It is amazing the change wrought by a little blue sky. Well actually a whole lot of blue sky. The cold, rainy, windy, overcast skies of the last few days have been cast aside, and the change is incredible.
There were games down at Victor Bay this evening, and I dropped Leah off there (Travis was already there and Hilary was, as is usual, hanging with her dad) after work. I know this is going to sound nuts, but the traffic on the road to Victor Bay was annoyingly heavy. Every truck and ATV in town seemed to be on the road, and it took me over 15 minutes to travel the four kilometres back to town. Not the 401 I realize but still...
After I fed the client I gathered up supper and brought it with us to Victor Bay and we ate in the tent after the games were finished. By the time supper was finished there wasn't a breath of wind, and the day felt so perfect it made you wonder why the rest of the world doesn't live here (and thankful that they don't). Travis wanted to go down to the ice to fish for "ugly fish", which is the local (English) term for the Sculpins that live here. So he, his cousin, Leah's brother, and I walked down and began fishing through the tidal cracks.
Now I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I suppose the reverse is true also. Ugly must also be in the eye of the beholder, for I find these fish marvelously handsome. They are spiny, with large heads relative to their bodies, cryptically coloured on top but with white spots bordered by bright orange underneath. I know why people think they are ugly, I just think they are fascinating looking.
The water beneath the cracks was shallow enough and clear enough that you could watch the fish approach and soon everyone had caught at least one, which I promptly returned to the ocean. Before long, Leah, two of her sisters and Hilary joined us, and even Hilary got into the act, catching her very first fish. At that we walked back to the tent, startled to learn that it was 11 o'clock already, I glanced up at that beautiful sky that stretched clear to forever, and hoped that the weather would hold. Days like this make the briefest of summers worth while, and I was reluctant to return home.
The icing on a perfect evening was waiting in the tent when we arrived. As we headed down to the ice, Leahs' parents had headed in the other direction going on an ATV ride. A short time later they discovered the lost rocket, not too far from where it had been launched. It was in surprising good shape for something made out of cardboard, but I think most of the cardboard tubes will have to be discarded, and the rest salvaged for another rocket. Still it was nice to know that it would fly again.
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