Swimming, Gardening, Carmen the dog

Wow, I feel like I am living in the pool (i.e. chlorinated water) these days.  The good news is that I've found a great private swim instructor (Kelly McPhail - the SwimPro) and I'm moving forward.  Holy Cow, there's a lot to coordinate with the front crawl stroke!  In today's lesson, I was able to move across the full pool (deep end and all) while taking good breaths and trying to get high elbows to push forward into stroke!  More practice to get this down.  Next lesson Thursday evening.

Among the many things I do, gardening is one hobby I absolutely love.  So, have been nurturing new seedlings in back yard raised beds through heat spells.  Flowers are blooming and I'm working on unfinished areas as well as taking out ivy in the back corner of our yard.

We adopted Carmen, the golden retriever, from Homeward Bound rescue two years ago in October.  Henry and I don't have children, so she is like our substitute child.  She is 11 years old and oh so wonderful!  Almost always so mellow.  She lets me hug and kiss her as much as I want to.  She is just a bundle of love.  We treasure her.  Below are several photos of her: