But now that Ray is in the midst of the first show of the new Court Theater season, the summer feels like its coming quickly to a close. I've admittedly not felt prepared for this. I want the carefree freedom and stress free lifestyle of Fishing, Camping, and being the Northwoods to extend and extend and extend. But in the last week or so I've been seeing in Ray's eyes the reality of the time... my sweet handsome fella comes home now exhausted, sore, achey and a little brain fried. Its the beginning of the new Season for Court and the beginning of another year of Technical Direction and phenomenal stage work for Ray. Yes there are lots of worthwhile rewards to his work. I just feel a little pained sympathy for the fact that it takes a lot more right now to bring that sweet wonderful smile to Ray's deep thoughtful face.
So I'm going to post now some of the pictures from this summer. I hope you enjoy seeing them.
A beautiful evening fishing trip. We had much better luck fishing at sun-down, and it always made for better pictures too. I just love this picture so much.
This was my 22 1/4" Walleye catch. My very last catch of the trip. It took me many extra seconds as I was trying to de-hook him to even realize that it was a fish I'd never seen before! He acted a lot like a Northern Pike in the water and gave up a huge fight. Having caught this guy on a spinner-bait really takes the cake! I shouldn't expect a catch like this for many hundred more casts.
Looking studly?
Someone is a goofball!
Ray's longest, most amazing catch! That is one whopping size of a Northern Pike! We spent one whole day on a research lake north of Eagle River, Lake Escanaba. This lake provided the most amazing views of nature. We spent hours and hours casting along the banks and the winds were so rough that even with our anchors down we were being dragged north up the banks by the wind.
This is Ray's MUSKIE CATCH of our trip. Not as huge as they get, this was probably a young adolescent and we did throw him back in. Funny story to tell though...we had spent hours on this mostly desserted Lake (free of other fisherman) and had all sorts of mishaps with our reels, our lines and every kind of mechanical problem that drives a fisherman crazy. And putting up with all of it, we were still coming up short on actually catching fish.
No joke, we caught two "baits" (a Red Devil and a Spinner bait some other fisherman got tangled up in the weeds and left behind) and I caught an entire reel of synthetic mono-wire from a fishing pole that apparently some fisherman got fed up with and threw into the lake.
Ray also managed, somehow, to break the Titanium caster off his casting reel. When we later went into town and he bought basically an upgraded model of the same brand of caster, they said they'd never seen a caster break off like that.
We remained tenacious about working this lake and enjoyed the humor of all of our mishaps, including my decision to just start taking pictures of all the "non-fish" elements from the Lake that we were catching...like this huge log limb.
But eventually catching this Muskie for Ray really did cap off the day and made for the entire trip so worthwhile. We found him in this cove section of the lake where we were partially attracted to for giving us a break from the constant beating of the wind. And as we drifted into the shallower water, Ray looks down through the crystal waters to the bottom sand and asks me, "Doesn't that look like a dead Muskie laying down there?"
I go over to his side of the boat and look down
Yep. Sure does.
And the fish ain't moving.
Why would he be dead here? I asks
So Ray drops his lure into the water and lets it float down to the bottom and though it takes a few brushing up against the fish, sure enough we woke it up and watched it fish casually, and then scatter quickly away from our boat and into the safer shadows of the fallen logs up inside the cove.
Can't say exactly if that's the very Muskie that Ray ends up catching, but it made for a very new experience to see how nature exists when man is so undetected.
Now just imagine yourself, sitting on a boat, listening to the soft callings of birds around you, the lapping of the water gently against your boat, the occasional summer breeze cooling your face, and watching the sun going down for the night.
This is the closest thing to heaven on earth, is what you end up thinking to yourself.
Ray has had to learn about my "photo-bug gene" and he's had no choice but to accept it. Which has meant, at times, getting a little frustrated by the distracting sound of my camera clicks when he's trying to battle with his casting-rod against some rough winds. He was always good spirited about it, and at times like these, found an opportunity to get just a little revenge.
"Vanity"
You know...you're out in the woods, there's very little opportunity to check yourself in the mirror and you only get to wear the clothes you brought whether they suit your "mood" at the time or not. This is something only the female species can truly appreciate. In the planning of our trip, I do everything I can to try to increase my odds for staying tidy and perhaps even pretty. Part of me says to just give it up. And perhaps I eventually will. But I'm still putting up the good fight and yet even with that, I end up with "not so flattering" photos.
Oh well. :-P
We were trying for a close-up shot of the monster teeth inside the Northern Pike. This is the reason that, in all my pics, I am wearing a chain-metal type glove on the hand that is holding the fish. A nick or bite from one of these fishes could rapidly turn bad and infected in the time it would take to get back to camp and to a hospital if stitches were needed. Of course we have First Aid in the boat and I'm still learning how to avoid hooking-myself as I de-hook my fish.
I can happily report that no serious accidents have occurred on this trip. However, I cannot report that no harm was ever caused to the animals. Infact, two of them were quite tasty!
For our own scrap-booking purposes, it's important to remember all the places we got to see and visit this summer. Here is the camp site that we rented for 5 days at a brand new camp site location just north of Eagle River. This is about 2.5 hours north of our regular site in Westfield Wisconsin, and about 45 minutes from the town Rhinelander where Ray's good friend and his family live. We spent July 4th with Steve, Eileen, their daughters and the whole extended family.
These people were actually the first close friends of Ray that I had met as his official "fiance'" and they couldn't have been more warm and welcoming. I have since referred to them as his "adopted family" where Ray seems to have been adopted as just another of the many Sons.
The kids took to me instantly and we were brought along to their family party, dinner out and fireworks display. Steve himself has an amazing Boat which we had the great fortune to go out to Boom lake on with him and have a grand tour. On the two occasions that we got to go fishing with Steve, who is an expert on the intricate nuances of these lakes, Steve himself caught TWO MUSKIE!
Please note, the Muskie is so rare of a fish to catch that's commonly referred to as,
"The Fish of Ten Thousand Casts."
So I'm probably up to cast #300 or something. But to watch Steve bring in two during that week was really so impressive. It gave us all a Big High out on his boat.
So here are some of the photos from the time spent with their family.
This is Steve - Dan's brother and
also Ray's good friend.
He and his family live in Rhinelander.
Here he is releasing the first Muskie
he caught on our first time out to
Boom lake.
Steve and his wife Eileen were so generous
in letting Ray and I stay two nights in their
guest bedroom...and to shower up from a
week's of camping in the woods. Really
terrific peoples.
Steve & Eileen
George - the family patriarch.
He lives in a beautiful wood cabin
house nestled in the woods and
along a small river bank that connects
with the Chain Of Lakes.
Ray with the Steve's oldest daughter, Gwen.
Ray's longest, most amazing catch! That is one whopping size of a Northern Pike! We spent one whole day on a research lake north of Eagle River, Lake Escanaba. This lake provided the most amazing views of nature. We spent hours and hours casting along the banks and the winds were so rough that even with our anchors down we were being dragged north up the banks by the wind.
This is Ray's MUSKIE CATCH of our trip. Not as huge as they get, this was probably a young adolescent and we did throw him back in. Funny story to tell though...we had spent hours on this mostly desserted Lake (free of other fisherman) and had all sorts of mishaps with our reels, our lines and every kind of mechanical problem that drives a fisherman crazy. And putting up with all of it, we were still coming up short on actually catching fish.No joke, we caught two "baits" (a Red Devil and a Spinner bait some other fisherman got tangled up in the weeds and left behind) and I caught an entire reel of synthetic mono-wire from a fishing pole that apparently some fisherman got fed up with and threw into the lake.
Ray also managed, somehow, to break the Titanium caster off his casting reel. When we later went into town and he bought basically an upgraded model of the same brand of caster, they said they'd never seen a caster break off like that.
We remained tenacious about working this lake and enjoyed the humor of all of our mishaps, including my decision to just start taking pictures of all the "non-fish" elements from the Lake that we were catching...like this huge log limb.
But eventually catching this Muskie for Ray really did cap off the day and made for the entire trip so worthwhile. We found him in this cove section of the lake where we were partially attracted to for giving us a break from the constant beating of the wind. And as we drifted into the shallower water, Ray looks down through the crystal waters to the bottom sand and asks me, "Doesn't that look like a dead Muskie laying down there?"I go over to his side of the boat and look down
Yep. Sure does.
And the fish ain't moving.
Why would he be dead here? I asks
So Ray drops his lure into the water and lets it float down to the bottom and though it takes a few brushing up against the fish, sure enough we woke it up and watched it fish casually, and then scatter quickly away from our boat and into the safer shadows of the fallen logs up inside the cove.
Can't say exactly if that's the very Muskie that Ray ends up catching, but it made for a very new experience to see how nature exists when man is so undetected.
Now just imagine yourself, sitting on a boat, listening to the soft callings of birds around you, the lapping of the water gently against your boat, the occasional summer breeze cooling your face, and watching the sun going down for the night.This is the closest thing to heaven on earth, is what you end up thinking to yourself.
Ray has had to learn about my "photo-bug gene" and he's had no choice but to accept it. Which has meant, at times, getting a little frustrated by the distracting sound of my camera clicks when he's trying to battle with his casting-rod against some rough winds. He was always good spirited about it, and at times like these, found an opportunity to get just a little revenge.
"Vanity"You know...you're out in the woods, there's very little opportunity to check yourself in the mirror and you only get to wear the clothes you brought whether they suit your "mood" at the time or not. This is something only the female species can truly appreciate. In the planning of our trip, I do everything I can to try to increase my odds for staying tidy and perhaps even pretty. Part of me says to just give it up. And perhaps I eventually will. But I'm still putting up the good fight and yet even with that, I end up with "not so flattering" photos.
Oh well. :-P
We were trying for a close-up shot of the monster teeth inside the Northern Pike. This is the reason that, in all my pics, I am wearing a chain-metal type glove on the hand that is holding the fish. A nick or bite from one of these fishes could rapidly turn bad and infected in the time it would take to get back to camp and to a hospital if stitches were needed. Of course we have First Aid in the boat and I'm still learning how to avoid hooking-myself as I de-hook my fish.
I can happily report that no serious accidents have occurred on this trip. However, I cannot report that no harm was ever caused to the animals. Infact, two of them were quite tasty!
For our own scrap-booking purposes, it's important to remember all the places we got to see and visit this summer. Here is the camp site that we rented for 5 days at a brand new camp site location just north of Eagle River. This is about 2.5 hours north of our regular site in Westfield Wisconsin, and about 45 minutes from the town Rhinelander where Ray's good friend and his family live. We spent July 4th with Steve, Eileen, their daughters and the whole extended family.These people were actually the first close friends of Ray that I had met as his official "fiance'" and they couldn't have been more warm and welcoming. I have since referred to them as his "adopted family" where Ray seems to have been adopted as just another of the many Sons.
The kids took to me instantly and we were brought along to their family party, dinner out and fireworks display. Steve himself has an amazing Boat which we had the great fortune to go out to Boom lake on with him and have a grand tour. On the two occasions that we got to go fishing with Steve, who is an expert on the intricate nuances of these lakes, Steve himself caught TWO MUSKIE!
Please note, the Muskie is so rare of a fish to catch that's commonly referred to as,
"The Fish of Ten Thousand Casts."
So I'm probably up to cast #300 or something. But to watch Steve bring in two during that week was really so impressive. It gave us all a Big High out on his boat.
So here are some of the photos from the time spent with their family.
This is Dan, Ray's best friend.
He lives in California now.
He caught this Pike on our first
evening out on the lake together.
The next day I had to return to
Chicago and Ray & Dan spent the
week together for more fishing.
He lives in California now.
He caught this Pike on our first
evening out on the lake together.
The next day I had to return to
Chicago and Ray & Dan spent the
week together for more fishing.
This is Steve - Dan's brother and
also Ray's good friend.
He and his family live in Rhinelander.
Here he is releasing the first Muskie
he caught on our first time out to
Boom lake.
Steve and his wife Eileen were so generous
in letting Ray and I stay two nights in their
guest bedroom...and to shower up from a
week's of camping in the woods. Really
terrific peoples.
Steve & Eileen
George - the family patriarch.
He lives in a beautiful wood cabin
house nestled in the woods and
along a small river bank that connects
with the Chain Of Lakes.
Ray with the Steve's oldest daughter, Gwen.
Me playing with the middle child, Charlotte.
And the newest little one in their family, Lukus.
Don't let this picture deceive you...we are only "rentals"
Ahh, the crazy things I can get kids to do!
The Dragon fly who got caught in my line, somehow.
Did you know, the insect world this is one of the most fiercest species?
Thank goodness its no hazard to us humans.
Okay. Well my sweet Ray just got home from work a tad earlier than expected meaning I get visit with him for a bit before heading to work. This is great! I will continue my post later and include the engagement party we just had.
Love!
And the newest little one in their family, Lukus.
Don't let this picture deceive you...we are only "rentals"
Ahh, the crazy things I can get kids to do!
The Dragon fly who got caught in my line, somehow.
Did you know, the insect world this is one of the most fiercest species?
Thank goodness its no hazard to us humans.
Okay. Well my sweet Ray just got home from work a tad earlier than expected meaning I get visit with him for a bit before heading to work. This is great! I will continue my post later and include the engagement party we just had.Love!
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