Sometimes Changing Direction Refocuses our Goals

By Jim Sollecito

My buddy and I have been trying to get to Siberia ever since a Russian beat my International Game Fish Association fly fishing world record two years ago.

Evidently Russia grows larger fish than I found in a sparkling Canadian Arctic river.

A light ignites in me to go somewhere primitive, the kind of place you’d see in a battered yellow-bordered National Geographic magazine, to do something I’m passionate about.

However, I am not reckless about chasing that inner light. Once again, I’ve decided to postpone my Atlantic Salmon fly fishing trip to Siberia. For safety and COVID-19 concerns; it is just not prudent to attempt that trip this year. Maybe next. Those fish will be a bit bigger next year while hopefully I’ll be about the same size.

Heeding tales from others who have recently ventured beyond our borders and despite being vaccinated and boosted, I am just not comfortable taking unnecessary chances. I remember contracting malaria in India years ago. That was not enjoyable. I’m not keen on getting hung up somewhere user-unfriendly for 10 days waiting to pass a test. And maybe the local culture includes pay-offs to get the desired results. Don’t think it doesn’t happen. I don’t want to be surrounded by faked verification.

It’s funny, I’ve gone places that I’ve never fully come back from. I find myself gravitating to places where some form of bicycle is many people’s primary means of transportation. And it always makes me smile. It reminds of the freedom I experienced exploring my own world growing up. I’m comfortable with a simpler way of life but I am uncomfortable with a bribery culture.

Trusting our gut becomes more reliable with age. More accurately, our gut becomes more astute with experience and knowledge. No biggie; there are other fish to fry.

Changing my focus to a different adventure, I have decided to renovate my own landscape vista. I will plant a lot of trees and improved varieties of shrubbery on our farm to screen, frame and enhance the new barn I will build. With deliberate consideration, I will situate these plantings a sufficient distance from the proposed structure well before construction begins. This will include elevation considerations, soil composition and topography disturbance. All this precise planning stirs my creative juices.

My attention has shifted from elusive fish to results-oriented landscape design. Putting pencil to paper is actually fun. It is daydream time. Winter is an etching. Spring will be a glorious watercolor.

Excitedly starting our 49th year in business this year, I invite you to experience life in full bloom this spring. That time is right around the corner. I can hardly contain my enthusiasm.

How about you?