A Beautiful Day

This past Friday morning, my husband roused the kids and I out of bed awfully early. He informed us there were doughnuts and coffee waiting in the kitchen and the boat was hitched and ready to be taken out. He wanted to go fishing. Our bay waters have recently reopened in light of the threat of oil. Shrimpers were given the green light to cast out their nets once again. Honestly, it is a sigh of relief. Us locals are aware that we are by no means out of the woods, per se, but a reprieve is always welcome.

We had a wonderful time, once we managed to get the boat launched! You see, it takes our family quit a bit of effort to arrive at any given destination. We couldn't locate one of the kids lifejackets and ended up purchasing a new one. The bait shop was out of shrimp at 5:30 a.m., so we had to wait an extra hour. My youngest had to do his "daily constitution", twice. You see where I am going with this?! "Snake Bit" as my husband claims, that's what we are. My oldest, who is only seven, has perfected the art of complaining. For fours hours all we heard from him, "When can we go home, I'm sleepy.", "It's hot!", "I can't catch anything, I quit!". I wished I had a mute remote for him on more than one occasion! All in all, the day turned out to be magnificent! We were fishing for speckeled trout. So were a lot of other fishermen. It has be years since I have been fishing, but it is like riding a bike, you never forget. My husband did have to untangle the nest I created with the rod, his fault for giving me the cheap rod! Of course he had to hook the shrimp for the boys and I, ( I have issues spearing something alive), and cast the lines too.

There were no signs of oil, just several boons placed about. Many "spotters" anchored together and chilling under there umbrellas. There were several fisherman out, and surprisingly, not many shrimpers.
As we rode from one spot to another, I took some time to take in my surroundings. The skies, though slightly cloudy, were blue, the water was perfect and inviting. Nature was alive all around us. The pelicans perched on posts and patiently awaited their next snack, as well as the sea gulls which loomed overhead and occasionally dove to retrieve a fish. My husband, with his keen eyes, spotted a family of porpoises. They put on quite a show for us. The male, I am assuming, was enormous. I do not believe I have ever seen one that big! It was something like you would see at Sea World. He would shoot straight up out of the water and then flop down onto his side. This happened several times. Absolutely spectacular! God has such a creative hand. It was as if the Lord was speaking to me and reminding me that he created this for us to enjoy and appreciate. How we take it for granted. We can become so caught up in our own personal world that we forget to look what is all around us. This time on the water took on a greater reflection for me. It is like a whole seperate world, all to its own. An escape for me.

The oil may not stay out of our bay, that we cannot change. What is done is done, fingers have been pointed, the blame has been layed. God has loaned us this world for the time being, it is up to us to appreciate it and care for it. We cannot change the course of our future, His return is inevitable. We can appreciate what He has given us. We can find our own place for reflection and inspiration. God has created an enormous piece of art called, our earth. What will you look at it and see? Are you a glass half empty or half full?

You might wonder if we actually caught any fish? Why yes, I did. Key word, "I". M, my husband, had his line bit through twice, and both the boys had several nibbles but were to trigger happy and lost them. We finally figured out what was biting through his line when the boat next to us caught a shark! Of course they released it, but our suspense was confirmed. Yes, alas, I the only woman in the family had to hunt for our food. No, I did not clean it, I had done all the hard work! We did enjoy one 3 lb. speckeled trout for dinner, though. M fried him up and he was soooo good! Here are a few pics I took while out on the boat. Notice our youngest is holding up the fish I caught. I'm a little too girly-girl when it comes to live slimy things!










The grey blob you see is the porpoise performing.




I do not know if anyone lives in this house, but I can see it ,all cleaned up, with my family living quite comfortably in there!