One of my childhood memories is spending summers near a lake. We’d rent a cabin and just chill. Local fishermen pulled in the catch and we’d buy it off them (of course, we did plenty of our own fishing 🎣 but it was still fun watching “the pros” do their thing.

We cleaned and salted the fish. I was maybe 8 or so, wielding a sharp knife 🔪

When the fish cured and dried, adults would eat it with beer. Of course I loved it too and grew up loving cured meats of all types. Once in a while my grandma even let me have some beer. I didn’t think much of it, was not my thing.

Most days I’d wake up before sunrise and go digging for worms in the dark. Id venture out with my brother and cousins around the lake, looking for a new spot to fish every time. Occasionally we’d come across nude sunbathers - that was something 😆

We took the rowboat out into the lake and find a shallow spot to catch crayfish. This was one of my most favorite activities, diving with a mask on, turning over giant rocks at the bottom of the lake and snagging the crayfish into my net. We’d swim all day and cook it later by the shore.

Most days the kids were totally unsupervised. We’d roam for miles, foraging mushrooms 🍄, catching fish, getting into trouble. At one point my uncle showed us kids how to make bows and we made the best bows we could. We’d try shooting the wildlife but never hit anything 😆

That’s all I want to say about that.