The swim thing, again, plus IOTM followup

Let's get everyone caught up. Way, way, WAY back in the day I used to swim at Canyon Meadows pool. I sometimes tried to keep up with this really pregnant woman, which amused her, since she had been on or was a credible contender for Canada's national swim team. I was just young and strong, which doesn't get you very far against that kind of skill.

I swam a bit at what was then Lindsay Park (then it became Talisman, and then Repsol), but then I didn't swim for a long time. Fast forward to the late 90's or early 2000's, and I realized I was getting to work early enough that I could fit in a swim. So I tried. Oh boy. I remembered swimming a 20 minute kilometre without getting my heart rate into the aerobic zone. As I recall I could reliably break 17 minutes and was hoping to get under 16. 

Well, that first time back my arms fell off.  It took a long time to break 20 minutes again, and the first time I made it with seconds to spare, and nearly puked doing it. My regular swim was augmented by biking, then running when I got hooked on triathlon. (Thanks Susi!) The longest break there was 2 months during our first New Zealand trip, and I thought I'd forgotten how to swim. It took a while to get back in the groove, and was getting back to a good place when we had another trip to New Zealand. I decided to try to swim there at least a couple times, and so I did. That was wonderful! I had high hopes for getting back in the regular pool and improving some more.

And then COVID happened and the pools closed. I went 500 some days without swimming. I was a big cranky about it. Then a short swim but mainly a water run with my buddy Katie in early August. Now I'm getting serious about it again. I've got a 10x pass for the local City pool. Getting there is 5 to 10 minutes, as opposed to 30 minutes most times to get to Repsol. The swim times are a bit more restricted, and the water is a bit warmer, but that's ok. And yes, my arms are feeling it, big time, but it's awesome to be back in the pool. I might mention some swim milestones every now and then but don't expect it to become a central part of the blog.

I think I'm still recovering from a really busy month. It seemed like I always had something on the go. Some quiet time was good, but my calendar is filling up again. I've got another Green Fools shoot, and a couple buddies are looking for company on some road trips. There's a tentative shoot being discussed, which could be quite straightforward, or it could be off the wall. 

Just for fun, here's some of the shots that were contenders for Image of the Month but didn't make it for whatever reason, and have not yet been blogged. A couple were on other social media. This was at our first windmill stop. You can see how big they are, dwarfing our full sized van.

This barn is at the same place I shot the 5 sheds.

You've got to love a big wide panorama from S Alberta! This is 17372 px wide, or a print about 60 inches across.

Another view of Chief Mtn.

The resident flying eagle at the Birds of Prey facility. This is a full grown eagle. It's wing is longer than her arm. I didn't particularly notice the expressions on her face during the flight demo, but did while I was looking at the photos. I'd be a little twitchy about 11 pounds of hungry angry-looking raptor within arms reach. There's lots more eagle photos.

Another panorama with a dramatic sky, but no train. One of the things I love about living here is just how big it is. The windmills you can just see on the horizon are enormous up close, but they're dwarfed by the landscape.

Of the Day

Driftwood

Flower

A rose from this morning, but first a serendipity flower from 2016.

Peony

Lily

Dragonfly butt

Eagle

Owl