The Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge for the week of April 29, 2016.

In your response, depict something or someone you admire. Bonus points if you share a paragraph or two on the source of your admiration.

My first thought was of my father-in-law, Hollis, partly because we’ve been spending this week with the in-laws at Clear Lake in California.  They live in Texas and try to come out here at least once a year for a week of bass fishing.  It’s always a good time.

I can’t help feeling admiration when I think about Hollis.  He grew up on a farm during the Depression, then went on to play football with the Red Raiders at Texas Tech. He spent many years working as an aerospace and materials engineer/consultant, and became a VP in an engineering firm. He’s an outdoorsman, a golfer, and a world traveler.   He has battled cancer and come out on top.

As if all that weren’t enough, after retiring from the work force he discovered his creative side and now works hard to unleash and share his talents.  His output includes five books of poetry — including Coffee Shop Poems: Another Cup, Oklahoma Sounds, and A One-Man Saw — and one book of memoirs (Rungs of the Ladder).  He’s also written 10 songs and thus far recorded three of them; one, called Old Man, is available here.  It’s always a pleasure to listen to him recount his memories of growing up and all the fascinating people he’s known in his life.

The biggest crappie

And he’s a pretty decent fisherman too!

A good day’s fishing