Pool Tradition

Each year the Montgomery County indoor pool in Germantown MD closes for 2 weeks for cleaning and during the closure I swim early mornings at this outdoor pool. The pool (pix 1) is nearer to my home, has cooler water temperature, is 25 meters vs. 25 yards in length, affords a nice view of the sunrise (8), and provides a change of scenery in the workout routine.

There was a good turnout the first morning with all lanes full and a few lanes had two swimmers. I always enjoy seeing who shows during this two-week period from the indoor pool and the local college pool, which also closes during the same period. Below we see Gary (2, 3) and Nelly (4, 5) from the college, and from the indoor pool Chris-L and Curtis-R (6), David-L and Greg-R (7) and Howard (9).

These snaps, from thoughout the week, were taken with the new Posterous iPhone app and were snapped and posted here over several days. All I needed to do was to send them to Posterous from the iPhone app upon taking them each day and Posterous collated them here in one place. There was no need to to come to this website to fiddle around - nice.

Postscript: The temperatures turned very cool during the second week. One morning there were no women swimming just guys and I asked the yound female lifeguard who was all bundled-up but still looked cold if any women had been swimming earlier in the morning. She said "no." I said "too cold for women." She said, "I'm a woman." Love it - touche.

Aquatic Complex (pic)

As I try to do most mornings I generated real "sweat equity" with a swim at the Montgomery County Aquatic Center this morning. The pic was "stitched" from 4 individual photos to give a single wide view in one photo using the iPhone app Autostitch - works well and simply. Stitched photos remind me of the movie, "The Island of Dr. Moreau" and the good Doctor's unnatural creations!

In addition to the two pools in the pic there is a third pool to the right out of sight - nice complex.

Sent from Ron's iPhone

Centering Prayer at the Dayspring Retreat Center

Tonight, as I have for 9 years, I made my way after work on Monday night to the Dayspring Retreat Center in Germantown Maryland to attend a one-hour centering prayer group that I co-lead. Centering prayer is a type of silent, meditative, nonverbal, nonconceptual prayer practice with origins in the early centuries of the Christian contemplative tradition.

Note on photos:The first structure is of the sleeping quarters at Dayspring and the other, a few yards away, is the space for meetings and meals. The view of the open meadow is from the front porch of the latter.

Sent from Ron's iPhone

 

Solitude and Company

I rise early when darkness pervades and life is unstirred. There is a dark expanse beyond the window. A momentary flash of light on the far periphery catches an eye. Perhaps it is the paperboy or a mother turning-on a porch light to check the weather. I am not alone.