Well, well well. It appear that another summer has passed us by. It seems like just a few weeks ago I was sweating away in my shop wishing that we would get a break from the heat. I often get sentimental about the end of summer. I do enjoy the warmth and the long days. But much of it still has to do with the magical summers I spent as a kid hanging out at Island Neck playing on the dock, out in the boat, riding go-karts, shooting bb guns, badminton in the sweltering heat but loving it, hanging out with Papa in the shop and carving decoys when it pleased me. The dread of going back to school still sticks with me. I hated the monotony, the busy work, the commute, the waste of my time. Sure I might have wasted plenty of time at age 8, but that was my choice. I had a pretty stress free idyllic childhood, that of course I can appreciate plenty more now.
So, what am I getting at. I am fondly reminiscing. But summer is over, I will miss it, but fall is great. Let's just not think about winter just yet.
Now, to the present. I think back to my summers in Alaska (Ian that is not the present). Yes, it was three years ago that my last season finished up! So what that really means is that this Fall marks three years since I started carving full time. It has been good, really good. Becca and I bought a little house, a little shop in the back and we have made it our own. It feels like home. It was about 5 years ago that I think that I consciously made the decision that I needed to focus on carving full time if I was going to make it work. The thought had been brewing for a few years before that, and as Grandpappy McNair like to say, "The Universe is unfolding as it should." It was the right time and place, and having a wife who was ready to start a career solidified my thoughts into reality. The freedom of travel and tour guiding might have held onto me for several more years or perhaps decades were it not for Becca. Those experiences were really priceless and I would not change a thing. I also can't imagine if I had not followed the path that I took three years ago to follow this journey and use the skills that I have been taught and continue to learn. Not every day might be a inspired one, but there are plenty of inspired days that I learn a new skill, come up with an idea and then put it into practice. It can be a very rewarding lifestyle. It is also unique in other ways. Some days I won't talk to anyone for 6 or 8 hours. Sometimes I like that. Occasionally I get a little lonely, but then I just pick up my headset and make a few phone calls. And eventually Becca gets home, which is always nice, unless she had a tough day. But we all have those days. I listen to a lot of radio. I used to listen to a lot of NPR. I'm not sure what is going on, but either my views are swinging right, or All Things Considered turned further Left and never looked back. I'm still trying to figure that one out, but now I'm more listening to podcasts or books on tape (all history). Maybe Colin and I should start a decoy podcast??? So there is a run on paragraph on the last three years and a day in the life, I hope that it wasn't too long, maybe I should talk about my summer, now it is a run on sentence.
This summer. If you read that previous paragraph you would know that I carve decoys and that takes a lot of my time. So that was most of it. We did the summer sale up in Plymouth which would make my third year in a row. My sister, niece and nephew came over for a visit up there as well, so like so many decoy events, it was also a family reunion. We had our picture taken for the Bee (if you have a copy please send, I never got one) with 4 generations of family at the Copley Auction. I set up my first inside table at a show at Copley and sold a few things. As is often the case, the things that I sold were what everyone wanted, or at least that it what they said. Afterwards we made a trip to Island Neck (my childhood home) to spend time with my parents and especially my sister, niece and nephew. Great times were had on the boat, Pelican Island and around the dinner table. I got a bushel of crabs which kept us busy and well fed. My little niece Olivia who is 5 was not afraid to grab a big jimmy and then eat 5 of them mostly on her own. She made her Uncle Ian proud.
I went to China. Yea, the one with the 1.3 billion people. It was 5 nights, maybe 6, one of those might have been on a plane. We made friends with the stewardess on the way over and she gave us a couple of bottles of wine so perhaps that is the missing night. So, why might I go to China for less than a week? Excellent question! My good friend Brian is in the aquaculture industry and saw an opportunity to improve upon the current quality of chest waders available in the current marketplace. So we went over to meet with a couple of manufacturers and work to create a better wader for the aquaculture industry. It's been a process, but stay tuned for updates, and if you need a pair of chest waders or a neoprene jacket in Mossy Oak Shadow Grass Blades, I might be able to help you with that. In the meantime, I have birds to carve, Winter is coming.