As summer winds down

August is almost over and I'd given up hope of even getting near a lake or pool for a nice swim. But when my best friend and her teenage daughter arrived during the hottest weekend of the summer, we ended up swimming in the river that runs in front of my trailer. The "mighty Willowemoc" usually ranges between shallow trout stream or raging flood. But right now, after a week of nightly thunderstorms, the water is the perfect depth for swimming.

If you've never swum in a river, let me tell you, it beats anything else for a relaxing dip. Better than the ocean —no salty water to sting your eyes, no undertow or waves to battle. Better than a lake —no bottom muck or duck week to tangle your legs. And since this is a protected trout stream, the water is pristine, so clear you can see the bottom (and any jutting rocks that might be in your path). The water is still shallow in places, so that on a hot day there are sunwarmed eddies if the cooler depths get too numbing.

So picture the three of us drifting along with the gentle current, sycamores and maples towering overhead— when all of a sudden my neighbor's two white geese (who were barely tolerating us on their watery turf) started honking in warning. We look up and see a bald eagle soaring along the river, coming toward us. I wait months to see one of these elusive birds, and here he was gliding right above us. I tell you, it doesn't get better than that.

So summer may be waning, but I got in my swimming and discovered, just like Dorothy, that sometimes your heart's desire is right outside your own front door . . . And that makes a nice seque to my current "must listen" CD -- the soundtrack of "Wicked." I was fortunate enough to see it on Broadway in previews, but the CD wasn't available at the time. Now I finally have the CD—courtesy of a workmate who never saw the play but loves the music—and can revel in the magic of one of my favorite shows. So let's hope we're all "Defying Gravity" at some point in our lives. Whether it's floating on a lazy river or letting our spirits soar like an eagle.

Nancy