*Crickets Chirping*

I haven't written any blog posts here for awhile, I have been busy adding to a series of daily iPhone photos to my Flickr site, updating at Twitter, riding my bike and recording the routes with my Garmin 210 GPS, then uploading that data to MapMyRide, Strava and Garmin Connects...among other things, (reading, baking and still struggling with my drivetrain).

You might think it would be easy to sum up in a few hundred words a few blog posts to pass the days with, a favorite bike ride from last year, a particularly egregious set of circumstances precipitating an epiphany of some kind while riding, a typo in a novel that changed my opinion of that particular writer, (paging Harry Tuttle), even a few quick pictures of any bread I have successfully baked recently.

Instead, I come to this, the 81 digits of sudoku that have been directing my time for hours on end, every day, for years. I think I have not shared adequately, the amount of effort these things pull out of me, and so, I will open the vault and share a small set of photos, previously shared on Twitter with the hashtag, 30 Days of Sudoku.

That's all I got.

30 Days of Sudoku, November 2013.  Photo by Michael McKinney

30 Days of Sudoku, December 2013.  Photo by Michael McKinney.

30 Days of Sudoku, January 2014.  Photo by Michael McKinney.

30 Days of Sudoku, February 2014.  Photo by Michael McKinney.

30 Days of Sudoku, March 2014.  Photo by Michael McKinney.

Sourdough

Last week, I made a batch of sourdough, using some rye flour as a starter - although the recipe I used for the ratios of water and flour called for second, third and fourth starters to be mixed from the original starter, the 24 hour levain worked well and a small batch of bread was produced. I used organic flour, honey and kosher salt. After working my way through that batch, I put together another batch of cranberry wheat bread, and used almond meal in the recipe. Came out pretty well. Here are some pictures of the sourdough levain, dough and finished product, as well as the cranberry loaves.

24 hour Rye Starter, Photo by Michael McKinney

Sourdough, 1st rise, Photo by Michael McKinney

Sourdough, final rise, Photo by Michael McKinney

Honey Wheat Sourdough, Photo by Michael McKinney

Cranberry Almond Wheat Bread, Photo by Michael McKinney

Another thing - I got royally stumped on a sudoku puzzle in the newspaper - the five star Friday puzzle had me riding out at 11:00 PM to find the last copy of the paper and gently setting it aside until I felt ready to attempt it again.  The next day, it took me an hour in the morning, followed by the exact same thing happening on the Saturday five star puzzle, leading to three hours of puzzling and at least ten wrong answers before getting the right numbers in the right places, here's a photo of the finished result -

10-6-2012 Five Star Sudoku, Photo by Michael McKinney

Tuesday Night Dance Party

Oh Geez, I love that Sheryl Crow album, Tuesday Night Music Club.  Not quite Adele, but pretty darn rootin tootin good.  I went for a run tonight, and stuck to my 10 mile route...there were a lot of people out, even though it was later in the day and the sun had already set.  I was going to post something about sudoku, but since drafting a possibly Earth Shattering Blog Post about being able to solve a Hard puzzle in under 5 minutes, I've fallen off my concentration and my times are back in the 15 minute range.  Somewhere there's a lab rat saying, "Serves you right."  Anyway, here's my run route, and another playlist.  It's some of the same music...though no Sheryl Crow or Adele.





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Outta Mind (Outta Sight), Wilco
A Little Light, Bob Mould
Dreamer in My Dreams, Wilco
Pot Kettle Black, Wilco
Flipside, The Breeders
Street Fighting Man, The Rolling Stones
Sleeping With Girls, Willie Wisely Trio
Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (Again), Wilco
Good Times Bad Times, Led Zeppelin
Limehouse Blues, Bireli Lagrene
Good Day Sunshine, The Beatles
Hear My Train A Comin', Jimi Hendrix
You Speak My Language, Morphine
Lie to Me, Johnny Lang
Miles and Miles of Texas, Asleep at the Wheel
Shake Your Money Maker, Paul Butterfield
Let Me Take You Home Tonight, Boston
Hallelujah, Jeff Buckley
Sitting in Limbo, Jimmy Cliff
Incomplete, Bad Religion
I Can't Stand up for Falling Down, Elvis Costello
Wall of Death, R.E.M.
Mannish Boy, Jimi Hendrix
Little T&A, The Rolling Stones
The Crane Wife 3, The Decemberists

I know, totally pathetic.  Had to share though.  Sudoku really helps my patience.