My great-grandfather Charlie liked fishing in addition to horses, and he indulged himself in both of these affections as a grown man.  It makes me happy that he did, because I see his pursuit and love of these things as a reward of sorts.  As I have mentioned before, Charlie grew up in a poor immigrant family in Cleveland, Ohio and there was little time or money for things like horses, fishing, or going to school past the 8th grade.  He worked selling newspapers on street corners after he left school, dreaming of owning a horse, and probably of going fishing too.  So, as a successful adult, wasn’t it only fair that he be allowed to experience the relative luxury and leisure of deep sea fishing and horse ownership?  I think so.

Charlie traveled to warm places at seasonally appropriate times to go fishing - usually Mexico, as far as I know. 

I, on the other hand, seem to only travel abroad at seasonally less desirable times.  Last year, I spent a week at the tail end of winter in Finland.  Tonight, I leave for Beijing, where my Lonely Planet guidebook informs me I can expect the weather to be “glacial,” with “northern winds cut[ting] like a knife through bean curd.”

Hopefully next time I’ll take a page out of Charlie’s book and travel when the weather is nice and the palm trees wave in the wind, as above.

Charles Harold Rose (1894-1964)