Hats, fishing, and the shop

Hey everyone! I’m sitting in my favorite coffee shop again. It’s a iced coffee kinda day and Stella is on the floor next to me. Not bad for the beginning of August, though it’s a bit unreal that it’s already August. I think I say that at the beginning of every month these days. My usual is a cortado and a pastry (my favorite is Abby’s Energy Bites).

I went fishing recently at a new place with Dave and Ben. The mission was to check out some water above some sketchy falls and hopefully we’d find some untouched backcountry brook trout. We did, and it was really fun. Ben caught a monster fatty of a 10” brook trout at the end too.

Hats: I just got a new order my of ‘Slow Down’ hats! Check them out here.

A few of the many glowing reviews of these hats: “these are the most comfortable and best fitting hats I’ve ever worn” (Dave, emphasis added), “the reason I caught that 29” brown trout was because of this hat” (Ben), “it’s great and wears in well” (me), “I like it because if you wear it and it gets smelly you can wash it” (my son), “cool snail” (my daughter), “these fit my huge head” (Ben). I could go on but by now I’m sure you’re convinced to buy one of each color.

The shop. One time when I went to the Catskills a few years back It was for one of the early autumn rod maker gatherings and I was late to the game in reserving a room but my friend Mike McFarland had a suggestion for a place to stay. His description of the motel was ‘it’s a shit hole, but it’ll work’. That was my first impression when I first saw my new shop building. It’s primitive, a bit rustic, and has plenty of personality as well as room for improvement. It even has a ‘living wall’ out in the big shop. There have been several iterations of bench placement, clean room placement, etc. but it’s turned into a great space for me and I’m grateful for that. Stop by for a visit sometime if you’re near the downtown Winston-Salem area. It’s not all that exciting but it works.

Chris Barclay6 Comments