Snow is falling at Crooked Eddy, gently, as this week’s winds seem to have abated at last. Dawn’s light struggles to filter through the cloud cover giving the fresh snow a faint blue glow as I ponder another winter’s day.
It is a quiet weekend here, with preparations for coming activities. Another week and Guild tyers will gather at the Catskill Brewery to share our craft and fellowship. JA and I will conclude our day with time in the rod shop. My strips are ready for rough beveling, then winding and heat-treating. I hope to accomplish all of that if I can, so planing may begin thereafter.
In my quest for knowledge, I have been contacting rod makers from Pennsylvania to Europe to discuss their individual heat-treating regime, particularly any changes applicable to the new Lo o bamboo. The variations are interesting.
Fly tying rises and falls as the rivers, a quick outlet for nervous energy on one day, serious study and contemplation of new designs on another.
I’ve been working my way through that new volume of Schwiebert, just a tale or two at a sitting. Stolen pleasures, like an evening cup of coffee with a hint of Beaverkill Bourbon Cream… and Dana Lamb waits there upon the bookshelf with his remembrances of the Golden Age!
Three months of winter lie still ahead, countless hours of dreaming, planning and wondering. Will the hatches come early, or with that false start so often seen? A hint, then nothing! Spring comes in it’s own time…
Bright Waters Catskill 