Three Beautiful Things 03-30-2022: Leaving Portland, Top Notch Yakkin' at 16 Tons Cafe, Hammerhead and Frog's Wort

1. Slowly, surely, carefully, deliberately Debbie and I gathered our clothes and a few other things and packed up the Camry, bade Patrick and Meagan farewell, and rocketed down I-5 to Eugene.

2.  We almost walked into Market of Choice to purchase some coffee, dairy products, and a few other things, but at the last second we decided to go almost next door to the 16 Tons Cafe and each have an 8 oz pour of Block 15's Sticky Hands IPA.  The woman who poured our beer immediately recognized Debbie from when Debbie did that long term sub job here in Eugene and told Debbie how much a former employee adored her. Then 16 Tons owner, Mike, appeared and we hugged Mike and were happy to see each other, but he was busy with owner responsibilities and we settled into a table.

A man sat one table over reading and Debbie asked him what he was reading and it turned out he was reading a book by Dick Gregory. Dick Gregory has spoken at Debbie's high school. He had given a talk at Whitworth when I was a student there. Our new friend, Dee, was in a position in around 1980 to bring Dick Gregory on campus. Well, before we knew it, we got into a long conversation with Dee. We had mutual friends and acquaintances -- it was particularly fun to talk about his friendship with retired LCC instructor, Bill Powell. We swapped stories, experiences, and thoughts. 

Our visit to Eugene is off to a fantastic start!

3. I dropped Debbie off at Charlemagne and headed down to the High Street Brewery and Cafe for a pint of my favorite beer, Hammerhead Pale Ale. I was hungry and also ordered a three cheeseburger sliders and a small order of fries. I relaxed, tired from driving, but soon I headed over to Cornucopia where Debbie was yakkin' with her pal and former teaching partner, Jana. I waltzed in, said hi to Debbie and Jana, and bellied up to the bar. I ordered a pint of Oakshire's Frog's Wort Pale Ale and very slowly drank it. 

Cam was working the bar. He's gregarious, a great guy, and loves conversation and managed to squeeze in some time to tell me about stuff he's been up to. Mostly, I watched the scene in the southwest corner of the bar. I don't know any of these Cornucopia regulars, but I recognized them from past visits. I could tell from watching their enjoyment of each other and from their laughter and the way they hugged when someone had to leave, that their scene was similar to what I experience at the Inland Lounge -- inside jokes, repeated stories, expert commentary on music and the local events of the day, and some alcohol to loosen things up a bit. Only one guy drank too much and when he pranced around the establishment lifting his shirt up, he was told to go home. He did so without incident and seemed hazily cognizant that he'd crossed a line of acceptable behavior. 

On our way to Anne's, where we are staying, we made our quick grocery stop at Market of Choice -- and stayed out of 16 Tons Cafe!  Anne warmly greeted us upon our arrival and so did one of the best dogs I've ever known, the friendly and loving Poppy. 

I retired to bed early and listened again to the Dave Bromberg hour of Jeff's latest Deadish radio show. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-29-2022: Bagel Morning, Hike on Powell Butte, Dreamin' with Bob Dylan

1. I started today enjoyably by motoring over to Spielman Bagels again, sitting outside, and daydreaming while I ate a cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese and sipped on a cup of coffee. 

2. A little bit later, I drove out to Powell Butte about twenty-five minutes east of where we're staying and took a short hike part way up the Cedar Grove Trail. My huffing and puffing on this easy to moderately challenging trail told me that I must return to the trails and walk and hike. If I lived in SE Portland, I'd head out to Powell Butte regularly. The trail I was on today was groomed, wound through stately cedar trees, and was one of a number of trails at this site. 

3. Back home, I plunged into the Bob Dylan world of dreams. I listened once again to the Hard Rain and Slow Trains podcast episode focused on Dylan's song, "Series of Dreams". Sitting in Patrick and Meagan's apartment was a much better environment for my second listen than listening to it in the Camry on the road had been. The song itself started to get inside of me and was present in my own dreams later on when I retired for the night. Once I finished this episode, I turned to the archives of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour and listened to Episode 59. Its theme was Dreams. Bob Dylan's informative yakking about dreams was fascinating and, as always, his song selections were various and fun, ranging from Dinah Washington to Tom Waits, from Charles Mingus to the Loving Spoonful. I must dip into that Theme Time Radio Hour archive more often. It was a blast when I used to listen to that program on Sirius/XM radio, but I didn't hear every episode and it's great stuff. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-28-2022: Spielman Bagels, Accidental Portland Tour, Four Hours of *Deadish*

 1. Debbie and I just don't make solid plans. So it's hard for me to say that plans change. That said, we thought we'd be in Eugene by now, but we aren't! We will leave Wednesday morning (well, at least that's the "plan"). As a result, we stayed at Patrick and Meagan's today, relaxing.

This morning, I drove about ten minutes away to Spielman Bagels. I love bagel shops. Hardly a day goes by that I don't wish I lived near one in Kellogg and I often indulge in nostalgic memories of going to the Bagel Bakery in Eugene (until it closed) and to Bagel Place in College Park, MD (now also closed). The Spielman shop on Division St SE is perfect. It's got a natural wood feel. It's not slick looking. It's not like out of The Jetson's. It's not metallic. Maybe in recent times we'd say it has a hipster feel to it -- I prefer to think of it as feeling down to earth, not fancy, youthful, but inviting to old people like me -- in short, I liked the vibe a lot.

I ordered a blueberry bagel with a thin spread of cream cheese and a coffee and sat at one of several outdoor tables and blissed out. I also bought bagels to go: a couple everythings, a sesame, and a plain along with a half pint of Spielman cream cheese. 

I'll return on Tuesday.

2. On my drive home, I spaced out the left hand turn on Milwaukie SE to return to the apartment. I sighed, told myself just to enjoy wherever the streets of Portland led from this point forward, and went on about a 40-50 minute drive. I accidentally drove downtown on 4th St. SW and observed some of the effects of Portland's nights of protest and property damage in the summer of 2020. I drove into Chinatown, crossed the Steel Bridge, made my way to 99E and eventually wound my way back to the corner of Powell Blvd SE and Milwaukie SE and delivered the carry out bagels to Debbie and Patrick.

3. Debbie and I both napped this afternoon and we retired for the night early in the evening. I had a great time napping with Jeff Harrison's March 24th edition of Deadish playing through my ear buds. I listened to the whole two hours again when I retired for the night later on. He featured the music of Dave Bromberg for the first hour. I loved it. The second hour featured selections from the Grateful Dead's 03-24-1973 show at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.  Jeff's played "Here Comes Sunshine", "Playing in the Band", "Dark Star", among other songs. It was a really enjoyable hour of great songs and some wonderful jamming.

I fully expect I'll return to this episode of Deadish again night after night to help me fall into a relaxed and blissful sleep.

Three Beautiful Things 03-27-2022: Breakfast with Bones, Blowouts on TV, LoRell's Chicken Shack

1. I went through my morning routine and then bolted out the door and rocketed in the Camry a couple of miles or so south of Patrick and Meagan's place and met up with Terry Turner for a delicious breakfast at Harney Street Cafe. I ordered a breakfast special: sausage gravy eggs Benedict, served on two flaky, perfectly baked biscuit halves with home fried potatoes and fresh fruit. Terry had never been to this cafe, liked the looks of the menu, and I'm here to say he made an outstanding choice and we ate most enjoyable food and did some top notch yakkin'.

2. Next move: go to Terry's house and settle in to watch Kansas play Miami and North Carolina play St. Peter's. We also kept an eye on the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play golf tournament.

Terry served me two excellent beers: a really tasty and well-balanced pale ale from 10 Barrel Brewing called Reel Good Ale and Terry contributed to my campaign to SAVE THE PORTER when we split a bottle of excellent porter from Ancestry Brewing.

We had a great time yakking. As far as basketball and golf went, though, it was a blow out day. Kansas came out of the locker room at half time and crushed Miami, 76-50 and, from the get go, North Carolina dominated St. Peter's and defeated them, 69-49. If we wished for a little more suspense in the golf match between Scott Scheffler and Kevin Kisner, Scheffler dashed those hopes. Scheffler immediately put Kisner in a deep hole and cruised to a 4&3 victory and, by doing so, became the top-ranked golfer in the whole wide world.

3. I left Terry's around 3:30 and met Debbie, Patrick, and Meagan at the Foster Road Food Truck/Cart pod. It was a gorgeous time to eat out of doors. The temperature was perfectly mild and quite a few of the trucks/carts were open for business. I came into the pod hungry for chicken. My first choice would have been chicken and yakisoba noodles at a food truck that was closed, but soon I found LoRell's Chicken Shack and ordered a special: five chicken tenders prepared Chicago style with fries. I'm not sure what Chicago style is, but these tenders were awesome: crunchy exterior, juicy tender meat inside, and the pieces were dressed with a hot sauce. I ordered a mild hot sauce and that was just right for me! The fresh cut fries were really tasty, too.

Back at the apartment, I took a refreshing nap and, not long after I woke up, lo and behold, Patrick fixed another batch of blended margaritas and I enjoyed a couple of them and joined in with everyone else for an evening of Steely Dan, stories, smart aleck quips, laughter, and a fun evening together before going to sleep for the night. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-26-2020: Out the Door, "Series of Dreams", Bliss at Patrick and Meagan's

 1.  Our old age, inertia, slowness, indecision, and fear of forgetfulness came into play this morning as it took Debbie and me until 10:30 or so to finally feel like we had what we wanted packed and had the house clean enough to leave. But we did it! We hit the road. (And I had intended to bring my vaccination card, just in case, since I plan to go to a concert April 2 in Eugene -- but I forgot it and Christy will send me a picture of it.)

2. We stopped at Ritzville Starbucks for coffee and gathered our wits for a few minutes. From Ritzville to Kennewick, we listened to Thursday night's episode of  Hard Rain and Slow Trains. Dan Mackay focused the entire show on Bob Dylan's song "A Series of Dreams". The song recorded for but not included on Oh Mercy, but later appeared on Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 and on Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume 3. 

Dan explored the structure of the song's lyrics, which didn't remain stable, played several musicians covering the song, and played different versions of Bob Dylan's performance of the song, both recorded and live. 

I'd never heard or listened to "Series of Dreams" before and the more I heard it, the more I enjoyed it and drove across down US 395 and across I-182 and then I-82 very happy that Dan selected this song for March's version of "May Your Song Always Be Sung". 

3. After a gorgeous drive along the Columbia River, the humps across the river coming slowly alive with pale green growth, we arrived at Meagan and Patrick's apartment and enjoyed a superb night! 

I was barely in the house before I got to SAVE THE PORTER! I set down my bags and popped open a bottle of Nut Crusher Peanut Butter Porter from Free Ride Brewing poured into a glass -- and I liked it a lot!

Before long, Patrick put his mad skills at the Vitamix machine to work and blended us all a most delicious blood orange margarita. (And later, a second orange one.) 

We listened to songs, old and new by Bob Dylan, yakked, and before long a food delivery arrived.  

It was a thick, perfectly baked sausage, ricotta, calabrian chili, aged mozzarella, red sauce, pecorino Romano, basil square Sicilian-style pizza from Ranch Pizza nearby.  We also had a radicchio Caesar salad to share and we all were transported into a blissful state by the pizza and the masterfully mixed margaritas. Our conversations were stimulating and compelling and we enjoyed a flawless evening together. 

By the way, I love Patrick and Meagan's apartment --it's roomy, handsomely appointed, comfortably furnished, and a very easy place to be. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-25-2022: Delay, Some Fun Hoops, "It Isn't Pretty!"

 1. Leaving today for Portland just didn't feel quite right. So we delayed our trip. A day? Two days? We just don't know.

2. Yes, it was fun watching the parts of the St. Peter's/Purdue game that I saw and watch St. Peter's, an unknown team from a small Jesuit college in Jersey City, New Jersey defeat the mighty Boilermakers. It was less fun for me to watch Kansas defeat Providence because Providence had become one of my favorite teams to watch over the season. The other two games today were really fun. North Carolina and UCLA played a fun, clean, athletic, dramatic, fast-moving game and the fun of seeing both teams play so well, so hard, and have so much fun eclipsed any care I had for who won. As it turned out, North Carolina prevailed, 73-66, thanks largely to an enormously entertaining second half of sharp shooting by Tar Heel guard, Caleb Love who scored 27 points. And if entertaining basketball is something you enjoy, I recommend that you watch the Miami Hurricanes in this tournament. They zip the ball quickly to one another, love to run the floor, play scrambling and disruptive defense, and play with joy and enthusiasm. Their spirited play prevailed this evening as they defeated Iowa State, 70-56. 

3. We didn't leave for Portland today, but slowly, surely I packed my suitcase, suddenly remembering at different points during the day something I'd forgotten to pack earlier. Oh, yeah! My shaving stuff! Okay. Be sure to pack my nighttime mouth guard. Do I have the cords gathered so I can keep my phone, tablet, and laptop charged. What books do I want? I can hear inside myself the words of Dr. Rick, the guy on the Progressive commercial who tries to help new home owners not become their parents: "It isn't pretty!"

.

Three Beautiful Things 03-24-2022: Chicken Fried Steak, Arkansas Hounds and Defeats the Zags, Focus and Memory

1. I rocketed the Sube over to CdA and back mostly to put over fifty miles on the tires that had just been put on the car.  I dined at the Breakfast Nook and satisfied a hankering I had for a chicken fried steak and hash browns, neither of which I'd eaten for months. I made a quick trip to Pilgrim's Market to return plastic six and four can beer holders and to buy some dried apricots. I returned to Kellogg, got the wheels retorqued, and when I got back home I took a luxury nap, the perfect follow up to that chicken fried steak and hash browns. 

2. Around 4:00 I settled in to watch Gonzaga play Arkansas in their Sweet Sixteen NCAA men's basketball tournament game. Arkansas defeated the Zags, 74-68. I observed two primary keys to Arkansas' success. First, Arkansas played muscular and swarming defense. I was particularly impressed with the way the Razorbacks' Au'Diese Toney defended Andrew Nembhard. That the harassed Nembhard couldn't (or didn't) hit his floaters from in the key and then stopped even getting into the key to take that shot eliminated an important facet of the Zags' offense. In fact, Arkansas pretty much took Nembhard and his running mate Rasir Bolton out of the game. Combined, Nembhard and Bolton only made 5 of 21 shots and only contributed fifteen points. Arkansas devised a game plan that I read about to suppress Gonzaga's guards and carried it out most effectively. Arkansas' defense executed another strategy the team has been carrying out all season. They planted defenders in front of Zags driving to the basket and absorbed offensive fouls, significantly disrupting Gonzaga's offensive schemes.  

I thought the other key to the game was that Arkansas got Chet Holmgren in foul trouble. He only played 23 minutes and fouled out of the game. I've read some analysts and Zags' fans question at least a couple of the foul calls on Holmgren. I don't comment -- ever -- on officiating and don't have anything to say about those calls. All I have to say is that I thought the amount of time Holmgren had to spend on the bench hurt Gonzaga. 

3. I spend more and more time these days trying to get out in front of my forgetfulness and trying to stay focused.  Debbie and I are getting ready to travel to Portland and Eugene and the only anxiety I feel about this trip is that I'll forget to pack something. I made a list today of what I want to take with me, hoping I didn't forget to list anything. I started packing and put my medicine in my suitcase first thing so I won't forget it. Now I just hope I remember where I put the list as I return to getting myself organized and ready to go.

Three Beautiful Things 03-23-2022: Job Scheduled, Quick CdA Trip, More Bob Dylan Podcasts

1. Our home will have a new heating/cooling system on May 19th. I got that scheduled today.

2.  With the regular tires switched back onto the Camry, I needed to drive fifty to a hundred miles and then have the wheels retorqued at Silver Valley Tires.  I shopped at Fred Meyer in Cd'A. Now I have a new pair of slippers, a container to store unused cat litter, and snacks for our drive to Portland on Friday. I filled up the gas tank. I usually have a beer in CdA, but today I wanted to get back home and didn't treat myself. 

3.  On my way to Cd'A and part way back, I listened to the 07-01-2021 episode of Hard Rain and Slow Trains: Bob Dylan and His Fellow Travelers entitled, "The Poetry of Bob Dylan". Dylan himself distinguishes between song writing and poetry writing, resisting the idea that his songs are poetry. Hearing host Dan Mackay quote Dylan's musings about this distinction stimulated me. I very much enjoyed spending an hour in the Camry hearing Dylan, Dan, and people Dan knows (including Jeff Harrison) read selections of Bob Dylan's poems. It was all new to me.  I know I didn't absorb it all -- but, it's a start. 

Later, I gathered up Copper and Luna and once we got settled into bed, I listened to another Hard Rain and Slow Trains episode. It aired on 10-22-2020 and was part two of a multi-episode series called "All Those Who've Sailed with Me"and featured Dylan's bands over the decades. This episode featured bands from 1975-81 and featured music from Little Feat and also the Alpha Band. Once again, this podcast took me into new territory, introduced me to music I was unfamiliar with. It also got me thinking more about and reading up a little bit on Bob Dylan's trilogy of Christian albums recorded from 1979-81, especially as I listened to Dylan's song, "Saved" from his album of the same name. 

Hearing "Saved" got me thinking that one of these days I think I'll listen to these three Christian albums. Up until now, I've completely ignored them. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-22-2022: Comfort, Yakkin' for Hours, Copper and Luna in the Living Room

1. Debbie and I always have things about our life together on the table. We've had improving our houses's heating/cooling system on the table ever since we moved here. It's off the table now. We are going for it.

2. We arrived at our decision over a couple of excellent IPAs: Heretic Brewing's Evil 3 and Revision Brewing's Pour Decisions (!). It didn't take long to make our home improvement decision and soon, with the help of popcorn, our conversation wandered all over the place -- we talked about Bob Dylan, song writing, song writers, our experiences with multi-cultural education, current political realities; we talked about geography, disappointments, new understandings we've arrived at as we've aged, and our upcoming trip to Eugene. It was a good, several hours long session of good, serious yakkin'. I'm used to yakkin' like this with Debbie at Radio Brewing or, in Eugene, at 16 Tons or Cornucopia or in the now lost days of Billy Mac's.  It was fun to have one of these fruitful rambling sessions in our living room. 

3. Copper and Luna enjoyed some bonus time in the living room early this afternoon. Debbie took Gibbs upstairs and she took a nap. Luna loves the ottoman. It's in front of our living room's picture window and is a good sun bathing spot. Luna curled up and relaxed there. Copper perched himself on the arm of one of our living room chairs. From there, he could look out the window, be close to me (but not too close!). Every once in a while, though, Copper jumped down from the chair, came over to me, put his front paws on my chair, and let his body language tell me he wanted to be petted. He does this with me in the Vizio room, too, but he never jumps up into my lap. Sometimes he seems on the verge of joining me in a chair, but he always retreats. At night, however, Copper sleeps against my legs. He makes contact that lasts all night, so he's closed the gap while we sleep, but not when we are awake. 

After a while, Debbie and Gibbs came back to the living room and Copper and Luna dashed into the safe confines of the Vizio room and rested in their appointed places, happy to have had their relaxing time in our living room. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-21-2022: Auto Tires Switched, Morning Glory Muffins, Black Bean Stew and Family Dinner

1.  After I loaded up the Sube with both cars' spring/summer/fall tires, I drove the Sube down to Silver Valley Tires, walked home, drove the Camry down, walked home, and waited for a phone call. Silver Valley called, telling me the cars' tires were switched. I walked back down to the shop, picked up the Sube, put the eight snow tires in the garage, walked back to SVTires, and picked up the Camry. 

Getting stuff like this done makes very happy, happy beyond reason.

2. While I waited for the cars, I baked Morning Glory Muffins, featuring apples, carrots, a tiny bit of zucchini, roasted coconut flakes, roasted chopped walnuts, and raisins along with the usual flours, brown sugar, eggs, and baking powder and soda. I made big muffins, six of them, for family dinner and I was very happy with how they turned out.

3. I also took responsibility for tonight's family dinner cocktail and main dish.

I made us all a Sazerac, using cognac instead of bourbon or rye whiskey. For each drink, I poured absinthe in a chilled glass, added ice, swirled around the absinthe, and dumped out the ice and leftover liquid. I poured some simple syrup into the bottom of the glass, put cognac with ice in the cocktail shaker, got the cognac cold by shaking, poured it over the simple syrup, added a few dashes of Peychaud's bitters, and rimmed the glass with a lime peel and dropped the peel in the glass. 

This drink made everyone in the family happy.

Earlier, I had poured sherry and olive oil in the Dutch oven and added chopped onion, carrot, and celery. I cooked them until tender and added minced garlic and let that cook for a minute or so. Next I added a bunch of stuff to the pot: black beans, frozen corn kernels, vegetable broth, diced tomatoes, some tomato paste, honey, chili powder, oregano, and cumin. I squeezed the juice out of two oranges and added that. I brought the stew to a boil, covered the pot, let it simmer for about 45 minutes and then stirred in cilantro, and let it cook some more, at a very low heat, until we were ready to eat. 

I was really happy with this black bean stew.

We hadn't gathered for family dinner since February 28th.

It was fun to enjoy Murray's cheese and crackers with our Sazeracs, eat our stew and a muffin, drink Zag red wine or rose wine,  and snack on chocolate after dinner. 

We talked about a lot of different things having to do with friends, the school district, books, the Zags, and a variety of other things. 

We had a boisterous night!

Three Beautiful Things 03-20-2022: NCAA Tournament Seeding, ZOOM Time, Red Stripe Black Butte Porter

1.  It would be easy to ramble on about today's NCAA men's basketball tournament action, but I'll just make a blanket statement and then tip my hat to the Texas Christian Horned Frogs. 

Blanket statement: I have no argument with how the committee seeded the teams in this tournament. Others with more analytical minds than mine might have quibbles, but I don't. 

What I think is true, though, is that, overall, the margins of difference in how higher seeded teams perform vis a vis lower seeds are very small. That's the nature of college basketball right now. Traditionally, you'd think there would be a significant gap between say, a #1 seed (Gonzaga or Arizona) and a #9 seed (Memphis or Texas Christian), not to mention between a #2 seed (Auburn) and a #10 (Miami). 

Not this year and the fact that lower seeded teams can play so competitively with higher seed teams -- and even beat them -- made this first weekend of the tournament a blast to watch.

In particular, I'd like to single out the gutsy, impassioned, raw-boned, energetic play of the Texas Christian Horned Frogs in their overtime loss to Arizona. Like other lower seeded teams, the Horned Frogs have a talented team, but not as many highly skilled players as more elite teams. But, boy howdy!, do they ever defend hard, crash the boards with enthusiasm, work and work and work to make opponents uncomfortable, and play with tenacity. 

Arizona defeated TCU, 85-80, in overtime. But, much like Gonzaga the night before, Arizona got pushed hard by ninth seeded team. 

I loved watching them play so hard. As their post-game anguish revealed, they gave all the energy they had to this game. They suffered a really painful loss.

2. In the midst of all this engrossing college basketball action, Bill, Diane, Bridgit, and I jumped on the ZOOM machine and became involved in engrossing conversation.

Much of our yakkin' centered around a crucial realization Diane arrived at and a decision she made regarding her retirement. I won't go into details. Diane took us into her confidence. Blabbing would violate that. I will say, though, that Diane came to an understanding of herself and her workplace that was liberating and that, in my view, has a lot of potential to contribute mightily to her happiness and well-being as she leaves her job and settles into retirement itself.

3. I like mixing beers and I like mixing cider and beer. This afternoon, I blended Deschutes Black Butte Porter with Red Stripe Lager. It worked for me. It was a bit unusual to combine the apple-y mild sweetness of the Red Stripe with the toasty, dark chocolate flavors of the porter, but I've drunk plenty of apple ciders blended with stouts and porters. The apple flavors are much more forward when I blend cider with dark beer. The slight sweetness of the Red Stripe was more subtle and I enjoyed that as far as flavor goes, the porter was more forward. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-19-2022: Oregon Duck Fans Know Shaheen Holloway, I Was Wrong Twice!, Movie Trailers

1.  It came back to me today. In March, 2000, the Oregon Ducks earned just their second berth in the men's NCAA basketball tournament since 1961.

I remember being really happy for the Ducks' achievement. 

I also remember feeling uneasy. 

After all, the tournament committee sent the 7th seeded Ducks all the way back east across three time zones to Buffalo, NY to play the 10th seeded Seton Hall Pirates who arrived in Buffalo from just 350 miles away. 

The game was a nail biter and things looked good for the Ducks when Fred Jones hit two free throws with 8.7 seconds left in overtime to put the Ducks ahead by a point.

Seton Hall inbounded the ball to Shaheen Holloway. 

Wait!  

Do you recognize that name? 

Yes, sir, it's the very same Shaheen Holloway who 22 years later is now the coach of the St. Peter's Peacocks, the very same 15 seeded St. Peter's Peacocks who defeated the 2nd seeded Kentucky on Thursday and who defeated Murray State today to advance to the Round of 16, this year's tournament surprise team.

Duck fans would rather not be reminded of Shaheen Holloway.

On March 17, 2000 Shaheen Holloway raced the length of the court, lifted a shot high off the backboard with 1.9 seconds left, and it dropped through the cup, securing Seton Hall's dramatic first round win. 

Duck fans remember.

2. It's not exactly headline news when I'm wrong, especially when it comes to what I think is going to happen in any college basketball game.

If I'm ever right, I'll own that. 

Today, though, I was wrong twice. 

I thought two different teams were sunk, finished, headed toward losses, but both teams ended up winning their games.

With ten minutes left in the game and a twenty-five point lead, North Carolina seemed on their way to an astonishing win over Baylor.

Then the Tar Heels collapsed.

The downward spiral began when the Tar Heels' leading scorer, Brady Manek, threw a retaliatory elbow above Jeremy Sochan's shoulders and got ejected from the game.

Later, the Tar Heels' primary ball handler, Caleb Love, fouled out.

Baylor pressed, pressured, harassed, and discombobulated North Carolina and by the end of regulation they pulled even -- did I mention that Baylor was 25 points down with 10 minutes to play? -- and sent the game into overtime.

I figured Baylor would steamroll North Carolina in the overtime period, but, no, North Carolina hit some crucial shots from the field, Baylor went cold, stalling their momentum, and the Tar Heels survived their disintegration and triumphed, 93-86.

Later in the evening, Gonzaga and Memphis squared off and, once again, I was wrong.

With their starters' height, strength, agility, quickness, and leaping skills, Memphis blasted Gonzaga in the first half and rocketed out to a 41-31 lead.

I didn't have the guts to text out to Byrdman, Stu, and Terry T what I was thinking, but I'll confess now that I thought Gonzaga was finished. I thought Memphis's physical superiority in the first half would continue in the second half and I didn't think Gonzaga had answers. I didn't think they'd effectively respond. 

Looking as honestly as I can at myself and what I thought, I underestimated Gonzaga's fortitude and resolve.

I genuinely did not think Gonzaga had it within themselves to come back and win this game, but I was wrong.

For starters, Drew Timme played the second half with a fire in his belly that I don't remember seeing before. He went on a scoring tear, hitting shots inside from a variety of angles, burying a couple of mid-range jumpers, and even splashing a trey, a rarity. 

Memphis's athletic interior players got into foul trouble. Gonzaga appeared to be the better conditioned team. I thought some Memphis players looked gassed as the Zags' fast pace of play seemed to tire them out. Memphis' coach, Penny Hardaway, decided to hoard his allotted time outs rather than stop play give his winded players a chance to rest. We'll never know if using one of his time outs earlier would have helped Hardaway's Tigers. 

As the second half proceeded, Gonzaga's guards hit crucial shots. Timme, Andrew Nembhard, and Rasir Bolton complemented each other, the Zags' attack broadened, and the two guards made critical free throws down the stretch.

The Zags won, 82-78.

3. After watching tons of basketball today, I turned to YouTube and IMDb and watched some trailers of movies related to Greenwich Village and, more specifically, Bob Dylan. I look forward before too long to watching Inside Llewellyn Davis for the first time and returning to viewings of I'm Not There and Rolling Thunder Revue. I'll look into other related movies as well. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-19-2022: Living in the Past with Dylan and the Dead, Basketball Feast, Care for Copper

1. I started my Friday with the bliss I usually experience on Thursday. I was busier than usual with domestic demands Thursday evening, so I waited until first thing Friday morning to listen to Dan Mackay's radio show, Hard Rain and Slow Trains: Bob Dylan and His Fellow Travelers and Jeff Harrison's Deadish. 

I don't know if there's such a thing as the Bob Dylan origin story, but once a month for the year of 2022, Dan devotes a show to what Bob Dylan was doing month by month in 1962, the year his first record album was released. Today I learned as much as I've ever known about Dylan's experience as a 19/20 year old with seasoned blues veterans Big Joe Williams and Victoria Spivey.

Dan's show helps me bit by bit come to know Bob Dylan's career better. This morning I arrived at a new and much better knowledge of Bob Dylan's debt to the blues and his work as a bluesman. I wish I could elaborate on this more fully -- and maybe one day I'll be able to. 

For now, I'll just say that Dan's March 17th program made it clear that if there is such a thing as the Bob Dylan origin story, it's steeped, in part, in the blues, in acoustic blues and the history of the blues.

I love how Jeff opened Deadish on his March 17th show by playing Grateful Dead version of four songs that appeared on Bob Dylan's first album, including a 1962 recording of Jerry Garcia singing a beautiful and mournful a cappella version of "Man of Constant Sorrow" and a moving version of "Peggy-O". I loved these covers, the connection back Dan's show, and experiencing how, like Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead owe so much to the traditional folk and blues music they inherited.

Jeff's show started beautifully and continued to be so. He featured some fragments of jam sessions from 1975 in Bob Weir's studio that I found dreamy and fun. I also enjoyed the songs he played that featured Pigpen and he managed to squeeze in much of a great show the Grateful Dead performed at the Carousel Ballroom on March 17, 1968 that featured some fiery jams and that helped deepen my acquaintance with several Grateful Dead songs from that time period. I hope to return to Jeff's show, listen again, and deepen my acquaintance with "The Other One", "New Potato Caboose", and "Caution" in particular. 

2. NCAA men's basketball dominated my day -- and, again, I won't even try to recap all that happened over the sixteen games that were telecast today. The most fun games, for me, by far, featured teams from lesser conferences giving teams from Power 5 leagues some fierce competition. UT- Chattanooga came within a whisker of defeating Illinois. Colgate played Wisconsin tough and only lost by seven points. Davidson gave Michigan State a very difficult time, like Chattanooga gave Illinois, and only lost by a point. Inevitably, as the tournament progresses, these teams that get no national coverage during the regular season fall away and I always hate to see them go. 

3. Copper has been out of sorts lately. It's not medical -- his recent annual checkup at the vet was sound. Because he can't be out in our common living area when Gibbs is there, he has to spend most of his time behind closed doors, either in the bedroom or the Vizio room. I spent the entire day with Copper and Luna today in the Vizio room. When she's behind closed doors, Luna does much better than Copper, and Luna was great today. I thought Copper was much more content in the Vizio room with human company all day. He rested, used the litter box, and came over to me a few times for some closer attention. He's a sensitive cat, but unlike Luna, who attaches herself to me all through the day, Copper maintains physical distance, but enjoys being approached and petted, given attention. Most of all, Copper likes to be where I am, so when Gibbs is in the living room and kitchen, I'm going to spend much more of that time in the Vizio room or the bedroom so Copper has as much companionship as possible.

Three Beautiful Things 03-17-2022: Enjoyment of the Games, Preparing Corned Beef Dinner, Miracle of Texting

1. I'm not even going to try to recap today's sixteen basketball games as the first round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament got going today. I'll say that the game that made me happiest was injury-crippled Creighton's overtime win against San Diego State and the one that most astonished me, like every college basketball fan, was St. Peter's OT win against Kentucky. 

I had a terrible day as a gambler (my Iowa and UConn Sports Book tickets are dead) and as a bracket filler outer. 

No problem. 

I'm into it for the enjoyment of the games, the excitement of the moment, no matter who is playing, no matter who wins or loses. 

2. I didn't only watch basketball today! The other day, Debbie bought a small chunk of corned beef, some potatoes, and a cabbage and asked me to cook them for St. Patrick's Day.

After a trip to Yoke's and the liquor store, this afternoon I sliced an onion and crushed four cloves of garlic, put them in the bottom of a Dutch oven and laid our slab of corned beef on top of it. I then covered the meat with Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen beer and a little water. I brought the beer to a simmer on the stovetop, put the lid on, put the Dutch oven in the oven at 300 degrees, and started the three hour slow cooking process of braising the meat. 

I turned the meat over after 90 minutes.

With an hour to go, I put Yukon potatoes in the braise, and 30 minutes later I added in wedges of cabbage.

As the timer wound down, I mixed brown sugar, whole grain Dijon mustard, smooth Dijon mustard, Jameson Irish whiskey, black pepper, and ground cloves together and made a glaze for the corned beef.

I removed the corned beef from the braise, dabbed it dry, scored the meat's fat cap, and applied the glaze to the top and sides of the meat.

I broiled the meat until the glaze bubbled.

I put more glaze on and broiled it again for a minute or two.

I glazed the corned beef one more time and broiled it again.

I put the potatoes and cabbage in a bowl.

Debbie sliced the meat.

Neither of us had ever eaten glazed corned beef before.

It was awesome. The Hefeweizen braise gave the cabbage and potatoes a unique and delicious clove and slight banana flavor. It worked. Everything fell into place with this somewhat experimental dinner and I'd love to try it again some time.

3. I enhanced my pleasure of watching today's basketball games by being connected by text messages to Terry and Lars, who were watching games in person at the Moda Center in Portland, exchanging a few quips with Terry's sister, Sharann Watson, co-commissioner of the bracket pool I'm in, and with Byrdman who was on top of all the action. 

It was almost like we were in the Vizio room together, swapping insights and observations and making each other laugh. 

*By the way, if you have become accustomed to reading about my Blissful Thursdays each week on this blog, I had domestic chores and cat care duties this evening that prompted me to decide to listen to Dan and Jeff on Friday morning. So, this week, I am delaying my bliss from Thursday evening to Friday morning! 

Three Beautiful Things 03-16-2022: Passport Application, Planning Dinners, First Four Pleasure and Excitement

 1. I slowly, methodically, and nervously filled out my passport renewal application and will mail it tomorrow. I am a puddle of cold sweat when faced with a form to fill out. I hope by taking it so slowly and watching 400 YouTube videos helped me fill it out correctly.

2. Debbie and I figured out our St. Patrick's Day dinner and have a pretty good idea of what we'll serve this coming Monday for family dinner.  It's always a relief to get such plans made.

3. I didn't expect much when I turned on the First Four tilt between Wagner and Wright State, but were my low expectations ever wrong! Wright State put the clamps on the nation's leading scorer, Wagner's showboating extrovert Peter Kiss. Yes, Kiss ended up scoring 28 points, but he heaved up 25 shots to do so and padded his scoring output late in the game after Wright State had pulled comfortably ahead. 

Two Wright State Raiders, Tanner Holden and Trey Calvin led the Raiders' offense. Holden reminded me of 1978 Kentucky star Jack "Goose" Givens. Like Givens, Holden is a southpaw and scored the vast majority of his points on mid-range jumpers and free throws, converting a high percentage of his attempts and scoring 37 points (4 shy of Givens' 1978 NCAA Championship game effort). He might have hit that 41 point mark, but his teammate Trey Calvin complemented Holden's outburst with 21 points of his own.

In the end, Julie (Fether) Rockwell's alma mater, Wright State, defeated Wagner 93-82 and now face the daunting task of playing Arizona on Friday.

If you'd like to experience through words the excitement of Notre Dame's 89-87 double OT victory over Rutgers, I suggest you track down professional scribes who have summed up this game elsewhere. The task is out of my reach. 

All I can say is that I loved watching both teams, loved their energy, tenacity, and courage in big moments.

Honestly, I had two responses to this game as it progressed, and especially as the two overtime periods got underway. 

1. I didn't want this game to end.

2. I didn't want either team to lose.

Let's just imagine for a moment that this game foreshadowed the kind of intense, mutually respectful competition between evenly matched teams that we might see in the next three weeks as the NCAA Tournament moves forward.

If it did, buckle up because Silverwood's Timber Terror is a placid drive around Coeur d' Alene Lake compared to the hills, valleys, twists, corkscrew turns, and excitement that could lie ahead as these tournament games get underway. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-15-2022: Chillin' at the Turf Club, Yakkin' with Lars at Bolo, Checkin' Out Stormin' Norman's

 1. I hopped into the Camry, plugged a downloaded file of Terry Gross interviewing Masha Gessen on a recent Fresh Air episode into the sound system, and blasted over the hill to Coeur d'Alene, gassed up the car at Costco, and swung by Byrdman's house. 

I drove us to Northern Quest where we dropped in on Caesar's Turf Club Sports Book and wagered a few bucks on a few different teams to win the men's NCAA basketball tournament.

We had a blast. We relaxed in the huge comfortable chairs in the Turf Club, each grabbed a pint of Hop Valley's Bubble Stash IPA, yakked about hoops, watched sports coverage on the huge tv screens in front of us, and, eventually went up to the counter and made our wagers. 

For the record, I will enjoy an increase in income if Texas Tech, Iowa, Villanova, or UConn wins the men's tournament. Ed and I teamed up on the UConn bet and are invested in the Huskies as partners.

2. After relaxing and spending a little money at the Sports Book, I rocketed the Camry out to Bolo's Bar and Grill in Spokane Valley.  Byrdman and I met up with Lars. It was Taco Tuesday at Bolo's and Byrdman and I each ordered the three taco special and enjoyed a pint of No-Li's Big and Juicy IPA. We had a blast yakkin' with Lars about retirement, news in our lives, and Lars' upcoming trip to Portland to join Terry Turner and Glenn Bennett to watch men's NCAA basketball tournament games at the Moda Center on Thursday and Saturday.  

3. Byrdman and I were fired up after yakkin' with Lars. We rolled into CdA and decided to have a last pint at a recently opened joint we'd never tried before. We bellied up to the bar at Stormin' Norman's Shipfaced Saloon on Fourth Street, just north of CdA Avenue. We both enjoyed Stormin' Norman's. Our first impression was pretty awesome because Free's "All Right Now" was playing on the sound system as we walked in and it was all classic vinyl hits throughout our visit. We each ordered a pint of Bodhizafa IPA from Georgetown and slowly enjoyed our beer and yakked more about all kinds of stuff, including some solid discussion of LA Lakers history. Two guys in Stormin' Norman's brought their dogs in the saloon, both awesome, and Byrdman and I yakked for a few minutes with the owners and bid the dogs farewell as we left. 

On my drive back to the Silver Valley, I listened to an interview I'd downloaded featuring Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues and learned a bit of his history pre-Moody Blues. I didn't finish it so it's waiting for me to return to the Camry for another road trip and some more listening. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-14-2022: Cameron Smith is Stellar, Dinner with Diane, Forgiving My Hoop Failures

1. I spent much of the day being thrilled by Cameron Smith's dramatic win today in the Players Championship golf tournament. Cameron Smith did everything: he putted masterfully, had two multi-hole birdie streaks, duck hooked a drive in deep jail and recovered, miraculously saving par, hit a stunning shot to within three feet on the treacherous 17th hole's island green, smacked a rescue shot off the pine straw into the drink, and made the bogey he needed, out of the water on the 18th to secure his victory.  

2. Debbie invited Diane over for dinner and we dove into that shepherd's pie I made yesterday. It was delicious. 

3. Stu performed a student teacher observation at Gonzaga Prep today and it was fun remembering when the Kellogg Wildcats visited G-Prep in December of 1970 and got waxed. It was a miserable basketball season for both Stu and me, but, now, over 50 years later, I look back on it and don't feel the misery any longer and have to chuckle at my whole mostly failed career as a Kellogg Wildcat hoopster. Like other areas of failure in my life, I really didn't know what I was doing -- but, I sure didn't see that at the time! 

Three Beautiful Things 03-13-2022: Cooking Shepherd's Pie, Today Was IPA Day, I'm a Joke at Bracketology (and It's A-OK!)

 1. Christy assigned Debbie to make a vegetarian shepherd's pie for Monday's family dinner, but Debbie and I switched assignments. I had fun chopping and sautéing vegetables, mashing potatoes, using clam stock to cook lentils and using it again to make the shepherd pie's "gravy". I stored everything in the refrigerator to assemble into a shepherd's pie for Monday, but later in the evening Debbie and I received notice that dinner is canceled because of illness in the family. 

2.  I had fun slowly, deliberately working on food preparation. I also had fun slowly, deliberately drinking three different beers I split with Debbie. To begin, I popped open that powerhouse crowler of pFriem's Triple Hazy IPA and Debbie and I very slowly worked our way through its 32 ounces of juicy, orange sherbet-y, kind of boozy warmth together. It took us quite a while to finish off this crowler out of respect for its 10.5% ABV. 

Having finished the crowler, we then split a pint of another Triple Hazy IPA, a favorite of ours, called Pour Decision from Sparks, NV's Revision Brewing. I cooked. Debbie watched programming on Acorn TV. We yakked a bit. I cleaned up the kitchen. We ended our several hour session by splitting a pint of Modern Hipster IPA, a Double Dry Hopped IPA brewed at Evil Twin Brewing, North Haven, CT. 

Taking our time, savoring these beers, enjoying the variety of juiciness these IPAs served up was really fun and relaxing.

3. I will fill out a men's basketball bracket sheet for the NCAA Tournament again this year and submit it to Sharann and Doug and, once again, sit back and watch it fall apart. It's mind boggling. So many teams are good. A single elimination tournament brings so many variables into what might happen in any given game so that luck, the way referees call a particular game, teams being unfamiliar with each other with short time spans to prepare for their opponents all complicate the process of picking winners. It would be so much easier if skill and talent were the only factors determining whether one team defeats another, but that's not the case in this best of all sporting events. So, I'll bravely, humbly fill out my bracket sheet, have zero expectations of success, and enjoy the games once they get underway on Tuesday. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-12-2022: Lunch at Capone's, Byrdman and a Beer Mission at Growler Guys, On the Road with Jeff and Dan

 1. Debbie and I like to have a plentiful stash of double and triple IPAs (hazy if possible) on hand in the icebox, but, to our knowledge, no one in the Silver Valley sells these beers. So, from time to time, I go to Pilgrim's in CdA and stock up and I had fun doing that today. I'd planned to have a late breakfast at the Breakfast Nook before I shopped for beer, but discovered it's a weekday cafe now, closed on weekends. 

So I sauntered into Capone's in Midtown, bellied up to the bar, and ordered a MickDuff's La Cervezas. It didn't quite taste right to me and, after about three sips, I figured out why: I like Cervezas beers with lime. So, I requested lime, squeezed it in my beer, and that simple move completed the beer's taste profile (for me) and the beer tasted really good with my Swiss cheese burger and fries.

2. I had fun selecting beer at Pilgrim's. I talked to Paige, whom I used to yak with when she worked at Radio (she works at Pilgrim's now). I also picked up some Bitchin' Sauce and some produce. I then headed over to Growler Guys, not only to have a couple of beers, but to text Byrdman and see if he wanted to join me. 

He did.

I had a mission at Growler Guys. I knew they had pFriem's Hazy Triple IPA on tap, so I ordered a 10 oz pour, knowing if I thought it was pretty good that later I'd order a crowler to take home. I liked it and I ordered a crowler.

Byrdman and I yakked about college hoops and he told me about all the people he saw at Larry Ross's memorial and the get together afterward at Noah's Loft. It was a great session, worthy of a second beer.

When I returned to the counter to order, I wanted to come down the ladder a ways and not have another high octane 3IPA.

I ordered an 8 oz pour of Golden Ale from Zolupez Beer Company in Ogden, UT. 

It tasted unlike any Golden Ale I'd ever drunk. It was lemon-y with a mango presence. 

Turns out Zolupez Beer Company makes both Golden Ale and IPA in the cerveza style. I discovered this when I looked up Zolupez Beer Company online. 

So, I'm most familiar with cervezas as a kind of lager beer.  Little did I know that there was such a thing as a Cerveza Golden Ale and I'm really happy that I wanted a lighter beer to finish at Growler Guys and ordered this one. The lemon peel presence in this beer made squeezing lime juice in it unnecessary. 

3. Debbie and I drive the Camry mostly as a road car and since I was hitting the open road (!) to travel between Kellogg and CdA today, I traveled in style in our new car.

I can do some in-car listening in the Camry that is not possible in the Sube.

So, I plugged my cell phone into the Camry sound system and went to the archive of KEPW-FM and listened to the last hour of Jeff Harrison's Deadish show from March 9th. Jeff played all Steve Kimock music over that last hour and I loved listening to it again.

So far, on Hard Rain and Slow Trains, Dan has put together three episodes built around musicians Bob Dylan played most often on his Theme Time Radio Hour show (2006-09). 

I had listened to Dan's third installment at home and, today, as I journeyed back to Kellogg, I listened to his second installment. I didn't quite finish it on the road, but after meeting Debbie and having some Chinese food at The Lounge, I returned home, listened to the rest of that show and then listened to the first such episode Dan produced. 

I think Dan's idea is ingenious. He builds his Theme Time shows around the musicians Dylan played most often on his radio program. Dan plays bits from Theme Time of Dylan talking about each musician, of introducing them, and then Dan plays songs by those musicians that Dylan did not play. 

I really hope Dan will return producing more Theme Time episodes, episodes he calls "Maybe She'll Pick Him Out Again".  

I haven't heard them all, but I loved ever hour of Theme Time Radio Hour I listened to and I've had a blast listening to how Dan so inventively created the three episodes (so far) focused on Dylan's show. 

Three Beautiful Things 03-11-2022: Relaxin' at The Lounge, My Favorite Red Stripe Lager Memory, Look Out for Villanova

1.  Ed and I met at The Lounge soon after it opened this afternoon. I enjoyed a couple of the Champagne of Bottled Beers and yakked with Ed, Cas, John Seavy, Debbie F.,  and Bucky. The Moores arrived and I shook hands with Butch and Brian and shared warm greetings. Ed and I stuck with our plan to have a couple of beers and then head out. Jake was coming in as we left. Byrdman and Lloyd B. arrived later. I was sorry I missed them. 

BUT

2. Back home, Sue D. had arrived to knit with Debbie. She brought a six pack of Red Stripe Jamaican Lager with her. I love that beer. It had been a long time since I'd had one, but the second I tasted it I was transported back to Arlington Heights, IL and that moment in August, 1998 when I met Debbie's brother, David (RIP), for the first time and he wedged a Red Stripe's bottle cap between his wedding ring and ring finger, popped open the beer, and our friendship got off to a terrific start as we enjoyed a Red Stripe together. 

3. Having watched Villanova close out close wins two nights in a row against, first, St. John's and, tonight, against UConn, I thought for the first time this entire season that because of experienced players like Collin Gillespie, Jermaine Samuels, and Justin Moore and because of the ever improving play of Brandon Slater and Eric Dixon, Villanova might have a better shot at winning the NCAA national title than I thought they would when this season began. Having Jay Wright as their coach might, in the end, be the most positive contributing factor. What difference does experience make? It's intangible, but experienced players like Villanova's know how to win, a quality that is difficult to describe, but I've seen it in Villanova late in the season and, now, two nights in a row in the Big East tournament.