Hello, all,
The Clifden Pony Show was held a couple weeks ago -- it’s
always the third Thursday of August, but that day falls late this year,
and so more than usually it seemed to signal the end of summer. It was
warm and bright, and not a drop of rain fell. There seemed to be a bigger
crowd than usual, perhaps because it was so warm and dry. I didn’t pay
much attention to the pony judging -- the excitement for us was in the
Arts and Crafts Competition, where your mother had two entries. She had
entered some things in the Tullamore show earlier this month, and gotten
two first prizes. For the Clifden show she entered a woolen cardigan, which
got first place, and the quilt she finished last month, the one she made
as John and Marcella’s wedding present. The quilt won first place as well
which pleased your mother greatly, and makes it an even nicer gift.
But with the Pony Show over, there’s the sense now that
the summer is ending. We have Arts Week to look forward to, later this
month, and then the Maam Cross Fair, which is the Tuesday after the October
Bank Holiday...I think that’s the 28th, this year.
The fishing has been off since early in August, as is usual, since
the water is too warm then for the fish to want to rise. I’ve been
going out anyway, if for nothing else than to have my tea on the
bog. I’d fished at Laugh Fada a couple days ago and didn’t even
raise a fish...even though it’s begun to get cooler, the water is
still warm. A few days before that I went to Kankoige, out Ballyconneeley
side...there was a northeast wind which is very good for that lake,
but even so I only got two trout. Then yesterday was a dull day
with some showers and a good fresh wind from the west, so in the
afternoon I decided to go to Derrylea for a few hours, not really
expecting to have any luck. Nothing was moving on the lake, but
soon after I got there the wind shifted to the northwest, still
fresh but also cooler, and after another half hour I began to get
some good fish and saw a few rises. I ended up with four fish in
three hours -- three on a Black Pinnell and one on a Black Zulu.
But one of these I got by pure deceit, like Robert Mitchum the American
destroyer skipper stalking Curt Juergens the U-boat captain in "The
Enemy Below"....I had stepped into the water to cast at a certain
point, and disturbed a Daddy Longlegs...he tumbled into the water
and was staggered by the wind and being rapidly blown out into the
lake, limbs and wings working desperately to become airborne. If
any fish is patrolling this area, I thought, he’ll sure launch an
attack now, so I started loading the rod with line, hoping to drop
a fly near him and invite the attack to it. Then he disappeared
in a brief swirl of t he water as the fish struck, and I thought
I was too late, but I had just enough line out to drop the fly next
to where he’d been and the fish, with a balletic but fatal twist
of his body, took my fly as well. And wasn’t that enough excitement
for one day?
From Tullyvoheen, good night and God bless you.
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