Swimming in New York...It was 95 in the shade when I got out of court today, so I rushed out to Far Rockaway for a swim. Ernie, who works mostly weekends as a church organist, joined me on the long air conditioned ride to the beach. When we got there it was blisteringly hot, with only the slightest breeze coming from offshore to promise relief. We spread our blanket ( actually my orange Halloween tablecloth) on a promising stretch between two jetties near the water where the breeze was strong. The water was green and glaucous with bits of seaweed churning in the waves like torn up bits of salad. The surf was pretty high with some waves over my head and it was cool and exciting tumbling in the waves. You couldn't go past waist deep to swim because the lifeguards were double teamed on the whistles, herding the people into a little patch of water directly in front of their chair. There have been a couple of unnecessary drownings in the papers this summer so they are super vigilant, guarding their reputations. Rockaway is like New York's secret beach. It's so big that it is never very crowded, and you can get there by train. Change for the shuttle at Beachchannel, and the subway lurches right on a concrete subway viaduct when it reaches Rockaway. After a few stops, it comes to the end of the line at ground level. The exit is in an old shopping district, and a couple of short blocks away is the beach, which spreads out for miles on either side. It's a world class beach at the end of the "A" line. The place I really want to swim is in the Hudson. Most evenings I take a bike ride down into Riverside park and ride along Cherry Walk, the path between 98th street and 125th streets, by the water. The Parks Department has put giant rip-rap along the water, and some of the large pieces of rock jut right out into the water. On hot evenings it would be nice to climb down and sit on one of those rocks - to take off my sandals and dangle my feet in the river, and then, as the sun sets, slide down into the water for a swim.