I just can't resist posting this:


Had a heckuva birthday yesterday. It reached a low point when I took off my glasses to wipe the sweat off my brow, and then promptly smashed them to bits when I stepped on them with my steel-toed construction boots. Oh well. Add a new pair of sunglasses to my birthday wish list (which never expires, btw.)

Anyway, does that ever happen to you? Not the glasses thing. The other thing. You're dressed like Vader at the beach, knee deep in the ocean, and you're trying to filter the seawater through a Britta and into an old plastic jug? I mean, hey, sometimes the Force powers just don't work, you know? Happens to me all the time.

Went to Stone Brewery for dinner and beers last night, and despite the fact that the last time I went there I came home and threw up for six hours (it wasn't their fault) this place has got to be the coolest brewery in the known universe. Here's a photo link. The grounds are just beautiful, and you'll never guess what the primary landscaping motif is... okay, maybe you can. The place has all grown in since I was there last and wild animals have moved onto the grounds. The lighting at night is wonderful. The Little Ditchman chased rabbits as we sipped a fine craft brew and listened to the croaking frogs and the water tumbling twixt the reeds and over the rocks. The moment couldn't be beat.

Excepting perhaps tonight's moment which will be with some friends at The Lost Abbey Brewery. It's not as ritzy a place, but the beer is the best in the world (my world.) Here's a link to the tasting room BrewCam (a work of inspired genius installed, no doubt, by the brewers' wives) so if you can't make it tonight, check out the BrewCam and we'll wave to you.

Have a tasty, beer-swillin' weekend. I may hit Oceanside Ale Works tomorrow, just to put the trifecta in play.


~