I bet God is a fly fisherman

"In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing. We lived at the junction of great trout rivers in western Montana, and our father was a Presbyterian minister and a fly fisherman who tied his own flies and taught others. He told us about Christ's disciples being fishermen, and we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman."

~Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

One of the things I like about Don is that he's an outdoors man. I love watching him fish. He's so methodical, so calm, so in his element. I am of the same opinion as Norman Maclean, that fly fishermen are a cut above bait fishermen, they are the scholars of the fishing world, paying attention to the smallest details: what sort of insects are out at that particular time of day? What stage are they in? Larva? Adult? In addition to this, they need to be familiar with the fishing habitats: which holes are most likely to be housing fish? There are questions of skill: Which cast is going to be the best for the location I'm in? All of this leads a fly fisherman to be thoroughly in tune with nature, it's essential if they want to be successful. And being in tune leads one to respect, you'll seldom find a fly fisherman that litters, or doesn't have their permit, or even tresspasses. It is in essence, a gentleman's sport.

Don fly fished for almost an entire day,the other day at Fishlake, and then some the next morning with my dad. "It doesn't bother you, does it?" I shake my head. I understand the need to "re-create", and to have the water talk to you, it's good for the soul.

One Year and Counting...

I know you all know that LiLi is a year old now. So why post about it? Well, better late than never, right? I've been going to get her One Year pictures for a while. But I just haven't been able to find a place with the quality I like, for the price I like. After looking at Sears, Target, Walmart, etc. I thought, psh. I could do better than that. So I took some, and this is how they turned out...









And my personal favorite...




I can't believe LiLi is a year old already. It makes me somewhat depressed. I really didn't expect it to go this fast. I wish babies would stay babies forever. Sometimes I'll just hold her and try and make deals with her, like, "If you stay a baby, I'll just love you and take care of you, and be your mommy forever." I think the reason why she doesn't go for it is she knows that I'll do those things anyway.

And to think that a year ago she looked like this:



Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go hold my ever-growing baby.

Mom Spelled Backwards is 'Tired'

I just found a booger in my hair. And as I picked it out, and shook my head wondering how long it had been there, my mind flashed back to yesterday. I was feeding LiLi oatmeal, and she started to gag. In an insane & mindless effort to save her clothes and not have to wash it out of her highchair (like I did the day before) I caught her recycled cereal in my bare hands. I then calmly walked over to the kitchen sink, and scrubbed. Twice. If that doesn't get me into the 'Official Motherhood Club', I'm not sure anything will.

It's just a sad reminder to me that all of the glamor is gone. I came to this startling realization a few months after LiLi was born. We had decided to go tubing in Idaho. And as I self-consciously pulled at my modest two piece swimming suit, I looked down at Don's size ten shoes that I was wearing. I had forgotten mine, and the river ran on a bed of harsh traverntine that had given me some lovely shinners on my legs and attempted to turn my feet into mincemeat. In that cumulative moment, all I could think was, ...."Oh my."

Nursery

Here are some pictures of the recently completed nursery!! We've been working on it for a year (mainly because we were refinishing the hard wood floor we found underneath the grungy carpet). It's so nice to have somewhere to put all of LiLi's stuff. It's even nicer to be able to put her in her own room for nap time and do what I need to do and not wake her up. Anyway, it's turned out really cute. I still have some tweaking to do, we still need to put doors on the closet and add baseboard to the inside of the closet as well. But I didn't want to wait until I had everything perfect because I'm too dang excited. Enough chit-chat. Here are the pics:

It's really funny how everything just sort-of fell together. I made the quilt when I was about 5 months prego with her, and it worked out really well with everything else.


This is what is called a "Life Line" because it has little mementos from LiLi's life (a dress her Aunt Ashley made her, the outfit we brought her home from the hospital in, the little name tag that was in her room in the N.I.C.U., the cowboy boots Papa Scott gave her the day she was born, etc.)


I'm still working on this side of the room. I'm going to paint the changing table white, and I'll probably take down the granny squares afghan...I'm debating. I kind-of like the retro touch, but it might be a bit much. I'll probably paint the bird cage white as well.


This monkey was hand-sewn by my Grandma Leavitt. It's made out of socks! How cool is that? She gave it to LiLi for her first birthday (of which I will post about sometime in the near future.) But I love it! It's the coolest stuffed animal ever. The pattern that she used was from 1968, back when they were all the rage. Funny how things come back into style.

About a month ago while I was accessorizing this room I decided that LiLi needed a mobile. Was she too old for one? Maybe. But things looked bare without it. I hadn't seen any that I liked at the stores, and so I made one. Out of floral tape, wire, embroidery floss and paper. I'm trying to get back in touch with my crafty side. Maybe one day I'll be able to go out into the wilderness with a tooth pick and dental floss and build a shopping mall. Or maybe not.


Anyway, I'm sure I'll keep tweaking it. I have big plans to paint a picture for the wall where I have the "Life Line", because that was just a temporary thing. We'll see if I'm ambitious enough.

So, we're slowly but surely making our little house a home. I've recently taken off all of the ugly wallpaper that was plastered to our walls (as I alluded to in my last post). It's made a huge difference, our house looks really ugly, but it feels better because there's more light. Aubrey said that walking into the nursery was like a scene out of Coraline, because the hall looks completely ghetto. It's quite a contrast. And to think her room used to be the ugliest one in the house. I wish I could show you before and after pics. I'll be able to with the rest of the house. We've got big plans! And a lot of tile.