Beer

I thought I’d follow up my last entry by saying that the end of my teetotaling days was due in no small part to romantic notions I began to entertain about beer drinking.

Alcohol consumption in the US of A seems to be mostly associated with wanton partying. Not for me. For me, it’s the Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings having a “pint.” (They also smoke pipes, see?) And also the beer reference in this Stan Rogers song, which is one of my favorites:

Where the earth shows its bones of wind-broken stone
And the sea and the sky are one
I’m caught out of time, my blood sings with wine
And I’m running naked in the sun
There’s God in the trees, I’m weak in the knees
And the sky is a painful blue
I’d like to look around, but Honey, all I see is you.

The summer city lights will soften the night
Til you’d think that the air is clear
And I’m sitting with friends, where forty-five cents
Will buy another glass of beer
He’s got something to say, but I’m so far away
That I don’t know who I’m talking to
Cause you just walked in the door, and Honey, all I see is you

(CHORUS)
And I just want to hold you closer than I’ve ever held anyone before
You say you’ve been twice a wife and you’re through with life
Ah, but Honey, what the hell’s it for?
After twenty-three years you’d think I could find
A way to let you know somehow
That I want to see your smiling face forty-five years from now.

So alone in the lights on stage every night
I’ve been reaching out to find a friend
Who knows all the words, sings so she’s heard
And knows how all the stories end
Maybe after the show she’ll ask me to go
Home with her for a drink or two
Now her smile lights her eyes, but Honey, all I see is you