November update, I went to New York

"Teach a man to fish and he eventually breaks his fishing pole."

- Winston Churchill

Okay you don't need to google that, I'm pretty sure Winston Churchill never said it. I did however, break both of my fly rods this year. One broke mid-cast and the other broke during a messy release. Fortuitously both were under warranty and were able to be replaced, though I missed a couple months of fishing at the end of the summer.

During late June I participated in an informal fishing contest sponsored by a local fly fishing shop. Given ten days, participants caught as many different species within the area as possible. I was pretty far out of the winnings, but had fun and got a lot of fishing in.

The relative importance of participating was maintaining my schedule and routine during the competition, as if every day is an opportunity to wake up at 4 AM, drive to Wisconsin, fly fish for 12 hours, drive home, ride my bicycle to the YMCA, swim a half mile, catch the paper, do the puzzles, make dinner, have a beer, wash the dishes, do the next day's New York Times Crossword puzzle, fall asleep, wake up and go to work the next day without pretense.

I'm not "saying" that's how it went, because it wasn't, it was only one of ten days.

The whole thing smacked of effort, as they say.

So around about mid-summer, I bought a round trip ticket to New York. I've been happily employed as a retail associate for almost a year now, and a vacation seemed warranted. Luckily I was able to get the time away from work and I started planning my visit for late October.

I flew to Newark airport on a Monday, and walked, and walked and walked. I walked across the Brooklyn bridge, I walked through Soho, Chelsea, Chinatown and the World Trade Center Memorial. I found the Fearless Girl statue, facing down the New York Stock Exchange; I walked past the Flatiron building, wrapped in scaffolding 22 stories high. I took some pictures, had a couple slices of pizza and got home in time to meet my hosts before they started their Tuesday morning.

Tuesday I went to New Haven, Connecticut and saw the Peabody Museum. On Wednesday I went to the Meat Packing District, visited the Whitney Museum, purchased a three day Citi Bike membership, found the 14th Street YMCA, swam and had more pizza. 

Thursday I started early, riding a Citi Bike past the UN Building, through Central Park and stopping at the Guggenheim museum. I've never seen anything like Central Park, or the constant throngs of people in and around the city. The Manhattan Riverfront Greenway was safer than riding in the street, and every view of the Hudson and East rivers was worth the effort.

With half the day remaining I made it to the American Museum of Natural History and The Metropolitan Museum of Art before they closed - eventually riding my way back to the Chelsea YMCA to swim again before having a late night Chinatown dinner and beer with my host.

These two museums, the Natural History Museum and The Met - are grandiose in scale. I only had enough time to see one specific room of The Met, and happily viewed paintings of the Abstract Expressionist style before going to the roof and watching the sun set over Central Park. 

Friday morning I saw the sunrise and got on the New Jersey transit to Newark before 8 AM.

While I was there my streak of New York Times crossword puzzles went past five hundred days. As I sat in the courtyard of the Natural History Museum and finished the Thursday puzzle without googling the answers or querying a blog for hints, I thanked whoever I could for the opportunity to be there, accomplishing something I had struggled with for so long.

So there it is, a couple of big events in the past four or five months. I think I skipped a few things, but most of it is in there somewhere.

Thanks for reading.

Manhattan, NY, 10-23-2019. Photo by Michael McKinney.

Manhattan, New York, 10-23-2019. Photo by Michael McKinney

Minneapolis, MN, 9-22-2019, photo by Michael McKinney

Peabody Museum, New Haven, CT, 10-22-2019. Photo by Michael McKinney.

Manhattan, New York, 10-25-2019. Photo by Michael McKinney.

Manhattan ,New York. 10-24-2019. Photo by Michael McKinney.

Saint Croix River, MN. 8-1-2019, photo by Michael McKinney.

Manhattan, NY, 10-23-2019. Photo by Michael McKinney.

Manhattan ,NY, 10-22-2019. Photo by Michael McKinney.

Manhattan, NY, 10-24-2019. Photo by Michael McKinney.

Minneapolis, MN, 8-23-2019, photo by Michael McKinney.

Manhattan, NY, 10-21-2019. Photo by Michael McKinney.

Memorial Day Weekend 2017

It is a really nice day outside today. Plenty of sunlight, light breeze, some chance of rain later in the day. I have been in a Minneapolis library for the last three or four hours, working on getting a handful of crossword puzzles finished as near to acceptably perfect as my ability allows. I think more than enjoying the effort it takes to answer the question I look forward to the time when I can get myself back outside again to pursue the motivations that got me started on expressing myself a little more clearly, even if it meant risking the impunity of not knowing exactly how to.

I enjoyed riding in the 2017 Fulton Fondo again this year, and thanks to the non-profit organization Nice Ride Minnesota, I have enlisted in a Community Partners program that gives me access to their many kiosks around the Twin Cities. My own bicycles are waiting at home waiting to be used, and besides a few minor mechanical issues are ready for another day.

There were a nice few weeks back in April when I got out fishing along Minnehaha Creek, between Lake Nokomis and the Mississippi River, and had some luck catching large rough fish. So far this year that has been the most noteworthy thing...besides Donald Trump getting elected president, which I am doing my best to refrain from commenting on. Minneheha Creek has been crowded a lot lately and it is a constant reminder of how lucky I am to enjoy good health to be able to simply keep walking to another fishing spot if the one I had hoped to try this afternoon has become another person's favorite fishing hole.

Carp from Lake Hiawatha, April 2017.

Fulton Fondo II completed, May 2017

Carp from Lake Hiawatha, near Minnehaha Creek, Minneapolis, April 2017

November Update

Walter Donovan: Where are these missing pages? We must have them back!

Elsa Schneider: You're wasting your breath. He won't tell us, and he doesn't have to. It's pretty obvious where the pages are... He's given them to Marcus Brody.

Henry Jones Sr.: Marcus!? You didn't bring him along, did you? He's not up for the challenge.

Walter Donovan: Brody sticks out like a sore thumb. We'll find him!

Indiana Jones: The hell you will! He's got a two-day head start on you, which is more than he needs. Brody's got friends in every town and village from here to the Sudan. He speaks a dozen languages, knows every local custom. He'll blend in, disappear, you'll never see him again. With any luck, he's got the Grail already.

[Cut to Marcus in İskenderun]

Marcus Brody: Does anyone here speak English? Or even Ancient Greek?

- Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade

That quote reminds me of It's a Wonderful Life, and the uncle who keeps a pet crow. The holidays are approaching, the weather has cooled off and fishing season has wound down for me. Three weeks ago the bail spring on my fishing reel broke, so I contacted Daiwa and their customer service department kindly forwarded me two new ones.

It took a little elbow grease but the new spring works, the reel is again functional and next year I'll hopefully get back to enjoying the distance from Minnehaha Falls to Lake Calhoun, which has formally had a name change to its original Dakota name, Mde Maka Ska.

As far as baking, biking and books goes, here are some recent efforts:
A couple loaves of bread from my Half Ass Kitchen;




My Goodreads reading list for the 2016 Reading Challenge; 

 

   

      2016 Reading Challenge
   

       

         
       
     

        Michael has
            completed his goal of reading
            40 books in
            2016!
     
     

       

hide

     
     

        44 of 40 (100%)
     
       

          view books
       
 

...a recent bike ride from Saint Paul to Lake Minnetonka, about 46 miles on a sunny afternoon;

Sometime over the summer I happened to see a number of beautiful sunsets over Lake Hiawatha, so I thought I would add a photo of that in here too.

Tight lines, rubber side down, don't forget the salt, adieu, ciao, whatever.

Happy holidays.

Lake Hiawatha Summer sunset 2016, Minneapolis. photo by Michael McKinney.

I apologize for the sloppy formatting and inaccessible hyper links.

Hiking and Fishing along Minnehaha Creek

Sometime last year, while standing in hip deep water and trying to untangle a fishing lure of some kind from a tree branch, it might have occurred to me how tedious fishing is. All of the hiking and walking makes it seem like golf, and between snagging rocks on the bottom of the stream or lake and snagging branches overhanging the stream or lake, the frustration levels can get a bit extreme sometimes.

That being said, it takes me a whole day to hike from the Mississippi River to Lake Calhoun along Minnehaha Creek, stopping to catch and release fish along the way.

After breaking two bones in my foot early last year, I have been reticent to run on pavement or trails. Besides feeling like a hypochondriac every time my foot gets tired or I step on a rock, riding a bicycle has been okay and my soccer cleats still fit so playing field sports has also been good. What I have not gotten back to is running. In place of trail running, I have taken to making the ten mile all day hike from Minnehaha Falls Park to Lake Calhoun, or portions thereof, once or twice a week.

I do some fishing along the way, and function as a Volunteer Water Monitor for the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, collecting turbidity samples and sending them yearly to the MCWD for addition to their water quality database. Sometimes I use a Minnesota Nice Ride bicycle to get there and back, or to make a long walking section a little faster. It is not always Abe Winkleman trawling Shad Raps over the weed beds for lunkers, but it also not limping in a cast.

"Why not just ride your bike all the time?" is a frequent question people ask, because they don't catch many fish I guess, and sure I could be out riding my bicycle instead.

"What do you catch in there?" is another frequent question people ask me as I am standing hip deep in Minnehaha Creek, and I try to answer cordially, because they must not catch many fish either.

I did manage to cultivate a decent sourdough starter in the past couple of months, and had a nice couple loaves of sourdough bread turn out after following the same recipe I have been working on since 2009, the Thom Leonard sourdough recipe from Artisan Baking Across America.

Here are some pics of my hiking and fishing miles. A really good guidebook for fishing warm water fisheries is Fishing For Buffalo, Buffler; ( Fishing for Buffalo: A Guide to the Pursuit and Cuisine of Carp, Suckers, Eelpout, Gar, and Other Rough Fish) and if cold water fisheries are more your thing I strongly recommend Wisconsin and Minnesota Trout Streams, Humphrey and Shogren; (Trout Streams of Wisconsin and Minnesota: An Angler's Guide to More Than 120 Trout Rivers and Streams (Second Edition)).

NiceRide and MWCD Volunteer equipment at Minnehaha Creek. Photo by Michael McKinney

Thom Leonard soudough variation. Photo by Michael McKinney

Lake Calhoun (Mde Maka Ska) Largemouth Bass, 2016. 

Lake Hiawatha at sunset. Photo by Michael McKinney

Lake Nokomis. Photo by Michael McKinney

Minnehaha Creek Largemouth Bass, 2016. Photo by Michael McKinney.

Minnehaha Falls, Minneapolis. Photo by Michael McKinney

Snowy Egret on Minnehaha Creek, 2015. Photo by Michael McKinney

Recapitulation, 2015

I didn't get much accomplished with the extra reading time I had sitting around with two broken bones in my foot, according to my 2015 books list on Goodreads...four or five of the books I didn't even finish.

Oh well. Adding to the gift of hindsight seems redundant, but according to a witty blog post I saw this morning on the bus, there are at least twenty words in foreign languages that do not occur in English that express a universal sentiment. The feeling expressed when two people make eye contact and both feel impelled to take action but do nothing; "Mamihlapinatapei", the pleasure of seeing your friend in pain; "Schadenfreude", for example. "L'espirit d'escalier" translates to "Staircase Wit" but it is a french expression for knowing exactly what to say after re-hashing an exchange subconsciously, perhaps humiliatingly, a thousand times.

I'm sure The Simpsons character Comic Book Guy would have a Klingon word to contribute to the Argschnaddle.

So 2015, in Book Breads and Bikes had less to do with baking, reading and getting around on my bicycle than accommodating a moderate injury that hampered my ability to pursue the healthy activities I have taken for granted since quitting smoking 15 years ago.

I did get a few good photos here and there of whatever Minnesota Nice Ride I happened to be riding and a few decent loaves of bread were produced in between limping to and from my three separate part time occupations.

I read a really good article about the extreme athlete Dean Potter, a Patagonia Sponsored rock climber, wing suit flyer and BASE jumper when he died. He did a lot of things I wouldn't try. High lining, wing suit flying, free solo climbing and BASE jumping seem pretty far beyond the reach of the average person, and thankfully, according to the New York Times article I read, the mentors have a nose for the unworthy.

The word that has stuck with me from that article was one that a French associate of Potters used to describe the appeal of BASE jumping, or wing suit flying; "Impuissance", which translates poorly to "impotence" but has more to do with powerlessness, ("It's More Like a Suicide Than a Sport" by Ed Caesar, The New York Times, 7-26-2013). This avid wing suit flyer likened the first few moments of free fall to powerlessness, an abject surrender to whatever preparations you have made, to your experience and your understanding of physics. Something gets lost in the translation.

A single specific favorite bike ride of 2015...probably one of many including a Minnesota NiceRide, a fishing pole and some intermittent success pursuing fish along Minnehaha Creek and the Minneapolis chain of lakes.

Willow River, WI. July 2015. Photo by Michael McKinney

Saint John's University Arboretum Stick House, February 2015. Photo by Michael McKinney.

Minnehaha Falls, February 2015. Photo by Michael McKinney.

Minneapolis Sunrise, May 2015. Photo by Michael McKinney

Pottery Greenware, St. Paul MN, April 2015

Rush river, WI, August 2015. Photo by Michael McKinney

Minnesota Nice Ride at Minnehaha Creek, Minneapolis, September 2015. Photo by Michael McKinney

Bread, Photo by Michael McKinney

Minnesota Nice Ride at Sunrise, Hamline Avenue Green Line Station, September 2015. Photo by Michael McKinney

Selfie at the Walker Sculpture Garden, December 2015.

Minnehaha Falls, December 2015.

Wells Fargo Tower, Minneapolis. December 2015.

Meantime, the fishing has been decent.

So what does a person do with a painful case of gout and two broken metatarsal bones? How to navigate through the days when walking is painful and running is out of the question? Never mind cycling, trail running and self-sustaining behaviors of good intent, what about getting dressed in the morning without grimacing in pain, slipping in the shower or simply keeping a job?

I got back to working, eventually, but I had to wear a removable plastic cast on my leg for a month, and then intermittently for another month. I am still not running, but have been cycling more, and riding Minnesota's NiceRide bicycles as much as wearing comfortable cork and leather sandals will allow, (they're good for the gout).

Did I mention the fishing? Since working at Target Field in the early part of this year, I had the initiative to steer away from fly fishing a little bit, in order to more simply cast on lakes the Rapalas, Mepps and poppers fly casting does not accommodate without snagging tree limbs or pedestrians on the back cast. So while it has not been particularly pleasurable or devoid of pain, I have managed to catch a nice walleye, a couple northerns, a bass or two and made it back into some Wisconsin trout streams for the more refined "single barbless hook" fly fishing I used to enjoy more readily.

If it all sounds too good to be true, consider how stadiums are cleaned.

As per Breads, Bikes and Books, I did finally get out and ride my sixth or seventh century on labor day. It started as a nice day to get out and ride, so a simple ride out to Stillwater seemed feasible. As I started I added a short loop onto the front of the ride, and after sitting with friends and relaxing in Stillwater, completing a century didn't seem impractical or even all that noteworthy.

It was however a beautiful day with a surprising lack of confrontational episodes.

Here is the link to the MapMyRide route I created.

Lake Nokomis Largemouth Bass, Minneapolis; Photo by Michael McKinney

Mississippi River Smallmouth Bass, Minneapolis; Photo by Michael McKinney

Minnesota NiceRide Selfie, Stone Arch Bridge, Minneapolis; Photo by Michael McKinney

Storm Clouds, Minneapolis; Photo by Michael McKinney

Saint Paul Sunset; photo by Michael McKinney

Removable Cast and NiceRide, Saint Paul; Photo by Michael McKinney

Goose Biot Stone Fly; Photo by Michael McKinney

Willow River Rainbow trout, Wisconsin; Photo by Michael McKinney

Stearns County, MN, Blue Moon; Photo by Michael McKinney

Minnehaha Creek walleye, Minneapolis; Photo by Michael McKinney

Pierce County, WI, Brown Trout; Photo by Michael McKinney

Minnehaha Falls, Minneapolis; Photo by Michael McKinney

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.