Mad River Musings

 Idea for a show: We bring knives and talk about which we like and why.  Same for multitiools and EDC, then same for dewalt vs ryobi (but with costs and bringing them to bear on a project together) Cheap to free fly tying lesson (I teach David to make a few simple flies with free shit, then we fish them)

 Hi all, I've been thinking lately about the nature of friendships and family, and what is important about them to me.  I've noticed that the things I value most are the things that are reciprocal, at least to the degree that they can be.  I had family visit from Italy, and they have hosted me 3 times (once at 5, 22, and 30) in Italy, and this was the first time I was able to show them around the US.  My whole family came together and pulled out all the stops for this, and it was really nice to see everyone.  I'm left with a few lingering thoughts about it. There are cousins who live just up the street that I haven't seen in months, and I miss the closeness of our family of years ago.  I know some of this is generational and natural (my grandmother passed, so the family went into the smaller groups).  I know I'm at least somewhat to blame for it though, it takes two sides to reach out and stay connected.  It is interesting to me that I found it easier to host the co