Gardening, salads, beer and the rememberance of things past.

Another pretty Spring morning in the heart of Georgia. Yesterday Cindy and I spent most of the afternoon in the back yard working. I cut down a number of privets which had grown into small trees. I used an ax which wore me out pretty quickly. I spent the rest of the time bouncing back and forth between running errands and pulling vines and trash trees out of the garden. We finished up around eight.

I tried to be healthy yesterday. I went to Ingles and got salad fixings for last night and picnic items for this afternoon. It was around $40.00 and I didn't even buy beer. $40.00 and no beer? Where is the justice in that? A whole lot of vegetables and chicken salad and no beer? Green for green and no vegetables in a six pack of bottles? Sometimes being a responsible adult is a long, long road and very flat, too.

Don't get me wrong; I do like salads. Yesterday evening, I had planned on grilling some fish or other meat. But by the end of the day, I really just wanted a salad. And a beer. Thank God we still had a couple bottles of Beck's in the refrigerator. Of course, I did have that moment when I almost choked on the beer. I think it almost went down the wrong tube and I think I started to inadvertantly imitate a whale blowing out his blow-hole.

I yearn, sometimes, for those days in the early 20's when you could eat and drink anything and nothing seemed to take effect. But when you achieve your 50's its different. Everything has an effect. somehow. in some way. And as you wind down that long flat road toward the inevitable, you see how those choices you make affect the next moment, the next morning, your sleep, your ultimate sleep. And you just want to hold on. Hold on. But still yearning for those little remembered moments when the world was yours.

Remember Herb Alpert and the Tijauna Brass? The drama of the trumpet. The passion of the Spanish music. Was it just the awakening of an adolescent or the formation of a personality?