Sightseeing and Praying on a Winter Afternoon

Mother was a little reluctant to go for a drive when I called her this afternoon because she said she was behind in her extensive daily prayers. So I promised her we would say two Chaplets of the Divine Mercy while driving. It is a prayer said with rosary beads, but is shorter than the rosary. The Hail Mary is replaced with "For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world." You can read more about the Chaplet here.

We drove through the large park where she and my Dad went on dates in the 30's and where they fished a lot after retirement. So far, it's been a mild winter and the many Canadian geese normally on the lake in this season are fewer. Mother wondered if the birds were staying at more northern locations until really cold weather arrives. A sign said that eagles could now be seen on the lake.

The water surface is not frozen but fishing has ended, except for the diving ducks we watched near the dam. Besides us, only a few other cars drove the meandering road around the many coves and hills. Mother saw about six deer and I counted about ten. She commented that the deer seemed skinny (I think some were small, and were likely born this year). She also noted a couple of coves have filled in with a lot of silt so that the water is now shallow.

When she and Dad fished from a small boat, they would troll their lines and try to avoid shallow water with bottom debris that would entangle the lines. One time she and Dad came home with their story of a really large fish. It was the biggest fish Mother had ever hooked and it took about half an hour to bring it close to the boat. Happily, she got to see it just before it got away. The lake is very deep in the area where she hooked the fish, and at the base of a steep hill.

Mother did catch a 20-pound catfish at another lake. Late one summer afternoon, she and Dad drove up our driveway in their pickup truck with the aluminum boat hanging out the back. Dad got the large fish out of the ice chest and Mother proudly showed their young grandchildren the impressive catch of the day!

Mother insisted my family should have the fish because it was big enough to feed all of us. So I fried it, but no one could eat more than a bite. Unfortunately, catfish taste just like what they have been eating on the bottom of the lake. We buried it in the garden where it served as good fertilizer and food for the worms! Mother learned that she should take pictures of her really large fishes in the future, then throw them back in the lake for someone else to catch! However, we urged her to continue giving us the smaller fish that provided our tasty Friday dinners.