Those who make a habit of holding fly rods in their hands will be happy to know the Upper Sac’s in exceptional shape (Raine’s been fishing it in the evenings, with all that suggests), and the small streams are looking good too (no, I’m not telling).
Got fly fishing?
The high snowpack means we’ll enjoy good flows farther into the summer than usual, which is good; most of our spring disappeared under high (or muddy) flows, and the big bug bonanzas that fly fishermen dream about during the winter only happened for a few.
So while it’s time to hit the river (and hope it doesn’t hit back), most evenings have found me slaving over a hot keyboard, largely because – astonishingly – my work week has collapsed under the weight of 25 pound child.
It’s not as if I’m shopping for sympathy; the kid is unbelievably cool, and it turns out some of the cliches are true; seeing life through a kid’s eyes is a useful – if time consuming – exercise.
At least it is if you’re a writer.
And there’s the matter of falling in love a little more each day:
We offer this photo without comment.
Yet, as someone whose entire adult work life has involved considerable freedom – the ability to sneak out to the river pretty much at will – there’s a certain adjustment involved.
In addition, I’m firing up a couple big projects including a new web site for the Marketing Arm of the Underground, and starting one of the longest projects I’ve ever attempted.
That means I’m researching things like markup languages (ReStructuredText, LaTex), version control systems (wtf?), and powerful, extremely manly text editors (emacs, vim, Cream, KomodoEdit, or a tarted-up Gedit?) – any of which could probably fly to the moon and back if you used the right (and arcane) key combinations.
Life & Fly Fishing
We like to think of our lives as largely static constructs, but you don’t have to be a card-carrying philosopher to realize you wake up to a whole new world each and every morning, especially if you spend a portion of that morning falling in love.
So we’ve established that today’s motto might just be “Stop Learning, then Start Dying” – even if the learning is sometimes painful and the old ways look simpler by comparison.
If I needed a reminder, I learned of the death of a relative who pretty much owned the “Cool Uncle” niche – a man who lived a good life, and the world is a little dimmer for his leaving, even if he did so on his own terms (that “cool” thing again).
You mourn the passing of someone like that, but if you’re smart, you use it as a kick in the ass to get moving on a few ideas you were “going to get to eventually.”
If it involves a little extra writing time in the evenings – and a lot of extra time playing “alphabet” with a little girl who’s clearly destined to become Absolute Ruler Of The Planet one day – well, so much the better.
I will promise this; I’ll report on the next small stream trip here. Maybe one evening this week? Maybe.
See you somewhere, Tom Chandler.
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