not my trout, but an artist who creates in my style
—
a few or five decades back
in my elementary school years
i undertook a project that i loved
an end-of-the-year
comprehensive non-fiction report
covering a wide swath of the animal kingdom
involving research, factual write-ups, and illustrations.
i worked on this tirelessly
gleaning material
from the only source i used for everything
our set of encyclopedias
(no google to be found)
all was going well
until i came to the rainbow trout
with no illustration provided
i used my imagination
creating my own vision
of what a rainbow trout might look like
a beautiful striped fish
with every color of the rainbow
spanning across its shiny and scaly skin
at last
the final piece in my big report complete
rechecked everything
put it all in my new yellow folder
decorated the cover
proudly turning it in
waiting for my teacher’s response
she perused our reports
while we had silent reading time
then called me up to her desk
with the hugest of smiles on her face
my report open to the rainbow trout page
telling me that she was going to give me an a+
she said she could see
i was truly a creative
even more than a scientist
that both were good things to be
and she was right.
“the fish was a twelve inch rainbow trout with a huge hump on its back – a hunchback trout.”
-richard brautigan
that is a delightful story, Beth 🙂 you were very inventive 🙂
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my best guess….)
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A wonderful story, Beth! But now I feel bad for the lowly brown trout stuck being only one color.
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at least i would know how to color it in )
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If only they really looked like that, we might leave them alone and not eat them. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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This is true
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I now have more respect for the teenager with the crazy rainbow colored hairdo I saw in the mall the other day. 😉
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Creative at play!
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May we never run out of it.
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Right
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A wonderful story Beth. I’m sure your teacher had recognized your qualities.
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She made me feel good about it
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How lovely
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Well done, being creative is fantastic and fun.
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I think so,too
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Actually one of my favourite fish to eat! Lovely image…
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Not accurate but pretty
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It sure is 😊 🐟
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That’s a wonderful story about a wonderful teacher. Our Parks and Wildlife Department releases rainbow trout into certain streams every year, but I doubt that any of those fish rival yours for beauty.
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It was really kind of her .) how nice that the trout are stocked each year
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You were christened with creativity when you were created.
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I’ve kind of stumbled into it
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This is a treasure of a tale, and you hooked me and reeled me in, Beth. Thanks for the awesome Wayback, and you are a true creative in so many ways. A quick memory you jogged from my foggy vault … a door-to-door encyclopedia salesperson talks his way into our kitchen, insisting I sit my elementary school self at the table with my parents. Oh, the virtues of the World Book tumbled from his golden tongue … My dad looks at me and asks, sincerely, are the trips to our public library and its World Book sets working for you? Your choice. Yes, I replied, truly loving riding my bike to the library, allowed to go off on my own to write reports and really learn and read anyway I wanted. No sale. Life went on fine in our house, and my dad didn’t have to reallocate a portion he hadn’t put in the budget.
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Ah, the salesmen that went with them-
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Love it! 🐠 👊
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Thanks!
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Richard, a number of years back, on the way home from a sales call, I stopped along the shore of Lake Ontario and cast my line. Whoa, I caught a 15 lb rainbow trout, silvery sides with the distinguishing feint line of color down its side. No match for your colors 😉
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Close!
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What in the world? Where did I get Richard? Sorry, Beth. Still, a great story 😉
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I am often confused with Richard, no worries )
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how wonderful to be rewarder for your imagination, creativity, and hard work. This may have been the first nudge towards becoming a teacher yourself.
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It very well could have been
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Wonderful tale. I absolutely love that your trout seems to have feet. And yeah, I remember that set of books. We had one too. Many a school report emerged from those pages.
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Loved doing these reports
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What a wise and encouraging teacher to recognize your creativity. Thank you for sharing this uplifting story. You seem a lot like that teacher. Positive and encouraging to the littles in your life. And creative. As a side note, I remember well the days of encyclopedias and other books as resources.
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Thank you for that and I loved the encyclopedias
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You had a brilliant teacher. She encouraged whatever talent each student had. A beautiful story.
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She really did. She even ended up adopting a young boy in our class who was in a dangerous home situation- amazing
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She was a gem.
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As a child I dined on numerous rainbow and other trout that my dad caught during our vacations in Colorado. They are beautiful as fish … and as dinner.
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I’ve never actually seen one
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I love the painting of the trout with a smile on its face, and the imagination you showed in its creation and especially in the warmth and understanding of your teacher 🙂
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I think we understood each other, it was mutual
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Pingback: rainbow trout. – Nelsapy
My, what a lovely teacher she must have been. She saw the creative heart in her students. I would love to see your rainbow trout painting. The one on top is very beautiful too!
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the report is long gone, but I sure wish I had it, I was so proud of it
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I bet, an appreciation like that sinks deep in a child. It supports its self-esteem a lot.
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It does
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This is beautiful, Beth.🤍 Aww,…when I first saw the fish I had two thoughts–Rainbow trout is what I’ve fished in this area my entire life (and my sons) and the book The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. You’re such an inspiration!
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yes, I love the rainbow fish, but this came after my time as a child. I so would have loved it then )
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🥰💛
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Imagine ‘Following the Rainbow to the Pot of Gold’ – what a journey that would be. Where would that Rainbow Trout take us? What golden beauty would we see?
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great thoughts, Patrice –
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I have caught one or two rainbow trout in my time, yours is prettier!
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I’m sure mine did not resemble a real one in any way, but I loved it anyway
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How fabulous. Frame it and hang it up. Rainbows are wonderful whether in fish or in the sky.
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I no longer have mine, but I absolutely would frame it if I had it now )
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I loved our World book encyclopedias. I love your story.
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I loved ours too, a window to the world. and thank you –
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Your report and seeing The World Book brought back so many memories. I remember doing reports in 2nd and 3rd grade. At the time, I didn’t know there was anything wrong with writing things down from the encyclopedia. My second-grade teacher gave me A after A for my tireless reports. My third-grade teacher explained to me that a report was not just copying things from The World Book.🤣
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i loved doing them, it was really my only source for many things, and i think it was good practice for non-fiction reading for information, we just had to learn not to totally copy word for word )
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“i was truly a creative
even more than a scientist
that both were good things to be
and she was right.” Agreed. Lovely post, Beth.
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thanks, jeff
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what a wonderful story, and how nice that your teacher recognized the work and creativity that you put into it. and I loved the World Book, especially the annual updates. I think the author f the Rainbow Fish may have stolen your idea…
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It was really nice of her, I’ve clearly never forgotten it. I loved the world books too, and the updates. About rainbow fish…
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she may have subconsciously been a driving force behind you becoming a teacher…
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Could very well have been
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Of course you would paint a fish with all the colors of the rainbow! I’m glad your teacher liked your creativity. You deserved an A+.
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I knew you would get this )
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Absolutely! 😀
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An A+ to remember!
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It was !
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And your teacher was right.
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and the science world may have benefited from this
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It is an adorable rainbow trout. 🙂
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now i wonder what a real one looks like…
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🙂
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