Three Beautiful Things 10/10/16: Now I Understand, Photo Stroll on Greenbelt Lake, Pandora and New York Fermentation

1.  I rallied as the day progressed, but when our Verizon internet bill came in my email box and it had increased, legitimately, by the way, the news unnerved me. I had trouble getting a hold of Verizon -- it was my fault, mostly -- I didn't take time zone difference into account -- but, by the time I had an online chat with a very helpful customer service guy, got my answer, and realized I might have remembered this was coming, it was past time to go to my swimming class.  I was still feeling the hangover from the transplant conference and I simply had to force myself to get moving or I risked falling into a serious funk.

2. I did it. I kicked myself in the ass and took my camera down to Greenbelt Lake and took a walk on this gorgeous day and the melancholy didn't stand a chance.  I admit, I envy my sisters in Kellogg because the leaves have turned up there and not many have turned here, but I knew I'd find a few small red or yellow leaves in spots and I decided to take some pictures in color.  Inwardly, my landscape was monochrome enough that I thought it would do me some good to invite some color in.  And I was right.  The walk, taking some pictures, experimenting a bit with a wider aperture, having a talk with the Deke while seated on a bench looking out at the lake all snapped me back to being more buoyant and lightened my step.  If you'd like to scroll to the end of this post, you'll find a few pictures I took.

3.  Back home, I successfully resisted falling back into any kind of funk by putting the ear buds in and dialing up my faithful "All Right Now" station on Pandora and heating up chicken and vegetable and basmati rice leftovers while listening to Led Zeppelin, Queen, Bad Company, T. Rex, The Rolling Stones, John Mellencamp, Free, Van Halen, and whatever Pandora's magic gave me next.  Later, I settled down a bit and returned to an episode of the podcast, On the Road with Beer Session Radio, here, entitled "Edge of the Wild", here, and listened to interviews in the Catskills with Andy Brennan, proprietor and visionary at Aaron Burr Cidery and to Monte Sachs, founder of the unique Catskill Distilling Company before falling asleep -- so I when I finish the episode, I'll get to learn more about Catskill Brewery. This episode, and the first Beer Session episode on Hudson Valley brewers called "The New Primitives", here, really have my imagination in high gear wishing for a road trip to rural New York.  I'm enjoying host Jimmy Carbone's podcast work a lot and would love to visit his joint in the East Village one day, Jimmy's No. 43.

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