Swimming Lessons

As the "Summer ABC's" support, my primary swimming location has been the creek or the river where along with your bathing suit required equipment are a trusting pair of creek shoes. However, the older I am, I have grown to appreciate the local public pool. With the heat of this summer, I have spent a lot of time at the local Dormont Pool; this is a serious public pool that's been around a long time. The pool is HUGE, it's longer than a football field and about 40 yards across; there's a slide, a net for pool volleyball, a diving board, and all kinds of rafts and floatables are allowed!

Spending many hours at the pool I have learned certain lessons. To begin, what is it about we Americans and space? We don't like to be crowded, we need our "elbow room" and this holds even more true in the pool. Part of the charm of the Dormont facility is how big it is --- if you stay in the deeper part of the pool, and that is a substantial piece, you have a lot of room to swim and splash, to dive and diva float. I'm one who likes to have room and space when I swim. I have never understood the allure of going to a public pool packed with people and making the swim akin to amoebas in a petri dish.

Before any little kid ventures to swim in the 6 - 9 feet of water, she or he must take and pass their "deep water test." Wouldn't it be nice if in life we each had the opportunity to pass a "deep water test" before we found ourselves in deep and challenging waters that are a part of living? We would be given a ribbon or a bracelet to wear notifying all that we had passed the test and could handle ourselves in the deep water. The more I think about it, many of us, are walking around with invisible ribbons and bracelets having been through the deep waters of life and some of us still treading to keep ourselves afloat.

sj;

Olympic Moments

As a kid, I remeber Bruce Jenner winning the decathalon and running around the track with the US flag; I recall being astounded wathcing Nadia Comaneci, the big-eyed, pixie, Romanian gymnast receive the elusive perfect score of 10. So many athletes and their accomplishments still stir the spirit --- Mary Lou, Edwin, Flo, Dara, Janet, Michael, Bart and Mitch and Peter, Jackie and Greg. Like many folks, and I've been told women in particular, the Summer Olympics are just great theater and the best of sport.

As we near the end of the first week of "The Games," some reflections:

10. I enjoyed the Opening Ceremony and how quirky it was --- the battalion of Mary Poppins flying in for the rescue was classic. Three Cheers for my homeland and for adding some levity and humor!

9. How they lit the Olympic torch was very impressive with the individual copper pieces lighting and then forming the Olympic flame. The glaring ooops, however, is that I always thought the Olympic flame was to be the centerpiece and visible by all through the duration of the games. Where the frig is it???

8. Watching the parents of the athletes gives a great perspective and is good drama.

7. I could wath Misty May-Traynor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings play beach volleyball all day.

6. OK, he has the record as the most decorated Olympian, yet, Michael Phelps has lost his appeal. Can we please interview anybody else......

5. How do the gymnasts get their bodies to twist, twirl, tuck, turn, and tumble that way? A great team effort for the US Women!

4. Loving the US Women's Volleyball team and local girl, Carla Harmotto from Hopewell and PSU playing well.

3. After watching their video take on "Call Me Maybe," how can you not be pulling for the US Swim Team???

2. Has there ever been that many disciplined, attractive, athletic, talented young people assembled in one place??!!? Oh, yeah, every four years at the Olympics.

1. A few months after the games, Missy Franklin will be smiling on the front of a Wheaties box. Can she be more wholesome and adorable?

sj;

....the abc finish line....

V = Vacation Bible School (VBS) This annual week in the life of a local church is held in summer and is the culmination of a lot of work and preparation. In my experience, it didn't matter whether we scheduled the VBS Week in June or July, in the morning or the evening...whenever...it was always the hottest week of the year. Seriously. For me, VBS was a week of Sweating with Jesus. Yet, the standards of crafts and snacks and themes that ranged from camping to the beach to athletics always provided the basis for a good week with the kids. In my years of doing this, the best comment ever was when I asked 3-year old Karrington what she learned at VBS and she responded, "I learned a whole lotta' love!" Mission accomplished.

W = Weenie Roasts There is something about eating a pork/beef tube of meat that has been roasted to a charcoal-streaked and cracked texture on a raging campfire --- I love it! For me, it's the best way to enjoy a hot dog (of course, a close second is at a baseball game). The Weenie Roast and the accompanying baskets of chips and pretzels and jars of Kool-Aid were a frequent summer meal and I still regard it as fine dining.

X = X-Games: The Snyder Version There are many benefits to being the youngest in the family and to having older brothers. Namely, there is always something going on and some craziness for one to be involved. My brothers were creative sorts and developed entire games and contests to pass the time of our summer season. Two favorites were: "The Hellacious Hill Climb" that involved riding your bike as far as you could up a steep wooded hill without stopping. Of course competitiveness kicks in and one tends to do more than intelligent afterthought would support. My one experience with this sport resulted in a trip to the hospital for stitches.
The other memorable Snyder X-Game Summer Sport was "Hawaiian Creek Jumping" which took place at the local Buffalo Creek (our version of the islands) and involved running full speed down a large rock that sloped directly into the creek and at the opportune time launching one's self into the creek seeking maximum distance. For me, this resulted in a large gash in my knee as I added a tumbling element to my jumping. Come to think of it, the Snyder X-Games could easily add another "x" --- x-ray.

Y = Youth Maybe it's the sun, or, the fact that school is out and the kids are around, yet, summer is the season of youth and feeling young again.

Z = Zucchini THE vegetable of summer, it seems as if anyone is capable of growing this gourd-like veggie as evidenced by the fact that people are always giving you zucchini! Early in my teenage years, my family experienced the "Summer of the Zucchini." Along, with what we grew, we also received many, many, many zucchinis and my mother took it upon herself to use each and every one. We had zucchini at every meal. We had it pickled, we had it in salads, we had it fried, we had it once in lasagna, we had it in cakes, and we had it in bread. Had my mother not been opposed to strong drink, I'm quite sure we would have figured out how to ferment it and then bottle it.

abc......

Almost there and getting to Z...

Q = Quiet Maybe it’s the heat and the sun that lead to a slower pace; yet, there is a certain quiet to the season of summer. We slow down. We vacation. We sit on the beach and on deck chairs and just are. We go near water and watch. We spend time on rocking chairs and lounges on our porches. The early morning sun wakes us gently and with coffee in hand we sit on the deck and watch the soft light of a new day unfold to the tunes of birdsong. The quiet of summer renews us.

R = Raspberry picking My brother Mark would bring in a handful of ripe black raspberries --- the sign that over on the creek hill there would be bushes full of ripe berries just right for the picking. The next day we would take the clean coffee cans made into berry buckets and cross the road, go down the path and cross the creek and walk up the river hill and there divide ourselves between bushes bursting with black raspberries. We would pick our buckets full, pausing frequently for the random raspberry taste test. With three or more full buckets we would trek home and bring in our summer harvest. Mom would express her delight and wash the berries. Some were frozen and with others she would make a homemade black raspberry pie. For me, there was not a finer summer treat than hot, homemade, raspberry pie topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

S = Sleeping Out The warm temperatures and in a time when I knew no one who had a thing called air conditioning and because there was rarely anywhere I had to be the next morning, I enjoyed the occasion of sleeping out. Sometimes, my brothers would set up the tent in the side yard and I would gather my sleeping bag and pillow and sleep out….of course, at least one of my brothers had to join me because it was a little frightening….even though I was less than 25 yards from the house….still there were raccoons and woodchucks lurking in the night. I also remember going to my friend’s house and sleeping out in the back of her family pick-up truck. We watched the stars, ate cheese popcorn, drank Mountain Dew and laughed and talked until the wee hours of the morning.

T = Tennis I adored Chris Evert. I would stay up late and watch the Wimbledon update to catch an interview. She was part of the reason I took up the sport. My oldest brother, John, and I would play at the courts in New Kensington. The old joke that in tennis “love means nothing” was never truer than when John and I played…..it wasn’t a match, it was a war. When we played the folks on the courts next to us would leave. It was a bit intense.

U = UV Rays I am of the age (it’s the Maam stage of life) where I find myself frequently saying, “When I was a kid we didn’t worry about ____________! As a kid growing up and spending huge amounts of time outside in the summer, I do not recall all the fuss and worry over UV Rays and if we had sun block it was probably a SPF rating of 10. Yet, I do realize that as science and our knowledge advances that we learn and we adjust. It’s important to be careful out there --- wear the ball cap, put on the SPF 30 sunscreen and take care of you.

sj;