Maine Beach, Surf, Sun, No Fish - but Fun......

Sunday the 10th of July was Andy Z's 57th Birthday. When our plans to sail fell through, I quickly made alternate plans to take him surf fishing at Popham beach. That beach has always been special to us as it holds a lot of romantic memories. Interestly, I am also drawn to that area for other reasons. My mother's father grew up there and I have descendants who settled there hundreds of years ago. The story, as I understand it is- that my great great and maybe another great grandfather John Parker came over on the Mayflower and settled the neighoring area of ParkerHead. I have yet to confirm any of this mind you, but its fun to think it's accurate. It goes along with my philosophy of being drawn to the underlying energy of an area based on personal ties to the past, whether we are aware of them or not.



Our plan for the birthday -day, (after I made Andys traditional birthday apple pie) was to catch our dinner and then grill stripers and dine next to the pool, while enjoying a nice salty- sweet margarita. I checked the tides and made sure the stripers were in fact running. I tried to cover all bases. I was there to catch fish, Andy was there, as usual, just for the experience of it all. He is way more patient, where as I need to see progress in a hurry. After several hours of casting, my patience wore thin. I must say, I am a pretty good fisherman, but that day all I caught was seaweed, a couple of rocks, and nearly hooked a stray child who ran wildly behind me as I was about to cast out my line. Hence Plan B came into play. Deciding we'd had enough sun, we headed back home to enjoy the rest of the birthday evening. On the ride home, we stopped and bought the best hardshell lobster in Wiscasset right on Rt. 1. We took them home and Andy steamed them as he always does. There is a big difference in taste when prepared this way. I highly recommend it. Fish or no fish- Andy was happy and I was especially so, when at the end of the day he announced- "this was the best Birthday I've had so far!." Mission accomplished.

Don't forget to celebrate those you love everyday.