Tonight is a blue moon, which is the second
full moon in a month. We won’t be seeing
it in Cordova, raining and blowing here.
Guess we are getting some leftover typhoon from Japan that had winds up
to 120 MPH. The mountains are barely out
let alone anything in the sky. Someone else will have to take a picture and
report back.
This weekend is also Labor Day weekend, a day of celebration
of the social contributions of workers.
Labor Day is traditionally celebrated on a Monday with parades, picnics
and whatnot. Mondays are the days we
typically fish here on the Copper River.
So it’s always been a strange holiday to me, mostly because of its
non-existence in my world. It does make
me think of the contributions fishing brings to small towns like Cordova. Between fishermen, the canneries, gear
shops, net hanging, mending, fuel docks, grocery and liquor stores, even in the
bars, fishing brings a lot of money to a town.
You’d think it would be highly celebrated. Maybe because I’m usually out fishing, I miss
it, but I don’t think its much of a big deal up here. We aren’t without celebration though. The Trident Fisherman’s appreciation party
was a few days ago. And, they threw
down! Free! Salmon lox, king crab, salmon, halibut,
shrimp, and scallops, oh my! The best
part? Free booze. That’s right.
No 2 free drink tickets. Free.
Drink. For. 6. Hours. That’s almost a full workday. It was tough, but we managed. It wasn’t as good an idea that next day either,
but again we managed, barely. Some
better than others. But it was sure fun that night! I got to see a lot of my fishing
buddies. Also ran into Louie, who I
seined herring with back in ’98. Funny
how different our memories are of the same event. Like him accusing me of faking that fat bloody lip and cracked front tooth just to hang out with our spotter pilot when he had to fly me to the dentist in Kodiak. HA! It’s all good though.
So, have a good Labor Day everyone. And don’t forget to thank a fisherman!
