A Belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All

I wanted to wish all of you, my readers, a great holiday season and a Happy New Year! I know some of this is a little late in coming but hey, the holidays happen and take a toll on our lives. Family and friends surround us and we tell stories and laugh at all the shenanigans that we participated in over the past year.

It has been an eventful one for me, the TenkaraGrasshopper. So I will just give a brief synopsis of what has happened and is continuing to happen.

The biggest news of all is that my wife, Elizabeth Flores and I are expecting our first child who is due on March 17,2014. We are super excited about bringing our little leprechaun into the world. Even now while still in his mommies tummy, I can tell you without a doubt that he has some amazing arm strength. I think he hears me talking about Tenkara so much that he is already practicing his casting so that he can go fishing with his dear old dad.

Peace and Tenkara - "Sharing the Magic of Tenkara"

The following is a new guest post from Brian Lindsay. Pretty awesome stuff and I know you will enjoy it since I know I enjoyed reading it.

Never have I seen such a thing as sharing Tenkara...   It seems to have a magical quality about it.

Brian, what do you mean Magic?  

Well....

Now keep in mind I am a practical person leaning towards requiring technical proof on almost any subject. I personally believe that what I can see and feel is real.  Everything else has to still prove itself.

Karel Lansky demonstrating how to cast

A shocker and a plea for Prayers

Seldom do I put up posts that don't relate to Tenkara in one way or another. That being said I felt that everyone should know about this and I am hoping that you will all put Howard and his family into your prayers today and the rest of the holiday season.

Just wanted to let everyone know that my friend and fellow blogger Howard Levitt is in surgery today. This is an e-mail that Howard's wife sent to Cameron Mortenson of Fiberglass Manifesto last night. Please keep Howard in your prayers on this day and the rest of the holidays.

"Hi Cam,
Not sure how to blog, Facebook, or any of that, but was able to find your site which is familiar to me with all the T-shirts he wears! Could you get the word out that Howard is out of commission and will have bypass surgery tomorrow (5 arteries)! He went to the ER yesterday with chest pains, had an angiogram today and was transported to Boulder today. Boulder has a state of the art cardiac unit and is in good hands. He is going to feel sooooooooooo much better when this is completed. You may know that he has a very strong family history of heart problems and already has several stints. This surgery should make him good to go for the rest of his days. The good news is that he made it to the hospital, is breathing and talking and asking about contacting his bloggers! Feel free to contact me at the number below which is my cell. Surgery is scheduled from 7:15 and will go until about 1 in the afternoon. My phone does not have email accessibility so please call. They said that he'll be in the hospital for 4-5 days.
Thanks and Merry Christmas!"

Tenkara and Gratitude: A Letter in a Slightly Different Format

Tenkara Magazine Issue One

What follows is a letter that I wrote to a number of different people. Some of it might get a little mushy in spots, and I will warn you, but I only ask that you read the complete letter. I am also writing this as a post so that it might be shared with the world at large and the Tenkara community in particular.

To Daniel Galhardo, Chris Hunt, Anthony Naples, my wife Elizabeth Flores, my parents, Karel Lansky, and you, my loyal readers,

We all have dreams and aspirations as we grow up, as well as those of our parents for our lives. Some of us wanted to be doctors, lawyers, firefighters, police officers, soldiers, and even massage therapists. Then there were the things that we were interested in but didn’t have the confidence to pursue or self-limited ourselves to do. Some people were very outgoing and took chances whenever they presented themselves and then some didn’t even remotely consider taking those chances.

I am here to tell you that for me personally a lot has happened recently that made me think about these things on more than a superficial basis. (Here comes mushy part one, just a warning!) Growing up I had dreams of helping people out in different ways whether physically or mentally. Ironically, I was not one of those individuals who was terribly outgoing, nor did I take to many chances or risks.

I was always a voracious reader who literally read about any and all subjects, fiction or non-fiction. The more I read the more I wanted to be a writer, yet I always discounted my abilities as a viable writer, thus I did not ever actively pursue writing. Yet there was always that little voice in the back of my head that told me to try it and see what happened if I did start writing actively. So I did start writing, in a personal diary, about my feelings and about the events that occurred around me. Being a diary, I never shared my writings with anyone else and self-edited my own feelings.

Time passed like it does for everyone, days melted into weeks that were then molded into months, which morphed into years, yet my writing didn’t nor did my fear of taking chances. And then one day everything changed because of something astounding that I found in a magazine I was flipping through.

Since many of you may have already read about this I will keep it short, and for those of you who want to know more about it, there is a link at the bottom of this post that will help you to understand what I mean.

TenkaraGrasshopper Guide Service Availability

I wanted to let all of you know that I am starting to put together dates for guided Tenkara trips and classes here on the Front Range of Colorado. Obviously, the beginning of the season could be a little interesting as we do not know how much snow we will be getting the rest of the winter and how long and big runoff will be.

What I would like you as my readers to do is look at my calender for this coming year and get back to me in regards to the dates that you might be interested in booking. Click the link below and you will be taken to my calender. I will also be filling in some dates that I am not going to be available since I currently have some obligations that are currently booked right now.

Guide Availability Calender

Entomology For The Fly Fisher DVD Review

As an angler I am always searching for tips and tricks to improve my fly fishing. At the beginning of 2013 I picked up a copy of Entomology for the Fly Fisher by Robert Younghanz, aka the Bug Guy, on a suggestion from a friend. And having watched the complete program a couple of times and working hard to learn basic entomology I can say that my fishing is improving, well at least my bug identification.

www.The-Bug-Guy.com

This DVD set starts with a classroom session led by Mr. Younghanz, who besides being the consummate “Bug Guy” is also a fishing guide out of Colorado Springs, CO. The classroom session covers everything from Latin terminology to the specific identifying characteristics of each common bug order found on any given river or for that matter body of water.