The Fish Came Back

Saturday was an amazing day.

We went to Snail Lake, just north of us here in St. Paul, and spent the day fishing & swimming (kids) and just sitting and talking (adults) and had a wonderful time! Thank you, Amy, for suggesting it!

It was a windy, cool, wonderful day - warm in the sun, but breezy and lovely. The sky and water were so blue, so clear, and Max caught an amazingly huge bass (which broke the weenie fishing line on our $10 pole we got at Fleet Farms.)

Could this be the return of last week's fish that got away? Probably not, that lake was 100 miles away...

Noah, Max's friend, leaped in the water and grabbed that fish like a football just as the line broke. GO NOAH!

Look at the size of that fish! I hoisted him at one point (that's my hand in the photo) and I swear he was between 4.5 and 5 lbs. He filled the cooler diagonally from nose to tail.

We named him "Dinner" and after we'd admired him a little bit, we took a vote and in a 3/1 decision he was tagged and released to the wild. He still had the red hook in his mouth, his badge of honor.

Smaller sunfish were caught and released, it was a very fun day. Maybe not for the fish, but they all ended up home for dinner.

Then home, some grilling on our deck and just relaxing. It was a perfect day, we all had a splendid time and Hannah knew exactly the best way to end it Ð

On the back deck with a book.

The photos in this entry are from various cellphones - not bad, huh?

I'm still out of commission as far as cameras go, and would love to hear from anyone who has a lightweight digital that they love.

Self-Sponsored Class
Today I taught a class at the central library in Minneapolis, which is a BEAUTIFUL space!

My friend London put it together (thank you, London!) I think the participants had fun, I know they learned a lot, and we laughed quite a bit, too. But I was late, dang.

When I travel from time zone to time zone (and change my location in my date/time function of my computer) sometimes the calendar 'helpfully' updates my engagements. That's all I can figure happened this time. Or I may have just put the wrong time in the calendar...

I left my house early - or so I thought - and was so proud of myself that I would have time to get there and set up the classroom, settle in, put on makeup. Not to be...

By the time I FINALLY arrived, almost 30 minutes late (I wandered around the library for a while trying to find the room...), I had a bunch of eager knitters patiently waiting in a high tech board room with lots of glass walls.

I talk a lot in class, I chat through the chart and the lace and how to intuit a stitch pattern before we really do anything fun. But this class was SO kind and accepted it graciously, even after the enforced waiting at the start of the class.

THANK YOU, LADIES! You were a terrific class!

Moving Forward
This was my first attempt at a non-shop based class. Sometimes when I am in an area and want to teach a class, I can't find a shop that wants to host me (either one's not around, the shops in the area want an exclusive, or my fee is more than a local shop feels it can cover).

So I've been toying with the idea of sponsoring my own classes, renting a local conference room and offering a set of workshops. I'm still kicking the idea around, but would also love to find a way to promote local yarn shops when I'm in an area as I do this.

Often folks will write that they'd like to take a class from me in a certain area, but I can't find a local shop that wants to sponsor a set of classes. If I find that I'm teaching 100 or so miles away from one of these pockets of potential students, and if the prospects seem good for a well sized class, I may begin setting up my own classes (deducting a proportionate amount of the travel expenses from the accompanying shop visit...)

I may try this a few times in the coming months - it might just work. If only I had a London in every town!