Christmas Tidings

1. Adult Pi Patel: So which story do you prefer?
2. Writer: The one with the tiger. That's the better story.
3. Adult Pi Patel: Thank you. And so it goes with God.
4. Writer: It's an amazing story.
5. - The Life of Pi

Here in the Midwest, enough snow has fallen at this point, the ski trails will likely be skiable through February, barring any immoderate temperature increases, rain fall and unseasonable melt-off.  I have been out nordic skiing only once since the December third snowfall and the cold snap that followed it, (seven or eight days in a ten day stretch with single digit highs) and I have been using my free time lately working on Christmas - now that it's passed, it seems logical to discourse a little about it, but I don't have much to say.

It was fantastic.

I have on some level determined that the Frank Capra movie It's A Wonderful Life is a prescient adaptation of religious doctrine, brought into play as a causative agent to prevent one George Bailey, (Jimmy Stewart) from ever actually attempting to throw himself from that precipitous bridge in the middle of winter.  We the audience watch for seventeen minutes as his guardian angel Clarence Odbody, (Henry Travers), reassures George of his significance and relevance to those people he values, but George's decision likely lasted a fraction of a second longer than his initial impulse.

But then I get all woozy over Donna Reed and I reckon it's just a long winded ad for those trendy eyeglasses all the hipster kids wear these days...In other news, I made a rug out of old climbing rope for one of my Christmas gift recipients, and I borrowed some ideas from this blog here -

http://www.instructables.com/id/Rope-Rug/

Sterling and Bluewater 10.5 mm dynamic.  Photo by Michael McKinney.

My version turned out pretty well, and I was happy to have followed the website's suggestion to use Caulking and a secure base of duct tape before completing the project.  

Merry Christmas.

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.)