Signs of the Times

This is made right there in Missoula Montana. In case you have trouble reading around the curve of the bottle this is Moose Drool, which probably deters the wimpish drinker. It is a very good dark beer, probably one of the best of the increasing number of micro-brews that we are becoming famous for.

This is the cashier's place at The Soup Place, where at lunch time today we had some of the beer above together with some excellent chicken soup, gazpacho and a nice Reuben sandwich. As you can see there is a lot of stuff going on in Billings in August, but who would have guessed we are having a "bellydance festival?" Check it out.

Driving home after lunch, at a safe level of blood alcohol of course, I came across this sign on Broadwater heading west. I know we have the promise of our Lord that his church will endure forever but it is still fairly comforting to know that while the rest of us are out working this place where a part of the church gathers on Sunday and Thursday is protected by a tough-sounding Security Center. Notice also the dark green foliage around the sign. By this time, middle August, in much of Montana things look fairly brown owing to a lack of rainfall.                                                                                            But this year is one of those that probably fooled our ancestors of the 19th century into thinking that they had found a piece of Paradise. When I look out into my backyard this summer I wonder why I planted the trees so close together.

Don't Drink and Drive

Martin Luther was right, of course, when he suggested that beer, especially good German beer, is not only good for you, it is also evidence that God loves you.

Pope Benedict XVI reminded his parishioners in early November that Saint Paul cautioned against drinking and driving: “Dear brothers and sisters, I implore everyone — drivers, passengers and pedestrians — to heed carefully the words of Saint Paul in the liturgy of the word today: Stay sober and alert,” he added.

By the way, are the Sundays in Advent like those in Lent where you can celebrate a little?

It looks like this is not a recent picture as the Cardinal has been promoted.

The Past is Still with Us

Yesterday it was damp and cold, as sometimes happens here in Billings as mother Nature gets us ready for winter, so we turned on the furnace, put sweaters on, and Carol looked up one of her old favorite recipes for taking the edge off a cold day in Montana. This is from a newsletter put out by the management of a place we used to live in Cincinnati, back in the late 60s.

I was an intern and resident from 1965 to 1970 at the Children's Hospital and Cincinnati General Hospital in pediatrics and pathology. We lived in an apartment complex called Williamsburg of Cincinnati, a pleasant place to live with great neighbors.

One of the points of interest in the newsletter item is the high cost of trans-Atlantic calls in the 60s and later too for that matter. Isn't it amazing what competition and decreasing government regulation can do for us ordinary folks.

Edith and Donn Cramblette have both passed on, bless their souls, but Carol and I remember playing bridge with them whenever we have this chili. We had some last night without stale beer but with some excellent dark Moose Drool, brewed right here in Montana, I think in the People's Republic of Missoula, if I'm not mistaken. I drank the leftover beer and took a second helping of this really good chili.

Forgive me Mom, but what you called chili really was not, so for many years I thought I didn't like chili. That last sentence sounds like it was freshly translated from the German, but I think it gets across what I mean. Perhaps I will try to fix it at a later time.