STL DPB ON THE ROAD - DOLCE FAR NIENTE

The caption is a lovely Italian phrase that, poetically translated, means sweet idleness. My Italian is very limited (opera lyrics, basic tourist phrases. Dove sono i gabinetti?) If I understand correctly, far niente more literally means doing nothing. I am a person who does not do nothing well but I admire those who can. These gentlemen in their fishing boat on Budd Lake in Harrison, Michigan, are practiced in the art.            

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - SAND BAR AND OTHERS

We made it out of Boston yesterday and drove to Cape Cod, a summer mecca in the northeastern U.S. My niece is getting married today on the beach at Chatham, right at the elbow of the Cape. We drove around yesterday, stopping at a small fishing harbor surrounded by sand  bars. Dozens of seals hang out there, happy to make lunch from the fishermen's scraps.             

WOULD YOU EAT WHAT THEY CAUGHT?

Might be hard to read depending on the size of your screen but the side of the small boat says Gateway Blues Catfishing.  Apparently there is a business that will take you out on the Mississippi searching for the critters, which are served fried. The river is a lot cleaner than it was some decades ago but, still, catfish are bottom feeders and the river is busy and just imagine what's down there. So, no, I wouldn't eat it.

Note the enormous size of the barges in the background, some distance behind the fishing boat. When in transit, they are connected two across and up to eight or ten long, pushed by a very powerful boat. How the pilots steer them through the many bends on the Mississippi is beyond me.    

WHAT THEY DO UP THERE

Life in low gear. You can find versions of this in any of the north central or northeastern states that that are striped with glacial lakes. Just a swimsuit here, no waders needed. The water was very warm. No idea what you might catch.

I don't know anything about fishing. You wouldn't dare eat anything you caught in the waters where I grew up. Besides, I would just as soon do my own appendectomy as clean a fish.

We are home, having made it through four short flights, a couple of changes at O'Hare, several hotel and Air BnB nights. Everything okay so far but ask me again in a couple of weeks.

Madeleine Monday - Fishing Derby

A couple we know have a house in the countryside outside of St. Louis. It's where we went to see the solar eclipse last year. There is a big pond, access to the Meramec River, big fields and ATVs. They host an annual summer party with lots of activities for children.

Mrs. C, Emily and Ellie attended. (I was stuck in the office writing the materials for a talk I'm giving at an upcoming legal conference.) There was a fishing derby for the little ones and guess who won the prize for the biggest fish? It was all of 7 inches / 18 cm long but my was she proud. It's an activity I could not have helped her with. You wouldn't want to eat anything you caught in the waters where I grew up.

At some point several of the children were in the pond playing shark. You can see who took on the role of Jaws.      

Go Fish

We are in Seward, on the coast. In the early evening boats for visiting fishermen and women return to harbor and unload the day's catch. The crews clean and fillet it on the spot. It's flash frozen, vacuum sealed and shipped anywhere. We met a man from Arkansas who told us he had been to Seward more than 20 times. At the end of each visit, he ships home 50 pounds of salmon and 50 pounds of halibut.

I took about a zillion pictures of this process. There are lots more good ones I could edit in my spare time. Havent even started on the pix I took earlier Saturday in Seward (anyone want to see puffins?) or the long boat trip we took Sunday down Resurrection Bay and into the Gulf of Alaska, where we saw a glacier that empties right into the ocean, seals, whales and a pod of orcas. No rest on our holidays.