Welcome to Phase II of my blog, Numenon. Numenon is the name of my former boat***, a 2003 Lund Fisherman. I like (love? need?) to fish, and Numenon has been an awesome, versatile and reliable tool for my fishing exploits over the last 15 years.
This blog is mostly about my fishing, but always with an underlying thread of what this might mean to me. In the grand scheme of things, my fishing surely means little. But on the scale of day to day existence, I think my passion for, and practice of fishing helps to define me, and makes me a more interesting person. My family and personal acquaintances can form their opinions about this one way or the other and bear the consequences; cyber-friends can simply choose to stay or click elsewhere.
Naming a boat can be a daunting proposition. In my opinion, the name should be appropriate, unique and timeless. So how did I arrive at Numenon?
One of my first assignments in college involved reading Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac. From humble beginnings, Mr. Leopold became one of America’s earliest and foremost conservationists. I’d like to think of his 1949 Almanac as a casual, yet thoughtful, journal regarding his land and his stewardship of it. My professor demonstrated wisdom with this reading assignment, and I demonstrated my youth in not really getting it; but there was something in the book that stayed with me and caused me to re-visit it 18 or 20 years later.
That “something” was Leopold’s concept of “Numenon”. You could spend some un-satisfactory time with a dictionary trying to define this term. A current Google search might get you closer to Leopold’s meaning, which I take as spiritual and yet not mystical. His alternative spelling of the term confuses the search for a definition and yet uniquely and appropriately individualizes its use. I’ve incorporated “Numenon” to mean “the core essence of a system; if something cannot be removed or changed without altering or compromising the system within which the entity resides…that is the system’s distilled essence, its Numenon.” I (think I) remember Leopold’s examples of a brook trout in a cold mountain stream, and the ruffed grouse of his pine barrens farm. These systems would lose their identity, usefulness, value and interest without these keystone members. There are other streams, other farms…but aren’t these systems more complete and interesting with the presence of the brookie or the grouse? Aren’t our senses graced by their presence?
In 2019, I've welcomed a Maritime Skiff 1480 ("amybaby22") to my fleet, and she quickly proved herself as being very fishy. She's already expanded my fishing experiences, and I've no doubt that she will enhance my humble chronicles. Now, at the end of 2019, I've relocated my life to Massachusetts; life, and fishing, continue to evolve!
That evolution continues, and in mid-2021, I've relocated again, this time to the Casco Bay region of Maine. "Home" for my wife and her family, beloved by me and important to my children; amybaby22 is moored just 10 or 15 minutes away, and I have a lot of water to explore. And that's just for striped bass and part of the year; I have a whole new world of freshwater to learn, and backup licenses for New Hampshire and Massachusetts. I plan on continued growth, and if I encounter some nice fish along the way, all the better!
Please note the structure presented above; I offer separate blogs for any of my current thoughts in Numenon, while I maintain a contemporaneous diary of my modest fishing exploits in Numenon_Fun_Fishing. Phase I of my blogging is available through the Original Blogging link, above.
Welcome, and enjoy!
***I donated Numenon to charity in May 2023. But her spirit remains with me.
This blog is mostly about my fishing, but always with an underlying thread of what this might mean to me. In the grand scheme of things, my fishing surely means little. But on the scale of day to day existence, I think my passion for, and practice of fishing helps to define me, and makes me a more interesting person. My family and personal acquaintances can form their opinions about this one way or the other and bear the consequences; cyber-friends can simply choose to stay or click elsewhere.
Naming a boat can be a daunting proposition. In my opinion, the name should be appropriate, unique and timeless. So how did I arrive at Numenon?
One of my first assignments in college involved reading Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac. From humble beginnings, Mr. Leopold became one of America’s earliest and foremost conservationists. I’d like to think of his 1949 Almanac as a casual, yet thoughtful, journal regarding his land and his stewardship of it. My professor demonstrated wisdom with this reading assignment, and I demonstrated my youth in not really getting it; but there was something in the book that stayed with me and caused me to re-visit it 18 or 20 years later.
That “something” was Leopold’s concept of “Numenon”. You could spend some un-satisfactory time with a dictionary trying to define this term. A current Google search might get you closer to Leopold’s meaning, which I take as spiritual and yet not mystical. His alternative spelling of the term confuses the search for a definition and yet uniquely and appropriately individualizes its use. I’ve incorporated “Numenon” to mean “the core essence of a system; if something cannot be removed or changed without altering or compromising the system within which the entity resides…that is the system’s distilled essence, its Numenon.” I (think I) remember Leopold’s examples of a brook trout in a cold mountain stream, and the ruffed grouse of his pine barrens farm. These systems would lose their identity, usefulness, value and interest without these keystone members. There are other streams, other farms…but aren’t these systems more complete and interesting with the presence of the brookie or the grouse? Aren’t our senses graced by their presence?
In 2019, I've welcomed a Maritime Skiff 1480 ("amybaby22") to my fleet, and she quickly proved herself as being very fishy. She's already expanded my fishing experiences, and I've no doubt that she will enhance my humble chronicles. Now, at the end of 2019, I've relocated my life to Massachusetts; life, and fishing, continue to evolve!
That evolution continues, and in mid-2021, I've relocated again, this time to the Casco Bay region of Maine. "Home" for my wife and her family, beloved by me and important to my children; amybaby22 is moored just 10 or 15 minutes away, and I have a lot of water to explore. And that's just for striped bass and part of the year; I have a whole new world of freshwater to learn, and backup licenses for New Hampshire and Massachusetts. I plan on continued growth, and if I encounter some nice fish along the way, all the better!
Please note the structure presented above; I offer separate blogs for any of my current thoughts in Numenon, while I maintain a contemporaneous diary of my modest fishing exploits in Numenon_Fun_Fishing. Phase I of my blogging is available through the Original Blogging link, above.
Welcome, and enjoy!
***I donated Numenon to charity in May 2023. But her spirit remains with me.
From 2024
From 2023
From 2022:
From 2021:
From 2020:
From 2019:
From 2018:
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Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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