Tag: Pool

  • Magic of a Pool

    I don’t know if you heard but the public pools are open in New York City! My kid is over the moon at this development.

    For my kid, when it comes to ranking the best Summer Events; First is always the last day of school, and second is when the pools open!

    And I get it, pools are great, especially when you are a kid. Pools are magical! They are indulgent, and refreshing, and an aquatic playground! When you were a kid, and you had to stay at a hotel, weren’t you more excited to do it if it had a pool? Of course, you were! Pools, even crappy motel pools, are the best thing on a vacation. Again, for a kid.

    I remember when I was a kid, and asking a friend that when he’s gone on vacation, would be okay if I hopped the fence and swam in their pool while they were away. As an eleven-year-old boy living in stupidly hot Texas, this seemed like a reasonable request. My friend ratted me out to his patents and I had to promise that I would swim in their pool while they were away. AND his parents made me tell my parents to ensure I wouldn’t do it. (Now that I am a parent, I can see why they were concerned about a strange kid swimming in their pool while they were away, but at the same time – C’mon man!) For the record, I didn’t swim at their place while they were gone.

    Swimming Pool!

    A magical words.

    Sounds like freedom, and endless days of adventure and excitement.

  • Pools are Open!

    My kid loves to swim, and wants to swim all the time as soon as it starts getting hot out. That can be a rather tough request to fulfill, as we do live in New York City. There are beaches, and a Jersey Coast. There also happens to be lakes upstate, and New England does have many swimming holes. But those are all exercises for vacations. Speaking of vacations, we are at the age where if hotel doesn’t have pool, we have killed our child’s will to live.

    Now, we have one great advantage in our neighborhood, which is that we are only a few blocks from the community pool. (There are two City services that make New York an amazing place to live; the first is the libraries, and the second is the City Park Service. They both don’t receive enough credit, nor enough funds.) We have an awesome pool that is run well, and is filled with kids. The window that these pools are open is short, normally 4th of July to Labor Day, and even by Labor Day, it can start getting cool out.

    This year the pools opened a week early, and we would have been there if the kid didn’t get a nasty Summer cold last week. BUT, today we were all healthy and headed out, to jump and splash around. And being that this is our fifth year of doing this, I’ve started looking forward to going. It’s part of our Summer, either early mornings, or late afternoons at the pool; The kid does make swimming friends, who we will only see at the pool, and never anywhere else in the neighborhood. I get some quality reading done while lounging in the plastic Adirondack chairs, while keeping on eye on the kids screaming and splashing.

    Pools are open. Have fun and stay cool.

  • ODDS and ENDS: HEATWAVE!, England, and Pools

    (Tried to give you consolation…)

    It’s hot in New York. That evil Heat Dome, which normally sits over Texas and the Southwest this time of year, has parked itself on the Northeast. High heat and humidity, and everything in the City feels like it’s melting. In all honesty, this weather is about two weeks early, but what is missing is the rain that should follow every five to seven days. The dome is stopping any Canadian cold fronts from coming in, which makes the heat feel unending. I have been trying to run away from Texas summers for the past twenty years, but they keep finding me. I thought we’d have to make to New England to escape this, but now, we may have to head farther north. Like the Pole…

    So, England is playing inconsistently at the Euro Cup and the British press and fans are losing their minds! Are the expectations too high? Oh, you bet’cha! Is England still in a strong position to break out of the Group Stage? Of course they are. It’s not that bad. But I will say, the England team doesn’t look very unified out there, in the sense that they don’t look like they are executing a game plan. There is still time to correct this, so don’t give up the ship yet… But this might be Southgate’s last tournament if England doesn’t do something spectacular.

    I’d like to swim in a pool right now. That’s it.

  • Can’t Get an Idea to Stick (Unedited)

    I have been working since this morning, and I can’t get an idea to stuck for the blog.

    I have summer on the brain, and I can’t get myself to focus.

    And this is a cop-out of a blog, in case you weren’t sure.

    I can’t write, so I write about not being able to write.

    I should make a category for this posts.

    The other thing that becomes apparent on days like this is that I don’t do enough pre-planning for blog posts. I do them day of, most of the time, and when moments like this occur, I feel like I got caught with my pants down.

    Long ago, I tried writing ahead, so I could give myself windows of time off. I should revisit that plan.

    Since I am throwing in the towel for today at 3:14pm, I might just state what I have been doing while trying to come up with a blog idea.

    1. I went shopping for journals with my daughter.
    2. I read the Wikipedia page on Watergate.
    3. I have been following all of my writer and actor friend’s social media posts to see when the SAG-AFTRA strike is going to start.
    4. For lunch, I got falafel sandwiches for the family.
    5. Finished my Summer Playlist
    6. I took a nap.
    7. I read some flash fiction.

    Now, I’m about to take the kid to the local pool as it is summer and hot as shit out. Thus will end my writing portion of the day.

    At least I got 262 words in.