REFLECTIONS AND THANKSGIVING
As we locked up the house in Montana and I pulled our vehicle out of the driveway it seemed impossible that the summer of 2010 was now merely a collection of memories and images saved on the hard drive of my computer.
It was in the last days of April that we left the verdant green of the Pacific Northwest to head for my home in the shadow of the Absaroka Mountains in Montana. The mountains were still robed in a blanket of snow in early May and the branches of the trees were mostly bare. The hillsides, just coming out of a long winter under the snow, and the spring sun had turned them into a brilliant shade of green. The streams, still unaffected by the upcoming spring runoff, were low, clear and cold. It was a marked contrast from the lush forests of the lowland forests of Washington but we were home.
The ‘Mother’s Day’ caddis hatch was late in coming this last spring, and actually was closer to Mother’s Day than it is in many years. Coming late its duration was brief. On the Yellowstone the hatch was sparser than in previous years and was cut short by the beginning of the runoff. The late winter snows provided ample snow melt and we experienced a good water year.
Summer was late in coming to the high country of Montana. The wet spring weather continued into the early weeks of summer delaying the beginning of many of the summer activities. My early summer fishing adventures were marked by a lack of success. Many of my favorite lakes remained high and cold due to late spring, and the infamous Montana wind frustrated me on several excursions.
The Ladyfisher and I were busy trying to blend two households full of stuff into one. We managed to reduce a large inventory of angling books that we brought from Washington by donating a considerable number to the permanent collection at Montana State University in Bozeman. They were overjoyed to receive them and I was overjoyed to have them out of my garage.
By mid-summer I was convinced that the Ladyfisher would not find the Montana winter to be to her liking. The tip off came when she was “cold” when the temperatures began to dip into the 40’s at night. WOW – in Montana the 40’s are warm for much of the year, and from November until May 40’s would be a heat wave. So, it was time to consider returning to Arizona for the cooler months of the year. Of course, that necessitated another move just as we were beginning to get settled in Montana.
Now we are settling in here in Tucson, Arizona where I had spent the previous 3 winters. Despite all relocations that have taken place in my life in the last 18 months I have been and continued to find many blessings in my life. As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday I find my plate of thankfulness full to overflowing.
Every new day is a blessing. The Lord has permitted me to enjoy good health that allows me to do all of the things that I enjoy. I have a wife to share my life with and I have many good friends that enrich my life. I have lived long enough to experience more things than I ever thought that I would, and I continue to experience new things every day. In the summer I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, I have world class trout fishing available within minutes of my doorstep, and a church family that enriches my life beyond measure. When winter begins to approach I have the resources that allow us to retreat to warm climes. I have an abundance of activities here in the desert to keep me occupied, and although I will not be doing any fly-fishing until we return to Montana next spring it makes me cherish it that much more when I am able to get out on the water again.
It is our prayer that each of our readers find ample reasons each day to give thanks for the many blessing that we all enjoy. As you reflect back on the year of 2010 I pray that you will find many, many things to be thankful for, not just on Thanksgiving Day but each and every day of the year.