You’ve heard the proverbs…
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“You are what you eat” … well then, I am a stick of pepperoni.
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“Necessity is the mother of invention” … our favorite around the shop.
“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing” … no comment.
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“Behind every great man is a great woman” … (inset smirk on my behalf here).
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“The way to a man’s heart is through meatballs his stomach” … so obvious but often overlooked.
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“Birds of a feather flock together” …
Personally, this expression has transcended from it’s origin in my youth
when my mother would yell it at me while I was boarding the school bus as a hybrid of advice and warning.
However, today…the idiom is a constant in my life. This bird (being me) gradually turns into a bamboo fly rod maker‘s typical demographic (the flock) little by little, day by day. Our shop is usually full of (how do I say this gently?) more mature and evolved men. There are plenty of women and youth around but my peer group by default is an older sporting crowd of…men.
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So, that’s my flock.
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| Just saying… |
This is not a complaint just a simple acknowledgement of how I am
turning into Oyster’s target audience based on the following observations:
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… I have learned to appreciate the virtues of scotch (even without diet coke) and cigars.
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…participate in seemingly endless conversations about life, time going by too fast, the need for solitude in nature,
technology gone wild and our growing disdain for the “entitlement generation”.
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…find a chorus of horrible old man jokes hilarious…really bad…really funny.
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….inadvertently groan when I lean over.
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…no longer sweat the small stuff but show up early if it’s serious.
… pose for a pictures with my gunsmith!
Yes…my flock.
It’s winter but no snow (chorus of woo-hoos all around please).
Meanwhile, our building is WELL on its way to being our new “headquarters”.
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There’s lots of change.
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But it’s all good.
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But lots of change.
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| Oyster’s future home…I can hardly believe it. |
The kids are completely oblivious to everything, of course. I marvel at how ridiculously happy they are all most of the day.
I often visualize Cutter and Veronica as adults having a cup of coffee together discussing their upbringing in a bamboo fly rod making shop and pray that they are happy, healthy and together as their own two-man “flock”.
-slo
EDITOR’S NOTE: Oyster's original blog was on the oldie but goodie platform, Blogger, in 2009, before moving to WordPress. You may find a copy of this post on “The Bamboo Fly Rod Maker’s Widow” blog HERE. I have tried to preserve the integrity—or lack thereof—of each “Widow” post, especially to reflect the resources—or lack thereof—available at the time, as time and technology continue to freak me out evolve. Also...(insert excuse here) grammar check was not as accessible.