The root of the problem — part two

Bamboo stalks and leaves are easy enough to whack away and dispose of. It’s the rhizomes that wear you out.
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Bottling beer, Moody Blues, and patiently waiting to celebrate

My friend Dave came over to help me bottle this winter’s lager. It was good to catch up, and he had the amusing news that he had been to a rock concert for the first time in, well, years. The Moody Blues were in town. Yup, dinosaur rock. Someone had canceled in the 11th hour, [...]

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Fletcher’s — All the colors in black and white

“I don’t care if people think differently about me because I’m black,” Lou said, half-turned on his barstool to face Murphy. “Hell, I don’t even care if they like me. They don’t have to like me.”
Murphy chuckled uneasily as the bar went quiet. Karen and Cindy had been talking but now looked over, and Emil [...]

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Emergency Preparedness

If the world were to begin shaking and tumbling and the streets of the Financial District filled with shards of broken glass falling from the office highrises, I would take some comfort, were I to survive and be trapped high in a building, in knowing there was a first aid kit with high-quality anesthetic near [...]

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Fletchers — Brave Brew World

The lean, 30ish man stood on the corner, scanning the street as if looking for something familiar, as the wind whipped long blond hair in his face. Shaking his head, a bemused smile pulled a corner of his thin mouth up toward his left ear as he read the street signs. Evening commuters brushed past [...]

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Price, the Princess, and the Pea

I know a lot of people who like wine. I like it, too — but sometimes shake my head at the prices involved in enjoying vino.
So I was amused recently to read this story, on how the price people pay for wine affects their perception of its value.
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Fletcher’s — Circling the Wagons

“I’ve got fifty bucks on this game,” Murphy told Ron, “All I ask is for Johnson to just keep hitting his receivers, using the pass to control the game, is that so much?”
Murphy had his elbows out wide, staring enrapt at the football game on overhead. Emil sat nearby in gentile dishevelment, nursing a pint [...]

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Après moi, le déluge

Whooo-wheee! it’s storming out here.
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Happy Winter Solstice

I’m going to go have a beer this evening with my friend Brian to celebrate the solstice. We generally get together for a pint this time of year, to note the days beginning to get longer. It’s dark early now, but getting brighter, which sounds pretty good to me.
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Feel Better About Your Bad Decisions

Every so often you read one of those stories that represents a string of very boneheaded decisions that can make you laugh, incredulously — which decisions would unhinge your world had their consequences happened to you. Hopefully, you haven’t made any such decisions, or a string of them, like this young woman did.
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