Wednesday, September 24, 2025
ESSAY - OLD MEMORIES, NICE, SAD, GOOD TO HAVE
Still dark, and raining, as I sit in my travel trailer at a casino RV park near the Ohio river in Indiana. I hear the drip, drip of the rain down the wall behind me, and the pitty-pat on the roof.
Safe, and warm(ish) in my flannel shirt and PJ bottoms, faux fireplace pretending it's putting out heat, but looking fireplace-ish enough in the dimly lit morning.
In the rotation, I remembered early morning fishing trips with my father, along the Gulf of Mexico.
Didn't catch much except a love for sunrise over the Gulf... and the memory of the water rolling into the shore, heard in the darkness more than seen, although, if the moon was bright enough, or the sun starting to push a few fingers over the horizon, you could see the white caps of the waves.
Hot coffee from my dad's thermos, maybe a sandwich my mom had packed.
Odd, here in Indiana, remembering old Florida mornings from over half a century ago.
Nice.
Sad, in a way.
Gone.
Yet still around in my head and memories.
Labels: boyhood, donovan baldwin, fishing, Gulf Of Mexico, memories
Wednesday, July 09, 2025
STORY - MY FATHER AND THE CAPTAIN - A LESSON IN KINDNESS
My father would often take me fishing... primarily in Pensacola Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico... and a few bayous in and around the area. I enjoyed being with him doing "guy" things but, somehow, the fishing gene died in me. Apparently, it may have been transmitted through my sister to her grandsons.
But, what I didn't learn about fishing, I sometimes learned about life.
One morning, fishing off the Pensacola Bay bridge, a derelict old skeleton of a man, with a cigarette dangling out of his mouth, shambled up and politely addressed Daddy, asking in the time-honored fashion of fishermen around the world, if he was catching anything.My father replied politely and for a few minutes they chatted about fishing, where to fish, what was biting, what bait to use, to fish the bottom or not, etc.
After a while the ragged old man politely took his leave and wandered off down the bridge to have more conversations on fishing with other strangers.
I had noticed during the entire conversation, my dad, a normally taciturn man, had been open, cheerful, and polite... even going so far as to consistently address the decrepit old soul as "Captain", and speak to him with deference and respect.
The following conversation is as I remember it, probably not word for word...
Surprised at such familiarity in my father, especially with such a ragged, snaggle-toothed fellow, I asked,
"Daddy? Do you know him?"
"Nope. Never saw him before in my life."
"Then how did you know he was a Captain?"
"Did you see the hat he was wearing?"
"Yes."
"That's a captain's hat."
"So he's a captain of a ship?"
"Oh, I don't know that he's the captain of anything, but, he wears the hat. He apparently likes to think of himself as one, and it doesn't hurt me to call him 'Captain' and make him feel good. An old man like that doesn't have a lot, and it probably means a lot to him when somebody treats him with the respect he would like to have."
I don't remember what fish we caught that morning, but, I did get a free lesson from my dad. Respect people. A lot of time that's all they want... sometimes, that's all they might have.
Labels: donovan baldwin, fishing, kindness, life lesson
Thursday, December 28, 2017
Jack Of All Trades?
By: Donovan Baldwin
The old phrase, "Jack of all trades, and master of none", fits me pretty well.
I've done a lot of things in my life.
As a man, I have been a soldier, truck driver, instructor, restaurant manager, and certified optician, just to name a few things.
As a boy, I helped my father do carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, auto repair, and, of course, had a paper route and did the standard yard work.
My dad was interesting to me. He seemed to know something about everything, and, never seemed to stop learning.
Through his interests, I learned to enjoy opera and classical music, became an amateur radio operator, and learned how to fish, including the part that came afterwards...gutting and cleaning the fish. He made his own cast nets, and taught me how to use them.
A lot of what I learned to do in my life had dirty, grungy sides. Just ask mom when she would look at us in the back yard cleaning fish, or I would come home filthy from a day spent on a construction crew in the hot Florida summer.
Still, it was fun catching the fish, with rod and reel, or with cast net (which my dad made), cleaning them with my dad, and, once mom got her hands on them, eating the cooked fish as a family meal.
My dad was a quiet man.
Few words. Lot of messages, however.
I've done a lot of things in my life.
As a man, I have been a soldier, truck driver, instructor, restaurant manager, and certified optician, just to name a few things.
As a boy, I helped my father do carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, auto repair, and, of course, had a paper route and did the standard yard work.
My dad was interesting to me. He seemed to know something about everything, and, never seemed to stop learning.
Through his interests, I learned to enjoy opera and classical music, became an amateur radio operator, and learned how to fish, including the part that came afterwards...gutting and cleaning the fish. He made his own cast nets, and taught me how to use them.
A lot of what I learned to do in my life had dirty, grungy sides. Just ask mom when she would look at us in the back yard cleaning fish, or I would come home filthy from a day spent on a construction crew in the hot Florida summer.
Still, it was fun catching the fish, with rod and reel, or with cast net (which my dad made), cleaning them with my dad, and, once mom got her hands on them, eating the cooked fish as a family meal.
My dad was a quiet man.
Few words. Lot of messages, however.
Labels: cast net, donovan baldwin, fishing, Florida, jack of all trades
