Wind, Sand and Stars

i'm currently reading the book Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. this man was a pilot in the early 1900s, running mail routes from France across Europe into South America and Africa. the book is a great collection of air tales and tales of crashes and survival. pretty epic stuff. it has been a great book to read while on the road, as he puts into words the thoughts of being alone in vast places quite well. i suggest you look it up. and also look up one of his other books, you may have heard of The Little Prince. Saint-Exupery was last seen taking off for a flight.

The River Why

i have been reading The River Why. it is good. real good. one of those good books that you can't stop reading but you make yourself read it slow so that it does end. i put it down after every chapter and think about it. i started it in searsmont, read it in the various stages of travel to christchurch and i'm nearing completion now. the main character gus is a very dedicated angler. after graduating high school he moves to a cabin on a river and fishing every single day. he pretty much drives himself crazy by fishing so much, blabbering on to his rod which he named Rodney T. Flyrod. i don't think that will happen to me.

anyway there are these botanical gardens in christchurch that i spent most of today walking and lounging around. there hasn't been a cloud in the sky all day. the avon river runs through these gardens and then the middle of town and i've watched this river from many different points in the city. today i spotted my first new zealand trout in this river. it was very exciting.

i also walked across town to a fishing shop today. got my license, couldn't help but buy some more flies even though i have close to 600 in my bags, shot the shit with a guy in there and poked around for a while. being in that store, walking around, looking at those avon river trout, reading this book, thinking about fishing most of the day has got me pretty ready to cast some line. day after tomorrow and i go fishing. this is good. i'm meeting a van man tomorrow. hopefully he has a van that will treat me well.

from The River Why: "fishing is nothing but the pursuit of the elusive."

someone is cooking something and it smells good. dinner time.