It was a beautiful afternoon!

Not being overly excited about being a "lone wolf" in my adventures, before I headed out I called my father-in-law to see if he would be interested in a trip to the pipe shop as well. He was! So, now I had a compadre for the adventure. My father-in-law does not like to drive much anymore because of his age, so he was delighted to go with me.

Upon our arrival at the shop, both of us were greeted with wonderful new odors from the mix of all the different leafs available for us to select from. I could see the same level of excitement in my father-in-law's eyes as I could feel in my own self. We spent quite a while looking at new pipes, smelling samples of leaf, and chatting about all sorts of "pipey" related ideas and even purused the cigar humidor quite extensively. In the end, both of us were rather frugal in our aquisitions for it would then make it easier to have "need" to visit this wonderful "toy store" again soon. My take was two different leafs... one a tin of latakia, a beautifully strong and robust leaf that pulls no punches, and a new mixture blended this month with extracts of blackberry and sage in a hearty burley leaf. The mix sounded odd, but intrigued me enough to give it a try in my pipe. My father-in-law purchased a large volume of his stock vanilla leaf, and a few Arango Sportsman cigars.

I asked my father-in-law if he was interested in having a drink at the nearby tavern. As luck would have it, he was in a grand mood and instead suggested we go back home and drink there and just talk. Part of the reason is that with his hearing aids, it is difficult for him to focus on a single sound stream in a noisy place such as a bar, but also if he wants to drink at home, it means he is itching to have somthing fairly robust to drink with someone. My good fortune!

Once at his home, he set up tall tumblers of ice and beverage for his drink of interest that day... a good old-fashioned Seven & Seven. One of the things (of many) that I enjoy about my father-in-law, is that he is not the least bit shy about his enjoyment of pleasures in life. He made each of us a very stiff (at least a double if not a triple) to start off the beginning of the afternoon. Both being thirsty, we both savored but quickly consumed the first drink. We turned on the television to the various news channels for conversation fodder, and he made us a second tumbler of the heady elixer. As we started into the second glass, the first had enough time to begin to take effect and we both were itching for our tobacco treats. He unwrapped one of his cigars while I filled the bowl of my pipe with the rich latakia. He struck a match and I my lighter and both of us sat and gently indulged in that magical moment. We each savored how the bit of alcohol washed across our neurons and were invigorated by the harsh, yet soothing rush of nicotine as it coursed through our veins into our minds.

We countinued to chat in quite an animated fashion through our third (equally robust) drink. We also continued to dip deeply into the indulgence of our tobacco as well. We laughed, we grew teary eyed sometimes, we debated about life and its variances. It was a VERY GOOD time. By the middle of the afternoon we were rather somewhat shloshily inebrieated and the conversation quieted as we watched headlines roll by on the television screen. We both snoozed on - and - off for an hour or two, each in one of the large comfortable Lay-Z-Boy recliners that were in my father-in-law's family room. By the time my mother-in-law arrived home around 5pm the intoxicants had mostly dissipated from our minds, but the cherrished discussion and memories would last a lifetime. He and I shook hands, as has been our custom my whole married life, and I drove home for dinner with my wife.

A truly beautiful day of friendship and comaraderie and play.

PipeTobacco