I woke up Thursday morning and Steve left to fish. I usually wait until he is out the door before I get ready to start my day. I don’t want to get in his way while he is double checking his pockets to make sure he has everything that he needs, and applying his sunscreen and bug spray. 
I trotted up stairs a little after 8 to enjoy my two eggs over medium, bacon and fresh fruit. I love dragon fruit, and was excited to see it on the side board.
One of the guests at the lodge is practicing for a swim in Naples Florida. She is going to swim for about four hours. Her husband (one of the three Steves here!) is going to be handing her power bars, and water during the race from a kayak. Wile Hubby was off fishing Anne asked Max to help her practice. For an hour she swam practicing her food and water bottle grabs. Anne is not allowed to touch the kayak at any point in her swim. You can only see Max in this picture, as Anne is on the other side of the kayak. I am not a swimmer, and just can’t imagine how anyone could think that this would be a fun thing to do! Jane decided to go for a swim also, but she has denied any interest in joining this long distance swim club. Wise choice Jane!
While Anne and Jane were out swimming, I took a walk on the driveway that leads to the main road. It’s a big circle, with one side of the circle less traveled than the other. The less traveled side was supposed to be used for guest traffic, but it was bumpier. Margaret, the taxi driver that the lodge uses, refuses to risk her undercarriage on the guest route. I was going to walk for 15 minutes and then turn around, but somehow convinced myself to just go a little bit further to where the two halves of the circle meet near the turn off to the main highway. Unfortunately that spot met at 19:45 seconds on my stop watch. So the whole walk was a miserable 40 minutes in the sun. I thankfully had a hat on, but foolishly brought no water. I finally made it to the lodge, collapsed on the bed and said “Well Done, Linda!”
I came upstairs to get ice water and checked my email. Lo and behold I had gotten an email from Peter that Steve had caught a beautiful bonefish!
It was a nine pounder! Steve’s biggest fish so far at Delphi was at least 6.5 pounds, possibly 7. So this was quite the catch! The fish ran into Steve’s backing four times. This means that the fish ran and used all of his line four times! Steve would bring the fish in, and then the fish would take off again.That’s a big and strong fish! Steve was blind casting, meaning that he threw the fly out willy nilly, hoping that it was in a spot where a fish might be cruising by. He told me later that had he fished directly to this fish, he probably would have never either hooked the fish or landed it as he would have been too nervous!
Soon it was 12:30 and time for lunch. I had the roasted vegetable salad with corn and jerk chicken. I also had a side order of French fries. We had a fun debate on whether or not sweet potato French fries were healthier than regular French fries! No cookies or wine for me today, but I am counting the hours until Friday night!
There were lots of sand flies nipping on my ankles at lunch. I was not smart and had not put on bug spray. Jane brought out her Avon Skin so Soft and I applied some, but it was too late. I was beginning to get the itchies. So after lunch I added insult to injury and did something especially stupid. As it was raining by the pool I brought one of the chaise lounge cushions to the lounger by our patio. I was out of the rain, and stupidly thought that I was safe from the sand flies as I was wearing a flyfishing shirt that is impregnated with insecticide. I wrapped a towel around my ankles thinking that I would outsmart the bugs. Alas, I think I was actually screaming “Attend the free banquet everyone!Finally Steve came back from his great day fishing and I went inside so he could tell me all about his day. I put some cortisone cream on thinking all was well.
Earlier in the morning I had worked on Wednesday’s post, but going between different wifi zones I accidentally lost my post and had to redo it. So between my crankiness over the bug bites and my lost post, I was in a bit of a bad mood. Steve had the much better day, In fact while he was fishing he thought”Oh, how wonderful life is” and then felt some kind of strange current go through his body. I routinely thank God for all my blessings, especially when things are going well. I don’t want a tragedy to strike and then think that I had never really appreciated all the wonderful things that I have going for me. I will have to ask Steve when he returns later if he had the weird feeling before or after he caught the fish! 
After Steve showered we went upstairs to the TV room and Steve watched coverage of the Masters while I redid my post. I got a few chuckles from my friends, so I hope it was as amusing as I thought it was! Our first canapé was fried rice balls with dip. 
Next was some kind of gloppy cream on a toast round. I skipped both, so I can’t give you a tasting report! 
Here is a picture of the dinner table. 
Can you see who is Head of the Table? Yes! It’s our Steve, with the biggest fish of the day! Well done, Steve! I should have made him give a retelling of the story to amaze the table, but thought better of it. Maybe I should have had him give me a toast, for finding Delphi? Well, I did that once. And as they say “Once is enough!” Or is it “Once is never enough!”? I can never get my quotations correct, so we’ll have to leave it as it was. Steve spoke with Jane on his left at dinner, and me on his right. He did talk to Peter and Margaret who were next to Jane and I. 
The first course was a peach salad. I love fresh peaches, and this salad at Delphi is always one of my favorites! 
Next was our main, Hogfish. It is a very tasty fish, with a lousy name. 
For dessert I think that we had a tiramisu. I didn’t realize until I hit the bottom of the dish, that there was cake on the bottom. I thought about not eating anymore, or even just eating the top, but ate the whole thing! Oh well, I did a pretty good job keeping Passover.
My questions of the day:
Do you fish?
How do you like your eggs?
Is it “Once is enough”, or “Once is never enough”?
I have never felt a chill down my spine like Dad. I fish with Dad, like eggs scrambled with cheese on toast with fried potatoes, and it depends on what you’re asking. Africa, once is never enough… Leaving to go for a hike in the pouring rain at 4pm… once is enough 🙂
I hate hiking in the rain! Once is definitely enough as far as that goes!