My subjective post on somethings that are beautiful. The best is saved for the last – because it involves my own subjective value on pride in one of my sons as well as what I think was an awesome service from a friend of mine. But here goes:
(Note June 10th, 2020 – Sadly, the first two images I can only locate small thumbnails from the original blog post. I’ll try to find larger ones later – cross fingers).
Ah, Meaford Harbour on Georgian Bay in the spring. Peaceful. Most of the yachts and ships are still in dry dock – but some, like the above, sit quietly and alone in the water, waiting for the Captain to pilot her through the harbour and onto wherever the spirit moves. In the meantime, she sits quietly, her reflection in the calm water protected by the breakwall from the waves and forces of Georgian Bay.
This is Dave. Of all the friends I have, Dave is probably one of the the “longest serving” friends of all. I’ve known Dave for almost 30 years – in high school, we shared an interest in soccer and girls. And even more importantly, a love of fishing. This is Dave’s very nice Rainbow he landed on the Beaver River this past weekend. Dave and I don’t get to hang out as much as I’d like anymore. But I think long term friendships that have gone through girlfriends, marriages, kids, different careers, moving distances apart, and still finding the time to go out fishing together – beautiful.
Ah, now to many of you, this last picture might not have any meaning at all. It might not even be beautiful. But for me, it’s priceless. You see, that is another friend that I’ve known for about two decades, on the left. His name is Ian James, and he’s one of Canada’s top fly fishing guides, instructors and fly tying guys. He’s also a Roman Catholic 
. When I help him out with Internet stuff, he forces me to use passwords that are something like “Pope John Paul and Benedict Are Awesome.” He’s originally from Glasgow, Scotland is a Rangers Supporter in private, but has to keep up “public appearances” and pretend he supports Celtic. When Ian James reads this, he’ll likely chuckle and call me up and make some derogatory remarks about those that live on the Shankhill Road. But whatever, he’s another awesome friend of mine – and what is beautiful is that the fellow standing beside him in the picture above is my 14 year old son, Colin.
Colin is a pretty special person to me. His hair is longer then mine was back in high school.. and he’s even got an ear ring. I just found that out this weekend. Colin is probably one of the most thankful kids I’ve ever known. You buy Colin a hot chocolate, and he’s thanking you as if what you just bought for him was a super duper ultra amazing coolest thing going. Seriously. I remember one year, driving out to Ottawa to take him out for his birthday, and then taking him for Hot Chocolate, and he saying, “Dad, you don’t need to do this – aren’t you spending a lot of money on me with coming all the way out here, and taking me for dinner already?”
The hot chocolate was a buck. I don’t get the same hugs from Colin that I used to when he was younger, but I get the same grins, the same dry humour, and yes.. the same deep down appreciation and thanks for anything and everything.
Colin has indicated an interest in learning to fly fish. So, the above is a picture of Colin with one of my favorite people, who also happens to be an amazing fly fishing instructor. Colin is now fly casting better than I am. And yeah.. to me…. that is beautiful. It was beautiful to watch one of my great friends take Colin while I stood in the background, and teach him to do something better than I can do it. If you’re interested, there is more here.
I hope you can tell that I’m really proud of Colin. Of course, I’m also very thankful for my friends. Even the Papist ones. (Yes, I just had to get that in there ).
Anyhow, there’s an idea that I’d like to find ways to communicate, about some of my subjective ideas on beauty. For my own whimsical “reasons,” the third picture is more beautiful than the ones above. You can take or leave whatever you like. But I’d also like to thank my good friends; Dave Moore and Ian James, and my awesome sons – Alex, James, Colin, and David, but particularly at this moment, Colin.
I hope you found some of your own beauty to enjoy this past weekend. By the way, all the images above are “clickable” such that you can view larger and more detail, if you want.