Ten days and countings…Fishing with the boys…

Tom is standing outside the Bait & Tackle store in Plymouth, near the red SUV

How the time has passed so quickly baffles us. Is it due to our rapidly advancing age, or is it since we’ve been so busy with spending quality time with family and friends? Perhaps it’s a mix of both.

A container of “waxworms,” aka maggots.

As July quickly approaches in a few days, with July 7th as our Minnesota departure date, we anticipate the three weeks we’ll spend in Las Vegas will pass soon as well. Each time we prepare the “photo from one year ago today” at the bottom of each post, we’re astounded by how the one-year period of time seems as if it’s only been months, not a year.

Vincent fishing on the dock on Lake Johanna in Arden Hills.

This is true with most of our travels, especially when we’re living in an area we find particularly interesting and meaningful, as has been the case over the past month we’ve been in Minnesota.

Yesterday, a bit of nostalgia entered the mix of experiences when we brought grandson Miles out to our former Lake Minnewashta in Chanhassen, a 20-minute drive from the hotel.

It was a fantastic, sunny day with a few bathers at the beach on Lake Johanna.

We’d planned to fish with the boys sooner, but somehow the time got away from us. In these past two weeks, we’ve had the opportunity to go fishing with both grandson Vincent (Tom’s daughter, Tammy) and grandson Miles (my son, Greg).

Vincent caught his first fish, tiny but gratifying. The hooks are carefully removed to avoid injuring the fish, and the fish are tossed back into the lake. The kids have no interest in eating the fish they catch, nor do any adults care to fillet small sunfish or crappies (pronounced croppies).

As shown in today’s photos, both fishing outings were relatively successful, at least to some degree. Vincent caught three sunfish on Lake Johanna in Arden Hills last week, and yesterday, Miles caught 13 or 14 sunfish on Lake Minnewashta in equal periods. The bait used and equipment were identical. 

Another catch for Vincent, equally small but enough to elicit a partial smile.

Since it made no sense for us to get fishing licenses or purchase equipment, we helped both grandsons with their fishing line issues and bait. Over two years older than Miles, Vincent needed little to no assistance, while Miles, only nine, needed a bit of help on a few occasions, to which we happily obliged.  

Miles is ready to “toss a line.”

Tom had stopped to purchase easy-to-use bait in both cases, the popular wax worms as shown in the photo.  These are now priced at $2.28 per container of 25 “maggots.” When we lived here almost five years ago, they were priced around $1.50 per container. Inflation, I guess. 

Yesterday’s cool (under 70 degrees) weather prevented any interest in swimming at the beach on Lake Minnewashta.

Where can one get hours of enjoyment for a paltry $2.28?  They each had a good time. Then again, so did we.  How could we not be reminded of living on the lake and fishing with the grandchildren? As we sat on that public dock yesterday afternoon, did we miss the lifestyle as we overlooked our former lake?

Miles and his well-stocked tackle box.

Yesterday, we freely spoke as to the answers to these questions while we watched Miles fish. We’ve missed the interactions with our kids, grandchildren, and other family members and friends, but not the limitations of a structured lifestyle. 

The line’s in the water.  Let’s see what happens.

We’re totally convinced this nomadic lifestyle we live was meant for both of us.  How odd that sounds. Neither of us ever dreamed of or ever mentioned the prospect of “living in the world,” let alone being “homeless” and traveling with no end in sight, health providing.

Family and friends have asked, “Aren’t you happy to be home?” We’ve smiled and answered, “We’ve loved spending time with the family and friends. Nothing compares to that.”

Miles’ first catch of the day with another 12 fish following as we carefully kept count.

Where is “home” to us these days?  Often people refer to where they grew up as their “home.”  To us, these adages seem to apply:

“Where we love is home – home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.”–   Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.  

Also, for us, the following applies:

“I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.”–   Maya Angelou.

And also, the following:

“A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.”–   Author Unknown.  

The dock to the public fishing area on Lake Minnewashta.

And, when we leave Minnesota in a mere ten days, and then Nevada, a mere three weeks later, we carry all the love and warmth we’ve experienced in these nine weeks in the USA, well into the future as mentioned above, “Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.

We continue on…

Photo from one year ago today, June 27, 2016:

The swimming pool at the Hilton Garden Inn located in Denpasar Bali is much larger than most hotel pools. We stayed one night while awaiting the next day’s flight to Singapore. For more details, please click here