Swimming Alone, Dining Together and More Pie

Swimming Alone

I don't know about other writers, but I do know that I need some sort of daily physical activity other than typing (picking my cuticles while I wait for the next line to emerge doesn't count). For me, that form of activity is swimming, and on the days I don't swim, I try to walk. Magical things happen when you leave your computer and start to move. Your brain doesn't shut off exactly, but it does relax and when your brain relaxes, I've found creativity really kicks in. It's often after a good workout that I do my best writing. 

Anyhow, I love to swim outside during the summer, so I was happy to discover the Steinhart Park Pool here in Nebraska City. One dollar entitles you to swim laps from noon to 1 p.m. I went for the first time Wednesday and for the entire hour, I was the only swimmer in a seven-lane, fifty-meter pool. I asked the lifeguard afterward if this was the exception rather than the norm. "Nope," she said. "Hardly anyone swims laps." 

That's the pool. Steinhart Lodge, built in 1949, overlooks the pool. It's part of Arbor Day festivities here in Nebraska City, which is the home of the Arbor Day Foundation.

Dining Together

For the past two nights, the other residents and I have done dinner together. On Wednesday, we went to a Mexican resident, El Portal, for dinner and drinks and last night, we cooked out on our patio. Erica, one of the visual artists in residence, made a delicious salsa from ingredients she'd bought that afternoon at a small farm market. The other visual artist, Neva, grilled brats and corn on the cob (also fresh from the farm market). Food has never tasted better.

Pie and More Pie

This has to be the pie capital of the world! There were five--count 'em--five kinds of pies on display at the farm market and more to be found at Arbor Day Farm, where they grow apples and grapes. Not all of them are as towering as Chris' (see earlier entry), but they're all tasty.

I'm on the next to the last chapter of the first draft of my novel. Have also drafted a couple new poems that might be keepers.