Cutter, UGA and his “PEOPLE”

😭Warning: FEELS ALERT… proceed with caution.😭 On Monday, we dropped Cutter off at the University of Georgia (UGA) to start his freshman year in college. Many of you reading this know Cutter on various levels, and I might go as far as saying some of you are even emotionally invested in this kid. People are […]

Labor of love, bamboo fly rods & Kathy

IS IT LABOR…IF YOU LOVE IT? It’s been 529 days a minute since my last post here. I do love to write…even if it is for the sole purpose of providing proof of our existence for my now teenage children who hate me who may read this one day. However, it seems as though upon […]

ANATOMY, ENGRAVING and THE BAMBOO FLY ROD

WHY HAND ENGRAVING? Legacy? Because it’s beautiful? Investment? To honor? Customization? Memorialize? Yes. While these reasons may seem obvious, perhaps the most significant reason to hand engrave your bamboo fly rod cannot be seen or even carefully explained…it can only be felt. Let me say this…throughout the years here at Oyster, hand engraving our bamboo […]

Mud, Belonging and the Bamboo Fly rod

25 years ago Bill asked me where I wanted to live. I told him anywhere in the world as long as it was in Georgia. Bill: “What am I going to wear to that? We donated my funeral suit.” This was exactly Bill’s reaction when I told him (breathlessly I might add) that we […]

So, you married a “hardcore” fly fisherman?

The postman has nothing on the fly fisherman. photo credit: David Cannon So, when I met Bill…I knew he was a fly fisherman. In fact, on our first date we went fly fishing (technically the second date but this time around he actually talked to me *see introvert references and Bill being a man of very few […]

Main Street, The Bamboo Fly Rod and Love

“Find what you love and let it kill you.” – Bukowski Quinn, me (hiding), Roni and Cutter My girl Michelle and her baked goods…that just happened to look like a heart today…really. Bill and I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. We have never properly observed this particular holiday…well…we did once…23 years ago. While our memories of this fateful day […]

Mother’s Day, Bamboo Fly Rods and the "Best" Lifestyle

It’s Mother’s Day. Naturally, I am feeling proud, content and superior to all other mothers full of self-doubt! In the weeks leading up to this sacred day, our culture inundates us with the images of “perfect mothers” by showering them us with accolades, flowers, perfume…blah,blah, blah. Sans the perfume…that’s how my day began as well…but […]

My Bamboo Fly Rod, a Can of Worms and the Sentimental Nature of it All

My class was on March 3rd and through all of the ups and downs…I successfully made another bamboo fly rod without crying impaling anyone. About a month before my class, I sent out an email asking for advice concerning my new bamboo fly rod. I asked Oyster clients to help design it…I did it…it was […]

Oyster Bamboo Fly Rods…2012 Year in Review…The Best Laid Plans of Bamboo and Fly Rods

“If it were easy…everyone would do this.” . Those are the words that Bill whispered in my ear almost daily in the beginning of 2012. As the year wore on, Bill’s whisper grew into a dull roar and those words’ final resting place became my mantra. At the end of 2011, we had a plan for 2012. What’s the expression…no […]

My tribal bamboo fly rod!

The above photo is a direct result of the following: 6 months of planning, 7 friends (including my Aunt Terry from Seattle) and 74 hours of work (I was slow, and others had to assist me…hence the “tribal” in the rod) … ♥ Originally, I had planned to write out a thoughtful […]