On a chilly, overcast day in December, a pipeful of Tinder Box Reserve 1928 tasted wonderful in my rusticated Cassano, especially when Lou opened the door to let some of the accumulated smoke from half a dozen guys clear out. In attendance at The Tobacco Hut were Joe K, Peter G, Vic, Adrian, and Barry. Barry actually made kind of a dual appearance. He talked to us for awhile via speakerphone and later came in to buy some cigars and ended up staying for two hours.
I came prepared to do battle with Adrian over the chessboard, but he chickened out. No, that's not the case. Actually there were way too many folks and too much going on to have a proper game, so we postponed. Maybe after the holidays, Adrian...
Vic arrived, definitely traveling the farthest to have a cigar, coming all the way from Bradenton. I know Vic was disappointed that his 62-year-old admirer, Crazy Marion (or whatever her name was) wasn't there, but Lou said the next time she came in he would make sure she got in touch with him. See the blog post from Oct 2 for the skinny on the crazy woman. I think in retrospect, Joe was a little jealous that she quit flirting with him when she gazed upon Vic.
Apparently Barry had scheduled a party for Saturday night and invited his friend Vic. None of the rest of us were invited so Vic called him and, via speakerphone, Barry invited all of us to his soiree. We were all very touched by this sincere and heartfelt, albeit last minute, invitation. I was unable to make his party with four hours' notice, but I'm sure everyone else re-arranged their schedules to attend.
Apparently the heating system in Barry's house was on the fritz and Vic was a little concerned about attending a party in a "meat locker". The talk quickly devolved into what kind of meat was in Barry's meat locker...Vienna sausages, cocktail franks, etc. I tried not to listen.
A little while later Barry actually appeared in person. He was going to pull an Adrian and just rush in and out picking up some cigars for the party, but he ended up staying for almost two hours.
Joe had left at that point, but the rest of us had another rousing discussion on religion. Me being the token atheist, I felt a bit like the only progressive at a GOP convention, but I felt like I held my own. Nobody changed each other's minds, but that wasn't the point.
As we were leaving, Vic presented me with a gift. I was quite surprised and touched - he gave me a T-shirt depicting the Vietnam War Memorial and Wall. I'll wear it proudly, Vic. Thank you!
One last note - just a reminder that everyone's favorite guest blogger, my son Ryan, will be here next week. He's on winter break from his sophomore year at Ohio State and we'll pop in next Saturday between roughly 12-3:00, so hope to see everyone.
Cheers!
- Bob
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