Tag Archives: Dip of the Month

January 1, 2012 · 7:05 pm

Happy New Year!

2012 started off with a beautiful day, inspiring a walk on the beach before lunch. With plenty of sun, and no wind,  40° felt more like 50°  and we quickly felt too warm for our jackets, hats and gloves.

Cindy Thomas and I made plans to take our first dip of 2012 at 1 p.m. It’s always a plus to get a winter dip out of the way at the beginning of the month. We know we could wait until February 29 before we would absolutely have to get in the water again to maintain our “Dip of the Month Club” membership. When we went in December, we figured the water was about 44°.

Today I brought Bruce’s spot infrared thermometer to check the water temperature. I picked up Cindy and told her I had the thermometer, and after a beat we looked at each other and said, “Let’s not take the temperature until after we get out of the water!” Good plan. It was pretty cold, and we guessed it was around 42°. The infrared said we were off…by quite a bit….

There is only one thing to do in a situation like this. Take another dip to see if it really feels that cold.

So we did!

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May 8, 2011 · 11:07 pm

Low tide and fog…

…to start the day.  A 7 a.m. walk after taking a few days off from a bunch of things. (Including blog posts.)

By afternoon, the sun was out, the tide was high, and the Dip of the Month Club took their May dip in honor of Mother’s Day. Prompted by Beatrice and Xander, who went swimming yesterday, their mom, Melissa, took her first dip of the month. “After I finally got in, it wasn’t so bad!”

The water has warmed up to about 45°. Three of us went in the water 4 different times. Joy, Bea and Xander went in 5 times. It looks almost like summer doesn’t it?

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March 17, 2011 · 9:17 pm

Today felt like spring

It doesn’t warm up a lot here in March, but today the temperature was 50º and the sun was out. If only it would stay this way for the rest of the month. But March can be really fickle and so can April.  So, we try to stay in the day we’re in and enjoy it when it feels like this.

It was a good day to work with liver of sulphur on the back porch. (No stinky rotten egg smell inside.) I had plenty of silver beads waiting to be oxidized, sitting on this pretty little plate made by Kaitlyn Duggan. It was so bright on the back porch I had to move the beads into the shade to photograph them.

Yup. There is still some snow in our yard. Sometimes it seems to take forever to melt away from the shady areas. At least there is some green next to it.

I’ll finish the beads tomorrow. Buffing some on the wheel and hand finishing others. Then on to some long awaited necklace stringing. This morning I hand finished these post earrings, made from slump beads with a flat back.

At 2:30 my friend Cindy called. She had just finished work at the library. (We used to have the second smallest library in the state, with the most per capita circulation for a small town library. It may still be true. Cindy is a great librarian.) When she got in her car, it was so warm inside that she decided it was a good chance to take our March Dip of the Month, if I was up for it. And if I wasn’t up for it, maybe I could lifeguard for her? Of course I wanted to dip. The day was gorgeous and snow is predicted for next week.

Below is an “after dip” photo. We could never stand in the 39º water like this and then decide it was a good idea to dip. You have to run in and get horizontal before you even feel the water. It’s the only way to get into the Atlantic, in Maine, every month.

We are happy to be feeling the “spa effect” of a cold water dip. Once March is behind us, the water only starts to get warmer. Woo hoo!

As we walked back to the car, I found two St. Patrick’s Day gifts on the beach.

It was a really good day.

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February 18, 2011 · 11:13 pm

No focus Friday…

…as in: What is there to post tonight?

This is when “Post a Day” is a challenge to me; at the end of a day when I feel like I had no focus. Which also means it is  exactly the time I should write a blog post. It causes me to look back at my day and note what was more interesting than I thought it was, or what I accomplished that I forgot about because I ended the day focusing on what didn’t get done.

For one thing, I sent off a large selection of glass and lucite beads to my sister-in-law Karen for the upcoming Empty Bowls fund raising event in Baltimore. I had hoped to be there to help out in person on Saturday, March 12. I was going to lead a family-friendly activity by providing supplies, instructions and help for people who wanted to make a beaded elastic bracelet. It is something that does not require a lot of time or prior knowledge and provides participants with a piece of jewelry to take home. It would have been easy and fun, but I couldn’t be in Baltimore on the 12th and still get home in time for our town’s annual Town Meeting, two days later. So I sorted through the huge stash of beads I haven’t used in a while and those I was willing to give away, and I packed a bunch up in zip-lock bags. I took the time to write out clear instructions and make several copies. I fit it all into a “large flat rate box” from the post office and saved over $5 by sending the heavy box to Karen that way. An accomplishment.

Hint: When working with beads, spread terry cloth hand towels out on the table where people (especially kids) will be working. It keeps the beads from rolling around and it makes them easier to clean up afterward.

As for something interesting: My friend Stefanie called me around 9 a.m to say she was on the island and planning to take her Dip of the Month today since it was 40º. February is such an iffy month. You always think you can wait until a little later for it to get warmer, but the weather does not always cooperate. If someone wants to take a February dip, and you are a member of the club, you better just do it. My plan was to just accompany her to the beach as a life guard, and wait for our friend Cindy to return on the 11a.m. boat and go for a dip with her later in the day when it might be even warmer. (like 47º) I knew as soon as I hung up from Stefanie, that I would feel like I was missing something if I didn’t go in the water with her. So I did. I dipped at 10 a.m. and stayed in my damp bathing suit at home until noon when I went for another dip with Cindy! Yes, my interesting part of the day was also another accomplishment. The oh so rare February Double Dip. The water temperature was 37º.

 

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