I’m still plowing through Isaacson’s Einstein biography and as a result am feeling a bit more philosophical and thoughtful than usual.
The more I ponder the world around us, the more I realize that the reality of living in today’s world is indeed at times “stranger than fiction”. Weave these great mysteries into the world of fly fishing and one’s ability to comprehend the meaning of it all can vanish faster than the last Krispy Kreme on the way to the river.
There are days when it makes you want to withdraw to a quiet place (as Einstein often did) and ponder the meaning of it all. In fact, I’m outta here this afternoon to do some pondering and writing myself.
Here are three examples of great life mysteries that I’ve run across in the past 24 hours.
Posted on the Dairy Queen sign in Livingston – one of the ‘fly-fishiest’ burgs on the planet. I called the grammatically and linguistically gifted editor for Fish Can’t Read to have her explain it to me and she hung up without saying a word.
Beaver have been making inroads on recolonizing many famous and not so famous waters in the neighborhood. I never knew they could inflict such a wound. I may just be more worried now about beavers than about bears…..
The coup de grace of unexplainable phenomena in today’s list – Martha Stewart has just recently been fly fishing with Ted Turner here in Montana.
My curiosity piqued by the pithy commentary offered up by Tom Chandler yesterday, unprepared I clicked onto Martha’s blog to read the account of her time on the Ruby River with Ted.
Make up. Hair stylist. Photographer. Videographer. Personal Guide. The Hat. OMG.
In Martha’s own words from her blog –
Ted is an avid fisherman who finds the ancient angling method of fly fishing especially relaxing. He is also very involved with restoring endangered species of native fish, such as the Westslope cutthroat trout, back into the streams and rivers of Montana. After donning my waders, I met up with Ted and Chris Francis, Ted’s fly fishing guide of twenty years. Chris has the ability to ‘read’ the water and determine where the fishing will be best on a particular day. He knows which rivers and streams will fish the best during specific times of the year. After preparing my gear, Chris pointed me into the beautiful Ruby River to try my luck at hooking a fish. We were fishing for cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, brown trout and brook trout.
Ted has in the past and continues to inspire a great deal of commentary and opinion from Montanans who happen to actually live and work here; as you might guess the commentary and opinion from the neighbors is at times somewhat astoundingly light years different than Martha’s.
Hells bells, for those of us living the pedestrian life here in Montana, visions of Martha and Ted cavorting in their waders, inspiring the upper crust to follow suite, is as inconceivable as serving Champaign and caviar with my pigs in a blanket dinner tonight. (Any suggestions on a good vintage match?).
Maybe TC is right about this one – perhaps we are experiencing a new wave of celebrity interest in being seen fly fishing, and the neighborhood seems to be one of the epicenters of attention right now.
The president a few weeks ago. Now Martha. Ted once again. We even been alerted that cherished family who deem our life in Montana to be pedestrian are coming to the neighborhood in the next few weeks.
Inconceivable.
Where’s Einstein when you really need him?
