Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed my nature to bear. The same thing happens to another, and either because he does not see that they have happened, or because he would show great spirit, he is firm and remains unharmed.” - Meditations, Book V.14 Marcus Aurelius wrote extensively about living in …
Tag: perspectives
Blind Spots
Blind spots both surround us and help define us - wether we realize this or not - it is a simple truth. This thought occurred to me today as I walked along a local stream with Laurel, my retriever. I kept looking around for her as I worked my way upstream, and every time I …
New Paths…
“The heart of man determines his path, but the Lord establishes his steps.” - Proverbs 16:9 Now that 2021 has closed, and we look forward to all that 2022 will bring, may we consider our choice of paths, who we journey with, and where we journey to. May it be a year filled with wander …
The Traditional Thread that Binds
The Traditional Way… It’s been a long off-season, but it has not been a season off. I stopped trout fishing back when the temps were in the 90’s and the rain had ceased falling, so I guess that was around the Dog Days of Summer. Fishing conditions were restored by early October, but I was …
Buoy Ten
There is an imaginary demarkation where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean, marked by a floating red buoy known by locals as Buoy Ten. On a hot day in late August, to the west side of this you will find calm, peaceful water. To the east…. chaos. The ocean-side of Buoy #10 is a …
Between the Moments….
We live between the moments. They surround us. Each day we are presented with the simple, yet emphatic question: what will I do today? The day passes slowly; The years pass quickly. One day we awake… and we are older. What did we do with the moments that we had? ….yet you do not know …
The Seamless Drift
“I’ve seen good drifts; I’ve seen not so good drifts; and I’ve seen great drifts.” - my good friend John S. on the art of presentation. Seamless - smooth and continuous, with no apparent gaps or spaces between one part and the next. Ask a great fly fisherman what makes the difference between catching some …
Ageless, Lonely, and Beautiful
In Appalachia, sometimes lines on a map are nothing more than that, and the personality of the region spills-over.
Confounded Waters
West Virginia...the heart of Appalachia, with its people, culture, history, and contradiction; tied together by ridge-top and stream.
Moments
Wild Trout Stream, West Virginia There is a scene in Peaky Blinders when Thomas says “There is nothing wrong with me...this is just me having a conversation about myself with myself.” A wonderful verbalization of the inability to get out of one’s own head. To turn the noise of the world off; To not think. …
What we gain…
Loon Lake, Adirondack Park Having just returned from a week mostly isolated from the world in the Adirondacks, I have given considerable thought to the fish I did not catch. We got skunked on the West Branch of the AuSable, I caught what seemed to be the only brook trout in the upper East Branch …
Appalachian Mountain Brookies 