Time to embark on the prologue to my next chapter in life. Time to start a countdown, as I seek to fill the remaining months with meaning and fulfillment, a prelude to enjoying my golden years.

Time to booze it up, because these days are going to crawl by.

Time to start another set of blogs.

Husband and I have decided that we are both retiring in the summer of 2024, when we both hit the glorious age of 62. We refuse to be deterred by the sluggish performance of our stock portfolio, or by all the financial advice columnists who tell us to work as long as we can.

Nope. Life is short. We need to have time to savor it.

This week at work was tough for me. My high school students have spring fever already, and I caught several of them in boldfaced lies. Does it say “born yesterday” on my forehead? Or “new to this job”? Or “never parented teenagers of my own”? Or “never actually was a teenager”? Yeah, give me a break.

And Tuesday was 3/14, or Pi/Pie Day, and for the first time in years, not a single student from the Math Honor Society offered to bring me a piece of pie, even though I saw carts filled with pie slices and multitudes shoving the aforementioned slices into their–do I dare say it?–pie-holes.

So yeah, I am salty today. Thank goodness tomorrow is a teacher workday and I don’t have to face the kiddos.

Tonight’s cocktail, therefore, is my version of a Salty Dog.

Stir together 2 ounces dry gin, 4 ounces pink grapefruit juice, 1/2 ounce simple syrup, and a slice of lime.

Pour into a salt-rimmed glass and add ice cubes.

Enjoyed: Sunday, March 12, 2023

Listed on the menu: Not on the brunch menu, but I found it on the cocktail menu as “House Old Fashioned”.

Ingredients: Bulleit rye whiskey, malted barley syrup, angostura, orange bitters, Luxardo cherry, orange garnish.

The occasion: Sometimes, the best things in life are those closest to home. And the best company to keep? People you’ve known for decades. On this particular Sunday, we joined four of our dearest friends for brunch on the Charlottesville Downtown Mall. We followed our lovely meal with a stop at Rockfish Brewing Company, just a few blocks away, to continue our conversations.

My rating: **** out of 5. The cocktail was sweeter than I expected, likely because of a heavy dose of the molasses-like malted barley syrup. Yet the syrup did give the drink a distinct flavor, which complemented the eggs, pork, tomato, and potato of my meal. I would order it again for brunch, but maybe not with a more savory supper entree.

Final thoughts: It snowed! Yes, Charlottesville–the first we have seen all season! None of the big, wet flakes stuck to the roadways, happily, but we really enjoyed watching them fall from the sky and land on us as we walked the mall.

Enjoyed: Sunday, March 5, 2023

Listed on the menu: Not really. The vivacious bartender (“I’m a New Yorker, and we work hard!”) told me she made delicious Old Fashioneds which were different from the ingredients listed on the menu, so I told her to create one for me.

Ingredients: Bulleit rye, simple syrup, bitters, muddled orange, muddled maraschino cherries. Bartender said that muddled orange was essential.

The occasion: I was returning home from a five day visit with my mom in northwest Indiana. The trip was last-minute and overdue, and I was happy to be there with her, even though she didn’t recognize me at first. Other than the shared meals with my sister and her family, there were few bright moments. Life is hard, and aging is cruel.

My rating: *** out of 5. The cocktail was satisfying and exactly what a “traditional” Old Fashioned should be, especially since this was a busy airport bar.

Final thoughts: As I raised my glass, in my mind, I toasted the hospice workers and the nursing home staff who are taking care of my mother and making her comfortable. I am in awe of what they do, day to day, and I am grateful.

1. Led Zeppelin or Def Leppard or Nirvana tee-shirts. Yes, the music is timeless, but find your own bands, kiddos! Do you even know what vinyl records are?
2. Face masks resting under noses or slung below chins. Just what good are those masks doing, anyhow? What kind of messages are they sending?
3. Mega-large fake eyelashes. Can these young ladies see their friends from behind these dense lashes? See their teachers? Their classwork? Their phones? (OK, maybe it’s OK if they can’t see their phones.)
4. Crocs. When you are so young, why not choose style over comfort?
5. Crocs with “charms” to decorate them. No, just no. No.
6. Jeans with multiple rips and holes and missing fabric. Why bother? Why not just wear shorts?
7. Pajama pants. Yes, I get that they are cozy and warm (heck, anything’s got to be warmer than those ripped jeans) but those should be a treat to look forward to at the end of a long day. Keep those at home!
8. Belly-button jewelry. Those fake diamonds in the navel look cheap and tacky, and yet I always notice them, a great example of the human phenomenon of not being able to pull our eyes away from tragedies.
9. Tank tops that are cut high enough to show off the aforementioned jewelry. But now that I think about it, maybe it’s better for the eyes to be drawn to the navel after all, versus being drawn to cleavage exposed by the tank tops.
10. Fishnet stockings. Too sexy for school, and (most) high schoolers don’t yet have the poise and swagger to be sexy.

Enjoyed: Saturday, December 10, 2022

Listed on the menu: Yes, as “Fireside Old Fashioned”.

Ingredients: Maker’s Mark, cocoa bitters, maple syrup, fresh grapefruit.

The occasion: Our annual “Christmas Date Weekend” continued with a meal at the Hotel Roanoke, built in 1882 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and therefore the most iconic hotel in the city. We had seen its Tudor grandness from the road, but this was the first time we visited. The lobbies and common areas were lushly decorated for the holidays, and so many families were strolling around. Happily, I had made reservations weeks in advance at the very-proper Regency Room, so a table was waiting. We were right next to the jazz trio and the dance floor and we did not mind at all. Supper was so delicious but the best treat was my “Snow Globe” dessert in a glass.

My rating: ***** out of 5. I love cocoa and maple flavors, as well as Maker’s Mark, but I wondered how fresh grapefruit would work in this drink. I suspect only a splash of the juice was added. Turns out, all the ingredients were carefully balanced into a rainbow of flavors–some bitter, some sweet, some refreshingly sour.

Final thoughts: The word “Fireside” in the name did not mean smoke was added, but likely meant that this concoction should be enjoyed in winter, in a cozy spot for two. Although the hotel and restaurant were very crowded on this particular Saturday night, our intimate table for two, the dim lighting, the gourmet meal, and the merry live music made for a very romantic evening.

1 ounce Irish whiskey

1/2 ounce Kahlua

4 ounces hot coffee

Combine ingredients, and top with whipped cream and sprinkles.

Merry Christmas, one and all!

Muddle 5 raspberries.

Add 1 ounce fresh lemon juice

2 ounces of Zubrowka, Polish bison-grass vodka

1/2 ounce of honey syrup (equal parts honey and hot water)

Dash of Angostura bitters !

Add ice, shake and strain into a glass.

Add soda water if desired.

The Christmas Eve meal, or Wigilia, is the most special gathering of the year for Polish families. Tonight we will drink shots of Zubrowka with our traditional meal, as well as these cocktails. Wesołych Świąt!

1 ounce bourbon

1/2 ounce Aperol

1/2 ounce Amaro

1/2 ounce lemon juice

3/4 ounce simple syrup

3 ounces hot tea

Combine in a heat-proof glass. Careful, don’t boil the alcohol content out of the drink! Garnish with a cinnamon stick or a twist of lemon.

It’s cold, and getting colder here in central Virginia–and the winds are howling outside. I am thankful that Youngest Son is now safely home with us, and thankful that we still have power and a well-stocked refrigerator. But I am hugely disappointed: I had planned activities for us to do as an alternative to our traditional family Christmas activities, since it will be only the three of us this year. We were going to leave this afternoon to spend 24 hours in Staunton, Virginia: a candlelight tour of the farms at the Museum of Frontier Culture, an overnight at the iconic downtown hotel, brunch at a classy restaurant, and a matinee performance of A Christmas Carol at the American Shakespeare Center. But bah humbug–the tour is cancelled due to super-cold temperatures in the mountains, and the play is cancelled because the cast has Covid. This is now a two-cocktail kind of evening.

1 1/2 ounces cherry brandy

3 whole cloves

1 ounce lemon juice

2 dashes Angostura bitters

3/4 ounce pure maple syrup

4 ounces red table wine

Combine first 5 ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake, strain, add wine and an orange twist.

The news says that two-thirds of our country is impacted by nasty winter weather. The rain has been steady (and cold) all day in Charlottesville, and I suppose I am glad it’s not snow. I am almost done with the cooking, the cleaning, and the wrapping, and now it’s time to relax for the evening.

2 ounces gin

1/2 ounce Blue Curacao

1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice

1/2 ounce simple syrup

sanding sugar for the rim of the glass

Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake until your fingers feel frozen!

Today is the winter solstice! Husband and I greeted the summer solstice in Homer, Alaska, so I included one of my favorite souvenirs in the photo: an ornament–made of reindeer poop!–which we purchased in Anchorage. “Recycling at its best,” proclaimed the accompanying card. I haven’t actually hung it on the tree, but it does make for a great conversation piece.