Gone fishing.

Gone fishing.

Many people go fishing all their lives not knowing that it is not fish they are after. Henry David Thoreau. It is the experience of fishing that is so enjoyable much more so than the fish. I could draw a parallel with making pots, firing kilns and the enjoyment of the process being so much more than the final product.

You have to be in the right place at the right time with the right tools and when you do catch the fish you want to still want it after you get it.  It is the memory of going fishing with my Dad that I hold so near and dear not the fish we caught.

My Dad would take a couple of my friends along to a cabin with a water pump, some cots and an old wood cook stove. My Dad would rise early to start the fire and cook the breakfast -eggs, bacon, pancakes, canned beans and a beer.  We also had to smoke a cigar to keep the mosquitos away while we fished in the early dawn. It was my entry into manhood.

 My Dad was Smokie the first. He got that name from always starting the fire when we went camping. I was a Cub Scout, a Scout and a Rover. My dad was a Gillwellian( the wood badge insignia)  as was my mum. Camping went year round. Winter camping was my Dad’s time to shine because he of course kept the fire burning.

My friend Unha Yi Hill is once again taking a pottery fishing trip to Korea. You of course are fishing for trophy pots. I think Unha is on to something with the month long trip. If you are going to travel to the other side of the world you will be just be getting your mojo working after about 2 weeks. A month with the Korean masters eating, talking, making, breathing and sleeping pots will change your work in a very big way. https://www.potterybyunha.com/pottery-tours

I’ll be out fishing with Dan Finnegan in NC. I’m thinking two months is a long time but I know how fast it will go and the memory will last forever. I wonder if Dan eats fish????