Notes

I recently learned my grandfather was an alternate for the Canadian Olympic track team. Had I known this when I was a kid, I might have started running much earlier!

“What is the meaning of a solar eclipse? To the ancient Chinese, solar eclipses meant that dragons were devouring the sun. To the Czechoslovakians, they meant that ice giants, bitter enemies of the sun, were conquering it. To the Romans, they meant that the sun was poisoned and dying. To the Jews, s

The people I love the best jump into work head first without dallying in the shallows and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight. –Marge Piercy

“We come into temporary harmony with the water, and are fortunate to sometimes be allowed to pass through.” Evan Morrison, open-water marathon swimmer, who notes that it echoes: “The best one can hope for is to come to an agreement with a body of water on any given day.” David Barra

Liz Spayd was more of a columnist than a true ombudsman, but the Huffington Post coverage points out why that role is still important: Not necessarily for accountability (since we all hold the newspapers we read accountable these days), but simply for getting answers: by being in the newsroom, publi

Forming an exploratory committee to consider swimming from the Golden Gate to McCovey Cove July 9. Anyone own a boat I could hire for the day? (Last year I did this as part of a relay — this year I’m considering a solo swim) crossposted from Facebook

“Swimming cultivates imagination; the man with the most is he who can swim his solitary course night or day and forget a black earth full of people that push.” –Annette Kellermann

Was already desiring this book and then I saw the author’s autograph. Smitten. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Quarantweney Sr. (@dylan20)

“Taking paternity leave is so rare that it’s not a question of how much time you’re going to take off, but whether you will be able to take any at all.” That’s pretty sad! Here’s a great post (and a very funny infographic) from one dad who took 12 weeks off with his newborn. MORE […]

“We are lent into each other’s keeping.” Our time with each other is borrowed, its duration is unknown, and that uncertainty makes it precious.

If you want a teacher…

A gentleman never dances so well as the dancing master, and an ordinary fiddler makes better musique for a shilling than a gentleman will do after spending forty, and so in all the delights of the world almost. –The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Weds. 27 January 1663/64