Really, who do I think I am?

I've been trying, perhaps unconsciously but trying nonetheless, to become a little more domesticated ever since Doug and I got married. To know my home and my way around it and to be gentle, lady-like, and I guess a bit like a 1950s housewife. I have been trying to cook and bake and knit and sew and garden and clean and "make" our home. Some things have been more successful than others.

For example, I've been making progress on my baking. As I mentioned before, I baked Doug a peach pie and didn't cause a great smoke-out in the kitchen or set off the obnoxious fire alarm. I was pleased with myself, so I documented the momentous occasion: Ahh, the picture of domesticity. Me, my pie, and my teapot.

However, tonight I was not successful in my endeavors. I was trying to make more progress on my craft project. I had to change the bobbin on the sewing machine because it had no thread, and then I had to re-thread the machine. I've re-threaded lots of times before, but tonight I just couldn't get it. I kept reading and re-reading the directions... what wasn't I getting? Finally, after a half hour of frustration, I realized that I was not turning the wheel counterclockwise. This made all the difference. And so once my machine was threaded I set out to make three more of my particular project. I've made something like ten already, but are they getting any better? Not really. It's like I start at square one each time I press my foot on the power pedal. My sewing is zig-zaggy when it shouldn't be, I press the pedal too hard and make the needle go too fast and sew way beyond the edge of the material... this project is turning into a bit of a disaster, and to top it all off, tonight, just as I was rounding the last corner on the last one of my project I was making, I sewed my finger together. Yup! Needle went right through my index finger and blood immediately started to gush (though thankfully I yanked my finger away from the needle fast enough to protect the material from my blood). However, in the process of yanking I bent the sewing needle. So not only was my finger in intense, throbbing pain, but my needle was useless and I would have to change it (which I had never done before).

Luckily, it wasn't hard to change the needle, but still, give me a break. What more can go wrong with this project? I changed the needle, re-threaded the machine, and finished the last of my project for the night, but I am just really looking forward to when it's done. At times I am very enthusiastic about it. I think I'm doing a good job, and I dream of selling my goods on Etsy one day. But apparently not until I can sew in a straight line - and avoid my finger.

Let there be light!

Back in December I asked if you knew anyone who might want to decorate their house like the Olive Garden, but we never received any leads on takers for our kitchen light fixture. Well, I am posing the question again - any takers?This is your last chance, because we're selling it. That's right - we're selling it. Which means that we took it down, got a replacement, and now need to get that Italianate object out of our house.

Doug was quite the busy bee yesterday - he installed the new kitchen light fixture and he installed a new ceiling fan in the office. Neither of these projects he had ever done before. I was very, very impressed. The kitchen light fixture was installed while I was at the grocery store. I have a photo of the beginning of the process: and a photo of the (awesome) end result, but nothing of the actual installation itself! Doug said it was easy, and I believe him, because I wasn't at the store that long, and if it were difficult he would have been still installing the light when I got back, right? Or lying on the floor electrocuted?

But when I got home, Doug had already moved on to installing the ceiling fan in the office. Why was he installing a new fan? Because our old one broke. Literally. Two of the fan blades snapped right off and Doug found them lying on the floor one evening. Good thing they didn't land on me while I was sitting here blogging, but even better that they didn't drop onto one of the poor unsuspecting kitties! We actually could have bought new blades and just put them onto the existing fan motor, but because the office has only one small sconce for lighting (and a small lamp), we decided to replace the fan with one that had a light in it, too. So Doug, having never done anything like this before, got out the instructions and set to work. He took the old fan down and put the new one up.Just like that! Presto-change-o! This process I know was more difficult, however. I know this because I left Doug in the middle of installing the fan to get more supplies for my on-going craft project (and also to pick up a volunteer application at the local Golden Living facility, which will deserve a blog unto itself) and came back and it still wasn't completed. But, it's done now. Doug's goal was to have both projects finished by 2pm and he made it with a few minutes to spare. Good job! So now we have a lot more light in the house, or at least light with more appealing fixtures. And score for Doug on the electrical work. Nothing's blown up yet!

I was feeling left out by all the improvements Doug was making to the house, though, so I tackled a project of my own. I took down the old, disgusting, not-even-retro-cool door to our pantryand put up a curtain instead.Now the food can be hidden in a bit more style. We are saving the old door, though, because you never know - it could be an asset to have it just in case.

As if that weren't enough activity for one day, I finished the day by baking Doug a peach pie. He deserved it, number one, and number two I was inspired by Betty Draper (season one Betty).Even though this photo is of the pre-cooked pie, I'm surprised at how similar it looks to the cooked pie. I remembered all the ingredients in all the right quantities, and I didn't burn this pie. Didn't cause a great smoke-out in the kitchen, and the fire alarm didn't even go off this time. Definitely a success. And now that I'm thinking of this pie, I think I'll go have a piece. I cannot resist pie.

Finally room for more.

Doug and I didn't plan on this weekend being as productive as it's turning out to be, but as I said today (sometimes the inspiration just hits me), you've got to grab the chance whenever you can get it. So, buzzing from the the good news about my cousin Amy and her husband Mike (they're pregnant and due in March!) and the complex and nuanced TV in Mad Men season one - we grabbed onto the momentum of the weekend and just did it. Whatever needed to get gone got done (within reason, of course. We do only have so much time). Here are the photos to prove it.

First things first - I picked a few tomatoes from the plant my mother gave us... the plant is looking a little pathetic these days,which is totally our fault because we never remember to water it. But from that plant came these beauties: Guess that means you can get water from a stone, or something. Anyway, while I was getting the oil changed, Doug was at home preparing for our new bookcase. You may recall that we have been on a book-buying binge and that we had run out of room for all the books we now have in our possession. Two shelves were just no longer going to cut it. So out with the old and in with the new.We even have room to grow with this one. The old bookcase is now in the office, holding all of my arts and crafts. This small change has made such a difference organizationally. I breathe a sigh of relief when I am in the living room now, and also when I'm in the office. Things are finally in their right place.

Speaking of things in their right place, we dropped the blue recliner off at the Salvation Army today. We got this recliner from Doug's parents when we moved to Newton back in the fall of 2001. Doug had it with him in the cave in Newton, and then we had it with us in Allston. We also had it with us in Newton, though it was relegated to the porch (and turned into a cat chair) and stopped being a main feature in our living room. When we moved to Dedham we took it with us, with the intention of using it in the basement, but that never worked out. Doug's been trying to sell it for probably a year now, but we've never had any takers. I know it will go fast at the Salvation Army, though. It's a really good chair, in very nice shape. Just doesn't have a place with us anymore. So good-bye, blue chair! We felt so torn about leaving it at the Salvation Army that I took a picture of it there, awaiting its fate. Doesn't it look lonely there? Ah well. Someone will get a good chair when they get that one, someone very lucky indeed (but that lucky someone had better like cats... I think half of Wyatt went to the Salvation Army along with it).

This weekend we also found a use for the mug that Chris and Chris so kindly sent to us, spicing up the kitchen a bit and giving it a nice injection of personality. We're stalled on the second season of Dallas, though. We were overloading on it, and now it's time to get some Mad Men in. There is just too much TV to watch, and I'm not even talking about the new shows on prime time each night. It's a bit overwhelming to think about, all this TV. Sasha has the right idea. Don't think - just stretch out and relax. Sounds like a good idea to me!

Wow. It's hot.

I'm jumping on the bandwagon and will spend part of this post talking about the heat. The heat is the news everywhere... or at least at Boston.com, which is where I get the vast majority of my news. Today I called Doug and told him that we could turn on the air conditioner tonight. I was baking, literally, in my office, and then I went outside to quickly run across the Christian Science plaza to get some corn for dinner and must have sweated off five pounds in the 10 minutes total that I was actually outside of the air conditioning. I am not a fan of air conditioning. I will do whatever is in my power to avoid turning it on at home, and hate the way my body has to adjust to the heat outside when I leave work after having spent eleven hours in it. But it's just so hot today, so I've caved. The first time we'll have had the air on all summer. Not too bad! The cats will be happy. Right now they're just lying around, as most cats are in this heat, trying to press their upside-down bodies into any corner they can to try to absorb any bit of coolness they might find there.

So I believe I forgot to discuss our vacuum cleaner episode in my last post. Saturday morning I woke up and jogged around the track at the high school. This was ambitious of me, especially since at 8:30 when I was out there it was already 80 degrees. But when I came back I decided to spend a little time watering the flowers and cleaning up the back steps area. I neglect the outside of the house so much. I feel very guilty about this. All spring and summer I've been meaning to clean up the back vestibule area, the little back porch where you enter the house. And so on Saturday, once the endorphins kicked in from my jog, I tidied and vacuumed this space. Because I was on a roll I then moved on to vacuum the rest of the house. Thoroughly vacuum. Vacuum the moldings, the doorways, the tops of the cabinets, the ceilings... you name it, I was vacuuming it. And then, suddenly, the vacuum stopped. I had turned it off to drag it to another room and put on a different attachment, and when I tried to turn it back on again there was nothing. Just silence. So I fiddled with the cord, Doug tried out several different plugs, we shook it, we jiggled the on/off button... nothing. Doug decided that it had overheated, but I decided that it was broken. I called the help line that was pasted to the front of the vacuum and was told to take it in to Mr. Sweeper, because the Dyson helpguy had no idea what could be wrong. So at about noon Doug and I trekked out into the heat to visit Mr. Sweeper, bracing ourselves for when he told us that we'd be swimming in a sea of cat fur because he wouldn't be able to have the vacuum back to us for a week or more. Come to find out, that preparation wasn't necessary.

We get to Mr. Sweeper and a nice young man comes out and asks us what the problem is. We tell him our vacuum cleaner is broken; it won't turn on. I begin to tell him that we have three cats and I was spending quite a bit of time vacuuming that morning and then suddenly it stopped working, and he immediately said that he was going to check for clogs. He takes the vacuum into the back room and not a minute later comes out with a handful of junk, showing us evidence of our problem. Sure enough, our vacuum was just clogged. In his hands were four pens, about a pound of cat hair, a few twisty-things from the top of milk containers, and enough cat food to feed the cats for a week. Well, not really, but there was a lot of stuff. "Vacuums don't suck up pens, guys," was what he said to us. Doug and I look at each other and each turn a deep shade of red. I mean, really. Clogged! Our vacuum was clogged! And we were both convinced that it was broken, Home Depot had sold us a lemon, and that we'd made a mistake going with the Animal. Anyway, once we apologized for being so stupid about our vacuum cleaner, we paid Mr. Sweeper $5 for his time and effort and took our vacuum home. I haven't used it since. I'm still a little embarrassed about the whole ordeal.

I am no longer embarrassed by our fish tank, though. Doug picked up a tiny three-gallon tank this weekend and now our cory cats are living in style in the living room. They love hiding in the pirate ship. If we don't forget to feed them, maybe these three hardy little buggers will be with us for a while longer.

And then this past weekend I had a reunion of sorts with some friends from high school. It was Jan's 30th birthday party at Jason's apartment in Newton. Thanks to Facebook I was made aware of the party and invited, and I went. It was fun! I hadn't seen Jan or Karen since our five-year high school reunion, which is something like six or seven years ago. Jason I saw a few years back when I was working at the O'Neill Library at BC, but Jaime and Krissi I haven't seen since... well, high school at least. It was fun to catch up. They met Doug, I met their other halves... I'm glad I saw them and I was glad to wish Jan a happy birthday. Yay thirty!

Now pardon me while I finish melting...

Drowning in books.

Last week, which started out so badly on Sunday, turned out to be an okay week. My mood has been really funny lately, though. I've been very moody. I'm blaming the ring, and there may be something to that, but it could also just be that I'm cycling through a moody spell. This happens. Ask Doug.

Anyway, the week ended pretty well. When Doug picked me up at the train stop in Newtonville on Thursday night we saw one of the brightest, most incredible rainbows we've ever seen. You could see the full color spectrum - even the BIV, which are hardly ever really visible.Part of me felt like a dork for standing on the street corner in rush-hour traffic (but isn't there always rush-hour traffic in Newton?) taking a picture of the rainbow, but it was a pretty neat moment, as you can see.

Then, on Friday night Doug and I headed to Big Papi's Grille for dinner. The place had its grand opening in late July, and it was advertised as mixing traditional American steakhouse food with Dominican flavors, but I have to say that I really was not all that impressed. I do like Big Papi, and I love Big Papi's public persona, but this place gave me no feeling of connection to Big Papi at all. The restaurant used to be the Metro 9 Steakhouse, which I guess recently closed. Someone must have come up with the idea to brand the new steak restaurant after Big Papi. All the staff was the same as from the Metro 9, and the decor was still the same as what was there from the Metro 9, save the Red Sox memorabilia on the walls. The walls were dark brown with red and gold framed fabric squares in which Red Sox photos and newspaper articles were hung. There were two fireplaces, both with heavy stonework around them, and the bar was heavy, dark wood. The chairs were vinyl with gold buttons along the seams (traditional steakhouse chairs), and the tablecloths were a cream vinyl (the tablecloths were new, as you could smell the vinyl smell). Here's a visual to help with my description: Needless to say, the decor in no way made me think of fun-loving Big Papi. Here's the thing - Big Papi at this point in his career (steroids or no) is a brand. He's an image. His image is that of the big, easy-going, teddy bear of a baseball player, out to have a good time. I picture Big Papi's restaurant with teal blues and greens on the wall, no tablecloths, tall bar/bistro tables, and a more Caribbean/Dominican inspired menu. Doug had french onion soup, of all things! And look at it!Where's the brown and bubbling cheese on top? What is that, a slice of American hardly melted? Not impressed. But Doug enjoyed himself. Doug got Big Papi's signature burger, the Dominican chimichurri burger, which I guess was infused with some red pepper flakes and had Big Papi's special en fuego sauce on the side. He did get the Caribbean cole slaw, and he really liked that. So I guess it was worth the wait (it was AN HOUR from the time we ordered until the time we got our burgers) to see Doug's smiling face as he chowed down at Big Papi's.Maybe because the place is so new there are still kinks to be worked out, so I am trying to give the place the benefit of the doubt, but man, I expected more from Big Papi.

And this weekend, so far, has been one for adding more books to our ever-growing collection. Really, I think I get new books every week. I don't read them quickly, either, so it's not like I need that many at my disposal, but there's something about going to a bookstore and looking for a book to read that I really enjoy. I spent a couple of hours in the Brookline Booksmith on Wednesday night waiting for Doug to get out of practice and managed to pick up five books from their bargain table. Last night/this morning, I spent lots of time on the Internet cleaning up my goodreads to-read list (and then going to Amazon and getting a few of the books I know I'll want to read sooner rather than later), and today Doug and I drove out to the Wellesley Booksmith because I wanted to see what they'd have on their bargain table. Turns out they don't have one, but their used book cellar is fantastic! We picked up another four books from there, and plus I learned that I get a discount when purchasing new books from the Wellesley Booksmith because I'm a librarian (though I tried to tell the guy at the desk that I shouldn't get the discount because I'm not a real librarian and wouldn't be buying books for my library's collection, but he said that as long as I consider myself a librarian and do a few things during my day that a "real" librarian might do, then I could have the discount. Thanks!). So a total score with the books this week. And it's a good thing that we are getting our new bookcase next weekend, because right now the coffee table in the living room is looking like its own bargain books table. We are basically drowning in books. I love it!

I heart Mystic (along with lots of other people)

Yesterday was pretty rotten as far as days go, but today, despite it being a hot, humid Monday, was better. Was able to wake up to my alarm (and even remembered to set it!), shaved, and was out the door on time, not to mention the fact that I was even somewhat productive at work today. While I did discover when I got home that we had lost another of our fish (leaving us with just three tiny cory cats in a giant 30 gallon tank), today was still a good day.

So yes, we lost another fish. Friday night when I got home Doug told me that we had an "almost casualty" in the fish tank. The Cheeseman/Stanley (don't know which one he was) was barely swimming, and he was doing so upside down. Had a case of ich. He was still alive, though. Doug wanted to head out to get him some drops, but because I want to put the fish tank away for a while and rid ourselves of having to take care of it, thought that we should let nature take its course. We compromised; if the fish was still alive the next morning we'd run out and get him drops. He wasn't. So I flushed the bulbous guy before Doug could have a chance to feel guilty about not getting him the drops. Then today, only two days later, I come home and look for the koi, the last of the big fish in the tank. I don't see him... hmm, he was just there this morning! But there he is, lying on the bottom of the tank, dead as a doornail. Very odd. He didn't look like he had ich, so I'm not sure what his issue was. But here's another interesting tidbit. So while my mom and my sister and the kids were staying at our house while we were on vacation, they said the tank was bright green, just as it had been when we left for Maine. When we got back from Maine, though, the tank was no longer green and the water had cleared up. My mother didn't really believe me - it was like lime jello only two days before. And now, just a week later, two of our fishies are dead. Are these coincidences? Probably not. Anyway, the tank is lonely now, being way too big for three tiny fish.We're going to get a smaller, table-top tank, maybe 5 gallons or so, and scale back our aquarium.

On to the good stuff, though. On Saturday Doug and I headed to the Mystic Art Show with my mom, sister and brother. It is turning into an annual event, and I love it. I look forward to it every year. There's something very charming about Mystic. My sister says she'd like to retire there. I would, too. Any town with a working drawbridge is right for me.

Did we buy any art? Yes. Doug and I picked up three small items - this very tiny watercolor to add to our art wall, a decoy print, and also an ink drawing. The print and drawing we haven't put up yet, so I won't post photos of them until we do. I'm trying to think of the best place for them. Might have to rearrange some other items to make room. My sister got some art, too. She's a great art collector and has been collecting for years - she sees something that she likes and pulls the trigger. Wish I could be more like that, but I'm too concerned about not having enough room for more art, or not wanting to spend the money.

But just as cool as the art is the fact that the family is together that day and having fun. We are all interested in checking out the art and other wares, as you can see here in this photo of all of us entranced by the goods. It's fun to go to a booth and look at the art and then point out the pieces you either like or don't like to your equally interested mom, sister, or brother. Or husband. It's like an art museum, only somewhat better - these pieces you can actually take home with you if you like them enough. So while the day is a success from an art point of view, it's also a success from a family bonding point of view. I was happy to hang out with my family on Saturday, and I hope they were happy to hang out with me, too. Thankfully my bad mood didn't develop until Sunday!

Do over, please.

Ever have a day that you wish you could just do over? Right from the very beginning, from the time that you woke up until the time you went to bed? I had one of those days today. Woke up late feeling very sluggish, so decided to ride my bike to the grocery store to get some exercise while getting that chore done. I spent way too much time putting my list together, and then had to pump up both tires on my bike, and then had to show Doug the disgusting pile of centipedes and earthworms and slugs that had made their home under the plastic bag of weeds and yard waste that my mother so kindly pulled up when she was here while we were on vacation. I rode my bike down to the intersection of Walnut and Whiting, but as I approached the intersection I tried to signal that I was turning left at the same time that I squeezed the right brake, so I flew forward off of my bike (I was glad I am not a guy, otherwise I'd be in quite a lot of pain!). Good thing there wasn't a car on my side of the street, but the other cars at the intersection sort of hesitated and looked at me to see if I was okay. Yes, I was, but my chain fell off my bike so I turned around and walked it home. Could I have put the chain back on? Probably, but I figured that it just wasn't my day to bike.

Once home I decided to go to Jo-Ann's to get some batting for the craft project I'm working on (my mom and sister are insisting that I need batting), but the Jo-Ann's closest to me didn't open until 12. I figured that I could head down to the one in North Attleboro, get my batting, and hit the grocery store on my way back (in the car) all before the one closest to me even opened. So I got directions to the North Attleboro store from the Jo-Ann's website, quickly ate a yogurt for breakfast, and left. It was supposed to take a half hour to get to Jo-Ann's in North Attleboro, but after an hour of driving around and not coming anywhere close to a giant Jo-Ann's superstore, I gave up, because by that point the Jo-Ann's closest to me would be opening in about 25 minutes and it would take me about 15 minutes to get there. I decided to go to the Big Y on the way to the other Jo-Ann's, since normally I love the Big Y, but wouldn't you know that this time the Big Y had very few of the items on my list and of the ones that it did have none of them were on sale. I spent way too much time and money in that store and left feeling even more annoyed that I was when I got in there. This would prove to be a pattern for the rest of the day.

So I get to Jo-Ann's at about 1pm, grab whatever batting I see (since I don't even know what batting is and have no idea what the difference is between all the different kinds, and there are many), head to Office Max to enlarge the pattern for my craft project, and finally, FINALLY, go home. It's now 1:45pm.

When I get home I quickly eat lunch, yell at Doug a bit since I am jittery and uncontrollably irritated, and then start on my craft project. I planned on working on my project for about 3 hours. It's now 8pm and I am nowhere near finished with my project, have only a few things to show for my 6 hours of work, and am cranky. Irritable, cranky, tired, hungry, greasy (decided not to shower today... yet another bad move), and generally unnerved. I would like to go to bed right now and wake up on Sunday morning all over again. This has not been a very good day. However, we do have fresh farm-stand corn for dinner tonight (thanks, Mom, for getting us some yesterday!), and cranberry-blueberry sorbet for dessert. Perhaps food will make me feel better. Food and then maybe watching TV. Tonight is a good night for TV.

Everything Else: Liberty, Part Three

Okay, so I'd talked about food and fishing, so let's talk about everything else from our vacation (which seems like it was years ago already). Let's talk a little about the various things we did BESIDES eat and fish, which were many.

All The Rest:

Last week was a week for the water. Lake water is great - very calm, not too cold, and pretty clean (depending on the lake, of course) - so it makes for great boating. We all became very adept at kayaking while on our trip, and I'm pretty sure that each of us left wishing that we had a kayak strapped to the roof of our car so that we could replicate the peaceful gliding on a body of water closer to home. Doug and I enjoyed several early morning kayaking trips, and Doug remembered to bring the camera along for one of them. Doug was so enthusiastic about kayaking that he didn't even need to do it on the actual water... less chance of a motor boat creating menacing waves if one kayaks on land, I guess.

We visited a lot of places, too, on our trip. We went to downtown Liberty and walked by the historic octagonal post office (the only one in the U.S.) but mailed our Netflix from the working post office, which is located in a much less impressive building but was manned by an extremely nice postal worker. Very kind, very polite, very helpful... do they exist around here?

We visited Belfast quite a few times, and each time I found it to be more inviting than the last. The first night we were there at dusk, and isn't this a lovely photo? Seems so very tranquil. That night we went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in one of the cutest little movie theaters I've ever been in. Our theater was not called Theater 1, or Theater 2... no, we saw the movie in Dreamland. Perhaps where dreams come true? Here we all slip into a dreamy state, and Chris's wish comes true...

We hit up Camden and then headed to the Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland, where not only did girl Chris have her lobster roll but she also chatted up a pirate, who offered to run her husband through. Here he simply tries to intimidate boy Chris with his large sword.

At Moody's Diner Doug and I wore lobster hats (much more becoming on Doug than on me) and if that weren't enough excitement for the day we headed to Morse's Sauerkraut for some more fine European treats (this was actually our second trip there - the first one being when we bought the sauerkraut, pickles, and this fine wedding sausage which I found to be completely amusing and not at all appetizing).

Some of the best times were had at the house, though, just enjoying what it had to offer. Doug made a frog friend and we all got to enjoy a lovely rainbow after one of the many rainstorms of the week. And getting up early each morning meant that I could enjoy the deck when the sun wasn't too high in the sky, there was a slight mist in the air, and the day held such promise. It's this photo that I love most of all, because it reminds me of how relaxing the trip was, how peaceful and quiet things were. Oh, to go back right now! If only! But before I dive into my evening of a little work, paying bills, and folding laundry, let me leave you with a group photo. We all had a great time - let's make this an annual trip!

Catching the Big One - Liberty, Part Two

I promised my nephew that I would post photos of our fishing adventures today (he was eager to see them, being a fisherman himself), so that will be the next topic from our vacation recap. I hope I did you proud, Frankie!

Fishing:
Though Doug and I did not spend much time with the fishing poles, fishing was a big theme of our vacation. Chris is an avid fishing enthusiast, and his enthusiasm rubbed off on us, despite the fact that it didn't get us out on the lake with our poles. Chris got into the kayak several times with his poles and caught quite a few things (a fish with teeth - was that a perch or a pickerel? - a few bass varieties and some blue gills and sun fish), but the rest of us liked the idea of fishing from our dock a little better. None of the rest of us were interested in putting the worms on the hook (even the fake, rubber kind) or had any desire to take the fish off the hook, which made fishing a little limiting. We decided to bust out the poles and the worms one afternoon right after a heavy rain storm; the fish were jumping, literally, and it seemed all too easy to catch something. And it was. We all managed to catch a fish, except for Doug, who cast, and cast, and cast again, but never caught more than weeds.

Girl Chris was the first one to put her pole in the water, and the first one to catch something. After a quick lesson from her bassmaster husband she up and caught a small mouth bass! Here it is being reeled in to shore: Everyone was quite excited by this turn of events - two thumbs up! - so Doug and I were eager to get out there. Chris graciously let me use her lucky pole for my turn at the line.

I cast my line out to the right of the dock, but nothing was doing, so I cast my line out to the left, and almost as soon as the little worm dropped into the water did I feel something tugging at my line. A fish! And this one was a fighter. I managed to reel it in, though, after a bit of time and a little bit of a struggle. Look at the mouth on this thing! No wonder it gave me a fight. The hook was in deep and took a bit of doing to get it out (I am forever grateful to Chris for having the courage to unhook the fish), but no harm came to the big guy. Once unhooked, he swam away to be with his fish friends, to tell them to stay clear of our dock! Here's a video of the stressful unhooking process:


Through all of this, Chris did not get to fish at all, being too busy being the wormer and unhooker. So after my fish went free, Chris decided to get his lucky pole out and cast a few lines, catching for himself a sun fish (all the bass were scared away by that point). Nothing wrong with a sunny, though. A nice looking one at that. This one was also deeply hooked, so once Chris freed the sunny from its metalic fate we stopped our fishing for the afternoon (and drove a half hour to a late lunch at Moody's Diner. Fishing and eating, our two favorite activities that week).

Chris had a good trip out to the big lake before we left, but not wanting to give up the dream of living at the lake, being able to cast a line whenever one wanted, Chris and Doug decided to try to use up some of the worms before we had to lock the cottage door and wave good-bye to Liberty. Chris and Doug discuss strategy on this beautiful morning, but alas, no fish. Just as well - leave them in the lake for us to go and catch next year.