Note: Dave Oliveria led his Huckleberries column in the CdA Press on 12-24-2021 with a story about kellogg bloggin' and Three Beautiful Things. If you'd like to read it, click right here.
1. I'd say if a person has one place to frequent that buoys their spirit, makes them feel welcome and whole, at peace even, provides a venue for great conversation, and is a place where people they treasure also gather, that person is fortunate.
I experience such places as spiritual centers. I frequented five of them when I lived in Eugene, OR:
1. St. Mary's Episcopal Church
2. Lane Community College's Blue Door Theater
3. 16 Tons Taphouse and Bottleshop
4. Cornucopia on 17th
5. Billy Mac's Bar and Grill
Well, tonight, on December 23, 2021, Billy Mac's, one of my spiritual centers, closed.
Eugene Weekly featured the closing in a story, here.
On the northwest corner of Jefferson and 19th, in a predominantly residential neighborhood, sat a one story building divided into two businesses. From the street, especially as you traveled on Jefferson, you'd see the sign for the Little "Y" Market, a convenience store with a pretty good inventory of wine and beer.
The Little "Y" occupies the east half of the building.
Billy Mac's occupied the west half.
It was, to me, the ideal neighborhood bar and grill, the best I've experienced.
Back in the early summer of 2010, on one of our Saturday photowalks, Russell invited me to join him and other LCC instructors and friends of theirs at Billy Mac's for their weekly Thursday night dinner.
So my discovery of Billy Mac's and having it become a spiritual center began about eleven and a half years ago. At first, I only went to Billy Mac's on Thursdays and, at first, I left Billy Mac's when our Thursday dinner parties ended.
Slowly over time, though, I started sticking around after dinner, bellying up to the bar, shooting the breeze with employees, especially Cathy, Derek, and John, watching games on the television, sometimes having John and Derek say, at closing time, "You don't have to leave. Hang around and have another drink or two with us."
At some point, Debbie began coming to the Thursday evening dinner parties.
And, then, a little later, Debbie and I began going to Billy Mac's on other nights. We often sat at the bar. We began to see people regularly -- parents from Debbie's school, a local blues session guitar player, friends from St. Mary's Episcopal Church, people Debbie worked with at Temple Beth Israel, and friends from Lane Community College.
I loved it. Conversation was awesome. The feeling of camaraderie built.
My spirits rose.
I felt whole.
Billy Mac's was much more than a bar and grill to me. It was a source of goodness, uplift, great vibes, and belonging.
I loved it.
In case you don't read the story I posted the link to, Billy Mac is the nickname for Billy Mac's owner and chef, Billy McCallum. He's sixty years old. He's been cooking and slinging great food in Eugene since 1977. Because he's dealing with congestive heart failure, his doctor recommended he ease up. So, he's retiring.
Debbie and I had a great time this evening reminiscing about how much we loved Billy Mac's.
We talked about our triangle of places we loved to wind down at: Billy Mac's, Cornucopia on 17th, and 16 Tons. We marveled at our good fortune that we discovered similar places near Greenbelt when we hung out at the Old Line Bistro (RIP) and D C Brau.
And, now, in Kellogg, we go to the Inland Lounge. It's a spiritual center. I think Radio Brewing is becoming one, too.
2. This afternoon, Christy, Debbie, and I took our dogs, Riley and Gibbs, to Carol and Paul's to join Cleo and Sadie for a Snow Dog Christmas Party. We humans enjoyed cookies, nut and bolts, and Tom and Jerrys and the dogs got new toys and treats and got to imprint their paws on hunks of dough that will be baked and painted, resulting in a Christmas tree ornament. When Carol envisioned this party, I think she was hoping for better weather -- not the rain and wind and sleet and snow we had this afternoon. Because it was messy out, the dogs did not get to go out back with Paul and frolic in snow.
They hung in there, though.
Maybe they'll get another chance this winter to fit that frolicking in!
3. I really liked how my day began.
Because we'll be doing some winter traveling, we decided to put snow tires on the Camry and it was also time for an oil change.
I took the Camry down to Silver Valley Tire Center and two hours later they loaded the Camry's other tires into the Sube. I brought them home and stored them and returned to pick up the Camry with its fresh oil and new snow tires.
What a relief to get this done!
Winter travel here we come!
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