It has been a minute, well 245,100 minutes actually, but my computer was so old I couldn't upload photos, and though I was swimming up a storm, all my words were funnelled into novel writing, and kids' book writing and then the fall happened and transitioning Kid #1 to kindergarten was much more exhausting than I anticipated...Excuses, excuses. I have been writing blog posts in my head every time I swim and now that I've got a fancy new computer, it's time to write them onto a computer.

I don't know if it's the grey skies and the slushy puddles, but I've been dreaming of  last summer's exceptional swims – three of them primarily: a road trip swim date with my oldest kid at this lovely swimming hole, a dip off Hanlan's Point in August with my tow float from my UK mermaid pals...



...and our first tear-free family lake swim even later in August. I was worried the water would be cold as the morning's clocked in at a chilly 8 degrees, but the water was so warm. There was a mama bear spotting at the point I usually swam to, so I switched up my route and stayed closer to the cottage after realizing that swimming bear encounters are my ultimate fear.


Over the Christmas holidays, my not-always-into-swimming kid declared he wanted to go swimming, so of COURSE I dropped everything, dug out our suits and flew up to the pool for a morning family dip. The family swim times don't always jive with kid naps, but we found a morning slot and had so much fun! On our winter fun list is more family swims!

And with this renewed collective love of swimming, I started plotting summer swims. We're renting a new cottage this summer (on THIS lake, that I grew up swimming in!), and I've already put our Island swim/picnic adventure into the calendar.

To summer swimming, even if it is still February!

I woke up on Saturday morning, didn't hear any kids yelling for me and rolled over to go back to sleep, but then remembered IT WAS CHRISTMAS MORNING - a.k.a. opening day for Sunnyside Pool, and I bolted out of bed in a flash.

The first day of outdoor swimming in Toronto is truly my favourite day of the year. It was overcast, and chilly, but nothing can be worse than opening day two years ago (looking at you, nursing baby/thunderstorm/pool fouling...ahem!) and so, I piled swim stuff into my bike basket, remembered a quarter for the locker (and an extra, in case) and headed south to that turquoise I've been dreaming about for the last 10 months.

I was third in line, and when the doors opened exactly at 10am rushed to get dressed. There were no lane ropes in when I arrived (though they ended up putting them in mid-swim) and I was the third person in that huge, glorious pool. The air was crazy cold, the wind vicious, but the water was warm and steam blew off the surface. Cold water swimming I am NOT, so long as I was underwater, it was dreamy.



There were 12 of us in that huge pool. Twelve of us! And until the lane ropes were in, I swam lengths of that enormous pool, and then widths until I was brave enough to hop out and run to the change room.

I was smart enough to pack heaps of layers for the bike ride home—leggings, track pants, wool socks, then three layers on top, including a hood for under my bike helmet. It seemed like overkill, but the air was so brisk, I was grateful for the layers, and even wished I had mitts on the bike ride through High Park.



Here's to hoping the sun makes an appearance and not all summer swims end with winter wear. I am crossing my fingers.

PS: All the pools open soon, but Sunnyside and a bunch of other big pools in the city will be open in the evenings all week, and again next weekend. Pack your trackers and go for a dip!!

PPS: Last year's first Sunnyside swim. And 2017's. And 2016's!