In this post, I will talk about rowing. Boats are probably the greatest recreational invention ever. Ever. I mean, you can race them, go tubing, waterskiing, fishing, and row. Rowing is, ah, beyond words. It's such a good feeling when you're sitting in the middle of a glassy lake, occasionally slicing through the water and churning up the mirror surface. Or when you're starting a race and you're sitting still and it's all peaceful, then you burst into action at the signal and turn the water into froth in a matter of seconds. Ahhh. As I mentioned before, I do Crew, which is rowing. I just got back from my first practice of the summer season. There's a fall and a summer season, and last year was my first year ever doing crew, or even hearing about it. See, my friend (we'll call her L) had a sister who did Crew so L got a flyer when the Crew people came to our school. L, another friend (D), and I decided it would be really great if we all did it together. Well, L had a broken arm so she could only cox, which is steering the boat and such like that. I guess she wasn't really happy with that, and she needed $45 dollars, the amount we all paid in the beginning, to run a marathon. So L got a refund and ran her marathon and dropped out of Crew. Then I went on a bunch of vacations and sprained my wrist and missed 10 practices, so D wasn't having much fun alone and she dropped out too without even telling me. So now it's just me, and I'm doing it another year. I got a letter from it last year, also. In the beginning of the summer season, and the end of the fall season, we row after school. In the summertime, we row in the morning. Despite the early rising, (we get on the water by 7:00) that's my favorite time to row. Because there are only a few fishers, hardly any boats, and the water is untouched. I'm usually in the bow, so the front of the boat, which means that my oar is the first to break the even water. And it's beatiful. We usually dock the boat at 10:00, and by then the sun's fully up and beating down on us, so the occansional splash is refreshing. Oh, it's just a small team of girls that I row with. Anyway, I'd forgotten what a joy rowing is. And today was perfect. The water was a little cold when it was splashed up by another rowers oar, but it felt good after the sun. (A little sidenote, did you know that the difference between an oar and a paddle is that the oar attaches to the boat, whereas the paddle just hangs freely.) There was a small breeze, but it wasn't so windy that we couldn't go on the water. When we first got there, there was a small muskrat in the water, whom we promptly dubbed Kitty. There used to be another muskrat, Sally, but she died last year. There was also a heron, I think, that was flying around the fishermen on the dock and landed on the opposite shore, promptly rested, then took off again. It was a big bird, and looked as if it would be clumsy, but it was totally in it's element. Anyway, we rowed, did our piece, practiced our race starts, and we even rowed all 8 at the same time without the slightest fear of tipping over. Our small lake is surrounded by mountains that seem to cut us off from the world and outside distractions. As we were coming back in, we were facing the trees, and before our eyes, a bald eagle came and landed on a somewhat dead tree and just sat there, as peaceful and powerful as it could be. We smoothly docked and carried the boat back. At the end, I'm sorry to end this on a bad note, I had blisters on all my fingers and a muscle cramp in my calf, and my ride was late picking me up. But the greats definitely out way the bads. I love rowing.
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