#330 Crayfish

I can’t believe what a slacker I’ve been lately. One little newborn baby and all of a sudden I’m skipping days of blogging! Oh well, hopefully you’ll put up with me and keep checking for new posts.




My 7 year old brought home a book from the school library the other day about a kid who puts lots of things in his pockets. I can’t remember the title and it wasn’t really that good, but it did bring up an Eric memory. One of the things the little boy in the book sees (but thankfully doesn’t put in his pocket) is a crayfish.



I remember catching crayfish with Eric at Island Beach, the local lake where we used to swim in the summers. It was called Island Beach because, well, the beach was an island. Very creative. You had to go over a small foot bridge to get there from the parking lot. The parking lot wasn’t paved but was covered with small rocks and we’d walk mincingly over them in our bare feet to and from the car. I’m not sure why we didn’t put shoes on, but we didn’t. There was a small concession stand on the parking lot side of the bridge, and monkey bars on the beach side of the bridge. There was a lifeguard chair on the beach and a raft floating at the far edge of the roped-in swimming area and that was it. And it was wonderful. It was only about a mile from our house so we spent a lot of time there.



The area under the bridge and between the beach and the rest of the lake front were great places to catch minnows and crayfish and we caught plenty of both. Once we even brought crayfish home in a Tupperware container and tried to keep them as pets. I don’t think that lasted very long.



I had not forgotten about the beach, but I had forgotten about catching crayfish until this book. Not only did it bring back a great memory for me, but it provided an opportunity for me to share it with my son and talk about Uncle Eric. So I guess even boring books can have redeeming qualities.