My travel memoir is featured in an Indy magazine! Please buy on Amazon and review.
#mcinerny #travelmemoir
Guntersville Lake Idyll
Posted in Books, Travel on February 4, 2021 by David McInerny
See Rock City. Visit Ruby Falls. Coming up on Chattanooga, seeing these billboards along the highway reminded me of the drives with my parents on our way to Christmases in Sarasota, Florida – eight people in a station wagon on a 24 hour drive straight through. This was a solo drive, fifty years later, and I wasn’t going to Florida. I turned off the interstate south, onto state roads, then county roads, then a thirty mile winding track into the Alabama woods to a log cabin situated along a lake. I was searching for a few days of mask-less solitude to fish, read John Baxter’s humorous Paris memoir, The Most Beautiful Walk in the World, and think about my next book to write. I wanted remote, and I got it.
As dusk approached, I unpacked my fly and spinning gear, and dropped an oversized sleeping bag on the bed. Looking out the window, I noticed I had company. Stepping onto the porch, I watched what would be a daily event – dozens of deer quietly emerging from the woods to feed along the lake shore before dark. My neighbors. The yearlings stayed close to their mothers, and the bucks kept a wary eye on the unexpected intruder.
Although the weather was warmer than in Indiana, the temps from a northern snow storm made it into Alabama, so the abrupt change in weather drove the fish into the depths of the middle of the lake. Meaning, the fishing was a bust, thought I gave it my best shot. Artificial lures, live bait, surface fishing, depth fishing. Nothing worked, but I was consoled by the peace and beauty, and the fact that I had SPAM in the larder to slice and fry instead of fresh fish. At least I wouldn’t starve.
On my last day, I was fishing off a pier when a state trooper came up in a speed boat to check my fishing license – the first time in all my years of angling that I was asked to produce one. It was the first time I’d had to talk since I arrived, and I had to clear my throat. The trooper offered, since I was leaving the next day and wouldn’t be able to reveal anything, his favorite spot for crappy, or croppy, as he called them. Three miles later I was under a bridge, and casting into shallow water. On one cast, an American bald eagle soared in from my left, wings majestically open. He dipped toward the water, talons forward and poised, and touched the water just where my lure fell. Immediately he rose with a crappy and flew off to enjoy his dinner. Did he take my fish? I think so, but the Chamber of Commerce moment was worth it.
#lakeguntersville #johnbaxter #solitude #fishing
Alabama
Posted in Travel on January 27, 2021 by David McInernyGoing to an undisclosed location in Alabama next week. Remote log cabin. Bringing the fishing gear. But there’s another goal.
Solitude is an opportunity to fold in or extend out. I’m reaching for the latter. Creativity. Calling the Muse. In Mucks boots and a horrid fishing cap.
Packing up. Living on canned food, maybe a fish, and a few ideas. Roughing it brings focus.
“Oh, Alabama, can I see you and shake your hand?.”
Art at Newfields
Posted in Family, Food, Travel on January 23, 2021 by David McInerny
The Missus, a painter in acrylics, was looking for inspiration. So today we decided to visit the Indianapolis Museum of Art, called Newfields, north of downtown. A sprawling campus of activity normally, we were concerned about social distancing, so we checked their precautions online. Reservations only, limited entries each hour, masks required. Looked good. When we arrived it was clear the museum was enforcing their policies politely and well. There was never more than one other couple in a room, and it felt like we were enjoying a private viewing.
Two floors of art were open, with a third to open after renovation this summer. We concentrated on European and American late 19th/early 20th century painting. Newfields’ collection of Impressionist art is very solid, representing both sides of the Atlantic, with wonderful descriptions of each piece and how one is related to the other, and how artists interacted with each other during that explosive epoch of creativity. Maps representing where artists lived and where their inspirations are located were a welcome touch.
The Missus was particularly delighted with the extensive collection of painting from the Pointillism school of Impressionism, a technique where the painter creates images using just the point of the brush, or pixels of color, using modern display terminology. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, and their students and followers, made for a collection as large as any the Missus or me have seen in all our world travels.
Our eyes sated, but our stomachs empty, we were glad to see the cafe was spacious and safe. Tables were marked clean or needing to be cleaned, so we settled down with the daily special, beef rib paninis with mushrooms, brie cheese and pesto. After our lunch, we wandered the gift shop and decided that we will become members of Newfields. We look forward to the day we can see the entire campus without masks and with a large group of friends!
Factoid: the famous LOVE symbol in the photo was designed by Indiana’s own Robert (Clark) Indiana in 1965 for the Museums of Art Christmas card. He created the sculpture in Newfields lobby in 1970.
#newfields #indianapolismuseumofart #ima #frenchimpressionism #pointillism #robertindiana #love
I’m Bored. I’ll Write a Book
Posted in Books on January 18, 2021 by David McInerny
So, anyway, I wrote this book. I’ve been traveling internationally 2-4 times per year for decades. My last trip was a London – Paris Chunnel trip with the Missus in October, 2019. Then COVID hit. I was crawling the walls!
So I decided to write and publish my travel memoirs. A dozen or so of my 30 countries. Humorous. Because I go without itineraries. Anything happens.
The local magazine is doing a feature on the book. The interviewer said, “I hope you’re not uncomfortable. I’m going to ask a lot of questions about you.” I laughed. “What! That’s my favorite subject!”
So… Available on Kindle and in print on Amazon. For the virus locked down travel lover. Now I need to get vaccinated and fly. Enough of me! Let’s get out there!
#travel #memoir #writing #international
Rack of Lamb
Posted in Food on January 17, 2021 by David McInerny
When I was in cooking school, I was taught to prep a rack of lamb French style. Now, you can buy an Australian rack cut with the ribs prepped. The “cap “ still remains. As seen, trim that rectangle off. It’s more fat than you need.
Make a mixture of dried herbs, thyme, oregano, basil and olive oil. Spread the paste over the lamb. In a cast iron skillet, making it a one pan wonder, brown potato slices and onion or shallots in butter until they begin to brown. Add enough water to cover the bottom of the pan.
Place the rack on top of the potatoes into a 425 degree oven and cook for 25 minutes or until the meat reaches 135 degrees. It’s really that easy.
#cooking #lamb #castiron
Writing for Fun
Posted in Books on January 12, 2021 by David McInernyFor years I’ve traveled. For love. For work. 30 countries later, I decided to doodle, edit, add, and suddenly I was writing a travel memoir. It’s now published, Being-Worldish, and I’m still astonished it’s finally out there. Istanbul, Majorca, and Hong Kong – they were places I needed to go, but now I’m so appreciative of the lovely feedback and kind reviews. Who knew! I can’t wait to get vaccinated and move on! Stay tuned.
Five Years
Posted in Family, Music with tags david bowie, david mcinerny, memoir, Travel, writing on January 7, 2021 by David McInerny
My last blog post was in January of 2016. I was in a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, and wrote it moments after I saw on the TV that David Bowie had just died. This blog had been about traveling, cooking and, most of all, music. Bowie’s death sucked the life out of my creative will to continue here. Now, five years later, I’ve written a travel memoir and the juices are flowing again. It’s been a long and exciting five years, and I’m anxious to tell you about it. More to come. Thanks for hanging with me.
“We’ve got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We’ve got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that’s all we’ve got.”
David Bowie, Five Years
Farewell To The Thin White Duke
Posted in Music, Travel with tags amazing, blackstar, david bowie, heroes on January 11, 2016 by David McInerny
As I write, I’m conducting business in Kuala Lumpur, and the death of David Bowie is front page news in the Asian morning papers. Like many artists his age (69), he didn’t have to die to get his due as the icon of popular culture he cultivated for himself for nearly five decades. The adulation of Bowie rarely waned through his career – adulation he carefully and skillfully cultivated. This from a young man who began his musical career recording insipid child-like tunes for Decca Records in the mid-sixties until one day he decided to reinvent himself (over and over again) and set the rules for pop stardom all the way up to his most recent album, Blackstar, released just this past Friday. Ironically, the initial single of the same name has Bowie crooning, “I’m not a pop star…” Ever the master of sleight of hand.
Just when we thought we understood his current persona, it disappeared and was replaced by a new one that pointed us toward the next phase of his vision, which legions of artists followed, many without knowing he was the vanguard. That said, it was always about songwriting first, and surrounding himself with great players (John Lennon, Carlos Alomar, Brian Eno, Robert Fripp), some of whom he put on the map (Stevie Ray Vaughn). Bowie’s music has many phases, folk, arena, funk, electronica and, in the past few years, a genre of his own creation of which Blackstar is the apex. Dark moods with lovelorn lyrics using a slowed-down groove that somehow keeps the listener aloft.
One day in the summer of 1979 I went to the record store (The Record Joint in South Bend, IN) with the specific intent of buying some albums of music I was not familiar with. One record I came home with was David Bowie’s 1977 “Heroes” and I listened to its raw, slinky crunch over and over. Within a year, I had purchased everything he had recorded to date and was a FAN. To this day, I’ve anticipated new music from Bowie with the eagerness of a teen, and listening to Blackstar straight through last night with the knowledge that he was gone was an agony of mixed emotions.
There are very few artists about whom I’m convinced I could spend an hour with talking about life and not be disappointed, but David Bowie is at the top of the that list. Because as much as he put himself out there in so many formats, I believe that when the album was finished, or the show was over, Bowie shed his personae to reveal a self only the closest to him truly know.
“Life’s still a dream
Your love’s amazing
Since I found you
My life’s amazing
I pledge you
Never be blue
There’s too much at stake to be down
My nightmare
Rooted here watching you go
Divine in both, our lives”
David Bowie, “Amazing”
Japanese Dreams
Posted in Family, Food, Travel with tags family trip to japan, japan, kobe, ripponghi, tokyo on October 31, 2015 by David McInerny
Up until last week, Tokyo for me had been a quick fly-in from Taiwan, a rush to Sony headquarters, and verbal sparring over the cost of GPS components with some of the best negotiators I’ve ever encountered. It was while negotiating in Japan that I learned the value of the application of a long, awkward silence. Unfortunately, I saw precious little of that beautiful country.
This Tokyo trip was minus dark suits and plus one complete family, and there were no long periods of silence. Somehow five adults – two parents and three adult children – managed to manipulate schedules and budgets in order to orchestrate what may be the final overseas trip for a family that committed itself to seeing the world with a first venture to Amsterdam in 2001. Later there was Rome, Munich, Paris, Nice, Zurich, Valencia, Arles, Cancun, Salzburg…and now Tokyo. This journey had a sense of nostalgia to it before we climbed onto the plane for the long haul from Los Angeles.
Fourteen years ago the agendas were whatever I made them, and my “ducks,” as I’ve always referred to my family on the road, followed behind. This trip I turned the planning over to the ducks, mostly so I could observe my children as adults and watch their choices and their manner of choosing, and enjoy them navigating a foreign country as my parents had taught me in the 1970’s.
Those who have read my column are aware of my senseless fear of urban metro systems, so my delight in watching my trio dive into the task of zipping around underneath Tokyo was unlimited. They never put us on a wrong train, and we never missed a stop. The kids also arranged a dinner in the the legendarily weird and risqué Ripponghi District. It was a first for us to have dinner next to a club named The Ten Sluts, but the view of the street from a second floor balcony made for first-class people watching, and the fried tuna cheeks were excellent!
In fact, the dining was as good as we all hoped. My wife and daughter got their fill of uncooked seafood, battered seafood, and fruits and vegetables I’d never seen or eaten before. However, it was after a long night of souvenir shopping along the Cat Walk that we had a late dinner and my favorite – incredibly authentic Italian cooked while we watched the chef. The boys needed a day trip to Kobe for the legendary steaks – sold by the gram! This had me double checking the budget while the boys poured over the menu.
As with all travel, for me, the best part is simply being there. Whether it’s tea on the Ginza or coffee in a maze of streets surrounding a temple, it seems that going halfway across the globe is the easiest way to strip away all the unnecessary parts of me so that I can view the world with fewer filters. Doing it with the family has always been another notch up into the otherworldly.
berowne.com 