Wednesday 14th April – which season are we? wintery nights, Autumn mornings, summer days…

Wednesday 14th April….  wintery nights, autumn mornings & summer days!

April is sometimes confusing – which season are we in?  with todays forecast being a summery 30 degrees today, there is a pronounced autumn chill in the air after another cold, clear night (where stars shine bright).  the dawn sky lights up with hues of red & orange & pink & yellow whilst on earth, leaves have started to change colour to earthy tones of rust, red, orange, brown to camouflage against the ground they fall onto….. creating piles of fun for kids, dogs, and big kids alike.

Photo credit: Danny

For anyone who attended last nights B&B dinner, the amazing Corinne McDevitt delivered an inspiring, thought provoking and interactive presentation on emotional intelligence, human emotions, and “returning to happy”…   just like April, where we don’t really know which season we are in, we experience a mix of happiness, anger, sadness & fear to some degree every day.  Corinne provided insights learned from astronauts – focusing on acknowledging the “needs” underpinning each of the emotions to enable us to “return to happy”.   For example, using exercise to channel anger, rather than directing it at someone, which is often the one/s you love most.    Swimming is one of those sports where all of the emotions can be present – happiness & joy for the friendships, being in nature, seeing so much sea life; sadness & a sense of loss when we see evidence of us humans destroying the marine environment, using the exercise to channel anger, and fear for waves, stingy jellyfish or unfriendly sharks.    Its sometimes hard but acknowledging how we are feeling is an important starting point for the journey back to happiness.  Thanks so much Corinne for enlightening us (you can probably see Corinnes details on the B&B website), and to Michael for the bulls-eye accuracy in “delivering” the chocolate prizes!    Definitely “food for thought” in more ways than one!  and a HUGE thanks to Ian & the organising committee, and Bluewater for hosting a wonderful B&B community evening – my first and it wont be my last!   My learning –  book early to avoid Fear of missing out, get there early to avoid sadness at not sitting with friends, but finding happiness at meeting new ones!

water temperature – what  happened to summer? 19.8 degrees – and here is proof – if anyone was wondering how the temperature was measured, now you know!  a pink cup and thermometer!

air temperature – autumnal 17.8 degrees with a light breeze

conditions – flat and sunny

And that’s why Autumn is a mixed bag but a fabulous season to swim in Sydney!

Kerry entered the water at 6:15 and reported conditions as milky with no sign of those pesky jellyfish that had been instilling fear in many a swimmer over the past week… she felt sadness to see a giant plastic bag in deep water near half way and too deep to dive to fetch it.  however she felt very happy after her swim!

Benjamin, Lauren and Hector were feeling excited to swim!

Alex, Midge & Jo swam north with the “sawtooth” crew, they reported a good swim, lots of fun collecting sticks & a plastic bag (sadness) but general happiness after  the swim.  at least it was “only” a plastic bag – earlier, Kath and Annora rescued a floating beach chair near the bower!!!!

Jo, Sally and Sarah taking the plunge (remember the “rob the dentist ad where his face isnt shown on TV?  well one of these three didnt want their face in the blog so i compromised ha ha)…  they reported milky sea and twig debris at Shelly – however they were bursting with happiness just from swimming

Cameron and Lizzy reported more twig debris & lizzy literally swimming into a dead fish which was sad (for the fish) however both felt extreme happiness after a little Dusky Whaler swam through the group as they were waiting in the water at Shelly for the return swim.. they did acknowledge that the little shark may have been fearful coming across so many strange colourful upright creatures..

Katherine and Frances wore wetsuits due to a fear of gelatinous sea creatures… in particular the orange barrel ones as Frances appears to be a magnet for them (not sure that is happy or sad?)… however both felt happiness especially as they saw a baby dusky whaler at shelly beach (perhaps the same little one?)

Camilla, Dale and Glen were feeling excited about their first swim in 3 weeks – they looked at the temperature written on the wall and felt a bit of fear, but tempered by their happiness that the pollutions of the last 3 weeks seemed to have all but disappeared.

Mish had already swum (and reported that Susie had seen the turtle!) so Alex and Megs were feeling very chilled and excited – Megs said she would be very happy to see the turtle as she had never seen one in the bay!

Jonno was happy – he had kicked a rock at the point whilst racing to get back in fearing that he wouldnt win… he also feared how bad the injury would be which was ,thankfully, unfounded, which made him happy.

Minky was happy to be outside, walked & getting attention..

Chance was very happy  – he is always happy… we love his canine smile!

have a great Autumn (or is it summer) day everyone!

Jocelyn