Olive Sprouts

Have you ever tried to lap swim with an older, pleasantly rotund couple relaxing and talking on one end of the lane, and a middleaged man standing in the middle of the lane? Its quite the experience, allow me to tell you. First of all, Mom and I tried swimming laps around people in the main part of the pool. But swimming around people begins to pale after a while. So then we thought we'd go for the lap lane and hope that either the three people occupying it would swim or move. After a lap, the couple at one end realized that yes, they were in a lap swimming lane hanging on the wall. I didn't really mind them, though. They were refreshing to look at. They were a picture of serenity, fenced off from the churning mobs by a lane line.
No, it was the man standing (STANDING!) right in the middle of the right hand lane that bugged me. After the couple left, another man joined the lane, but this one swam. Three people using two lap lanes, one of which is obstructed, is not nessesarily ideal. When one person is coming toward you in the left lane, and someone is standing in your lane, it really clogs traffic. We would have asked him to move, but it didn't look to us like he understood English. Possibly the lifeguard could have asked him too, but it was, after all, a public pool, and the lifeguard might hold that standing in the lap lane is his right.

On a more cheerful note, have you ever opened a bottle of sparkling cider with a crochet hook and a short stick? Neither had I before last week. The boys have all had coughs for the last month ( it starts with one, then goes from boy to boy till all five have had it). The cough is bothersome, but the cough syrup is worse. It causes rapid loss of stomach contents. So after Mom gave Jon cough syrup, he was sick in the hall outside our door. We'd been trying to keep Kit from getting sick, so Mom refused all offers of help and told us to stay in my room. We eyed the cider. Then we realized we didn't have a bottle opener. I'm pleased to report that a large crochet hook, slid under and pulled up, breaks the seal, and a stick thrust upward under the lip of the cap pops it off. We drank it from our water glasses on top of the bunk bed, where the airconditioner blows best. We talked about almost wishing life would never change while knowing it would. My attempt to drink cider while lying down added levity to the situation. And we discussed her upcoming birthday's party plans.
Miss Jenn is in town, and she has tentative plans to get a dance going. Should be lots of fun. :-)