Well, today alison and i went boating and fishing with Adam and Celeste. First off, and i don't know if other people do this, but i have the tendency to say words and phrases over and over in my head. For instance, if i'm cutting half-blind dovetails, then i might say "half-blind dovetails" over and over again as i work. If you've ever cut half-blind dovetails then you know that it takes a while to finish even one corner. And then it gets really bad because after you finish it, you know you almost assuredly have three more to go. half-blind dovetails, half-blind dovetails...
So last night adam told us to meet him at the Wappoo Cut at 11 a.m. From 9 p.m. last night 'till i went to bed, and then from the time i woke up 'till it finally wore off at about 4, i was saying "Wappoo Cut, Wappoo Cut..." over and over again in my head.
It's a beautiful phrase, that Wappoo Cut. It also happens to be a boat dock--about 4 minutes from our house--that sits on a little human-made inlet dividing West Ashley from James Island. Four minutes and we were on a boat!
The first thing we needed to do after we were underweigh was catch some bait fish named...well, it sounded like "menhagin." They were darling little fish, much like a slightly fat sardine, that we were planning to shortly spear through the head with a fish hook. We caught them with the use of a net, casting it out of the boat much like jesus probably did. Above is the picture of Alison hard at work as a fisher of menhagin.
Upon catching a good supply of menhagin we then boated to Morris Island and had a picnic lunch of cured meat that adam and celeste had brought back from Spain, a couple delicious salad-type things, beer (fizzy water for me), cheeses (from Spain also), local watercress with local Duke's mayonnaise on white bread, and some fancy potato chips.
We ate, set sail again, and then saw dolphin after dolphin swimming around in Charleston harbor not thirty feet from the boat. Lawd-a-mercy! They would surface and flop around and blow!
Now: if that weren't enough, here's the really exciting part:
That's a 31 inch long drum--or as Adam told me they call 'em around here--a spot-tail bass. You know that scene on Jaws when Jaws takes off with that guy's fishing line and the reel goes "wheeee!" Well, that's exactly what happened here. This being the first time i've ever caught a giant fish, i was really excited. It took several minutes for us to actually get it into the boat. It was marvelous how strong that magnificent fish was! And then we cut its head off and ate it.
No. We didn't, really. We just took its picture a couple of times and then set it loose.
The day was not without cost, however. Whether it's bug bites or what-have-you, Alison always seems to pay a price for outdoor activities. She got to catch menhagin with a net. She got to eat lots of mayonnaise. She got to see dolphins swimming around. And...she got this sunburn:
The white blotch you see is from a not-nearly-adequate-enough application of sunscreen. Poor Alison! But hooray for Adam and Celeste for showing us such a good day!
10 years ago
8 comments:
It really was a fun day, although you'd think that at the age of 33, I would finally have grasped the concept of adequate sunscreen application.
I'll point out for Mom's benefit that there are six exclamation points in that post--so you can use quite a few and still not be caught up to Biffle.
Alison: I had a similar sunscreen incident a few years ago. It also involved boating and it was awful. I feel your pain.
Did Biffle photoshop his abs again? I just wanted to beat Meg to asking that question.
I have only ever been fishin twice and the one time I did catch something the line didn't go weeeeee! It got stuck on a rock and probably hurt the fish. I guess I should go again.
oh my LORD alison! that blows...suncreen in crazy stupid excess or really just wearing lightweight pants would be good. but now you can peel your skin off in sheets which is the only good side effect of a sunburn.
Sigh. Mama Cate wasn't there to supervise ;). Hey, noxema placed in the fridge and then lathered on skin is a fantastic salve. For that matter, probably anything placed in the fridge, like lotion or aloe, would probably feel totally awesome. Love you and your red leg.
Cate
Ouch Alison! Looks and sounds like you had a great day though!
To set the record straight here, let me assure you that, whatever his Photoshopping proclivities may be, Biffle is built like a brick shithouse.
Or, as Eliza would say, he is a stone fox.
1) OUCH.
2) "Built like a brick shithouse" - now there's a phrase I haven't heard since childhood.
You should've stayed under the bridge man.
Post a Comment