Fish of a Lifetime

I grew up fishing. My father was a die hard fisherman. Every weekend, evenings in the summer after he came home from work, early in the morning. Whenever he could get out, he'd take us with him. My best memories are out on the boat with the whole family catching blue fish after blue fish.

The one fish that eluded my father was striped bass. He spent days and nights in search of this fish -- that in the early 70's had nearly been wiped out. We trolled, we used fresh bait, fresh bunker, every trick in the book. He never caught one. He caught his fair share of other fish. I have a huge Wahoo that was mounted that I watched him catch in Florida. And he'd go away and fish for Salmon in Canada and to the keys for bonefish with my mom.

I got the fishing gene. It is my favorite past time. I could be out on the water and not catch a thing and have a good day.

I broke the family striper curse about 7 years ago in Martha's Vineyard when we went out with a guide one early morning, and in a fog bound bay hooked into a mess of stripers. I called my brother who had just gotten a boat and told him that it was now his turn.

My brother has since caught stripers in the same fishing grounds that confounded my father. But until today, I'd never caught one in the Long Island Sound.

We got up early and left the dock about 6 am and by 6:30 were fishing off Rye Playland where a week before, my husband and friends pulled out a 40 pounder. Just after dropping our bait, my line took off. I jumped on the reel and brought in a beautiful striper. We continued for about 3 hours catching about 10 fish in all with my son pulling in the catch of the day at about 17-lbs.

A perfect morning, The sun not too hot, the water calm and the fish seemed to be everywhere. As we motored back to dock all I could think about was that I was a year older than my father when he died. And I wondered if perhaps he'd had just a little more time, he would have caught the one fish he had searched so hard to catch.

My Office - Changing the Space

I have two offices - one at home that is my very favorite place. It comes with snoring dog, very short commute and allows for my day to start with Yoga, spinning or some sort of exercise.

The other office is in NY at my clients building - the photo above does not really capture the real beauty of the view. I've worked for this client for almost 11-years and it's taken me that long to finally get a really lovely office with a beautiful view of the Hudson River. I know this sounds weird, but when I open the door to that office I feel a calmness. I'm sure it's the proximity to the water and the view out the window. But I really love it. And now I have to leave it.

The company is moving into new space with an open floor plan. Instead of private offices, we will be sitting in an open space with cubicles - really just desk, chair and a drawer for files. No room for photos. No place for a calendar. No way to shut the door.

I am all for collaboration - but I actually think that open space is detrimental to work - at least the kind of work I do where if I'm not on the phone, I'm writing. And when I am on the phone, I'm loud. I once had a boss whose office was next to mine tell me to stop laughing -- I was laughing so loud. I'm not quiet.

Here's the conundrum: the open plan gives me the perfect excuse to work from home more. BUT, the more I work from home, the less I'm seen at work. This should be interesting. NOT looking forward to it. Move is Thursday.

Thought this piece from Wired was interesting on the evolution of office space. Wish it had answers on which space works best. Read it here.

What have I learned? Driving 101

Since I know my son does not read my blog, I feel ok blogging about his recent car accident. It was a true example of boy not understanding the power of the machine and driving too fast.

I'm wondering if it is genetic. He get is from both sides.

He's lucky. And we're lucky. He rolled the car into a ditch, blew out the windows, smashed all sides of the car, smashed the hood and was able to walk away with a scratch on his side.

We all know that a new driver is going to have an accident the first year or two of driving. But as Eric said, he was thinking it would be a fender bender.

When I was working for Grey Advertising, they had the account for the Australian Driving safety organization. The ads depicted hard core car accidents and the aftermath of the accidents. Harrowing ads that I said at the time I'd like to make sure my child saw before getting behind the wheel.

Now I have to consider what he has learned. This is a tough lesson. It's about responsibility and being responsible for your actions. What happens as a result of things you do. And the shock of understanding what might have been...



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This Year's Vegetable Garden

While I live in the country and have lots of room for a garden, my property is surrounded by a canopy of trees leaving me with unsuitable area for growing vegetables. It's taken me about 15-years to really figure it out. I've always had a vegetable garden. When I was a kid, my job was weeding. Still is.




But not this year. With failure comes wisdom. My garden this year will live on my deck -- the only spot where I get a good 6- hours of sun, a requirement for good plant growth. And with plants all in containers, the weeds will be non-existent (theoretically).

I've planted lettuce, peas, radish, cucumber, broccoli and herbs. Tomatoes to follow as it gets warmer, I've always grown tomatoes on the deck, but this year I'm trying out this new planter that lets them grow upside down.

So far, I'm optimistic. While something seems to be nibbling on the cucumber, they still look robust. The lettuce is filling out. And for the past two days I've been visited by an indigo bunting - a vibrantly blue bird that is of the finch species. And not for nothing, but birds are nesting in my old bird feeder... I feel like this could be a good growing season.


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