Wednesday we got together with Jim and Toni. We started the day with the Oakland Womens' Rowing Club. You might picture tall young, buff women in sculling shells, but this was something very different. The average age was probably 70 and some members are in their eighties. They gather every Wednesday to row on Lake Merrit (except for Christmas, New Years or significant rain). It's a very organized affair - we arrived after the line up in boat teams had occurred and I got a little flack for breaking ranks to kiss Jim hello ( but once I told them he was my brother and I hadn't seen him in more than a year, they agreed that was alright then).
The coxswain on our boat was very business like and thankfully Linda and I each had a translator assigned to make sure we knew what the commands meant so we could row in the correct direction, hold oars steady in the water or out of it, put the oar straight up in the boat or slide it across to a neighbor (they put us in the middle and on opposite sides of the boat so we couldn't screw things up too badly). We learned that there is a three year waiting list to join and it requires quite a commitment. If you don't keep your attendance up, you don't get a star on your scarf for that year. Some members had been rowing for more than 20 years.
The weather was again perfect - warm and breezy, clear enought to see the lovely lake and appreciate the birds and buildings of interest. The group made us feel very welcome and we got in a fair amount of exercise before noon. Afterwards one of the ladies adopted us and negotiated a motor boat ride from the park staff (”It never hurts to ask"). He took us right to our next stop - the Lake Chalet restaurant (I've always wanted to arrive at a restaurant by boat) where we had lunch out on the dock that juts out into the lake. A lovely aquatic morning spent with an inspiring bunch of women. And thanks to Jim for bidding on it in his company's charity auction.
