Catching Minnows

... I can get this one with my net ...

The Dollar Store?

Well, I usually think of it as the Fifty Dollar Store if I carry a basket around while I shop there.

One thing I haven’t bought at the Dolar Stoare is fishing nets. I see them there, fine nets on coloured bamboo sticks.

Others must buy them for there are always some in my garage. I don’t know who purchases them – rods with the fine mesh hanging from wire loops.

 ... so small I can hardly see them ...

I have been party to teaching children that rocks don’t do well in those nets.

 I also spent time trying to fix the nets with a thread and needle – some children just think carrying rocks is more fun that catching fish.

Usually it is easier to buy another net – if someone is going to town.

... goggles on / goggles off ...

This year there was a perfect net in the garage ... one with no holes. I don’t know if that is the one Ceilidh was using the day I watched her in the water.

She was patient for hours, standing over by the dock, her bucket safe on the wooden platform and her goggles on her eyes, then back to the top of her head, then readjusted to her eyes, dipping into the water again.

Pretty fun!  my choice of a great afternoon.

At one point she brought the bucket over so I could take a look at it. Either I have forgotten how small minnows can be, or I need new glasses.

 She had to show me exactly where they were swimming in the water, trapped until her task was over.

 “I can’t believe it. I spent the whole afternoon doing that, ” she said, slipping them back into the water.

Arta