In December some time, David and I went to the local (hoity toity e.g., prohibitively expensive) sporting goods store so he could look at winter gloves. While there I came across their display of flies (for fishing). They were so beautiful! Who knew? Certainly not me. Here are a couple of photos I took. They don't do them justice. The flies were all shapes, colors, sizes, of all kinds of materials, including Elk hair. Elk hair!!! And look at the Hexagenia Dun! What a wonderful name!
David told me that he took a fly tying class as part of Boy Scouts. I thought what a wonderful thing to learn how to do. Lo and behold, the catalogue of community education classes came today and in March, they are offering Beginning Fly Tying, 4 weeks, $35. I'm signing up. What, you ask, will I do with the flies I learn how to tie - assuming I am capable of learning to tie them? I have no idea. Maybe next summer I'll take a Beginning Fly Fishing class.
Here in Maine we are trying out a new approach to state government. We elected a Democrat and a woman, Janet Mills - the first woman governor of Maine and the first governor to win more than 50% of the vote in quite some time. (Our last governor, Paul LePage -- who was Trump in our state politics before Trump was Trump in national politics -- was elected with 39% of the vote because of a third party candidate who split the vote.) Governor Mills has already signed into law Medicaid expansion - which passed 2 people's referenda here in Maine, backed up by several law suits, and still LePage refused to implement the expansion. Meanwhile, the Democrats also control the State House and Senate. So there's a possibility that the state government will actually get some things done - for the first time in a long time. Of course, some of what they do may be metaphorically "lost in the mail" or they may fail at some things they try to do.
I guess that's the risk of trying new things.
Peace.
