The thermometer hanging outside the boathouse read -3 degrees Celsius when I got up this morning, and there was some thin ice on the water near the shore. It even snowed a bit. When I made eggs and bacon for breakfast, some of the eggs were frozen inside! Still tasted fine, though. :-)
We've only had a few phonecalls during our visit. Two yesterday...one from Larkin asking if we wanted to go to the zoo for Brittany's birthday in a couple weeks, and one from Dan Gibson asking how ice-out was. No tv, no real radio (we sometimes get a very crackly Toronto station); I only found out about the local earthquake yesterday from my sister in e-mail (we had slept through it).
This morning, I went for a swim in the lake. All right, so maybe "swim" is a slight exaggeration since it lasted all of three seconds. But I had to do it.
I went in the sauna first, soaking in as much heat as possible, pouring water on the electric coals to get the steam in the air. The cottage sauna is always much hotter than the sauna at any health club or spa I've ever tried. I'm sure falling asleep in the cottage sauna would be a very bad thing. Jeff and JBR last much longer than I do.
Anyway, I sat on my towel with my back against the hot wood, closing my eyes, sweating, sizzling, frying. Every time I felt like I couldn't stand it anymore, I'd think about how cold the lake water was going to be. And then I'd find the stamina to stay and sweat some more.
Finally I
really couldn't stand it anymore. Ran outside, down on the deck (careful not to slip on the wooden boards, which had been slick with ice earlier that morning). The air was pins-and-needles cold; I was glad I was already on the dock heading for the water by the time my brain registered the icy temperature because if I wasn't, I'd have chickened out for sure.
But then I was jumping off the dock, folding my legs under me, arms outstretched, flying. And in that split second I really DID change my mind, thinking WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING??!?!! but it was also a fine and wonderful moment, suspended in the air with the blue sky and bright sunshine above, glittering lake below, knowing that it was too late to turn back.
And then I hit the water, the icy cold enveloping me all at once, and I was thrashing to get out, screaming at the top of my lungs, the cold balanced on the exquisite edge just before pain takes over. My arms and legs were numb by the time I scrabbled at the wooden stairs, stumbling out of the water, back into the sauna, shivering as I clasped my arms around my knees, leaning against the walls, trying to absorb as much heat as quickly as possible.
In the first few seconds back in the sauna, it was like a cocoon of cold air had followed me in; I felt like I was floating in ice. But then the warmth seeped gradually back into my skin, my bones, and I relaxed all over. An incredible, unbelievable sensation.
So of course I had to do it again, a few minutes later. :-)
Jeff and JBR came out of the boathouse just as I was hanging up my swimsuit to dry.
"You went in the lake?!"
Jeff said I should have told him first so he could get a photo. :-)
We went for a boat ride this afternoon, checking out the rest of the lake and some remaining ice near Don Lloyd's place. Cold boat ride! I was wearing a zillion layers of fleece but still got chilled near the end.
I love it up here.
Today's Blatherpics:
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The sauna, with my swimsuit hanging outside to dry after my icy (and very brief!) dip in the lake.
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JBR holding up some of the last of the lake ice this afternoon. No, the ice did not stick to his hand, though it kind of looks as if his thumb has gone through the ice, doesn't it?
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Me on the boat ride today, bundled up against the cold.
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Jeff and JBR on the boat ride.
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Friday, April 26, 2002 at 12:03PM 
