Open Water Swim

It was a perfect Saturday morning for the open water swim competition this weekend in Evergreen Lake at Comlara Park. I was not swimming! I was there to support my brother-in-law, Tim, and Rob from Early Bird Lap Swim (weekdays mornings at Fairview Pool, where I do swim!), and all the fabulous swimmers of all ages, local and from afar! Hot, so we standers on shore kept seeking the shade, and I got a weensy bit of sunburn despite my sunscreen (which worked perfectly where I had smeared it correctly). Breezy.

It was also a perfect night for the opening of the Illinois Shakespeare Festival! I got to see Comedy of Errors with my sister, and we sat in the castle courtyard afterwards, chatting with each other and with actors, directors, and other theatregoers, as the breeze continued. As we chatted with Karen and Eva, who played sisters Adriana and Luciana, I got to tell Eva that I had played Luciana years and years ago in the same festival! It was a wonderful moment of time doing its weird expansive, eternal, here-and-now thing.

Boy, do we need rain. I'm glad it didn't rain yesterday morning (last year's open water swim was canceled due to a downpour, also needed during a time of drought), nor at night during the play (I saw those Colorado concert rain-and-hail videos on the news!), but I wished for overnight rain (only a 30% chance here, reduced to 0% by reality). There were severe storms to the west of us, but nothing here.

It's lovely to have family in town visiting, and they got to see the final matinee of The Waiting Room--the 10-Minute Play Festival at Heartland Theatre Company! (I had seen it 3 times before, so I stayed home to water my flowers and otherwise be a slattern.) Today my sister, who is writing a play about Abraham and Mary Lincoln, will take her daughter to Springfield to see a new musical about Abraham and Mary Lincoln. And that makes it a Random Coinciday in the blog!