Whipple Dam on a Summer Afternoon

"Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me, those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language." - Henry James.

Days and days of rain last week meant that all of our local swimming areas were closed due to flooding and related water issues. I sent an email to the park offices at Whipple Dam and Greenwood Furnace on Saturday morning, asking when they might reopen for swimming. I received a reply that afternoon that the water tests had turned out well, and the beaches had reopened. Hooray!

So on Sunday, we gave the cat his lunch early and took off for Greenwood Furnace. I walked around and took pictures of the lovely little cemetery. And of the spillway, with water now back down to much more normal levels. We spotted a five-lined skink on a stone wall near the beach; perhaps the first we've ever seen there.

The water was bone-chillingly cold, maybe even colder than usual. But in we went. Another guy wading in the water nearby asked, "Is the water any warmer where you are?" I told him the temperature where I was was 80 degrees, and we both had a good laugh over that one. (A sign on the wall in the pavilion indicated water temps hovered around 60.) And then I heard that guy's screams as he finally went fully under water, then came back up laughing, like a child.

My husband and I enjoyed a picnic by the furnace stacks at Greenwood Furnace, and then decided, oddly enough, that maybe we ought to go and swim at Whipple Dam too! It seemed like a strange thing to do, but maybe we can't escape the feeling that July is ending and sometime summer will too. So seize the day! And so off we went to spend the remainder of the afternoon at Whipple. The photo shows the swimming area and the volleyball court as viewed from the other side of the lake.

And here let me interject what a beautiful day it was; and how welcome it was to soak up the sunshine and see the blue sky and puffy white clouds after days and days of endless drenching rains. We swam like otters, of course, the water not quite as chilly as Greenwood. And the reflections were beautiful: every person, every thing, turned into a shimmer of color on the everlasting waters; here a moment, then gone.

Here is some good advice about how best to spend a summer afternoon: Sheryl Crow, with Soak up the Sun.