Amarez - feels like home » Swimming

The Shore – Ocean City in between

amarez — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:37:31 +0000

Unlike California, New Jersey beaches, or “the shore” as it’s called, have a season. If you go to a beach town in the off season, the shops next to the ocean, the ones on the boardwalk if your beach town has one, will usually be closed. In the “season”, July and August mostly, also June, the weather is good, the ocean breezes provide some coolness, everything is open but it is very crowded.

I loved going to the ocean, as I called it in California, in fall, winter and spring. It was beautiful. The seasonal rains didn’t happen every day, and they turned the dry landscape green. The weather was mild. The end of February and March were wonderful times to go. I didn’t go much in the summer – I spent the summer swimming in my pool.

New Jersey is different. Winter means snow, cold, ice, and bad weather for travel. And many hotels are seasonal, open from the end of April to the first week in October. So “shoulder season” is the time to go.

My sister and I stayed in Ocean City, New Jersey, in June and September. June was a little crowded, but not too much, and everything was open. September was not crowded at all. Some places along the ocean (the boardwalk) were closed in September, though they were probably still open on the weekends. Both times we went were magical. I had a wonderful time.

The drive in over the Route 52 Causeway Bridge into Ocean City

Going over the Route 52 causeway to Ocean City, New Jersey, June 2011

Continuing over the causeway into Ocean City, June 2011

This was the place where my sister got our wonderful beach chairs. The chairs she got have a canopy you can attach to the back of the chair — you can flip it back when you don’t need it. You don’t have to mess with a sun umbrella.

The best place to buy beach chairs! Ocean City, New Jersey, June 2011

We stayed at the Ocean 7 Hotel. Wonderful, 60′s pop retro charm, with contemporary comfort. Our room had a little kitchen.

http://ocean7hotel.com/

Ocean 7 Hotel. The wave motif. June 2011

Ocean 7 Hotel. Exterior Mural. June 2011

Ocean 7 Hotel. Walkway to our room. June 2011

We were very close to the beach.

Ocean City, View from the front of our hotel room. June 2011

Ocean City (New Jersey) dates from the 1880s. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_City,_New_Jersey) It has a famous boardwalk, “a wooden walkway for pedestrians, often found along beaches” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boardwalk).

Ocean City is what is called a “family oriented” place. Along the boardwalk there are rides for children, a ferris wheel, miniature golf, and shops with beachy type junk food – french fries, funnel cakes, frozen custard. You can also eat pretty well. It’s a “dry town”; the place does not sell alcohol, though you can certainly drink in your room. I have mixed feelings about this. I like to have a glass of wine with dinner, but it is wonderful to not run into drunks on the boardwalk or the beach. There’s a lot of drinking in New Jersey beach towns. Ocean City has shops, plenty of them, and if you look carefully, you can find good things to buy, particularly during the September sales. The place is full of retro charm.

Ocean City boardwalk at night. I have no idea what venue this is. June 2011

Ocean City boardwalk at night. June 2011

Ocean City boardway in September. Some places are closed. September 2011

Ocean City. New Jersey. Boardwalk in September. Lovely overcast day. September 2011

In September we had pizza at Mack and Manco Pizza – wonderful thin crust pizza. The place felt regional, local, in a good way, something you don’t always experience in a beach town. And they don’t close in the off season – they are always open.

Mack & Manco Pizza. Spectacular pizza. September 2011

Wonderful Ocean City mural

Mural, Ocean City, New Jersey. September 2011

And the ocean, beautiful, timeless

Atlantic Ocean. Beach at Ocean City, New Jersey, June 2011

Atlantic Ocean. June 2011

Ocean City beach with local vegetation. September 2011

View from the Ocean City Music Pier. September 2011

The Music Pier and the Atlantic Ocean. September 2011

We go home.

Leaving Ocean City, going back over the causeway. September 2011.

Going home. Goodbye Ocean City. September 2011

They sold my building

amarez — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 18:09:11 +0000

For fifteen years I lived in paradise. When I left, the place existed, frozen in time. Sometimes I’d think – I’ll move back to my paradise, if I ever move back to California.

It’s not to be. The owner’s children sold the building and the building is getting all fixed up. It’s not the same.

I lived in a neighborhood called midtown, in Palo Alto, California, a smallish city on the peninsula south of San Francisco – a city located in what is called Silicon Valley. Midtown is mostly residential, but my street was zoned for mixed use. There were shops, apartment buildings and detached single family homes. There was a gas station up the street, but it closed.

Palo Alto is a pricey city, even by pricey San Francisco Bay area standards. But, midtown Palo Alto was a little less pricey. My apartment, though ridiculously expensive by what I call “normal” standards, was a good deal by Palo Alto standards. I like that – I like being the “poor relation” in a pricey area. There were about thirty apartments built around a central courtyard with trees, two patios, plants, and a pool in the back. I say “about thirty” because I never noticed the exact number – how California is that!

Building view via Google street view

Apartment building, front view, July 1999

Another view, front of the building, June 2009

Satellite view, apartment complex, 2004

Satellite view, apartment complex, showing location of my apartments

I lived on the second floor, an apartment with high ceilings, big windows and a screen door which opened up to a view of the inner courtyard. The apartment I lived in for eleven years was a two bedroom, with a big window facing the inner courtyard and another big window across from it, against the back wall, looking out onto a tree in the condo parking lot next door. I didn’t have a balcony, but there was enough room to place a container garden against the railing, across from my front door. From my desk near the back window I looked to my left and saw a tree, and to my right I saw the top of another tree from the inner courtyard. When it was warm I saw my plants from beyond the screen door. It was magical. The light, the courtyard, the trees, the plants, the pool, the open layout, the glorious weather – the entire time I was there it felt like I was living in a resort.

My container garden, 1st apartment, April 2004

Another view, my container garden, 1st apartment, April 2004

My second apartment was a one bedroom, still on the second floor, across the courtyard from my first apartment. I was back in school and needed to economize. While not as wonderful as the first apartment (the layout was different, not as much natural light) – it was still wonderful. When I was in my second apartment my plants were nestled outside against an exterior wall.

My container garden, 2nd apartment, May 2005

Another view, my container garden, 2nd apartment, May 2009

In most apartment complexes you don’t get to have your own in ground garden; our place was different. The place had a bit of a funky quality – which I like a lot. Someone (might have been the apartment managers) had created a space for a garden. As my plants got bigger I moved them to the garden, along with new plants I bought for the garden. The garden was a low key affair – put in a few plants, a bit of topsoil, water once or twice a week during the dry season. That’s it. Given the soil and the dry climate there were almost no weeds. There was a bird of paradise bush. In season the lily of the nile, agapanthus, bloomed. There were hummingbirds.

View, garden and courtyard, May 2004

Another view, garden and courtyard, May 2009

Courtyard with Lily of the Nile (Agapanthus) and Bird of Paradise, July 2007

Courtyard with overflow plants from my container garden, May 2009

And the pool – did I say there was a pool? There was a pool at the back and it was wonderful. It wasn’t heated, so the swimming season was only from late May, early June, through September. Unlike some areas in the US, there was no rule that you have to have a lifeguard or pool attendant, so pool hours were very generous – daytime to around 10 PM at night, though if you live in northern California you know there’s not much night swimming. Nights, even in the summer, tend to be blissfully cool. The pool was used, but not heavily. There were many, many times that I was the only one there. It was my pool. When a family member came to visit we spent many happy hours at the pool, swimming, then, using Styrofoam pool toys (“noodles”) lazily kicking our way back and forth, talking and laughing. I was so happy. Some summers I lived in my swimsuit on the weekends, putting shorts on over my suit to go to an art exhibit at the Palo Alto Cultural Center or to get the paper, coffee or a burrito.

Apartment pool, November 2007. Too cool for swimming, but still beautiful.

Pool, June 2009, late afternoon. My things are in my usual spot.

Pool, July 2008. Lovely reflections.

Getting ready to get out of the water, June 2009, a month before I left. I'll always think of this as my pool.

The place wasn’t perfect. The apartments were large but didn’t have much soundproofing. If you don’t get the right tenants, interior courtyards can be awful – sound carries. So the apartment managers tried to get responsible tenants who weren’t noisy. Palo Alto is a desirous place to live and the schools are excellent, so we had a mix of ages and nationalities, singles, couples, people with children. For fifteen years, this place worked out well for me. I didn’t want to leave.

I’ve learned that it’s different now. The former apartment managers told me that the name has changed, and the plants were torn up to put in new patios. For new tenants the rent is $500 more than it used to be. I understand. Given the location and the structure of the building, you could change the place and charge a lot more. You could take away some of that naturalness, that imperfection, the communal space. It will be a good place, but it won’t be my place.

I guess it’s true – you can’t go home again (apologies to Thomas Wolfe). Even if I would ever move back to California and live in paradise, it won’t be that paradise.

Swimming when it’s not summer – the high school pool

amarez — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 20:11:42 +0000

My hometown pool in eastern Pennsylvania is closed for the season — only summer outdoor swimming around here, though September is often warm enough for outdoor swimming. I discovered that the local high school has a wonderful pool, available to the public from September through May. After that we switch to the outdoor community pool. A season pass is very affordable.

I’ve been here over a year. I vaguely remember reading about swimming at the high school last year, but I never acted on it. Pity. I could have used the calm and peaceful (yet active and healthy!) enjoyment I get from swimming, though I don’t swim as often I should. I love water and swimming so much that I even find an indoor pool to be beautiful.

If and when I ever get to move out (assuming I get a job, think I’m close) — I may still swim here some Saturday mornings. I’m still planning to be somewhere in the vicinity of eastern Pennsylvania (though it might be New Jersey or Delaware) in the foreseeable future.

Here are some pictures, taken with my Motorola Droid Smartphone.

High School Pool, September 2010

High School Pool, View 2

High School Pool, View 3

High School Pool, View 4

High School Pool, View 5

2010 Retrospective – Summer Swimming

amarez — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 22:37:49 +0000

The summer heat and humidity in eastern Pennsylvania make it wonderful for summer swimming. Here are many pictures of my hometown pool. The best moments when I was growing up were at this pool — and the best moments of my time here now. My photos tend to have a “where are the people” look to them. You’ll have to think of the people as being just out of range of the camera shot.

Sunset, June 2010. The pool is ready for opening.

Sign above the entrance to the pool. The season pass is a great deal!

Just before opening day. That clown is a little scary.

I'm in the water. June 2010.

Swimming on a sunny day.

Rope and post separating the deeper water from the shallow water. Interesting reflections.

Sunset, June 2010. I wish there was night swimming. It's warm enough.

View of the slide and one of the diving boards, from the water. August 2010.

A buoy, other side is the lap lane. Overcast day. August 2010.

A cloudy day. Magical. I have the pool almost to myself. August 2010.

I like to put my towel at the edge of the fence, closest to the creek on the other side. In late afternoon there is shade.

Pool nachos, the best junk food snack on the planet. I don't want to know what's in that cheese!

September 2010. The pool is closed for the season.

More pictures of my community pool, part 2

amarez — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 01:03:47 +0000

This set of pictures takes you from January through June, right before the pool is set to open. Walking by this pool and taking pictures is a thing with me. It’s a solitary pursuit.

Pool, January 2010. Sunny day, now snow.

Pool, February 2010. Snow.

Pool landing, February 2010. My footprints.

Pool, February 2010. So very much snow.

Pool, March 2010. Dreary day.

Pool, March 2010. Dreary day with ducks!

Pool, April 2010. The trees are green.

Pool, May 2010. Drained, scrubbed, ready to fill. The cartoon characters are back.

Pool, June 2010. Dusk. The empty pool reflects the sky.

Many, many pictures of my community pool, part 1

amarez — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 03:30:16 +0000

This is my local community pool. I know, it’s not a natural body of water, like a creek or a spring, but I like to see how it looks over the seasons. I’ve taken many pictures in the course of my walks. It’s a thing with me – walking by this pool. I’ve made a path through the snow in the winter, to get up the stairs to the landing so I can look at the pool and take pictures. What does this say about me?

Pool, August 2009. Swimming is wonderful.

Pool, August 2009. Mistly. The clown is a little creepy.

Pool, September 2009. No more swimming. The cartoon characters are gone.

Pool, November 2009. A few autumn leave remain.

Pool, November 2009. No more leaves.

Pool, December 2009. Sprinkling of snow.

Pool, December 2009. Snow and reflections.

Pool, December 2009. Pool at dusk.

Pool, January 2010. Cold. Snow and ice.

Where I live now – the Creek and the Pool

amarez — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:05:31 +0000

Eastern Pennsylvania is pretty, particularly in summer, lots of trees, hills, green. But – the landscape as a whole does not resonate with me. I have to find something in the landscape that does resonate with me.

I found something. I love the little creek in my hometown. I love the play of the light, how it sparkles in the sun. I love the musical sounds, the water. The part of the creek I like is narrow and not deep. Oddly enough, it makes me think of Thumbelina, from the Hans Christian Anderson story, a person the size of a thumb. For her the creek would be a river. I looked at the creek and I thought the “rapids” might be too much for her, but perhaps not if she was in a little leaf boat!

The Creek, August 2009

I also like the local swimming pool, the best community pool I’ve ever been to, ever. Swimming (when it’s not raining) in the summer weather of heat and humidity – great fun! Don’t let the clown trash container fool you. Look at that lap lane – this is a wonderful pool!

Hometown Pool, August 2009

Leaving My California

amarez — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:02:36 +0000

I’ve lived in California since 1989. I’ve lived in Palo Alto, a town on the peninsula south of San Francisco (Silicon Valley) for fifteen years. I came here because I took a job at my former company’s corporate headquarters. Now I’m leaving.

Leaving is the right thing to do, for my family and my work. But still.

I know that a place, a land, cannot love you, but I think that one of my greatest loves has been my California. I love the place. I love the look of coastal California. I love the rocky cliffs next to the seashore, the seasons of dry and wet, the mountains in the distance. My world is Northern California, the area around San Francisco, but I also love the California central coast and the southern coastal area. I love the San Francisco Bay. My town, Palo Alto, is one of the towns ringing the bay.

I love the weather. Coastal California is one of only five Mediterranean climates in the world. I love how the climate where I live is moderate, temperate, rarely hot or cold. The air is dry, not humid or muggy. I love how it cools down at night in summer, due to the blessed cold Pacific Ocean. I love the Pacific Ocean. I love how, when it’s not raining, the sky is overcast in the morning, and then the sky is blue. I love how it rains only in the winter, and the rain just comes down, no thunderstorms. I love how even in the winter there are days of sunshine. I love how it doesn’t snow or freeze where I live, at my elevation, ever. I love the look of the light. I love how, even in the winter, something is always blooming.

I love something that’s hard to describe, a casual acceptance. Sometimes that can translate to indifference, but it still works for me. You make friends here, good friends – it just takes longer than you would think. I’ve felt free here. That freedom will go with me, wherever I live.

I love being in the hi-tech business in Silicon Valley, but that’s not why I moved here. I moved for California.

I love Point Reyes National Seashore – my favorite place in the world. I’ve been there so much I know it in a way I’ll never know another outdoor space. I love Seacliff State Beach, the Palo Alto Art Center, various art galleries, museums and events, my coffeehouse, the Palo Alto Baylands Park, the swaths of blue Lily of the Nile (Agapanthus) plants blooming. I love the work of various California artists.

I love where I live, a smaller, older apartment complex built around an inner courtyard. The apartments are big, with a lot of light but not a lot of soundproofing, so the apartment managers try to hire quiet tenants. It’s hard to describe why I like it so much. Something about the place just worked for me. In all the years I’ve lived here, I’ve felt, oddly enough, like I was living in a resort, even though it’s not a fancy place.

I love the apartment pool, which is very California. I love the blue of it, the water, the tile around the edges, the comfortable chairs. There have been many times I was the only person in the pool, swimming a few laps, and then padding slowly back and forth. When I was by myself it was “my pool”. When a family member visited it was “our pool”. It was magical.

I think that you can move forward, as they say, without denying what you had and where you’ve been. There are good places everywhere. I’m looking forward to swimming in my hometown community pool, to autumn in the northeast US, to being there for my family, to going to the Jersey seashore, to new work. I think that my life will be good. But in my heart I will never leave my California.

My California - Pool at Dusk

Night Swimming

amarez — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 03:22:50 +0000

I live in the land of perfect weather, here in coastal California – a town on the peninsula south of San Francisco, to be exact! It almost never freezes. It’s mild in winter, warm in summer but with cool nights. Did I also say it wasn’t humid? The weather is perfect.

Once in awhile the weather changes and it’s hot. Hot as in high 90s (F) and warm even at night. That’s when I run my portable air conditioner in my bedroom, and that’s when we all complain about the heat.

But – there is night swimming!

Yes, the first photo, below, looks a bit mysterious, even spooky. There used to be lights in our pool, but there aren’t lights anymore. But – there is light all around, so it’s fine. I’m not the only person who enjoys that rare wonderful night swim.

California Pool at Night

For those of you who thought the first photo was spooky, how about twilight swimming?

California Pool at Twilight

All for now,

mszv – amarez

Two Pools

amarez — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:33:16 +0000

I love swimming pools. I love the ocean and lakes too, but I’ve done most of my swimming in pools. Outdoor pools are the best.

The town where I grew up, northeastern US, has the best public swimming pool in the area. It was wonderful when I was growing up, and it’s still wonderful. It’s hot here in the summer. When it’s not raining, it’s great swimming weather!

Hometown Pool - August 2008

My hometown pool, summer, 2008. The hand is that of a family member, doing laps in the lap lane. I’m the person taking the picture (waterproof camera). What a great day.

Pool where I live - SF Bay Area, south of San Francisco

This is the pool where I live. It’s a shared pool – everyone in the small complex can use it. It’s a wonderful pool, though it’s not heated, and the humidity is low around here, and our nights are cool. This means that my pool swimming is limited to summer and early fall. It the pool was heated our pool season could go from spring to fall.

Sometimes, when I go for a dip, I’m the only one at the pool. So then it’s my very own private pool!

I love summer.

amarez – mszv