The season may be coming to an end, but it has been a wondrous season and I have no complaints.

The season I’m referring to is the season of Walden Pond. It began for me a little later than I would have liked, just past mid-May, but I have missed few days since and have enjoyed virtually every second of every minute that I have been in the water. Even today, with the temperature approaching the mid-50s.

To swim as many days as I have at the pond – close to 150 – a number of factors have come in to play: no trips of any great duration, good health and extraordinary weather. And the weather this first week of November has been amazingly agreeable, with temperatures ranging into the mid-70s on several days.

I’ve met people from Hawaii, Arizona, Japan and Turkey, among other locales, at Walden this year. Some wondering about the water – how deep, how cold – and some just curious about how I’m able to do what I do. One young man from Los Angeles came up to me as I was drying off and showed me the photo he had just taken of his sister standing near the shore and wearing a winter coat, scarf and gloves. I could be seen emerging from the water just beyond her left shoulder wearing only my swim suit. I thanked him for showing me the photo and we both laughed.

Along with the wonderful swims this season, I will miss most the wonderful people I’ve met and friends I’ve made over the past month or so as the temperatures have dropped and the water has become thicker. We share a common bond and appreciation for being able to do what we do, and none of us take any of it for granted.

Perhaps one of those new friends, Bill, summed it up best. “Every day I’m out here, I feel fortunate,” he said, “but on a day like this, I feel extremely blest.” It was late October, the sun was suspended in the blue sky above and the temperature – both water and air – was in the low 60s.

I just smiled. It has been a wondrous season.