It was a busy day for me yesterday. It started with getting out in the cold morning to enjoy the last day of upland bird hunting season for the year. I was able to meet with some friends and once again, walk in the snow covered woods, fields and swamps that were thick and at times impassable. We went out to enjoy the last day this year, with a very good pointing dog.
It is a delight to walk behind a well trained pointer as it performs its magic. It’s nose in the air, to seek out the fresh scent of a grouse, woodcock or pheasant. The experience of hunting with a good Brittany spaniel is very enjoyable to watch.
My good friend Jim has such a dog and yesterday, it was Callie’s turn to give us the opportunity for one last hunt. To test our skill with a heavy and challenging snow covered terrain that offered very few shooting lanes. There were birds afield but the snow covered, thick over brush kept the pheasants on the move. They did a lot of running, rather than holding to cover and bust up in flight.
We had many opportunities yesterday and were able to take advantage of a few of them. Today, it has become a day of good memories from this year’s adventures.
Later last night, I went to my high school class reunion. The class of 1974 at Technical High School once numbered 400. But only about 85 turned out for the reunion. There were also a small number of the graduates who were notified of the event, but for one reason or another could not make it.
I wondered what happened to most of the other members of the graduating class. Have they all gone away and dropped off the grid? Lost all connections and communication with old classmates? According to the count from our class historian, 14 of the graduates have died. Margret setup a nicely lit table that displayed each of the departed classmate’s yearbook pictures.
Everyone attending wore a name card that had their class picture on it. That helped with connecting the names to the faces. It definitely led to some fun in reminiscing and a few good chuckles. Boy have you changed “Remember when you had lots of hair”.
For me there was lots of catch-up talk. I have not kept in close contact with but a small few members of our class. What have you been doing with your life? "Really” I didn't know that? "So this is your third wife? Well, she's really very lovely." Or my favorite line: "You've lived here all this time and I've never run into you in 40 years!"
I did ask the question to many, “was this your first reunion since we graduated”? It was for most of the guests but there was one that was held for the tenth anniversary. It apparently was not a big turnout. I never heard of it being scheduled so did not make the event. In any case, it took four decades before there was a significant group that was able to come together for this year’s reunion.
Maybe this kind of curiosity comes with age. The most amazing thing about the reunion for me was that everything is different and yet, everything is also frozen in time. The memories of old events were vivid and it was fun to catch up. Now as I sit here today, life goes on and those memories of 40 plus years ago are just that. Now, it’s once again time to get ready for the Holidays and the long cold winter.
It was a good day.
And from that year, one of my favorite songs. Lucky enough to see them at The Open Air Festival in Ludwigshafen Germany a year later.
It is a delight to walk behind a well trained pointer as it performs its magic. It’s nose in the air, to seek out the fresh scent of a grouse, woodcock or pheasant. The experience of hunting with a good Brittany spaniel is very enjoyable to watch.
My good friend Jim has such a dog and yesterday, it was Callie’s turn to give us the opportunity for one last hunt. To test our skill with a heavy and challenging snow covered terrain that offered very few shooting lanes. There were birds afield but the snow covered, thick over brush kept the pheasants on the move. They did a lot of running, rather than holding to cover and bust up in flight.
We had many opportunities yesterday and were able to take advantage of a few of them. Today, it has become a day of good memories from this year’s adventures.
Later last night, I went to my high school class reunion. The class of 1974 at Technical High School once numbered 400. But only about 85 turned out for the reunion. There were also a small number of the graduates who were notified of the event, but for one reason or another could not make it.
I wondered what happened to most of the other members of the graduating class. Have they all gone away and dropped off the grid? Lost all connections and communication with old classmates? According to the count from our class historian, 14 of the graduates have died. Margret setup a nicely lit table that displayed each of the departed classmate’s yearbook pictures.
Everyone attending wore a name card that had their class picture on it. That helped with connecting the names to the faces. It definitely led to some fun in reminiscing and a few good chuckles. Boy have you changed “Remember when you had lots of hair”.
For me there was lots of catch-up talk. I have not kept in close contact with but a small few members of our class. What have you been doing with your life? "Really” I didn't know that? "So this is your third wife? Well, she's really very lovely." Or my favorite line: "You've lived here all this time and I've never run into you in 40 years!"
I did ask the question to many, “was this your first reunion since we graduated”? It was for most of the guests but there was one that was held for the tenth anniversary. It apparently was not a big turnout. I never heard of it being scheduled so did not make the event. In any case, it took four decades before there was a significant group that was able to come together for this year’s reunion.
Maybe this kind of curiosity comes with age. The most amazing thing about the reunion for me was that everything is different and yet, everything is also frozen in time. The memories of old events were vivid and it was fun to catch up. Now as I sit here today, life goes on and those memories of 40 plus years ago are just that. Now, it’s once again time to get ready for the Holidays and the long cold winter.
It was a good day.
And from that year, one of my favorite songs. Lucky enough to see them at The Open Air Festival in Ludwigshafen Germany a year later.
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