Generally I try to blog about creative things, but every once in a while you have to let your hair down and have a little R & R. So this blog is a little more on the "Personal side of life, rather than the Creative side of life".
Unfortunately for me, this is more of a "skunk" report. After 2 days of fishing and endless yanks on my snagging rod, I only managed to catch a "shorty" as they are called - one that's too small to keep and a tiny catfish. And believe it or not.....I don't have pictures! Dana though, managed to snag 2 and a half.
We left for our weekend holiday on Thursday. We were anxious to get to the Old Oar House and catch a mess of catfish down by the cleaning station before our guided trip on Friday. There were a couple of others desperately trying to catch their mess of catfish too and a self proclaimed "guide" cleaning his catch. All was just fine and dandy until the guide began to talk. I'm all for bragging and being proud of your accomplishments and tooting your own horn, but come on....bragging about how great you are, how much money you make and other gibberish was really getting on my nerves. Didn't matter much to me....I'm a mom and as mom's you know, we have this ability to tune things out which I did. However, I did NOT tune out his very arrogant and serious comment on how "women and children should be at home where they belong when the guys fish". Maybe I was just in a sassy mood or maybe, I was just sick of his male chauvinistic attitude and totally out of character to me...I looked him straight in the eye and said "you keep up with that attitude while I'm here I guarantee you you will wind up in the lake." THAT comment of his did not set well with me and I think the guys on the dock took note of that. Unfortunately, the attitude of this one guide who we will call "Brian" (who's name I have not changed) was a total buzz kill for the fishing, so we went to eat. All was well, I was NOT at home, I was where I belonged with my hubby and we enjoyed the rest of the evening together.
Friday we were all geared up for our guided trip, unfortunately our guide - Anthony, who is a fantastic guide (check him out at http://www.catfishingguide.com/) came down with a terrible case of the stomach flu and was unable to make it. We fished with him last year and he put us right on the fish. I felt bad for him. But, understandably, those things happen. To the rescue was one of the guys , John-Boy, who we had met last year generously offered to take us out. He's been coming down to that area since the mid 60's. He showed us all he could about where the best fishing holes were, full of funny fishing stories, how different fishing "spots" got their name. It was a long day of snagging, but we caught fish. Dana and Johnboy even caught the same fish! No chance of that fish getting away with 5 hooks. It was a dandy. Dana's second catch was a dandy too. I ended up being a great day despite the fact that I got none and that I was fishing and not at home.
You have to understand that this area where we go fishing is a community like no other. It seriously reminds me of the fishing village of "Grumpy old Men". Where everyone plays jokes, but would give you the shirt off your back if you ever needed it. It's a community that grows significantly during snagging season and the same people return year after year. Speaking of community, Johnboy introduced us to Steve, the community-camp cook. Steve had laid out a spread of pork steaks and invited us to dinner since the guys he was expecting didn't show up. What a great ending to a day on the water. Grilled pork steaks, stewed tomatoes that were absolutely the best I've ever had, homegrown green beans and stuffing. MMMmmmMMMmmm MMM! I'm stuffed! Lights out!
My brother-in-law Brent joined us too. He'd never been snagging. Saturday we were on our own. We had brought my dad's Ranger bass boat and the three of us set out to see how much we remembered from our fishing lessons the day before. The weather was ...ehhh...not so great...the wind...was windy and the waves were HUGE! They were splashing up over the boat. So we found a different calmer spot with fish on the fish finder. With-in 5 strokes I had one.....I'm thinking "this is gonna be a good day....this is gonna be a good day..." but this was a shorty! They have to be 34 inches from eye to fork in the fin and this probably was only 30 at best. Then just a few minutes after that..."THUG"......this one was a catfish! WRONG FISH! and the rest of the day we were skunked....couldn't snag a fish to save our lives. But the workout we got was great! And the word of today (Sunday) is "SORE! ACHING BACK!".
But you know what? It was a great time! The best part was being with my husband doing something we both enjoy and just kicking back and having fun. Sometimes you need that to rejuvenate your creative spirit.
Well...my creative spirit has to go back to work tomorrow. I'll be finished the rest of the flower arrangements for my ARRANGING SILK FLOWERS book. I've got super duper deadlines and a trip to London next Saturday for another book shoot. I've been told we'll also visit some art museums, go to the theatre and after the book shoot, I'm taking a few days to visit my friend Gill who lives in Stoke a little up north from London.
As an update on the Making Beads books - I'm expecting them any minute and I'll announce on Wednesday the winner of National Crafts Month creative contest.
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