1. On Friday, during the day, I thought about memories of Jerome Garger much of the day. I imagined going to Eugene some time this summer and driving out to Yahchats to visit Jerome and Vicki. These memories were triggered by a picture I saw on Facebook of his former sister-in-law and her husband posed in the garden that had once been their lawn.
Today, on Facebook, I learned that Jerome died on Friday. Now the memories really rushed in. Jerome and I met in 1989 when I began working part time in the Lane Community College English Department. We really hit it off and over the years became close friends. I'm not quite ready to write about Jerome at length right now, but I plan to before long. For now, I'll just say that time and time again, Jerome went out of his way to extend himself to me with support and encouragement, both in my professional and my personal life. He had an uncanny sense of knowing when I needed a good laugh, to hear one of him many inspiring or funny stories, to hear level headed advice, or some praise -- and Jerome was generous in praising my work at LCC and what he appreciated about our friendship.
2. I drove to CdA this morning to buy the groceries I need to prepare my contributions to our special family dinner on Mother's Day. We are going to honor Carol and she requested a Middle Eastern dinner featuring fish. I'll prepare a recipe tomorrow and bought Chilean Sea Bass and other items to support this meal. I did all my shopping at Pilgrim's and in much the same way I used to enjoy shopping at Mom's in College Park and the Kiva in Eugene, I really enjoyed being in this store and spent quite a bit of time leisurely pushing my cart almost aimlessly up and down the aisles.
I finished shopping. I hadn't eaten anything all morning. I suddenly remembered that when Darrell, Jeff, and I quaffed beers on the patio at Daft Badger nearly two weeks ago that Darrell told us that the brewery would be releasing a Mexican lager for Cinco de Mayo.
Ah! I love craft lagers! I bolted straight from Pilgrim's to Daft Badger and within minutes a gorgeous golden Mexican lager, called Flyin' Kiwi, was sitting in front of me with a wedge of lime affixed to the rim of the pint glass. The lunch special this week is a Chicken Torta with Enchilada Soup and this spicy meal paired perfectly with the fresh, clean, full-bodied Mexican lager. I enjoyed my pint so much that I ordered a 12 oz glass, enjoyed it, and ended my session.
3. I wasn't quite finished drinking beer yet. Byrdman had texted me earlier in the day that he was coming to Kellogg and so we went uptown together.
First stop: my first visit to the Inland Lounge during business hours since March of 2020.
Two stools were vacant at the far end of the bar and I plopped down next to Ginger, my opponent this week in the head to head league in fantasy baseball. We had exchanged some text messages earlier in the day about the tight battle our teams were locked in and it was really fun to continue that discussion in person rather than over the phone. I drank a couple of bottles of Miller Genuine Draft, my macro beer of choice these days, enjoyed them a lot and had fun yakking with Cas, Tracey, and Byrdman, and more with Ginger.
Byrdman and I then made our way up to Radio Brewing and I honestly do not remember the last time I hoisted a pint in there -- hard to believe given how often I used to drop in. I had hoped to enjoy a pint of their pilsner, but the keg had blown, so, keeping things on the lighter side, I happily settled for a Wildcat Wheat beer, a beer, if I remember correctly, was brewed in 2017 as a tribute to the KHS All-Class Reunion that August. Byrdman and I enjoyed one beer, got in some seriously great yakkin' and he dropped me off at home where I promptly fixed myself some popcorn and hit the sack, aggrieved that Jerome had died and uplifted by such a mirthful couple of hours out on the town of Kellogg.
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