Fun Day, At Last!

After many weekends (and weeknights) of nonstop working, we finally took a break for some fun yesterday. We did have to run into town for a few things in the morning, but after lunch we dug through boxes to find our fishing gear and went out back to fish in our pond. It was an adventure, to say the least.

Right off the bat, hubby walked out onto the footbridge and a whole section of it collapsed under him! There was a loud cracking sound, followed by a rush of water, and down he went! It was actually pretty funny - the water is only about a foot or so deep in that spot, and he managed to stay standing perfectly straight and upright as he went down. So he wound up standing just as he had been, only about two feet lower and with wet feet. :)

Once we got settled on a stable section of bridge, I broke my reel on my first or second cast. Then hubby gave me his and I promptly broke it too (on the first cast). Hubby tried to repair them on the fly, fish jumping all around us, mocking our misfortune, but to no avail. After a quick walk back to the house we had two new ones to use, and things were improving. I cast out my line and felt a good tug on it. I started reeling in and whatever I had was heavy. I pulled and pulled and reeled and reeled and I was actually afraid that I may have caught a turtle. After all the pulling and reeling I finally saw the end of my line and on it was...a branch. Woopee. Not to be discouraged, I got right back to business. I cast my line out again...into a tree. I had to walk it pretty far to one side, some distance around the edge of the pond and finally freed it. As I reeled it back in from there, I felt another tug...and another...and this time...I caught a fish! An actual fish. My very first fish ever! It was just a little one, a little sunfish or something, but I was very proud. OF COURSE it didn't occur to either of us to take the camera down there with us. With the luck I was having, though, I'm sure I'd have dropped it in the pond straight away.

We stood at the water's edge, quietly casting, sometimes catching something but mostly not. We watched birds, turtles, fish and dragonflies do their thing above and below the water. We even had the pleasure of seeing a hawk fly low right over our heads - it cast an enormous shadow. Finally it just got too hot and we had to hang it up and retreat to the house. It was great fun, though. After that, we got cleaned up, hopped on the motorbike and rode into town for an Italian dinner. It was a wonderful day.