Nature & Halloween: Along Came a Spider……..

Things were easing along through the Halloween evening…knocks at the front door, the dog barking and young voices yelling ‘Trick or Treat’. Suddenly, the noise level elevated. My wife shrieked for my presence. I suspected my wife was being robbed of her stash of Air Heads by a gang of too old to trick or treat juveniles. No, young girls were pointing out a dangling decoration above the front door.

I came to the door to see a large, grape sized body with long legs spinning a web from the Halloween lights I had strung above the door. I carefully scooped the creepy spider into a container and took it into the kitchen thinking I am going to photograph this critter.

I got the camera and plopped the spider out onto a paper towel thinking the spider might cooperate. It took some doing because this spider had ideas about spinning a web around the kitchen! I got a few shots and then released the spider away from the front door decorations.

Photography: A Last Soft Look at Summer……..

Photography: These Old Stairs…..

More often than not we are looking ahead in time, barely living in the moment and briefly looking back in regret. Often when we look back it is only with our mind’s eye. But, perhaps if one is still, takes the time and looks at say these stairs…one could recall so much of what transpired up, on and down these stairs at the front of a childhood home.

Running and leaping up and down the stairs when you trusted the power in your young legs…playing with toy cars on the incline and imagining a bigger world in your fertile mind…sitting alone and waiting for neighborhood kids to come home in order to have a playmate…watching people parking a car at the curb and climbing the stairs to visit Mom…sweeping up leaves from the corners or watching the drifting snow climb the edges…guiding my elderly Mom up or down the stairs…elated moments in life…somber moments in life…selling the family home and walking down those stairs one last time.

Photography: Thistle Thy Name is Noxious Beauty

Tossle topped beauty of the thistle.

It starts small and erupts into ever more beautiful vertical flowers

But does it finish any less beautiful on a cold October day?

Of course, it is a problem plant in Oregon and around the world. 3400th Post at SwittersB & Fly Fishing!

John Louis Hagan II (R.I.P. Good Man)

The funeral home was packed today, in honor of a humble, solid as a rock man named John Louis Hagan II, who passed last Friday. It was an honor to know John (JL). He was a gentleman, steady, thoughtful…an unassuming warrior that happened to own a fly shop…Northwest Fly Fishing Outfitters in Portland, Oregon.

Family and close friend stood and extolled John’s virtues. It was evident he was, as I would have thought, a giving, loyal man, who asked little for himself, but was always willing to give of self for others.

I believe the one line from his eulogy that most resonated was this one: “John had a need to be where fish are caught.”  Can the line be any more simple yet loaded with so many layers of fulfillment for so many of us.

Thank you John for you kindness, God bless you and your family.

Photography: “Can’t You Hide That Damn Pouch?”

I have worn this pair of Simms Guide Waders for years. In all of fishing, the greatest purchase I have ever made was a pair of Gore-Tex waders that replaced the old grape skin neoprene waders. The second purchase of note was switching to an Intermediate Clear line for lakes….

But anyway, my wife is often sizing up my unkempt appearance while we fish for photo ops. One aggravating site apparently is the pouch on my waders. It is meant to be flipped inward against the chest, but I have always had it outside the waders to access any number of items. And, as a result it shows the wear of time.

I mean it does show some stains from floatants, wet pipe tabacco, sweat, fish slime and water.

I mostly carry pipe tobacco, pipe, lighters, strike indicators, split shot, and other oddities in the pouch. It is just so handy. Some how it gets soiled.

Personally, I think it is part of the charm to wear well worn attire on the water. I mean it doesn’t smell too bad, and I can’t really see it. So, what’s the fuss about.

Food: Chuck Wagon Recipes

Chuck Wagon Recipes

Ah, how the mind bounces along early in the morning: I had this photograph and had focused down into the axle. I thought how is that wagon wheel axle built? What are the components of an old wagon wheel? How did they lubricate (grease) those old wheels on journeys? 

I researched tallow, blackjack grease, block grease, coal tar grease and then I happened upon a greasing piece at Chuck Wagon Recipes and decided the food preparations looked far more interesting than the grease. Aren’t you glad?