Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Picture postcards


With Cuba nearly within arms reach I am a bit ashamed to say I sit beachside tonight smoking a nicuraguan cigar. But we do what we can in the states. On the flip side I'm being serenaded by what sounds like a live Sigur Ros concert happening a couple blocks away. If you don't know Sigur Ros, look them up and tell me they are not an excellent evening beachside serenade. Perfect background music to staring out onto the ocean and south beach. 

What's even better is I am seeing frequent bait ball explosions on the water surface just 10 yards from shore. I have my rod and flies in the hotel room and may have just scheduled a date with the water for tomorrow night. Hopefully whatever is chasing the fish is catchable. 

In the meantime I will continue to sit here and enjoy soaking up Miami. Thanks for the free concert. And the work-cation. 

Monday, October 7, 2013

Good, Bad, and Ugly

Fall hits everyone in different ways. To some it's a depressing season where days get shorter, temperatures get colder, rain comes back, et cetera. To others it is a season of rebirth after suffering through the heat of summer, and a siren of the coming ski season. To many it's a sad end to the best trout fishing of the year and a reminder of the hours to come sitting at the tying desk/bench. Eyes aching from becoming more near sighted and back throbbing from sitting hunched over for too long.

In my view Fall brings with it three main characteristics. Most notably, not to mention the positive side, is cooler temps. I know it's Fall once I need to put a jacket on to go outside. And I don't know why, but I love the crisp coolness of Fall. I love donning a jacket to stay warm, I love the morning dew, and most of all I love not getting hot and sweaty when not exerting myself. It resonates within me as a new beginning, a rebirth. Of course rebirth doesn't seem to fit, as trees are dropping leaves and insects and animals are withdrawing toward hibernative states, but I never claimed to be rational. Or maybe it's not really a rebirth, but more like a cleansing; like a snake molting. Regardless it makes me feel alive. 

And yes I added that fake temp gauge to my rearview because my car is too cheap/old to have one.

Fall also brings with it a shortening of days. It annoys and depresses me. There's something disturbing about coming home after a long day of work to less and less daylight day by day. And perhaps worse is when it's also dark when you leave for work in the morning. After months of the darkness we all begin to look and feel more and more like vampires. Nocturnal, color draining from our bodies that become pasty white (if not already so), and a thirst for blood developing. Well, maybe not the blood thirst but the others. It's all quite bad but I can think of worse.




But what's most disturbing and massively depressing is the coming rains. For those of you who don't live in the PacNW, I'm not talking about a refreshing day or two of rain. I'm talking about 6-8 months of insidious drizzle. It's sort of nice at first, but unless you're a reptile it certainly gets ugly fast. Then again if you're a reptile, you're ugly too.


For now though I'll focus on the crisp coolness that I find so rejuvenating and try to ignore the pending winter. When it comes, I guess I'll go skiing.