On the way down the front porch steps to fetch the morning paper I encounter a trail of pink petals, damp, fragrant and delicate. Compliments of our kindly dogwood tree, unable to hold onto their fleeting beauty during a fierce wind storm the night before.
My husband was first introduced to the sport of fly-fishing as a boy while visiting his aunt at the fittingly named “Trout Club.” From the moment he first cast, he was hooked. I never tire of watching him as the line weaves back and forth in flight, landing effortlessly on the water, mimicking a may fly touching down. He began to tie his own flies shortly after, a true craft in itself, fascinating to watch.
When my son was in third grade, he had a special teacher who was a fly fisherman. I asked my husband to make him a home-made fly as a teacher gift and my son presented it to him at the end of the year in a tidy white box. A gift from the heart.
The design of feathers, combined with precise tying and gluing make this a hobby of precision. The result, when examined is indeed intricate in design. I have photographed below a series of flies, both store-bought and home-made for this week’s challenge.
“Fishing is the chance to wash one’s soul with pure air. It brings meekness and inspiration, reduces our egoism, soothes our troubles and shames our wickedness. It is discipline in the equality of men–for all men are equal before fish.”
“The gods do not deduct from man’s allotted span the hours spent in fishing.”
Egypt? No, New Jersey. While driving to my son’s dive meet one morning on the hectic and well-traveled Jersey Turnpike, I nonchalantly glanced to my right and saw this incredible beast being transported in a trailer, its woolly locks blowing in the wind. The creature and I made eye contact and my heart ached to think it might be heading for a circus or some other place far the opposite of greener pastures. Snapping this photo through my car window I said a little prayer that the camel was en route to a lovely farm somewhere far from here, where it would recover from its journey in a shaded field.
“Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet, with charm of earliest birds” John Milton
Dawn of Christmas Morning 2014Our beautiful resident pheasant. He graced us with his presence, early morning, for over three years. Then one day, came no more…To learn more about the bird, please read my short tribute “Ode to a Pheasant” https://nynkblog.wordpress.com/2014/12/23/ode-to-a-pheasant/
For my fiftieth birthday, my husband planned a small get together in the city with six of our closest friends. We started the night out at a mixology bar with an outdoor garden then stayed overnight at The Inn At Irving Place, a true oasis in the lovely Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan. The next morning, I snapped this photo from the window of my taxi as we pulled away. The trees were captured in a blur, much like the fleeting night – but I still love this photograph for the memory of my celebration and the beauty of my favorite city neighborhood.
Nothing quite like the fun of “Extreme Dodge ball” among brothers, played at an indoor gym/trampoline park. That is, until someone gets hit with just a little too much force.
O, the red rose may be fair,
And the lily statelier;
But my shamrock, one in three
Takes the very heart of me!
~Katherine Tynan
Green (shamrock) is my favorite color. Vibrant yet equally soothing. My entire life contains touches of this lovely hue. The first photo (upper left) is a hand-carved tombstone compliments of my husband, in memory of our little hamster that passed away. The C is for “Cookie.” We buried her in our back yard directly among the daffodils that bloom each spring. I scattered the stone with what else? shamrocks..