Category: Nature/Life
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Seasons of Change
Gone are the summer evenings of sunlight and splendor. Fallen are the leaves of autumn once more. Bright mornings give way to early darkness as a new season approaches. The rivers are much cooler now and the snow will be flying soon. I even had ice in my guides while fishing this weekend, which acted…
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Don’t Take Fall For Granted
The autumn leaves have already peaked here in the high country and I’m not sure how that’s possible. Gone are the blazing hot days of intense summer sun. We’re in what some people call “Indian summer” and although the origin of the phrase isn’t entirely clear, it was likely a period after the first frost…
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Routine (The good, the bad, and the necessary)
Routine is part of life. Most of us wake up, go to work, come home, make dinner, watch a show and go to bed. We rinse and repeat Monday through Friday until the weekend finally arrives. I’ve had students for the past four weeks and we now have our routine. It’s a good one and…
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Nowhere, Alaska
I’ve been nowhere for a few hours and gone a day or two without a shower, but that’s about it. Alaska was different. My compatriots and I talked for months about how we’d feel when the float plane took off and left us to our own devices in the Alaskan wilderness. It was surreal and…
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Compliments and Kindness Don’t Cost a Thing
Why do some people hold back on giving compliments? Do we just not think about giving them or do we keep them to ourselves? Does it diminish us to build others up? Complimenting others makes me feel good. Building people up is oh so important for kids, middle aged folks (like myself) and retirees alike.…
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Back “Home”
I don’t have any immediate family left in New York State these days, but I have enough people that still feel like family. They’re the type of friends you fall back into rhythm with like a musician picking up an old guitar that’s been in a dusty closet for a year. It takes a few…
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Unapologetically, Us
Kesha said it best when she still had a $ in her name; We R Who We R. I’ve been watching a show on Apple TV called “Your Friends and Neighbors” and there was a recent line that instantly reminded me of that song. “People can’t help the way they are.” Ain’t that the truth.…
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Attention to Detail
What do you notice that others don’t? Can you spot a hawk on a fence post 100 yards away? Can you see a rising fish your buddy just missed? Did you spot a piece of trash ten people just walked past? Do you see the pain someone else is experiencing without uttering a single word?…
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Fishing With a Time Machine
If I had a real time machine I’d probably return to a few scenes of fly fishing failure and try to make amends, but that would be cheating. Instead, I prefer to capitalize on the bipolar weather/elevation change in Colorado and use it to my advantage. The flies that worked so well in March have…
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Happy Hour
During the Prohibition era, the concept of drinking before dinner evolved, with people hosting “cocktail hours” or “happy hours” at speakeasies before eating at restaurants where alcohol could not be served. What a novel idea! Since then, happy hour has evolved and discounted food/drinks can be enjoyed (and served) at bars and restaurants without the…
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Signs of Spring
“All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child.” – Marie Curie My father and I visited Cheesman Canyon last week in search of trout and nature. It’s a Front Range fishery near Denver, so the days tend to warm more rapidly throughout the calendar year compared to other…
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Reverse Poem: The Best of Everything
I was reading about reverse poems and wanted to give one a shot. Read from top to bottom and bottom to top. Get the best of everything don’t settle for less and work hard for what you deserve because happiness is on the horizon Aim high battle the slow drip of mediocrity and take the…
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One of One
You are one of one. Just like each unique snowflake that has ever taken flight, you are you and you are special, so don’t forget it. The holiday season presents many joys, challenges, special moments and yes, presents. Families come together from afar or just down the street to celebrate much more than just togetherness.…
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Holiday Greetings
I love and hate airports, but mostly love them. Watching the anticipation of a holiday greeting makes me smile even though 99.99% of the people I witness smile, hug, or cry, I will never see again. There’s just something about it. Let’s be honest, holiday travel isn’t easy sometimes and Mother Nature rarely cooperates so…
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Self-Care 101
I tell my students, family and friends to only fret about the things we can control. Well, no matter how happy, sad, angry, ecstatic, frustrated, scared or upset we are about recent events, the outcome is the outcome and it’s time for self-care 101 because the snow is already flying here in the Rocky Mountains…
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I Got Fall On My Mind
The nights and mornings are slowly cooling down and we just hit peak fall foliage here in Eagle County. I wonder if J. R. R. Tolkien ever visited Colorado because when the sun hits the leaves just right, it looks exactly how I picture Lothlórien. Fall is a reminder that everything ends, but it’s a…
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Moving
Most of us have moved at least once in our lives, but many more of us have packed up our belongings (including the things we should have thrown away) to relocate more times than we care to count. After my initial cross country venture to Colorado, I’ve loaded up my life three more times to…
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Summer
The word summer means a plethora of things to a great many people. It could be a day at the lake or maybe crushing frosty beverages at a weekend BBQ because that’s a rule. It could be a break from the kids after sending them off to camp for the week because you deserve it.…
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Changing of the Seasons
The past few weeks I have worn shorts, sandals, my raincoat, a beanie, warm socks, pants, a t-shirt, my STARSET hoodie, and my favorite fishing hat, which is becoming quite rustic I might add. I’ve written about this before and some people know how much I love the shoulder seasons in Colorado, but to actually…
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Staring at the Sun
If I’m being honest, I never imagined I’d ever visit the state of Arkansas. However, there are some famous rivers such as the White and Little Red, which hold brown trout that would eat the browns I’ve been catching recently. In 1992, a 40 pound brown trout was caught below Greer’s Ferry Lake (where we…
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The Things That Matter
If you’ve ever seen True Detective, (Season 1 is quite possibly the finest season of any TV show, ever) then you’ll remember that “time is a flat circle.” I love that line, but I’m not so sure it’s true although it sure is fun to say, especially to people who get it, because when they…
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Winter Break
When I started this post it was sunny, and now it’s snowing again. That’s winter in Colorado for you. It was surely a memorable break with plenty of fish caught (and lost) on my home river and the Roaring Fork. I’ve talked to friends with even more stressful jobs than my own and they’ve said…
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The Best Laid Plans
I can’t decide if fishing teaches me about life or if life teaches me about fishing. Perhaps it truly doesn’t matter, but at some point, we’ve all carefully crafted an immaculate plan that fell flat on its face. A couple years ago, I was fishing the Fryingpan River on a simply stunning July day and got my…
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Into the Wild: Small Wonders
As a teacher, I’m not too proud to admit when I’m wrong and if I get a question I can’t answer, I’ll look it up. For one thing, I want to know more tomorrow than I do today and I want to practice what I preach, not just preach. So, how I had never read the…
Mayfly Musings 