1. I spent a lot of time this morning writing in my blog about living in Eugene. Then I spent a lot of time today thinking about Eugene and how my experience there from 1979-2014 was, inevitably, a combination of affection, missed opportunities, tumult (divorce (twice), illness, struggles with depression), and some of my most beloved experiences -- especially with friends, friends and people I taught with, marrying Debbie and becoming a stepfather, being an active member at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, my short time with my canine companion, Snug, the time I spent in the theater, the many photo walks I took, and getting to teach at the U of O and Lane Community College.
I'm not really headed anywhere with this beautiful thing. I write Three Beautiful Things primarily as a way of maintaining my outlook on life that gratitude does not depend on life being predictable or stable; nor does it depend on having things in my life go the way I want them to.
I try to be grateful even as life is reliably and relentlessly volatile.
Many of my years in Eugene were volatile and some were very difficult.
My gratitude, however, prevails.
2. Back in about 1996, when I began to drink craft beer in earnest, Full Sail Brewing was a favorite of mine, especially their Amber beer. As other Oregon beers began to proliferate, I must have gotten it in my head that Full Sail beers were yesterday's beers. I suppose the fact that 16 Tons never, to my memory, had Full Sail on tap reinforced this prejudice. Today, as I strolled by the beers for sale at Yoke's, I stopped and thought to myself that it had been years since I purchased any of Full Sail's beers in the Session series.
When Patrick was living with us after he graduated from OSU, he went through a Session lager phase, but I didn't join in.
But, today, I looked at the Full Sail Session variety pack and decided it looked perfect.
After all, I love a lager, pilsner, Kolsch, kellerbier, Hefeweisen, all of the lighter bodied beers, especially when they are microbrewed.
The variety pack fit this bill and included three 11 oz bottles (perfect size for me) of Session Lager, Session Hefeweisen, Session Cerveza (Mexican Lager), and Session Hazy IPA.
I only drank one beer after I returned home.
I poured a Session Lager.
It was just what I'd hoped for: light, crisp, a slight hint of lemon, and nicely hopped.
I can hardly wait for my next session to try the other beers.
3. Today, the Dr. Scholl's heavy duty shoe inserts for men over 200 lbs arrived and I cut them to size and put them on top of the inserts already in the shoes I wear the most often.
My hope was that when I strolled the aisles of Yoke's, the added support and cushioning would relieve me of the discomfort I've been feeling in my left heel - a problem that first popped up back in Greenbelt, but that had been in remission for the last four years or so.
I shopped in the least efficient way possible at Yoke's today so that I'd have to criss cross the store several times as a way of giving my insert a reasonable workout.
My first report: I think it worked.
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