WINTER BLAHS

Some people's idea of fish for dinner


I know I'm going to hear from the ice-fishing diehards and devotees on this one. The last few days, the town I live in has really taken to the ice. Most of the time the weather was very overcast and dull, then the sun would pop out and it would be painfully bright. One afternoon it was even pretty windy (and thus quite a bit colder) but people still kept coming. Down the road from my house is a small public access point. It's not a marina, there's nothing except a brief bit of beach that slopes gently into the lake. The sand is a little rough, and there's a lot of stones. (always reminds me of Virginia Wolfe). This winter, folks have come from all over to schlep their gear out, and I mean way out, onto the ice. I wonder how they determine where to stop? Surely the fish can go any where under the ice they please? Perhaps closer to shore the lake is completely frozen, right down to the bottom, so all the fish are further out. Solid ice, surface to sand - wouldn't that present a conceptual barrier to a swimming fish similar to what birds must think when they bump into a window in flight. "Yeow, what the heck was that!" (invisible force field)

Anyway, I watched as car after car created a jam along the road, and the string of huts and ATVs out on the ice grew longer. As for me (much as I like being out in nature) it's just too cold, not enough comfortable seating, no bathrooms...all for a few measly fish (and maybe none). But I guess if you are a person who likes that sort of thing, than you will find ice fishing the sort of thing that you like.


My idea of fish for dinner...



Meanwhile, I have all the symptoms of a bad case of winter Blahs (aka cabin fever). My solution is not, however, to go out into the fray. No, I'm going to make a pot of freshly-ground Aged Sumatra beans (Christmas gift from my BFF Sydney - thanks kiddo!!) and then put my double-disc Kinks greatest hits on the CD player and do some blogging (especially to those of you who live where it's warm!!)

MY NEXT MILLION

My friend Sydney and I do this thing, not exactly a game, but sometimes when we’re yakking we come up with a terrific idea for some kind of goods or service that nobody has yet invented. The first time we thought of something we said, “Man, we could make a million bucks off this!” Of course, we never took even the first step towards doing it; I don’t even recall what it was, just that it was good. Now, for every idea after that, we just say, “That’s our next million” and have another swig of Starbucks. I think our (virtual) millions are somewhere in the low double digits by now. Actually, one of our earliest ideas has come to be – transparent band-aids that look pretty much the same on all skin colors. Only we didn’t do it. Anyway, today I had another great idea. Here’s the daisy chain of how the inspiration came about...

Back on July 24th fellow blogger Spin a Song of Sixpence did a post about the joys blackberries (the fruit not the device) and raspberries. She mentioned that while she likes the flavor of sun-warmed blackberries, they don’t smell all that good to her. Indeed, she said they smelled a little like “cat wee.” As someone who occasionally has access to fresh blackberries and has four cats, I’m clearly in a position to my own empirical research. The whole thing reminded me of a bottle of wine I saw advertised not long ago, labeled “Cat’s Pee on a Gooseberry Bush.”

Now, I have no pretensions to being either a foodie or a wine connoisseur (although I do like to watch sommelier Andrea Immer on TV) but I have noticed that the trend in recent years is to come up with the weirdest, craziest possible names for wines. You’d think naming a nice Sauvignon Blanc after feline urine would put people off, but apparently not. The winery that makes this one has other cat-themed wines, but nothing quite so…so…um… Well, to finalize my point, I heard about some other folks who started up a winery with a nice sedate label to only a lukewarm reception. They struggled for a while, and then took a friend’s advice, renamed their label something totally outrageous, maybe even raunchy, I can’t really say because my source didn’t know what the new name was, but anyway, sales shot up!

Finally, this morning, the gadget on my homepage called Things To Ponder posed the question, “Why is there no mouse-flavored cat food?” Well, instantly I recognized my next million. Make perfectly ordinary cat food, but give it more imaginative names that trendy up-scale cat-lovers will just love to use their conversations. “My little Tigger just adores her Mouse Bits in Cheezy Gravy.” “Well my Bosco won’t touch anything but Field Cricket Delight or the Mixed Aquarium Platter.”

I think you’ll agree this one just can’t miss. In fact, I know the perfect wine to go with it.

Tuesday morning correction – Oops, I had a “mental typo” on this…it’s black currants not black berries. Thanks to Sian for setting me straight!!





Photo of Sweeney by D. Godin