Saturday, March 31, 2012

Soundtrack to our lives

That song, the one that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck

That makes you feel something
That makes you feel anything
That makes you feel alive
To remember
To forget
To sing and to live
For sorrow
For joy
The soundtrack of our lives

To this we sing along…

Sunday, March 25, 2012

A pirate looks at 40

March came in like a lion, and as the days roll on by I get closer to the date (and more importantly) the fact that soon I will be 40 years old.

40 years old…

It was hard to see at 30
Impossible to fathom at 20
But never the less here I am on the cusp of the big “Four-O”
I readily admit that it gives one pause, but I refuse to grant it any undue anxiety.
When the subject comes up with my wife (who is considerably younger than I), the question posed to her is frequently along the lines of;
So how’s he doing with that?
As if turning 40 is an affliction, or maybe that I’m going to purchase a convertible Corvette in the throes of a full on mid-life crisis, or perhaps acquire a mistress to remind me of lost vitality…
Whatever…

My mistress is life itself, and there is so much to do from the mountains to the sea…
There’s something liberating about advancing age that replaces the need to be cool with the need to be happy, and the realization that friends will always be friends, and the rest...well it’s simply not that important.
So to those around me who consistently mutter under their collective breath that “It’s sucks getting old”, or “It’s not as easy as it used to be”, I offer this retort;
I feel better than ever, I am more driven (to be happy), and healthier then at any other point during my 40 year ride.  


Age can be a crutch most certainly.
But it can also be an impetus to drink in life that much more, a charge to go scare yourself with something new; identify a new bird on the feeder, try a new recipe, sip a new craft beer.
 
“Yes, I am a pirate
Two hundred years too late.
The cannons don't thunder there's nothin' to plunder
I'm an over forty victim of fate; arriving too late
Arriving too late”...
-Jimmy Buffet

Saturday, March 3, 2012

The best spot in town

I know this place; it’s a bit off the beaten path, far removed from the endless stretches of chain food restaurants.

It’s quaint in a “new country” sort of way; the craft beer is always cold, and the wine list is made up of Virginia’s finest reds.

If your patient you can get a spot on the deck wedged comfortably between the grill & an outdoor fireplace crackling to keep the cool country air at bay. 

New York Strip with crab meat, asparagus spears and steak fries
The food is made to order, the very essence of home cooking.    
Dinner on the deck by candle light

A perfect fit with the perfect company. 

The best spot in town…