Top 3 (2025)

Happy New Year! I like to do a more narrative recap on my birthday, so at the end of the calendar year I make lists of top things in multiple categories. See also: 2024, 2023.

Meals

Dutch oven coal cinnamon rolls

When camping with my parents, they said they wanted to try cooking in a dutch oven over coals. None of us had tried it before, and it gave me some ideas. I haven’t tried it again, but I plan to this coming year.

Onion rings in Cape Cod

Piles of thinly sliced, battered onion rings were a hit in Cape Cod this summer.

Picnics in Charlie’s fort

Not a specific meal, but we really enjoyed having picnics with Charlie in his fort this spring and summer.

Shows

Slow Horses

Gritty spy thriller in modern London

Black Doves

Sleeper agent spy thriller, also in modern London

Yellowstone

New to me, and I really enjoyed it while being laid up earlier this year.

Non-fiction Books

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan (2018)

I learned a lot about the great lakes that I didn’t know, even though I lived a few miles away for the first 23 years of my life.

Reading Trout Water by Dave Hughes (2010)

Excellent book on reading water. I’m rereading this before the start of the season.

Trout Fishing in the Catskills by Ed Van Put (2007)

I listened to this on audiobook while driving around the Catskills. Highly recommended.

Fiction Books

Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells (2017-current)

I read the first five of these this year and enjoyed both the stories and inner dialogue.

James by Percival Everett (2024)

Retelling of Huck Finn from Jim’s perspective. The two books should be read back-to-back in literature classes.

There is no Antimemetics Division by qntm (2025)

Mind bending.

Bonus: Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz (2025)

Cozy robot sci-fi that is positive and humanizing instead of depressing.

New blog follows

Bright Waters Catskills

A meditative Catskills-focused fishing blog by Mark Sturtevant, who I met at the Catskills Fly Fishing Museum rod making shop in May.

Current Seams

Wet flies and the Farmington River.

Saru’s photo blog

Great bird photos!

Places

Small brooks in the Catskills

I had a fantastic trip in May where I spent 5 days fishing small brooks in the Catskills for brook trout.

Upper West branch of the Croton River

Closer to home, I enjoyed catching the small brown trout in the upper west branch of the Croton River. One of the few streams in Westchester where you can enjoy seclusion (probably because the trout are small). I love fishing there.

Blue Mountain Reservation

This is at the end of our street. Charlie and I spend a lot of time there in all seasons. I’m thankful that such good nature is a short walk away.

Purchases

Acid reflux pillow

I feel like an old man posting this, but this pillow is so good. I have a hiatal hernia and frequently have acid reflux. This pillow allowed me to stop taking medication for it six months ago and get a good night’s rest. (Though it took me a month to get used to sleeping on it.)

Double bearing quill for Shopsmith

Shopsmith went out of business and stiffed me on my new quill order. Skip from MKC came through and quickly shipped a custom machined quill to add another bearing to the old style single-bearing quills. It works great and eliminated my runout problems.

Shopsmith universal lathe tool rest

Allows much more flexibility when turning on a Shopsmith. Glad I ordered it in January last year. They’ll be hard to find soon.

Memories

Picking wineberries with Charlie in the woods

Doing Christmas cards together as a family

Eating picnic snacks and meals together as a family in Charlie’s slide fort

Bonus: Slinging Pizzas from multiple Oonis with Jon at Kristin’s birthday

Things I’ve made

Fly tying tool caddy

Fly tying vise base

Charlie’s slide fort

Accomplishments

Shipping the Internet Archive Wayback Machine Link Fixer plugin.

Getting back into regular workouts. Crossfit 2x week at Peekskill Strength Crossfit.

Catching my first brook trout.