Old Photographs & Western Settlers

I was messing around with old photo’s from SwittersB to create a small collage. I went looking for more and came across an old box of black and white photo’s that took me way back to being  a young boy.

A very young, dirty faced, SwittersB, 1953, NW Vaughn, Portland, Oregon

I have always enjoyed the transport back in time, especially looking at photographs of settlers in the U.S. I certainly imagine anyone enjoys the same nostalgia ride regardless of their locale around the world.

Tacoma dock, men unloading halibut, 1888

AMERICAN WEST PHOTO ARCHIVES

 

Fly Fishing: Posing the Fish & You

Deneki Outdoors (Photography-Hero Shot) has some real life, useful tips on setting up and taking that trophy shot. Often there is a glitch in the presentation or the taking and the opportunity is lost for others to see and for you to refresh your memory. In addition, Deneki Outdoors (The Best of Deneki) has compiled a sizable list of immensely useful information about various aspects of fly fishing and fly tying.  

The rush, the feel of the pull, 'the moment'. The fish is played and brought to hand, or net, or somewhere in between. You played it quickly, so as to not overplay and stress the fish. So, now it is thrashing about, still pivoting about on the tension of a tight leader. The photographer is attempting to get closer. The camera is being readied, the angle of sun considered. Words of encouragement are offered. The angler makes the attempt to control the fish....and it all ends in a thrashing, splashing plunge. Captured from too far away, but still a glimpse of thickness and beauty. Thank goodness there are often opportunities to repeat this fire drill, and yes, they will often end the same way. (PP/SM)

Fly Fishing Creativity Links (must be the altitude or chemistry)

Erin Block

Jay Zimmerman at Colorado Fly Fishing Reports Blogspot (nice tutorials on flytying and pleasant photography) and his partner in fly lines Erin M. Block at Mysteries Internal (gifted wordsmith and passionate fly fisher) are nice places to visit. Check out both of these sites. They both have a warmth to them that suggests no pretense, totally welcoming. I like the Clown Foot Caddis/Sally that Zimmerman created (note earlier today I wrote about attractor pattens or flies capable of the dry/dropper set up…check out the Clown Foot). And, tell me if you don’t enjoy the insightful way Erin puts words down that resonate.

Fly Fishing: Simple Partridge & Green Shined

Yesterday, midday, on the McKenzie River the Partridge and Green Wet Fly Shined

PMD’s and a variety of  Caddis were coming off. As the fly became tattered from teeth, it still worked just fine until it finally came undressed. Darn!  Tutorial/SBS by Oregon Fly Fishing Blog.

Happy Father’s Day

This day, to celebrate the father in our life, is worthy from all manner of angles. If you have a good one you are blessed and know it. If you never knew your dad (rambling procreation) or he was more like child than a man, then the celebration is seemingly inappropriate. That is life. No point sugar-coating it. I was fortunate to have an amazing father. As he lay in a hospital bed, chugging out his final breaths from a stroke, I rubbed his forehead and held his hand and told him I loved him as he grew still. My father never told me he loved me. He never gave me a hug. He just crafted an image in my mind of how a caring, enduring father should operate day after day.

He did give me much and I am thankful I saw it, sensed it, early on. He worked from  about 12 y/o until his death in his 70′s. Often he worked two jobs. He never complained, at least so I would hear it. He had his demons and dark side, I know today, yet I never saw it. He worked day in and out and instilled in me a stoic work ethic that coupled with pride I have copied most of my life.

What is most enduring is his love of the outdoors. He loved camping. CAMPING CRAFT GUIDE
The whole process of getting ready for the trip was as important to him as it was to this boy. And once we were at our campground (early on selected for its close proximity to fishing) he shined with such perfection that I have spent my adult life emulating his skills, pace, confidence to provide my family many pleasant, memorable outdoor experiences. He taught me all manner of camp skills that I have passed on and already see my dad’s efforts coming to pass in all my children and their loved ones. He taught me how to BBQ, how to prepare and cook not just camping but at home as well. And he taught me to appreciate funky ‘Hawaiian’ shirts before they, if ever, became popular.

To the quiet, steady man from the hills of West Virginia…who endured the Aleutian Islands of WWII…helped conquer the truly wilds of the Yukon to create the Al-Can Hiway…who worked his rear off at two jobs and provided for me a work ethic, safe home, education and much more….Thank you dad. 

To all the good men who do the good deeds of fatherhood~manhood….cheers to you!

Recording Your Family Recipe Treasures

Recently, I received a piece about In Memory’s Kitchen
It is a poignant tome about a group of Jewish women housed in a concentration camp in Terezin, Cz. The women, starving, awaiting death pieced together recollections of family recipes. They wrote them down on propaganda leaflets and wrote them in a combination of languages.

Later the compilation found its way, decades later to a daughter, who had survived the camps. The book was released and as noted in many reviews is a testament to the courage and heart the women possessed. Most touching is they knew they were to die. They wrote there recipes down for what reason? In order to celebrate a past simple life…to offer a memory or record of what was? It is a touching book, not for the recipes, but for the courage and heart of women, who dined on scraps from the garbage heaps while recording their favorites.

So, from a personal point of view, I offer this also as an incentive to record any and all family recipes that are not already written on a note card or piece of paper tucked into a cookbook: my mom made the world’s best potato salad. I have never tasted a better potato salad. Yet, I never acquired the how to steps of preparing it. For, five months my mom laid in my home, in a hospice environment. I watched her slip away in a slow motion dance with death. Not once did it occur to me to ask her how she made that magnificent potato salad. It seemed inappropriate at the time. My daughter-in-law has come close in replicating it, but the recipe would have been nice….that secret combination of ingredients…that edge.

Ask your mom, dad, aunt, mother-in-law for the recipe for that special dish, sauce, rub or cooking technique. So many times it is up there in their head. It has been altered from the original many times over the years. That is ok, get the memory down and celebrate the sharing of a family treasure. Do it soon!

Cooking: Fried Steak

When I was a kid there was not a BBQ in our family. Steaks were cheap cuts and maybe cooked in oven under the broiler, spattering and bursting all over. More often they were fried on the stove top. Seems odd these days when many have gas grills on the back deck or charcoal BBQ’s. Of course, the ‘old’ way is still an option (outside of restaurants):

PAN FRIED STEAK

BROILER PAN STEAK

This may take you back a bit, the smells of fried food in the house? Eventually, my dad acquired the charcoal BBQ and steaks were no longer cheaper cuts, but T-Bones (our tradition) or other good cuts suitable for family celebrations. For most of my young life, cuts of beef were a treat. Even Round Steak was a treat.

Sturgeon on the Willamette River

 

Tony Muncy, Willamette, River, 'Keeper' 2-18-2011 SB

Sometimes A Man Has To Do What He Has To Do! Tony Muncy out with his uncle, Richard Zach on the Willamette (Columbia River for Sturgeon.)

Fly Fishing & Digital Photography

Don't Be A Prisoner to Auto Mode!

For me, understanding camera basics has been akin to being back in high school algebra. Brain freeze. That side of my brain was probably damaged when I was dropped as an infant. It has never computed for me. So, when I read about shutter speed, aperture, ISO setting and depth of field and realize they are interconnected my mind, at first quakes, then sighs in relief that there is an auto setting for my cameras.

I’m spoiled by nice mid-level cameras. But, is that going to teach me how to maximize the capabilities of the cameras/lens? Of course not. If you are like me, every little bit helps in the take me by the Manual Mode hand and teach me. Here is a good Digital Camera Tutorial site for the beginner that wants the cues on how  to experiment with confidence in that manual mode. So, if that creative streak hits you out there on the water or at the bench take a chance. Of course you can search down the right side of my blogroll for the true experts in fly fishing photography. Inspiring and exceptional work; they obviously excelled in algebra or weren’t dropped on their heads.

Craft Brewer & Publican, Don Younger, passes on.

Many have called Don Younger the ‘undisputed Godfather’ of the craft brewing cult that had its origins in Portland, Oregon and now has spread far and wide. Don Younger died yesterday from leading life his way (indulgent habits). But, he was a benevolent soul, who drew others up and opened doors for others in the craft brew industry. I recall the Horse Brass Pub of old, and how it evolved through Don Younger.

Don Younger

“He was the heart of Beervana, and not just Portland, he touched so many people in one way or another: if you’ve ever enjoyed a craft beer, you have Don Younger to thank in some way.” Lisa Morrison critic of the extensive Oregon Beervana scene.