DiBenedetto with a nice brown trout during a trip to Patagonia. Below: Sam in the wood duck swamp.
Like many others, as the pandemic wore on this past year, I dabbled in ways to take my mind off the constant barrage of news of rising cases and shuttered businesses. My COVID hobbies included carving hiking staffs from crape myrtle branches (after I outfitted the family, there seemed little reason to soldier on), learning the art of bonsai (but the idea of not encouraging robust growth ran counter to my gardening intuition), and trying my hand at the guitar (tellingly, I broke a string the first time I attempted to tune it). But time at home also strengthened my appreciation for the freedom to hop in a car or on a plane and light out for places unknown.