Dig in and growl.

Photo by Michael McKinney

Photo by Michael McKinney

Photo by Michael McKinney

Photo by Michael McKinney

Photo by Michael McKinney

Photo by Michael McKinney

Photo by Michael McKinney

Photo by Michael McKinney

"...and every time you drive that ski forward in the track, you launch yourself out onto it, gliding until you compress your weight down on that kick zone, push that ski flat and kick out onto the next ski, driving that one parallel and gliding until you compress and kick that ski...like tiger claws, gripping into the snow and pulling you down the track...just think of tigers claws...gripping...kicking..."
- Jake Moody

Imagine a math teacher, standing in front of a ski team, raking his fingers through the air, climbing an invisible ladder to describe the physical act of compressing a Petex ski on snow and ice, utilizing a special soft wax for grip, and creating forward propulsion out of that glide, compression and kick - if you do it wrong, you slip, fall down and no matter how many times you re-wax those plastic bases, your ski will always be too slippery to gain any traction. 

I think about that speech every year when the snow and ice become omnipresent - a person can not get through their day without at least once slowing their gait, gingerly weighting their steps and re-balancing their progression on a sidewalk, a driveway or a parking lot.  On a bicycle, it is dangerous to whisk over those patches on road tires.  I've used cyclocross tires the past couple of years, riding occasionally through the winter, but always dreading the next patch of hard packed snow and ice, or just glare ice, waiting for my knobby tires.

Suomi Tyres are made in Finland, and I bought a pair with my Felt F75X, back in January of this year.  They work.  They work so well I'd like to gush about them.  Done...they're just that effective.

I completed another pottery course, and held my first official showing, with fantastic sales to friends and family - for Thanksgiving, I made some bread and tried making Belgian brownies, which had a lot of flour and were too long in the oven...they wound up closer to a bitter truffle than a scrumptious brownie,  Oh well. 

I am currently reading A Civil Action, about a TCE water contamination case in Woburn, MA, made into a movie starring John Travolta.  Lots of legal proceedings, broke lawyers driving Porsches with multiple credit card debts, bankruptcies and Leukemia. 

I did capture a few decent pictures the past week, and posted them on a couple social media feeds.  I hope not having them "daisy chained" is less frustrating for anybody interested in reading this blog and seeing the photos as dealing with another hacked account would be for me. 

Tight lines, Rubber side down, Ciao, Take care, Peace love and happiness, happy holidays.

(Adieu, adieu, to you and you and you.)

Spring Pottery

Red Earth Pottery, Photo by Michael McKinney

Glazed, fired, greenware pottery, Photo by Michael McKinney

Lake Harriet, Minneapolis.  Photo by Michael McKinney

Snapping turtle, Minneapolis.  Photo by Michael McKinney.

With the last of winter finally letting go sometime around May, I registered for another six week pottery course through the Saint Paul Community Education Program.  This six week course covered throwing basic vessels, glazing and firing in a small volume, low heat kiln and took place in a different studio than previous classes.  The clay was also different, utilizing Red Earthen Ware clay rather than the Raku clay I had gotten accustomed to over the past year.


As the reader might accurately predict, I was disappointed with my results.  By my count, that leaves 9,900 pieces of pottery to be thrown before I can call myself a master potter, meanwhile the rivers streams and lakes are full of fish - I went fly fishing on Lake Harriet and Minnehaha Creek last week and caught a mess of panfish, (a bluegill, a pumpkinseed, some sunnies and a couple of crappies) and a Smallmouth Bass.

Of course, a few got away.  Robert Traver has a great story about his fishing rig, and the appropriate amount of fly fishing equipment to carry to and from one's destination while using this vehicle.  A veritable feast of spacial management, a Doctor Who's Tartus of nets, poles, fly boxes, waders, creels and coolers stacked under the seats and behind the passenger compartment.


Riding my bicycle with a fly rod and a pair of stinking running shoes I use for wading isn't what he had in mind I'm sure, and the assumption is that some things are better left unexplained, for want of encouraging fools to try...not that it stopped me from lashing my St. Croix Avid 5 Weight to my horizental tube, loading up my messenger bag and standing in the foulest smelling water I could find for three hours.


Two big events later this month are taking up some of my discretionary thinking - The Saint John's University Red Ride Century and the City of Lakes Loppet Tri-Loppet.  Both events I have participated in before, and both events I would encourage anybody else to as well.

Wednesday, May 15th

DIY Pizza, photo by Michael McKinney

With Farmers Markets opening and spring already turning into summer, (yesterday the temperature spiked to over ninety degrees), the Minneapolis lakes have opened, the winds have become more formidable and the lack of mild weather has changed to more severe and unpredictable patterns.  Last Saturday I bicycled to the Saint Paul Lowertown Farmer's Market and spoke with another cyclist who had just been caught out in a brief hailstorm, though I later saw MPR news reported the brief hail was more of a Graupel.  Whatever, ice cubes from the sky, I say hail.
I made a pizza with some asparagus, Feta cheese, brocoli, and tried to discern the difference between tomato paste and tomato

Cranberry / Walnut Bread, Photo by Michael McKinney

Lake Calhoun, Photo by Michael McKinney

 sauce, but they seemed both to be palatable.  I followed that up with making bread on monday night, two yeast-risen loaves made with organic flour, walnuts and cranberries.  I lacked a sweetener though, so I used a cup and a half of confectioners sugar, some almond extract and a teaspoon of cardamom.

After riding and blogging about the half-century last week, a ride out to Stillwater seemed appropriate.  The route I took utilized half of the Gateway trail, then wound past Lake Jane to County Road 12, then a rapid descent on Myrtle street to downtown, and a rapid ascent up Chilkoot hill to Chestnut street.

I stopped in at Chilkoot Cafe, a bicycle shop and bakery / cafe located across the street from The Bikery, another bike shop and bakery / cafe.  Although I worked at The Bikery in 2008-2009, I don't frequent either establishment enough to have become cynical of their products or their clientele.  The lemon bread tasted like it had been made with Meyers lemons grown from the tears of unicorns.  Simply that good.

Red Earthen Ware, Green and Bisqued, Photo by Michael McKinney

I am including a review from Goodreads I wrote about a book called The Imperfectionists, concerning a failing English newspaper in Rome, Italy.  It's not a bad book, and doesn't have any limiting factor to its success other than being a bit esoteric.  If you really enjoy the thought of living by a deadline, and being pursued by editors for some jingoistic malaise on the human condition, it might be right up your alley.

The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The newspaper industry is dangerous to Basset Hounds.  Because the internet is dangerous to the newspaper industry.  Therefore, Basset Hounds invented the internet.

I didn't get much from this novel, just some anecdotes about journalism, the vainglorious lifestyles of foreign correspondents, some mild hedonism and a blatant disregard for reporting accuracy in favor of manipulating the public at their won expense.  Does a certain politician pose a threat to your industry?  Why not punish that person with disreputable articles?  Punish them first with fallacy, and again with the truth.  Make their honest and best work seem underhanded and duplicitous by misinterpreting their words and actions.
That is what journalism is about, selling copy.
Making money.
Creating furor in order to pull back the layers of deception and reveal...journalism.


View all my reviews

Finally - I don't want to speak too soon, but if it's one thing I've learned about cycling the Minneapolis Lakes, don't go the wrong way.  Folks are really serious about the unidirectional signals for each lake.  A couple of years ago I almost got clotheslined by an irate Rollerblader.

Triple to Double, DIY part three

Photo by Michael McKinney

I've been waiting to convert the factory drivetrain on my Specialized Allez Sport for a few months now.  After consulting a few different sources, including an estimate for a comprehensive overhaul from my nearest Specialized dealer, I decided to take it upon myself and consult the Park Tools Blue Book and Minneapolis's own Freewheel Midtown Bike Center for a DIY appointment.

Photo by Michael McKinney

Photo by Michael McKinney

The long story is I had to buy two bus passes, walk a few miles, buy lunch, dinner and snacks throughout the day, rode without a helmet, traveled through Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Roseville, and finally parodied my lack of integrity.  Deja Vu.

The short story is, "Hey, I took a picture!"

Photo by Michael McKinney

I also recently enrolled in another pottery session through Saint Paul's Community Education program, and have been learning the differences between an electric wheel and a more primitive kick wheel, and made some loaves of a walnut and cranberry bread I'd like to share with ya'll.

Take care.

Photo by Michael McKinney

Photo by Michael McKinney

Good times, Noodle salad.

With this last class finishing, I've completed a number of mugs and small bowls, and have eight pieces of greenware waiting for firing and glazing.  I used two blocks of Raku clay, and found that again my centering was dependent on making sure the piece of clay I was working with was properly kneaded before throwing it onto the wheel...the proper term for this is Wedging.  I usually think of Star Wars, "'That's impossible even for a computer!' 'No it's not, I used to bulls-eye womp rats in my T-16 back home and they aren't much bigger than two meters!'", whenever I hear the word Wedge, so I tend to avoid it for that reason.  The glazes turned out a lot darker than previous classes, and after a suggestion, I wound the handles into braids of either two or three, and despite having the wheel fall apart at one point, the class was enjoyable and productive.
Today is Wednesday, I haven't ridden my bicycle since...monday.  After watching another documentary about alley cat racing and bike messenger culture, I think the motivation for year round cycling has to come from productivity, or the requirements of ones lifestyle - despite getting out pretty frequently myself, the people who see me riding my bicycle, in the winter, always ask the same question, "Do you ride year round?"  I don't know how to address their concern any more clearly than being on the bicycle, as they are asking me if I ride my bicycle.  I've many times thought out a rational, proportionate response, devoid of frustration and criticism, but I think from now on, the response I will give will be something more like, "I do what I have to do."
That being said and done and over with, it would have been nice to ride more, given the capacity for studded tires, brighter lights and bigger wheels that are on the markets and readily available to interested cyclists.
I'm adding a few pictures of the pottery, including another piece that was broken during the greenware phase.  Having once broken an anonymous artist's piece of greenware myself, I can't feel any more upset about the accident than blaming myself for not having a job and keeping myself too busy earning a wage to attempt pottery in the first place.

Block of Raku, wet and single-fired pieces.

Wet, green, single-fired and finished pieces.   Photo by Michael McKinney.

Greenware and finished pieces.  Photo by Michael McKinney.

Greenware and unfinished pieces.   Photo by Michael McKinney.

Broken vessel, greenware.  Photo by Michael McKinney.

Bicycle sale paycheck.  Photo by Michael McKinney.

With the weather getting warmer and spring just around the corner, I am starting to think about getting away from the security of riding the single speed mountain bike, (I named it Richard for Richard Farnsworth from the Straight Story, in the winter you could substitute Richard Parker from The Life of Pi), and getting back to a commuter bike or a more versatile machine.  As per having sold my Schwinn, here is a photo of the check I got for selling it - five dollars went for coffee, forty dollars went towards my new bike and forty dollars went towards rent, bills, groceries....all the living that occurs between riding.

Cathexis

 

My third pottery class with the Saint Paul Community education program wrapped up this week - I've enjoyed the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of throwing, shaping, trimming, glazing and finishing.  The skill that seems to elude me, and is predominantly important to these others, is the ability to properly center a piece of clay, even before it sits on the wheel.  Of the sixty or so pieces I've finished, I'd say less than a handful demonstrate a well centered, well balanced consistency. 

I guess it's notable because of how often it gets taken for granted, without really understanding the amount of dedication it must take to establish the ability to do so unerringly - likely why at least two different instructors have mentioned the 10,000 vessel theory, (that being true mastery only begins after the first ten thousand pieces of clay have been properly centered, thrown, trimmed, glazed and finished). 

A book I just finished reading, Bounce, mentioned 10,000 hours of directed or deep practice as essential to mastery of a skill:  10,000 hours of service and volley for tennis, 10,000 hours of piano lessons for piano, 10,000 hours of gymnastics routines, the author's premise relied on the 10,000 hours being done with the correct direction from an appropriate source. 

An interesting side note, the author also mentioned a variety of psychological experiments based on encouraging children to participate rather than rewarding them directly for their results - most interesting to me was an experiment wherein a control group was given the same unsolvable math problem as a group of students of the same age who had been told they shared a birthday with a famous mathematician.  The group who had been lied to, the ones working under the premise of sharing a birthday with a fictional character, persevered on the impossible problem for a longer period of time.  Whether or not this demonstrates a propensity for being stubborn or dedication, and whether or not this is a good thing, is up for debate. 

Turned vessel, photo by Michael McKinney

Finished vessel, photo by Michael McKinney

Finished, green and wet vessels, photo by Michael McKinney

Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success by Matthew Syed

My rating: 3 of 5 stars






View all my reviews

Pottery class #2

I registered for another pottery class through the Community Education Program in St. Paul, this time at Central high School. Rather than working off of one communal piece of clay, I was given a block of clay to work with, and proceeded to kick and pull my way through it. I have been told a couple of times now by other members of the class that working on an electric wheel is a little easier, but after five weeks in the class, there has only been one instance when an electric wheel was available for use. The electric wheel runs on a right footed pedal which adjusts the speed of the revolving pottery wheel similar to a car's gas pedal- the kick wheel I used in the first class, earlier this year, was a spinning wheel, pushed counter clockwise with the right foot, while the wheel for this class uses a left footed pedal to spin the wheel either counter clockwise or clockwise.
The clay is also different, a white talc rather than terra cotta. A second block of clay was purchased after finishing off the first, with a result of thirteen fired and glazed pieces. The second block of clay is Raku, and has yielded eleven pieces, all of which are in the trimming, firing, glazing and finishing stages now. After working through the first class, and making a lot of pieces that were off balance, uncentered, uneven, thin-walled and thick-skinned, only to destroy them by pulling them off the wheel and walking them to the slurry bucket, I tried reshaping those pieces by reforming the clay after pulling a piece off the wheel. This might have saved clay and might have resulted in slightly better pieces, but the majority of the first thirteen from this class are also misshapen, off balance, uncentered and unessential.

Only 9,962 more pieces of thrown pottery before I'm a master potter.

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Pottery class

I signed up for an eight week Pottery class through the Saint Paul Community Education Program. After eight weeks, I wound up with 16 Vessels. Pots. Bowls. I attempted many more, but destroyed clay in the process of completing just these simple pieces.

Two pots were either left behind or destroyed in the kiln.
14

Two pots were cracked.
12

Two pots had little feet from the glaze dripping below the finish.
10

Two pots had glaze on the base, making them uneven.
8

All said and done, after eight weeks, in my first pottery class since eighth grade with Mr. Erie, at Stillwater Junior High School, I completed eight pots. Bowls. Jars. Vessels. Plates. Ashtrays. Projectiles. Sentimental pieces of burnt dirt.

I tried taking photos, but somehow, one photo got lost in webspace.

And I can't explain why some of the photos are hi-res and some are not.

Enjoy.