Bitten By The “Bug”

Guess where we went this weekend?  Here are a few picture clues…

It involved…      Marshes.

Kayaks.

Seashells.

The beach.  We made a trip to Lake Charles, LA.  Our main goal was to go marsh fishing in the kayaks.  We went just south of Hackberry, LA  to fish the marshes.

We caught a few speckled trout.  Guess who caught the BIG one?

It was 23” long, and weighed 4 lbs. 1 oz.  That is a REALLY nice spec!!  And then there is always the story of the “one that got away”… I lost another one just a little smaller than this one at the boat.  RATS!!  (Actually, I caught 4 of the 5 fish.  I love it when I manage to out-fish DH.)  It was too windy for fly fishing so we used casting rigs. 

After fishing we drove a few miles further to Holly Beach, LA.  This entire town was wiped out by hurricane Rita a few years ago.  NOTHING was left.  All buildings were completely leveled.

It is slowly being rebuilt.  There are now about 30 or so beach houses that have been restored.

Saturday we went to the Contraband Fly Casters Fly Fishing Expo in Moss Bluff.  I had an opportunity for some fly casting coaching.  We both bid on boxes of flies at a silent auction, and came home with 100 new flies to add to our collection. 

It was amazing to see the many different patterns the fly tiers could create! 

   

I’ve been bitten by the “bug”.  I think I see fly tying in my near future.  DH has all tools and supplies needed, so it will just be a matter of sitting down long enough to figure this out.  Realistically, this will be an after-Christmas-quilting-rush hobby.

And of course we ate good!  Fried oysters and shrimp, then sautéed speckled trout.  YUMMO!

It was so much fun, we plan on doing the marsh fishing again very soon.

KAT

Very Special People

Today was a wonderful celebration at Zwolle FBC.  A reception honoring the lives of James Q. & Verlyn Salter was held this morning.  They are very special people in my life and the lives of many others.  They will soon be moving to Virginia to be close to other family members.  How do you say “goodbye” to people that have been a part of your life for as long as you can remember?  It is not easy knowing that you probably will not get to see them again this side of Heaven!

When I was a child we lived right next door to the Salters.  We played in their yard with their children and visited their home (often having a snack of some kind given to us).  I loved for “wash” day to come around.  Mrs. Salter used a wringer washing machine… I had never seen that before.  We would spend lots of time watching her do laundry on that machine!  It was an amazing thing to watch.  I’m sure she wanted to tell us “Go home!”  but she never did.

When I was young  they moved an oil rig onto the land right behind our houses and drilled.  (Mr. Salter reminded me this morning that it was 1962 when the well was drilled.)  The Salter kids set up a soft drink stand and sold soft drinks to the workers and those coming to sight see at the well.  (Small town excitement… there was little else to entertain us in Zwolle! ) Actually, they probably got most of their business from my brothers and I!!  It seems we were always going over to get a soft drink for a dime.  Those were the days!  When the rig moved and school started, I really missed having a soft drink stand next door.

Looking back, we were always at their house it seemed, or their kids were over at our house, playing softball in the back yard.  The Salters always made us feel welcome at their house.  Right after I turned 7 years old, my family moved out of town.  I’m sure when we moved from that old house the Salters probably celebrated… no more pesky Rials kids bothering them! 

Mr. and Mrs. Salter both played a very integral part in my spiritual growth.  Both of them taught me in Sunday School at one time or another.  Mr. Salter was the choir director for many years, and I loved singing under his leadership.

In addition, they both were teachers in the school system.  I have been in classes under both of them.  When I went into high school, Mr. Salter was our principal.  When I began my teaching career at Zwolle Elementary, Mr. Salter was principal of that school.  I really enjoyed working under him.

So how do you say “Goodbye” to someone so special.  You don’t… you just say, “God speed, and I’ll see you in Heaven!  May the rest of your days be blessed, may each step of this move go smoothly, and may you really enjoy being close to your family!”   

Love to you both for all you have taught me through the years!

KAT

Change…

There’s a change in the air hair at my house.  Really, this was brought on by a monumental event happening next week… I turn 55, and the result of that event is that I will need to renew my driver’s license.  Because that means having a new picture taken, I decided it was time for a haircut.  After the haircut, I noticed that the gray now greatly outnumbers the brown hairs on my head. 

Because of that, I have been toying with the idea of dying my hair for the first time.  (We are not counting the event in the 80s when I did the home “streaking” kit, that turned the streaks in my dark brown hair a wonderful shade of ORANGE!)  Because of THAT fiasco, I have not even been tempted to color my hair.  As I aged I enjoyed the subtle gray areas, the distinguished (HAHA!) look of graying temples. 

The joy of graying hair is gone.  I knew there was now a quick fix for the gray that is bugging me more and more these days.

I looked at that box of hair color sitting on my cabinet for a week before I got brave enough to use it.  I even asked DH what he thought… he was not much help in the decision.  Today was the day!

The box says, “light brown with highlights”.  Upon further pondering I have figured out, what that means is your brown hair will still be brown, but the gray hair will appear as “highlights”.  I really should have thought about that a little more beforehand.  Let’s go back to one of my opening statements… “I noticed that the gray now greatly outnumbers the brown hairs on my head.”  SOOOOO…

I now have a little bit of brown with LOTS of HIGHLIGHTS (read that as REDISH-brown).  The box says, “permanent… lasts for 8 weeks”.  That is a mighty temporary definition of PERMANENT.  Truthfully, as fast as my hair grows and as short as I keep it cut, it will be a very temporary situation.  I still wonder who that is looking back at me in the mirror. 

I don’t necessarily dislike it, but I’m not sure I love it.  And the wonderful news is, even if I decide not to color it again after it grows out, I will get to look at myself like this for the next 4 years because I will HAVE to get my DL picture/renewal next week! 

Perhaps I should have used good reasoning and WAITED a little longer?  Sorry, no hair pictures to go with this post.  Just check my DL the next time you see me.  Oh, and now that the deed is done, DH is VERY vocal about his opinion… wouldn’t you know it!

Good night.  I’m off to shampoo my hair 5 times and see if this changes anything.  Grow, hair, grow!!!

KAT