I'm coming off a glorious weekend we spent out on the eastern tip of Long Island, near the town of East Hampton. The weather was summery, and I had some great fishing for striped bass and false albacore with my buddy, a professional guide, David Blinken.
The down sides: Luke, our little boy, was stung on the lip by a bee. Have you ever seen a toddler with his face swollen to half-again its normal size? I haven't either—I was out fishing when it happened.
But my wife, Lisa, freaked. Thankfully, David's wife Sally and his mom Jane were around to help her out. With the help of anti-allergy medications, the swelling quickly went down, and with the help of ice cream, Luke calmed down.
And to think that just a few days earlier I had been wondering if we shouldn't get Luke checked for having a serious bee-sting allergy. You can die from a bee sting if you're sufficiently allergic and don't get medical attention in time. I guess Luke's not allergic. What a way to find out, though.
Down side #2: I've got some kind of weird flu-like virus and am going home right after I post this. It seems to me that just a few years ago, catching a cold was a straightforward thing. You got a scratchy throat, you started sneezing, you became terribly congested and then, after a week of misery, you started to get better.
These days, it's different. You never know what you're getting, the symptoms come and go and reappear, you don't really know what you've got.
Well, that's it for now. I'll be back with you tomorrow, if I'm in, or later in the week.