Swimcap

I am soooooooo ready for summer. Or spring. Or anything not cold-gray-wet. Beach time~

The swimcap head lives in the kitchen, beautiful blue glass head that I love so- the dark cobalt color, darker than all the other blue glass I have around. On top is an old swimcap that I found in a vintage-junk store in Southport. It is covered in pressed white roses, I remember other swimcaps that were plain white skullcaps, or covered with brillant floppy flowers.

Mum always wore a swimcap to protect her ears. Some times I would wear one, and for one set of swimming lessons we were required to wear them- I hated the way the strap dug into my face. They never seemed to fit right, tons of hair that would struggle to push it right off.

I always loved the water. I did not like swimming laps, races or opening my eyes under it, and I really, really dislike cold water. But I love the aqua glow of pools, diving and surfacing, swimming underwater like a fish. Floating lazy on the top, watching the sky. I am a decent swimmer, though way out of practice. It is odd that here in a coastal area there are NO swimming pools, no swim lessons, no Y in our county. Back in Johnstown it was Bethco in the summer, the Y in the winter. Here it is the beach or the freshwater lake (no thank-you. Snakes-n-gators-n-possible hog lagoon run off). Few of the kids actually *swim* at the beach unless they are surfers- they just splash around or use floats.

Grendel learned to swim early. Up in the mountains they started taking them to the pool at ASU when he was in pre-school, and he had lessons every year. At the beach I was always careful to watch him when he was little, but he is a good swimmer. Kyle and Charlie girl are good swimmers- especially Charlie- but most of Grendel's other friends didn't know how to swim at all. Ursula is a great swimmer- came from being raised in the puppy pool- and Luna likes to sit in the shower while it's on.....