First bathe in the river.

May 12. 

Celandine . Very hot. 2.30 P. M. — 81°.

We seek the shade to sit in for a day or two. The neck-cloth and single coat is too thick; wear a half-thick coat at last. 

The sugar maple blossoms on the Common resound with bees. 

Ostrya flower commonly out on Island, how long? Maybe a day or two. 

First bathe in the river. Quite warm enough. River five and one half plus inches below summer level. 

Very heavy dew and mist this morning; plowed ground black and moist with it. The earth is so dry it drinks like a sponge.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, May 12, 1860

First bathe in the river. Quite warm enough. See May 8, 1857 (“Summer has suddenly come upon us, and the birds all together. Some boys have bathed in the river. ”); September 27, 1856 ("Bathed at Hubbard's Bath, but found the water very cold. Bathing about over”)