fishin'

No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth.

I have several good excuses for my absence.  If you wish to read them, here they are.

If not, scroll down to the bolded sentence and go from there!

1. I still have no internet on my laptop, therefore I cannot blog whenever and wherever I want.  I am one of those people who likes to write in unusual places.

2.  I HATE my husband's keyboard, it takes me forever to type something correctly.  Ergonomics be damned.

3.  My hubby's computer is in our dark office, which is the hottest (and messiest) room in our house.

4.  It's summer, for crying out loud!  I can write when it's snowing and blowing and 10 degrees outside.

July has been full of family and fishing and oppressive heat.  THIS is the good stuff (well, not the heat part...):

We went to Bemidji for the fourth of July, for the first time in several years. We were blessed with perfect weather and Heather was an excellent hostess, as always.  I loved staying at her house on the hill, enjoying the cool breezes on her patio, picking wildflowers in the field next to her house, and checking out her fabulous garden.  I just love that girl.

We were able to go trout fishing, which is something I had not done since I was a young girl.  My nephew Kaleb let us use his small boat, which was the only way we were able to get onto the tiny Lake, whose name shall not be mentioned here, to preserve it for future trout fishing.

I love the anticipation of getting ready to go.  No need to stop at the bait shop for fresh minnows or leeches, rainbow trout like salmon eggs and corn, suspended from miniature marshmallows.  My dad reminisced, while we were fishing, that it used to be the only time he had to bring extra bait, as the kids would eat it all.

The lake is small, completely undeveloped, and serene.We whistled the theme to "The Andy Griffith Show" as our boat glided across the jeweled waters.

And we caught fish, oh yes we did.  Beautiful rainbow trout.

And still had time for pictures.

Even a brief rainstorm didn't send us to shore.

And we were able to go multiple times over the weekend, as the weather gods smiled down on us.

My dad smoked some of the fish, and one day we enjoyed it for lunch with ice cold beer, our fishing tans warm on our bodies, big smiles on our faces.  I can't wait to grill up the fish I brought home, an edible reminder of perfect summer hours spent with family.