of mattresses, rubber, foam, air, combinations of regular and memory foam. I even dream of going to a king size format but just the thought of having to by all new bedding discourages me. Even though I know we could fit a king bed in this bedroom you just never know about the next place we will live in. It would suck to have to change back to a queen. Still, all that room. Sigh.

When I first moved out on my own I had an old used mattress and box spring and we slept on that for the first 5 or 6 years until it became obvious that we needed to do something about it. We went to Sleep Country and bought a new bed that we couldn't really afford. They were nice enough to let us make monthly payments and the deal was done. I remember pushing the old mattress down the stairs to make room for the delivery of the new one and watching it practically disintegrate as it tumbled down the stairs. I don't even want to think about the dust mites.

On the day of delivery I waited with much excitement for our new landing pad to be delivered. I was so excited. Finally the guys showed up moved the bed into the bedroom and started to set it up. One small hitch, there were 2 box springs instead of a box spring and a mattress! I was so disappointed but the delivery guys just sorta shrugged and said I would probably get the mattress in a couple of days. A couple of days?! I'd thrown away the old bed and now they were telling me they couldn't help me for a couple of days. Well I was having none of it. I called the store and spoke to the guy who sold us the bed. I was pretty pissed by this time and he didn't really seem to care enough. That's when I decided to tell him if I didn't get my bed, that day, that I would be on the phone to head office so fast that heads would be a-spinning. We got our bed that very day, funny how it wasn't all that hard for them to accomplish after all. What should have been a happy exciting experience of buying our first large purchase together was marred by incompetence and poor customer service.

You've all heard the jingle, "Sleep Country Canada, I'd buy a mattress anywhere else."

Any suggestions? Do you love your bed? What kind is it and where did you get it?

How's the water?

Spent Friday at Bunsen Lake with some lovely friends and a couple of their kids. It was very nice and the water? Cccccccold. But I swam in that sucker. Glacier fed. Refreshing. The picture above almost shows how truly beautiful the view is at this lake. If I turned to the right you would see that the small beach was littered with rug rats screaming and digging in the sand and generally having lots of summer fun.

I don't have kids so there are certain things that can't help but illustrate how different things are than when we were kids.

Sunscreen, OMG I saw kids running around with thick, white layers of sunscreen over every bit of exposed skin, not that there is much of that to be seen with long sleeved swim suits and all. I understand why. It amazes me how kids will just come to their moms stand in front of them and allow themselves to be smothered in the stuff, no fussing, no questions, it's their normal.

At one point, around the time that everybody seemed to decide it was lunchtime, including us, I saw something that cracked me up. Three boys around 10 or 11 were sitting by us on the beach in a big round blow up floaty thing eating their sandwiches and generally goofing off. One of their Moms decided to get a picture and while she was focusing in the kid in the middle told the kid next to him that his sandwich was stinky. They all started cutting up and the kid with the stinky sandwich looked confused and took a whiff of his sandwich and said, "What, it's prosciutto??"

I don't know why I thought it was so funny but I'm pretty sure that I never even heard the word prosciutto until I was in my late 20's. Later I saw the prosciutto kid swimming in the lake with a silver swim cap on his head. I didn't see anybody trying to beat him up either.

Oh yes, times have changed.

We stopped for an ice cream at a little store just outside the park gates. They actually had Tiger Stripe ice cream! That's orange with licorice stripes and I probably haven't had it since I was a little kid. Man, it was good.

Some things never change.

Last one in is a...?!

Me and the girls are blowing off work and going to the lake! I'm bringing potato salad and my floaty mattress. OOOOh I can't wait.
Swimming in a lake is an important goal that I need to fulfill every summer. There is just nothing like it. I will try to take some pictures and update this evening. Hope you are reaching some of your summer goals!