Space, Time and the Bamboo Fly Rod

word It’s a new year…well kind of… can we still say it’s a new year when it is almost 7% over (I did the “mathish” on that). In usual form, Oyster lunged into the New Year with dust kicking up all around us oblivious to the inevitable reflection and pause experienced by most as […]

Small is the new Big

Them: “You should franchise Oyster or try and build your brand large enough to sell it.” Me: “No.” 20 years ago, we decided that making bamboo fly rods for a living was a good idea. Why? Why would we ever dream that our passage into adulthood commerce should be anything less or more than a simple […]

"Do you remember the day you realized your father was not perfect?"

circa 1971 “Do you remember the day you realized your father was not perfect?” That was the question posed to me on a mountain bike ride years ago and it has nagged me ever since. I will protect this friend’s identity but she went on to tell me about that “fateful” day in her youth […]

Confessions of A Bamboo Fly Rod Maker’s Widow

So…after 14 years, I am taking my first bamboo fly rod making class tomorrow. Why 14 years? Well, like many of you reading this, it’s something I have always wanted to do but life has been in the way. Let’s see between work, 2 small children, building a new bamboo fly rod making shop, new office, […]