Thomas Wolfe, You Can Go Home Again: A Muggy Monday Morning in July
Getz, Lowell L.
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/11963
Description
Title
Thomas Wolfe, You Can Go Home Again: A Muggy Monday Morning in July
Author(s)
Getz, Lowell L.
Issue Date
2009-06
Keyword(s)
Nostalgia
Farming
Abstract
"As I grew older there was summer farm work, college, the army, graduate school, a family, and academia where, I became involved in time-consuming research projects, was a department head, and taught large classes. There was no time to sit quietly for hours on end and stare at a bobber floating in circles on the water. The first few years of retirement were just as hectic. Papers needed to be written before the data became stale. There were cruises, overseas trips, and extensive trips in this country to be made. Eventually these were done and life settled down. Quiet time became more available for reflection. When musing upon what once had been, the long mornings and afternoons sitting on the banks of Bear Creek at the Flood Gap kept drifting back to mind.
Finally, one muggy Monday morning in July, I went out to the back yard, dug into the damp soil under the English Ivy bed, and got a handful of earthworms. These I placed in an IGA green bean can (I do not think A&P sells Iona brand canned foods any more) and got out a collapsible fishing pole I had used as a pointer when lecturing to a large class. I found an old reel with some line, a few hooks, lead weights, and a red and white bobber in an old tackle box I had kept with me, mostly unused, for over 60 years. Then I took from the closet a baseball hat (sadly, with a plastic expander in back), put it on and tilted the bill up at an angle in front. Told the wife I was “going fishing"" and headed for the Sangamon River 20 miles away."
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