My wife and I followed through with our intent to visit the community swimming pool this evening. It couldn’t have been a more picture-perfect occasion: the weather was cool, the sun was setting, the water was the perfect temperature, and the pool area was deserted. We walked down there from our house in a little over five minutes and kicked back in the water for almost an hour, chatting and enjoying the cool of the evening. My wife in particular enjoyed the weightless feeling of being submerged, especially given all the extra weight her pregnancy has had her carrying around!
The pool is actually a pretty good size, just the right depth for relaxation and has a nice picnic area attached. It wasn’t too over-chlorinated and, while it’s kept up, you didn’t get the feeling that a bunch of gestapo would swoop down on you like a pack of jackals if you took a step out of line. We rarely used the pool at our community in Florida, since we never had a good feeling about it and actually got chased out of there once because it was “too dark”. By the same security guy who once chased me off the cobblestone path because I wasn’t supposed to ride my bike on it, never mind that this path was the only way to get to the post office.
Actually, the more I think about it, the more glad I am to be rid of that place we used to live in. Way too many rules for this man to abide, and I’m hardly the picture of rebellion. On the way home from the pool tonight, we passed by a house with an illuminated window that was very obviously bedecked with red curtains, and had a giggle about how our last community’s board would have been apoplectic at the sight of drapery that wasn’t white. Not exaggerating.
Anyway, we pledged to make the most of the increasingly pleasant weather by visiting the pool at least three times per week. We both need some exercise, so these pool visits will be interchangeable with evening walks. In total, we hope to get out and do one or the other five times a week.
If the weather keeps up like this, I doubt it will be difficult to do. It was paradise here today. After washing the GTO yesterday, this morning I did a whole bunch of detail work on the car, including applying liberal amounts of leather cleaner and protectant to the interior. The red leather is really screaming red again; now that I see it like this, looking like the day I bought the car, I can see how faded it had really become. I also (finally!) removed the gate entry barcode sticker from our former digs in Florida — the place I was just talking about with the gestapo security. After vacuuming the car and topping off the tires with air, the breezy mild weather was too nice to ignore, so I went out for a drive. It didn’t hurt that we needed something extra from the grocery store, so I picked it up while I was out.
It’s been a great holiday weekend, and I’m actually looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow with some renewed vigor. Having a sharp-looking car to drive to the office also helps.
I’ll have some bits of more interesting commentary to post here in the next day or two, beyond the journal entries.
