when my ex-husband came over last week and saw the book 101 deadly trout flies and various bags of hackle and whatnot lying around the living room, he said, "did you just wake up one day and decide, 'i'm going to start tying flies?'"
"yes," i said, "but it was a day about ten years ago." as though that was somehow to my credit.
"and are you going to decorate an entire christmas tree with them?" he then asked.
i began to picture what he would look like dangling from the end of a large and festive hook. because he was right.
my interest in flies began in 1993 -- after reading the short story "the golden darters" by elizabeth winthrop in the best american short stories of 1992 volume. 1992 -- it was quite a year for short stories, and i was just beginning to recognize my commitment to the form.
short stories. fly-tying. everything relates to everything these days. i'm my own bottom-feeder.
next week, we are going to be going out towards upstate new york and the esopus creek, a fly-fishing and tubing paradise, apparently. we will be staying at kate's lazy meadow, because we need our outdoorsy times to have the feel of a B-52's video. we like it like that.
here is my first fly. it's not meant for catching anything fishlike. it's a "brassie" nymph, and unusually large. earring-sized, i'd say!
pictures of fly-tying at the foot of the catskill mountains will be forthcoming. it's a promise!