Meg Evans

Over the long weekend, my husband and I got out rowing every day. The weather was nice and sunny, though definitely on the windy side. We rowed a double on Saturday and Monday, which doesn’t get blown around as much as a single because it is larger and more stable. On Sunday it seemed mostly calm in the early afternoon, and we went out in singles, but the wind started picking up toward the end of our row.

I got an email at work last week asking for photos of Labor Day activities to share with the group, so I asked my husband to take a photo of me rowing the single. He brought his phone in a waterproof bag, and although the sun made it hard to see, he managed to get a pretty good landscape view.

On Monday we went out early too, which turned out to be a good thing because some ferocious thunderstorms developed later in the day. Now the river is full of debris and too high to row. Of course, we’re back to work anyway, so I am not complaining. The rain was for the best, as it has been so dry around here.

I’ve mentioned in a few posts that my husband and I bought a Hydrow rowing machine last fall. We enjoy the online sessions, which they call “Live Outdoor Reality” because the instructors row on the river during most of the workouts (there are also a few indoor videos, for those who prefer a studio setting). The company is in Boston, so they’re usually on the Charles River, except when they travel to Miami Beach in the winter and to other destinations on occasion for more variety.

Both of us have been working out regularly and getting more fit. Also, we got a nice perk recently when Hydrow offered us a free coaching session (via Zoom) from an instructor. Our coach was James Dietz, who gave us both some helpful tips. We had met his father, who is also a coach, a few years ago at a rowing camp hosted by our club. Small world! This picture, which I received in an email afterward, shows me sitting sideways on the rowing machine during part of that conversation, with the instructor’s image on the right. #myhydrowcoach

The rowing machine is in a basement room that was overflowing with random junk five years ago, as shown in this decluttering post. It’s all cleaned up now, and though it still could use a bit of decorating, it is certainly much improved. Good to have some fresh new energy in the house!

Although the weekend was chilly enough that I wouldn’t have said it felt like spring, my husband went out sculling on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon. He rowed a double with another member of our club who loves rowing enough to go out on a late-winter day when it’s sunny, if a bit windy. The water temperature was cold enough that he wouldn’t have risked going out on the river in a single, which is less stable; but he had a good time in the double.

Monday was cooler, a dark day with low clouds. I put an image of a foggy path winding through a park on my digital art display, and it matched the outside view with more accuracy than I might have preferred.

The weather didn’t change much on Tuesday, and this morning looks about the same. That’s all right, though—it is close enough to spring that the birds can be heard chirping happily at sunrise, even when there’s not much sun to be seen. It won’t be long before we can get out on the river regularly and see the herons, beavers, and other wildlife.

The rowing club ended the season with its annual Jingle Bell Row on Sunday afternoon. The sweep team decorated a boat like Santa’s sleigh, with eight rowers wearing reindeer antlers while the coxswain had on a Santa suit. To announce that they were ready, the rowers sounded off by reindeer name instead of doing it the usual way by seat number.

We had a total of eleven people who wanted to go out on the water, and I rowed a double with another woman. It was a lovely mild autumn day, sunny and calm.

The water was cold, but another club member volunteered to drive a safety launch while taking photos; and nobody got wet, so it was a good day all around. We had hot chocolate afterward, and a few people brought homemade baked items to share, which included a yummy pumpkin bread made with a pumpkin from a backyard garden. Everyone was left with good memories for the winter months ahead.

This week has been unusually hot for September, but that was okay because my husband and I decided to go down to the river last night for a moonlight row. The moon was bright and nearly full, rising above the trees soon after we launched our boat in the twilight. The water was perfectly calm, and although the air was still a bit muggy, it had cooled off enough to be comfortable. It was a lovely evening to be out enjoying nature, and the occasional mosquito didn’t bother me much. On the way back to the dock, our boat bumped a log that we didn’t see in the dark, but no harm was done.

We ate dinner pretty late afterward, but that was okay too. To suit the mood, I put this animation of moonlight over water on the digital art display in my dining room. It automatically repeated on a one-second loop, giving the impression of looking out the window at the river—almost as if we were still there.

One of the things I enjoy about the rowing club is that we always have plenty of wildlife to see along the river. This spring there was a nesting killdeer (a small bird in the plover family) near the boathouse. She laid eggs in the grass, but they got run over by the park district’s lawn tractor. Then she tried again, carefully building a nest with tiny pebbles at the edge of the gravel path between the boathouse and the dock. One of our club members noticed the nest and put traffic cones around it. My husband took a photo.

Because of the cones, the eggs (there were two) survived a large weekend Learn-to-Row class when several boats were carried to and from the dock multiple times. The story does not have a happy ending, though, because on the Tuesday after the class, early morning rowers found that both the eggs and the bird had disappeared. A predator evidently got to the eggs overnight, and possibly ate the bird too, although I think it’s more likely she just flew away because there were no bones or feathers anywhere nearby.

The ways of nature can be hard. Small birds that lay eggs on the ground generally have a high failure rate for the nesting season. Perhaps the killdeer will have better luck next year; but I was left feeling glad to be a human in a safe, comfortable house.

Over the weekend I attended a rowing camp. The local rowing club arranged for a professional coach to visit and hold a three-day camp on our river, with morning and afternoon sessions each day. The forecast called for rain and high water on Friday, however, and that left us concerned that we might have to cancel the rowing camp if the river got too high.

The weather turned out all right, although the morning group spent part of their time on the indoor rowing machines on Friday because of heavy rain and debris in the river. The rain had mostly cleared up by the time my husband and I arrived for the afternoon session. Although the air was still a bit chilly and the river was flowing faster than usual, the water was very smooth and calm.

We learned some useful tips at the camp that should make us better rowers, and everyone had a good time. I was glad that we hadn’t let weather worries deprive us of the opportunity!