Where it all began

 It is no lie that my life has been...well a little fishy lately. Yes, even Mother's day was a fishing extravaganza?!?

Well, I asked my father in law if he had any old photos of Mike's grandfather Clair fishing. A little while later I received an envelope in the mail...

When I held the 50 year old slides up to the window light I immediately wanted to cry. I love the power a photo has.

These photos have not seen the light of day in many years, and yet here they were telling ME the story. Mike did not even exist yet, and here was his grandfather doing something that would be passed on to his great grandson. 

 My father in law was quick to let me know that this was before "catch and release" existed. This was also before the movie "A River Runs Through It" came out. 

However, you would swear that it was from the movie. 

And this young man was Cal. He was Clair's brother in law. He was an amazing architect. In fact there are many of his creations all over Montana. He was the one who taught Clair how to fly fish soon after meeting Clair's beautiful sister, Pat. She was beautiful too, inside and out. She was an incredible artist and one of my favorite things I own is a silk print she made for Mike and I. 

I know I tell people all the time, but you just can't put a price on photographs. Dot told me that Clair always complained that no one ever wanted to see his photographs. It is really a bummer that my love for photography happened after Clair passed away. I would have had him drag out boxes and boxes of photos.