swimming in the middle of the night

Yesterday was a day for swimming... sort of. In a weird inescapable string of coincidences, bathing beauties jutted their way into my consciousness. I did purposely search Ebay for the elusive Weeki Wachee view master reels I've been wanting forever. I found some, but I'm sure like past searches I will forget in a day that I have them on my watch list. All I need is a "buy it now" option and the justification to go through with the purchase.

Then in the middle of the night I woke up from one of my frequently occurring allergy fits. I turned on the TV until the Claritin kicked in. On one channel Olympic synchronized swimming. On another channel a documentary about the great MGM musicals of the past. Typically I am drawn to neither. I kinda loathe musicals and have never bothered to give the swimming much attention. Maybe I was delirious from lack of oxygen due to the whole I can only breathe through one nostril thing (and barely that) or I was still half asleep, but I found both to be more entertaining than I thought. The documentary gave special attention to the films of Esther Williams. She was cute as a button and I'd have to be color blind not to get excited by the fantasy like hues.

The Olympians scared me a little with their clown mask "energy faces" but that was quickly replaced by awe. I am pretty much a dog paddler or sitting "swimmer" so of course I am dazzled by people that can flip, kick around, and spin under and in water AND at the same time as someone else doing the exact same thing AND make it look good. Maybe someday I can be a bathing beauty vs. the bathing blob. In the mean time I will continue my search for inspiration via Ebay and NBC.

SWIM SITES:

More Weeki pictures [ The Owls Go Flickr Profile ]

Esther Williams Swimwear Collection [ Esther-Willams.com ]

Ralph the Swimming Pig [ Edwards Aquifer ]