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Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Monday, March 30, 2015
"Mountain Day" by W.S. Merwin
Photo by VegaStar Carpentier Photographie
With one dear friend we go up the highest mountain
thousands of feet into the birdless snow
and listen to our breaths in the still air
for a long time beside the observatories
later we stretch out on the dark crumbled
lava slope looking
west at the sun yellowing the clouds below
then go down past the wild cows to the cabin
getting there just before sunset
and eat by the fire laughing at what we have
forgotten to bring
afterward we come out and lie
braided together looking up
at Cassiopeia over the foothill.
"Mountain Day" by W.S. Merwin from Collected Poems: 1952-1993. © The Library of America, 2013.
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Rocky Ford Creek Report: Last Trip For Awhile
I had to fish on a day that was going to warm up to the high 70's. I decided to go back to Rocky Ford after cutting short my last visit.
Along the way and at home balsam root is beginning to carpet the hillsides. We don't usually see these until May.
I shot past Lake Lenore. There were guys there, but I decided to hold it in reserve a little longer. A lake near home, one I call Early Lake, will open on April 1, so I'll launch the tube there for the first time this year. Later in the month, before Trout Lake opens on the last Saturday, I'll make one more drive south to sample the waters of Lake Lenore.
It was downright balmy at Rocky Ford, another shirt sleeve day. Everything is turning green.
I started fishing with an indicator, but with the amount of surface activity I soon took it off to try my luck on top. I greased a peacock herl soft hackle, began to strip it in slowly, and this pretty little fish was all over it. Then it stopped working.
I tried a little Adams, a mayfly spinner, an elk hair caddis, and a small stimulator with no results. Then I tied on something I worked up the other night inspired by a little black stonefly pattern.
A very nice fish poked his whole head out of the water to intercept it on a brisk strip.
This little guy took it with a splashy rise.
And a second good fish also hit the fly on the strip, this time with a beautiful porpoising take.
As the afternoon moved toward evening the fishing slowed down. Pelicans enjoyed some preening after a long day covering lots of water.
Mosquitoes came out.
And sandhill cranes flew over in long wavy lines.
The fish had stopped rising, so I went back to an indicator and hung a scud under it and fished that as twilight deepened into dusk. I got one little pull, and that was it.
I headed back to the truck. Along the way I passed a garter snake exploring the world after a winter's hibernation. It reminded me of Rocky Ford's reputation for rattlesnakes in the summer.
I won't need to worry about them. With local fishing beginning in just a few days, this was my last trip to Rocky Ford until next winter.
Unless I'm tempted to come back sooner by memories of those big, beautiful Rocky Ford Rainbows.
Friday, March 27, 2015
Thursday, March 26, 2015
"The Invention of Heaven" by Dean Young
The Henry's Fork, Railroad Ranch Section
The mind becomes a field of snow
but then the snow melts and dandelions
blink on and you can walk through them,
your trousers plastered with dew.
They’re all waiting for you but first
here’s a booth where you can win
a peacock feather for bursting a balloon,
a man in huge stripes shouting about
a boy who is half swan, the biggest
pig in the world. Then you will pass
tractors pulling other tractors,
trees snagged with bright wrappers
and then you will come to a river
and then you will wash your face.
"The Invention of Heaven" by Dean Young, from First Course in Turbulence.
© University of Pittsburgh Press, 1999.
Youth Sports Post: Spring Sports
With Spring comes spring sports.
My son, Jeremiah, will play baseball. These photos are from practice. We've had one game but Jeremiah didn't play because of grades, alas. We lost. I think he's got those grades up now, so maybe he can help us to our first win this weekend.
Soccer has kicked off as well.
As for the high school season, he, too, hasn't played yet because of grades, more's the pity. But he's busted his butt to be eligible, and should be playing this weekend. So far we have a record of 2 and 1, and Isaiah's return, I believe, will help us get firmly on the winning track.
Isaiah did play in a pre-season jamboree, and our team dominated. Isaiah looked very good.
I was surprised to see that last photo of mine on the front page of the Sports section in the local paper.
Actually, it's not mine. It was taken by Al Camp, one of the local sports reporters. I was out there taking photos, and so was he. He came over to talk to me, and give me pointers, so we were standing right next to each other when we shot the same play just a split second apart.
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