........ The Jetty Is Not For Everyone ........ ......................(LBj-MdT #1)......................

There is graffiti and litter on the Long Beach Jetty.



But for some people, it is a fishing idyll.
I am, however, not one of those people.

The two fishermen in the foreground are "peripets"
They move up & down the jetty depending
On where the fish are biting.
(The correct word is peripatetic.)

I had a conversation with the third fisherman
(A mere speck in this photo:
He is just beyond the mid-ground guy
In the dark jacket.)

# 3 asked me if I fished.
"NO. I had a traumatic experience with a fish
When I was four years old.

"My family was fishing
[In Rocky Point on the North Shore of Long Island]
And an Uncle had just caught a flounder
He put it in the 5-gallon bucket
Then re-cast his line.
I decided to look in the bucket.
The flounder jumped up and bit my nose!"

"Then he died but you lived to tell this story."
"Exactly."
"And you bit the flounder's fillet."
"Or so I have been told."
"Well, I just told you."
"Goodbye, #3."
"Goodbye, Bloggy."



I go to the the jetty because
It is a great escape from the civilized world.
It is a great challenge to walk
Precariously along those boulders.
I can smoke a cigaret there
Without getting any dirty looks from other people.

For me, the Long Beach Jetty
Is the happy medium between coastal paradise
And the South-Central neighborhood
Of my teaching career:
Jefferson High School was no stranger
To graffiti or litter.

But I was specifically there today
Because of what Caryl Hobbes said:
MARCEL DuTRAMP WAS RETURNING
TO THE LONG BEACH JETTY.

His name is pronounced Doo-Trump
Just like The Donald.

Marcel re-appears in (LBJ-MdT #2)