Plague Journal, Learning Living Learning
Yesterday afternoon was spent at the Don Early Park in West Chicago. The park is tucked in beside and behind the cemetery right on East Washington Street. The feature of the park is a small pond. I would estimate the pond is about 50 yards or so in diameter. The pond is home to geese and a gosling family, abundant small fish, turtles and bullfrogs. In short the pond is a healthy habitat for wild things. What better place to spend an afternoon with two insatiably curious grandchildren? Every moment in such a place presents something new for the imagination to interpret.
I spent the time fishing with our grandson. Nature is a playground of choice for him. In the course of the afternoon I was tasked with removing fishhooks from a number of small sunfish, one bullfrog, and one catfish. I successfully retrieved two fishing lines which were inadvertently cast into the lower branches of a tree. That was no small feat. The catfish also was a challenge because channel cats have a bony lip. Patience is required to disengaged a barbed hook from a catfish mouth.
We fished, and I thought of one of my first memories of fishing with my grandfather. We stood on the dam of a pond on his farm. That’s about all I remember. But I do remember. I remember a sense of danger. “Keep an eye out for snakes.” “Don’t fall into the deep end of the pond.” Adults are needed for good reason when children are in the wild.
Our ancestors have fished and hunted for food for many generations beyond the reach of memory. They did not have a fancy closed-faced reel, a Wal-Mart product, made in China, such as I hold in my hand. Their effort was more consequential, and the equipment was more rudimentary. They sought their livelihood from nature, fishing and hunting, — with a great deal more patience and skill that I am likely to ever need. Still, I felt a kinship with the past as I stood with my grandson by the pond.
Two photos. This is the first fish of the day, caught and proudly displayed. Later in the afternoon, the aspiring turtle-hunter holds a painted turtle alongside his sister. The turtle was taken by surprise and scooped up in his bullfrog-catching net. Fish and turtle were released promptly after examination.
