A Year of Blogging: June 18, 2011

June 18 is 'Go Fishing Day'. This is a day I've never celebrated, but I'm sure my brother in law would love it. I have never been big on fishing. You might say that's understandable, since I'm female. Fishing is more of a guy's thing. But I know women who enjoy fishing. I'm just not one of them. Dad tried to teach us to fish when we were little. So did my Uncle Sid. Uncle Sid & Aunt Hazel owned a gun & fishing shop which they ran out of their garage. Dad ordered fishing poles for each of us from Uncle Sid. When they came in, we were so excited! We ran over to Uncle Sid's, picked up our poles, and selected the perfect rubber worm. Uncle Sid sold brightly colored rubber worms, and it was always neat to see what colors had come in with the latest shipment. Then we went to the bridge and tried to fish. The problem was, the brook runs past Mom & Dad's house, but it is a very steep slope down to it. It's easily an eight foot drop to the water. The slopes on either side by Mom's house are so steep that it's difficult to walk down them. We weren't allowed to go down the slopes by ourselves. Dad decided to solve this problem by taking us to Cherry Plain State Park. We rented a rowboat, put on our life vests, and Dad rowed us out into the lake. He showed us how to cast our line, and we waited. And waited. And waited. Then we decided we would much rather be on the beach with Mom, playing in the water. We didn't catch anything that day. That was I think, the last time I tried fishing. I thought it was boring. My sister kept trying. I remember watching her stand next to the brook with Dad or Uncle Sid, trying to fish. I think her interest lasted most of the summer- far longer than mine did. After that summer, our poles were hung in the garage. They might still be there! Dad doesn't often clean out the garage. We still went to Uncle Sid's each year to see the colored worms. I don't know what the attraction was, but we loved it. Every time he got in a new shipment, Uncle Sid called our house. They lived next door, so we ran across the bridge and skipped through the shop door. Uncle Sid was usually standing behind the raised counter, and he handed over the jar of rubber worms for us to go through. I think the worms were 10 cents each, but maybe they were less than that. I don't remember what we used the worms for, but I know each year we bought a handful. Sydney loves fishing. Andy took her last year for the first time. She told me she caught seven fish. I was thinking minnows. No- the fish she caught were huge! They were about a foot long! She's quite the little fisherwoman. She's very serious fishing with her Barbie pole. It seems fitting that this year 'Go Fishing Day' falls on Father's Day weekend. If you & your dad like to fish- it's the perfect opportunity!