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13 Mindful ways to make an introvert feel loved This is an excellent list but they’ve missed a few… 14. Calling an introvert anti-social is like calling an extrovert annoying. It’s not nice. #justbenice 15. Our smiles are like unicorns. Rare, mystical, and only come out on special occasions #cherishthem 16. We write better than […]Read Post ›

One of the great joys in my life is fishing in the ocean. I was lucky in that my parents always had a boat as I was growing up, so I was introduced to salmon fishing as a youngster as our family spent many wonderful holidays boating in the waters around Vancouver Island. My first job out of high school was guiding at a salmon fishing lodge on the remote BC coast, and I later spent fifteen years working in the commercial fishing industry, harvesting all manner of seafood from Prince Rupert to Victoria. These days my time on the sea is limited to couple of salmon fishing trips each summer. Now, most of us know that fishermen (and women) are often wonderful raconteurs, and many embellish their tales with colorful detail and dramatic touches that might not be entirely true but certainly add panache to the tale. As the old saw goes, “Every fisherman is a liar except for me and you…and I’m not so sure about you.” In that vein I wrote this prose poem about someone who is new to not only salmon fishing, but also to the art of talking about his new hobby. He’s a fairly quick study, but he just might be in over his head. (I’ll just add that I’ve actually experienced every fishing event recounted here. Really.) YOU CAN’T BULLSHIT A BULLSHITTER “I caught my first salmon today!” I said to the pretty barmaid. “I remember my first salmon,” she replied, “the spring jumped three times before I got it in the boat.” “I caught my first spring salmon last week, and it jumped three times!” I said to the young man filling the gas tanks for my boat. “I remember my first big spring salmon,” he replied, “it bent my rod…