silhouette

silhouette
Originally uploaded by woodsrun

The view from the foot of Union Falls--plenty of open water, but plenty of ice, too.

I wish I could say I took this because the silhouettes matched, but it wasn't until I loaded the image that I noticed it. In the foreground is the hill (whose name I forget) that's at the head of Silver Lake. Over its left shoulder is Cranberry Pond. You have to bushwhack to get to it. Ken used to fish there as a boy--he and a friend (here's where I'm embarrassed at failing to remember who it was, having been told this story dozens of times) would go there and spend the night under the boughs of a hemlock tree (hemlocks are one of my favorite trees, their boughs are feathery and the needles sort of drip down). They'd fish for bullhead and always brought back a pailful. Then--now get this--they'd dump the pail into Silver Lake. HAH! Sort of like planting ragweed on an asthmatic's lawn.

Everyone says they used to catch bullhead, but the water is really too cold to sustain a population, at least that's what I think. Anyway, no one has caught a bullhead, I don't think, for a long time. I caught one once, many years ago, fishing in a boat by myself. I yelled ICK! and cut the line, dropping the fish back into the water. Supposedly bullhead have spikes on either side of their heads and the myth is that you have to nail them to a board in order to skin them. Ken has a friend who brings him bullhead pretty often. Marty is a great fisherman, who brings perch, bass, smelt and those awful bullhead for Ken. They're always cleaned and pan-ready. Ken used to ask for bullhead for dinner until I finally told him I DON'T LIKE BULLHEAD. Icky consistency and tastes just like mud. "What? You don't like bullhead?" Anyway, I don't have to eat it anymore.