Some Goals For 2016

A lot of people make “New Year’s Resolutions” – which of course, get broken by January 2nd. I’m sure we’ve all been through that and as some of us get older, we know from experience that the likelihood of keeping a resolution is rather dim.

On the other hand, there is something to be said for setting goals for the coming year. Instead of trying to make a bunch of gigantic steps all at once, setting goals to be accomplished later in the year can realize greater gains by taking baby steps each day towards accomplishment.

There are probably some goals like quitting smoking that should be attempted in one big step. And if January 1st works for you in giving up the habit, that’s great!

I like the process of goal setting as taught by Brian Tracey in the video below:

This 12 step goal setting process can be really helpful to getting or accomplishing what you really want.

Personally, I don’t share too many of my serious goals with others. I keep them to myself. But other more fun goals, I will share.

Fly Fishing Goals

As many of you know, I love fly fishing – and in 2016, I’d like to do more of that. I’ve been privileged in my lifetime to have fished in some great places including Puerto Rico, Northern Ireland and a variety of places in Canada. One of my favourite experiences was fly fishing at the Canadian Fly Fishing Competition that was held in Grande Prairie, Alberta.

This year, I think some spey casting on the River Spey in Scotland would be awesome! Spey casting is a unique method of casting fly rods using special gear to cast flies a long distance. I’m not very good at it – but with some good instruction and practice, I hope to become more competent.

And yes, to accomplish this goal, I hope to acquire a Highlander Spey Rod – check them  out.. works of art as well as amazing quality. I own another Meiser rod and can’t say enough about it.

Baking Goals

“Baking goals?” you ask? Yes! I actually enjoy baking a variety of breads and my son David loves to eat them! One of our favourites is the “No Knead” bread that uses a very little amount of yeast and is left to rise for 12 or more hours. It’s pretty easy to do, and yet it turns out a wonderful artisan quality bread loaf that I usually bake in a cast iron Dutch Oven.

But this year, I’d like to try even more artisan bread baking styles. I have a fantastic book by Peter Reinhart entitled “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread.” If you’d like to learn more about the bread making process, I highly recommend it and you can get it from Amazon, here.

Be sure to check out the loaf on the cover of the book… now that’s a loaf of bread I’d like to bake at some point this year!

David and I have also been learning to make Babka – but so far, it’s all been chocolate. We need to experiment with a few other Babkas like poppy seed… or pecan caramel.. or cinnamon and brown sugar… yum!

More Music in 2016!

In my town, a Blues Festival is held every year in June, and it’s really convenient as it is located less than a block away from where I live. The main stage is held in a park that I can walk to in less than a minute. That means if the weather is great, my son and I can be hanging out with the crowd listening to some blues, or if it’s raining, we can hang out at home and still listen to some live blues! With the windows open, we can hear the music from the park inside the house.

This year, I’d like to take in even more music festivals that are held around Southern and South-Western Ontario. Especially if Steve Strongman is playing them. If you’ve never heard Steve Strongman, you are missing out… his live performances are full of energy, great blues, and he is a wonderful entertainer. Always a crowd pleaser. David and I are both happy to be able to say that we’ve seen him twice.

So yes, more music in 2016… and I’d like to get back to some guitar playing myself. It’s been 15 years since I’ve done any picking.. and I recently got my guitar back after lending it to some older sons.. and I can tell you that if you stop playing… for that long, you really do lose a lot. I never was any kind of accomplished guitar player, but when I was younger, I did take some lessons and focused on the “Travis Finger Picking” style. Many years later though, I’ve forgotten most of it.

But perhaps a half an hour a day or so will help to get some of that back.

So those are some fun goals for the next year. How about you? Want to share what yours might be?