Last Swim of Summer

[Mr Noone]

The sky was cloudy generally, sun in and out, the breeze light enough. Air temperature about 70° F (20° C). Just a light chop on the water. But the water was cool.

I had noticed that distinct autumnal smell on the salt marsh last week in the evenings driving home.

The sea, the sea! (as Iris Murdoch might say), the sea (give Banville his due). My visits from now until June with be glancing, peripheral.

 

[DesEsseintes]

'To the Sea, to the Sea! The white gulls are crying,
The wind is blowing, and the white foam is flying.
West, west away, the round sun is falling.
Grey ship, grey ship, do you hear them calling,
The voices of my people that have gone before me?
I will leave, I will leave the woods that bore me;
For our days are ending and our years failing.
I will pass the wide waters lonely sailing.
Long are the waves on the Last Shore falling,
Sweet are the voices in the Lost Isle calling,
In Eressëaut, in Elvenhome that no man can discover,
Where the leaves fall not: land of my people for ever! '

 

[Jennifer]

I've always wanted to take a walk along the beach during winter, most especially during a snow storm.

I need to get out more!

 

[Mr Noone]

I'm not a big Tolkien fan. Admirer, but not fan.

It can be bitter in winter.

 

[Jennifer]

I'm not a big Tolkien fan. Admirer, but not fan.

It can be bitter in winter.

A bitter beach in winter still beats anything else during winter, in my opinion.

 

[DesEsseintes]

A bitter beach in winter still beats anything else during winter, in my opinion.

Naked by a crackling open fire, with vintage champagne, takes some beating, for me.

 

[Mr Noone]

Opinion, but not experience.

 

[Jennifer]

Naked by a crackling open fire, with vintage champagne, takes some beating, for me.

I stand corrected and shall concede providing that we can, at the very least, hear the surf through the palace/cottage/beach house windows.

I am nothing, if not a simple girl. Who needs to spanked and rogered regularly.

 

[Mr Noone]

Naked by a crackling open fire, with vintage champagne, takes some beating, for me.

I stand corrected and shall concede providing that we can, at the very least, hear the surf through the palace/cottage/beach house windows.

I am nothing, if not a simple girl. Who needs to spanked and rogered regularly.

Now this puts in mind Charles Arrowby's cottage on a cliff side near Scarborough in "The Sea, the Sea".

 

[DesEsseintes]

I stand corrected and shall concede providing that we can, at the very least, hear the surf through the palace/cottage/beach house windows.

I am nothing, if not a simple girl. Who needs to spanked and rogered regularly.

It is true that nothing warms one quite so much as the howls of those who are colder. I shall arrange to have the local peasantry drenched outside the gates on particularly cold evenings at eight precisely.

 

[rosco rathbone]

Now this puts in mind Charles Arrowby's cottage on a cliff side near Scarborough in "The Sea, the Sea".

Was that a great book or what.

 

[Jennifer]

Opinion, but not experience.

Therein lies the rub.

 

[Mr Noone]

Was that a great book or what.

It was. Hysterically funny on the second read.

 

[gotsnowgotslush]

No ocean swimming, after Labor Day. Unless you have a death wish.

Windsurfers and surfers have special dispensation.

See any squid boats ?

 

[Mr Noone]

No ocean swimming, after Labor Day. Unless you have a death wish.

Windsurfers and surfers have special dispensation.

See any squid boats ?

I'm just a bit south of you. No squid boats.

 

[Lyricalli]

I've always wanted to take a walk along the beach during winter, most especially during a snow storm.

I need to get out more!

The beach is lovely in the winter, though I've never been there during a snow storm. It's nice with all the people gone. Though, down here in Virginia, we don't often get quite as cold as the more northern states.

And, then, if you can follow your walk by warming up naked in front of a nice fire, all the better. Hmm... now, that's an idea for a long weekend I need to look into.

 

[Adre]

Naked in the ocean can be fun as well.

 

[Mr Noone]

Naked in the ocean can be fun as well.

Indeed. But I think this may just be the limit here at 45°40' N, 73°45' W.

 

[DesEsseintes]

The beach is lovely in the winter, though I've never been there during a snow storm. It's nice with all the people gone. Though, down here in Virginia, we don't often get quite as cold as the more northern states.

And, then, if you can follow your walk by warming up naked in front of a nice fire, all the better. Hmm... now, that's an idea for a long weekend I need to look into.

Angela Carter wrote an absolutely ravishing, chill, perfect short story set on a Japanese beach in winter, called 'The Smile of Winter'. It's in her first collection, Fireworks, and is absolutely worth seeking out.

 

[Lyricalli]

Naked in the ocean can be fun as well.

When I was in Norway last December, I witnessed a small group of people taking a brief dip in the fjord on Christmas Eve. One of the women does it regularly, but I think it was a special event for the other three people who went in. It did give their eyes a bit of a sparkle and their skin a rosy glow. They weren't naked, though.

 

[Lyricalli]

Angela Carter wrote an absolutely ravishing, chill, perfect short story set on a Japanese beach in winter, called 'The Smile of Winter'. It's in her first collection, Fireworks, and is absolutely worth seeking out.

I will add it to my ever-expanding list. Thank you.

 

[Jennifer]

Swimming naked is the freest feeling. I would love nothing more than to skinny dip every day.

Unfortunately, I live in Pa. And today closed the pool for the season(s).

 

[jaF0]

Pool water was around 70 yesterday. Pretty sure it won't get any warmer now until May.

 

[Elixxxher]

My daughter and her friend just had what I estimate is their last swim of the season at the cottage. Will close it up at Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks and say bye until just before May 24 weekend. Very sad.

 

[jaF0]

Will close it up at Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks

Uhh, Turkey Day is a couple of MONTHS away.

Damn Canucks can't get nothin' right. Hosers!!