Three Beautiful Things 05/22/19: Walking Eugene, Lunch with Dan, Eat and Drink and Dream

1. I've just been driving around too much, so I parked the Sube on 10th between Madison and Monroe, around the corner and down the street from where I used to live, and walked about a mile and a half to the Bier Stein and, after lunch, walked back to the car. It was a peak experience, retracing all too familiar steps and enjoying the many things that have remained the same and the many changes on my route.

2. Dan Armstrong and I were hired full time on the same day and started teaching at LCC together in January of 1991 and have been great friends ever since, capped by the years our offices were next to each other and the many, many great conversations we had about movies, politics, teaching, basketball, and any number of other subjects. We picked up  that easy and stimulating conversation right away at the horseshoe bar at Bier Stein over Firestone Walker's easy drinking Mind Haze Hazy IPA and kept right on yakking for over two hours as we ventured on an epic tour of ideas, updates of old friends, grief over friends who've died, basketball teams in Oregon, movies, family, health, and a host of other subjects.  I loved my half a French dip sandwich with a cup of beer cheese soup and topped off my meal with a tasty and tangy 4 oz pour of  Razztafari lemongrass and raspberry sour ale from Bend Brewing.

Oh! I nearly forgot. I arrived at the Bier Stein a few minutes before Dan and could not resist a 4 oz pour of The Bruff, a Hazy Imperial  IPA from Revision Brewing in Sparks, NV.

Oh! One more thing. Both Kathleen Horton and John Gage strolled into the Bier Stein. I'll have coffee with Kathleen and Lynn on Friday. I hadn't seen John Gage for many, many years and it was great to shake hands, reminisce for a few minutes, and find out a bit about what he's up to these days. John Gage had a major impact on my life as a teacher and, when he walked up to Dan and me, I saw many great years at the University of Oregon over thirty years ago flash before my eyes.

3. Shortly after five, Debbie and I met at McMenamin's High Street pub for a light dinner. We were going to call it a night when we finished, but decided to throw caution to the wind and we went to the Pint Pot, an Irish pub on 17th behind Safeway. We each settled into a pour of whiskey -- I loved my Black Jameson -- and continued the conversations we'd been having at High Street, mostly about what the future might hold. Always, foremost on our minds, is possible travel back east to see Adrienne's family and Molly's. Nothing is set, but our wishes and dreams are legion.