Funny coincidences came up in conversation the other day. Four of us were sitting around my awesome new propane-powered fire pit in the backyard staying warm on a windless Benicia evening, sipping toddies. The circle of Adirondack chairs consisted of Susan, Gino, Patricia, his new sweetie – and we’re glad she is – and me. […]
A Different Drummer: Silence of the Giants
We walked among the giants of nature last week. We strolled the busy shores of Lake Tahoe, stood with the crowd in the mist of Yosemite Falls beneath El Capitan, and finally hiked quietly, contemplatively, along a trail at the feet of the gigantic redwoods of Calaveras Big Trees State Park. Tahoe was its […]
A Different Drummer: Headed for the cliff
“Get outta the car, Mabel. It’s goin’ over the cliff.” “Now, why do you want to do that, Wompus. It’s a perfectly good SUV.” “It ain’t gonna be in ‘bout three minutes. Everybody who watches teevee and the Internet has seen this car and are pointin’ at us in ever’ town we been to […]
A Different Drummer: Restless Kitchen Syndrome
Welcome to Steve’s Kitchen. In this week’s episode we will make experimental chili. Taped to the inside door of my spice cabinet is a weathered brown 1981 championship chili recipe that I have been using most of my adult life. It hits the spot. My polite and blunt friends both say it’s excellent, so all […]
A Different Drummer: Of mice tails and men
Fishing report: good. Just got back from a fabulous four-day fishing trip in the Sierras. Last week I shared my trepidation and uncertainty about still being able to fish after a healthy childhood of fishing followed by 40 years of dabbling. Could I reconnect with my fishing muse? Did I still have what it […]
A Different Drummer: Nebraska highlights
DRIVING ACROSS WYOMING, eastern Colorado, and all of Nebraska, you find three different kinds of flat. Wyoming is flat dry desert with jagged ridges and mountain clusters rising up all around us. We felt like we were driving through the trough of a great dirt bowl. Leaving Boulder headed to Nebraska, we saw only miles […]
A Different Drummer: Bouncing around Boulder
EPISODE 3 OF OUR CRAFT BEER ACROSS AMERICA TOUR finds us spending two nights in Boulder, Colorado at the University Inn just off the ever-popular Pearl Street Mall, a four-block pedestrian-only oasis amidst a swirling mass of metropolitan auto traffic. The Pearl Mall is so central to midtown that its location is underneath the word […]
A Different Drummer: Boulder bound
SUSAN AND I TOOK TURNS DRIVING across the lengthy expanse of Wyoming on our way from Evanston to Laramie and the next stop on our self-appointed Craft Beer Across America Tour. Equipped with GPS, Google Maps, the Find Craft Beer app, and Yelp, we were traveling to a concert in Decorah, Iowa and in the […]
A Different Drummer: Tapping America’s bounty
SUSAN AND I JUST FINISHED our Craft Beer Across America Tour. We took her new white Toyota Highlander on a cross-country trek to Decorah, Iowa and back in 4,443 miles. On our way we tasted at ten different local breweries. Why drive to Decorah? It is the home of Toppling Goliath Brewery, renowned for their […]
A Different Drummer: Local yolkals
“COME ON, SUCKERS. I’ll take you all on,” said Ward Miller, Ridgway High senior, class of 1971, dressed in Elker maroon and white, standing at the intersection of Main and Broad Street next to Quaker State Gas, an egg clutched in each hand with more in his coat pockets. The Johnsonburg kids just stared and […]