Shine On, and Patriarchal Rituals

Last swim: 6/26/19, 6 pm
Next swims:  Thursday and Friday at 6 pm
Weekend swims:  what say the Kru? Noon each day?

Conditions on Wednesday, 6/26:
Water temp:  57 per Itch-o-meter
Waves: 1-2 footers with some chop from the South.  
Air temp: 69.
Clarity: bit riled.  
Crew: Itch, Syncro, Super Hera, Mary Ann (I think), and Kahuna. 
Skin: Itch, everybody else wetsuit.

With the days being as long as they are, it is nice to be able to swim in the sunshine still during the 6 pm swims.  We continued to be stymied by below 60 degree water temps, but things are slowly getting better.  Maybe some of these 80 degree days will help us out.  I'm not yet fully acclimated, as I've only been Lake swimming sporadically this season.  But now that I'm past Grandma's, that will likely change.  I plan on re-establishing the 6 a.m. swims next week.

An equipment comment/recommendation/endorsement for the less hardy or less acclimated of the crew:  if you are looking for some nice gloves, consider Xterra Lava gloves.  I bought a pair last month, and really like them.  Only problem is, if you visit the site, they currently say they are sold out of small, medium and large sizes.  But if enough folks express an interest (which you can do on the site), I'm sure they will manufacture more.  Having a pair of gloves and booties can help to extend the season, and make those cold days much more pleasant.  

Beach chat topic:  where's the Patriarch?  My thought?  The Patriarch is off to the ancient Ethiopian city of Gondar, for the festival of Timkat, to bless the waters of the Blue Nile, so youths there can have a far more kick-ass baptismal ceremony, than any of us had.  (Go to the video at the following link, then scroll ahead to minute 32 in the video: 
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x70v9fo.)    

Maybe the Patriarch will grace us with his presence this weekend, and dip his giant cross into the Lake, and banish the Evil Spirits of the Cold back to the Deep Underworld, and then we can all leap into the Lake ecstatically.  Maybe we need an all night vigil on the beach.    

Although, on second thought, maybe there are some advantages to our having boring baptismal ceremonies and our Lake to swim in, compared to some other lake to swim in: 
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article212760364.html.

Cheers.